Mobile data traffic overtakes voice calls
Mobile data traffic overtook voice calls during December 2009, according to network equipment vendor Ericsson.
Ericsson measured live networks across the globe and found that data traffic globally grew 280% during each of the last two years, and is forecast to double annually over the next five years.
The figures also show that that traffic in 3G networks surpassed that of 2G networks during the same period.
According to Juniper Research, the mobile retail market is expected to exceed $12 billion by 2014, driven by increasing smartphone use.
Hans Vestberg, Ericsson president and CEO, said: “This is a significant milestone with some 400 million mobile broadband subscriptions now generating more data traffic than the voice traffic from the total 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions around the world.
“Our view that the appeal of anywhere, anytime connectivity would drive mobile broadband growth is confirmed by the real world measurements under taken by Ericsson.”
Social networking sites on mobile devices and mobile broadband-based PCs now account for a large percentage of mobile data traffic, said Ericsson.
For example, over 200 mobile operators in 60 countries are deploying and promoting Facebook mobile products, with over 100 million active users accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
Research from the European Interactive Advertising Association released at the start of the month revealed that Europeans are spending more time on the mobile internet than reading newspapers or magazines.
The increase in mobile internet use is largely because of the younger generation of early adopters, said the EIAA, with almost a quarter (24%) of 16-24 year olds and 21% of 25-34 year olds already using the mobile internet.