Advanced Television

Mobile data bandwidth usage up 77%

July 26, 2011

Findings from the H1 2011 Allot MobileTrends Report suggests that mobile data bandwidth usage continued its steady rise, with 77 per cent growth during the first half of 2011 based on data collected from the service optimisation and revenue generation solutions specialist’s worldwide mobile operator customers.

The report found that video streaming continued to show significant growth with a 93 per cent increase, and remains the single largest application taking up bandwidth, accounting for 39 per cent of mobile bandwidth. Although having limited impact on the total bandwidth, VoIP and IM have gained share to become the fastest growing application type with a 101 per cent increase. This data is in line with the declining SMS/MMS revenue experienced by operators.

Other findings include:
– YouTube remains the single most popular mobile Internet destination, accounting for 22 per cent of mobile data bandwidth usage and 52 per cent of total video streaming
– Apple’s App Store generates 84 per cent of overall app store download traffic, while Google’s Android Market accounts for 13 per cent

“OTT applications continue to shift the balance of power from the operators to the content and app providers,” said Rami Hadar, President and CEO of Allot Communications. “This presents a real challenge for survival to which operators have already begun to respond. We are seeing operators taking the opportunity to evolve their service plans, away from ‘unlimited’ and towards application-aware models, in order to meet this challenge.”

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