It should come as no surprise that mobile data use is growing rapidly, but results of a new survey might take aback even the most optimistic.
Mobile-data bandwidth use rose by a whopping 77 percent in the first half of 2011. That’s just one of the findings of the newly released Allot Communications MobileTrends Report, based on information collected from the company’s worldwide mobile operator customers.
The numbers just for video are even more impressive. The report says streaming was up 93 percent, accounting for 39 percent of all mobile bandwidth. Less significant in total numbers, Allot says VoIP and IM are the fastest growing data segments, each more than doubling (up 101 percent).
The survey examined trends in charging models among 50 worldwide mobile operators for the first time, revealing that a growing number are implementing application-aware charging models. Almost no carriers are offering unlimited data plans to new customers any longer.
Among the report’s specific findings: YouTube is tops on the ‘Net, accounting for 22 percent of mobile data bandwidth and 52 percent of total video streaming; Apple’s App store gets 84 percent of download traffic; Skype has 82 percent bandwidth share in mobile VoIP; social networking sites Twitter (up 297 percent) and Facebook (up 166 percent) grew dramatically; and almost one-third (32 percent) of mobile operators surveyed worldwide have already implemented application-aware charging models.
As changes happen fast, service providers continue to have their work cut out for them.
“OTT applications continue to shift the balance of power from the operators to the content and app providers," said Rami Hadar, Allot president and CEO. “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."
