The Middle East and Africa will have the highest regional mobile data traffic growth rate (36-fold) over the next four years, according to the findings of the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2011 to 2016
The expected sharp increase in mobile traffic is due, in part, to a projected surge in the number of mobile Internet-connected devices, which will exceed the number of people on earth. Over 2011−2016 Cisco anticipates that global mobile data traffic will outgrow global fixed data traffic by three times.
The forecast predicts an annual run rate of 130 exabytes of mobile data traffic. An exabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1 quintillion bytes.
This mobile data traffic increase represents a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 78 percent spanning the forecast period. The incremental amount of traffic being added to the mobile Internet between 2015 and 2016 alone is approximately three times the estimated size of the entire mobile Internet in 2012.
Attendees to Cisco Expo UAE 2012 will have the opportunity to learn more about the latest findings of the Cisco Visual Networking Index Report and other advanced technology solutions and trends that are set to transform the IT landscape in the Middle East. Cisco Expo UAE 2012 will take place on Monday, March 19th 2012, at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai.
“In Middle East and Africa, consumer mobile traffic will reach 551,061 Terabytes per month in 2016, up from 10,893 Terabytes per month in 2011. This impressive growth in consumer mobile traffic will be driven by more powerful devices, notably smartphones and tablets, using faster networks, such as 4G and Wi-Fi, to access more applications, particularly data-intensive video,” said Wayne Hull, director and GM at Cisco UAE.
