Video accounts for 35% of data over mobile

Video streaming now makes up 35 per cent of data carried over the mobile networks, with YouTube supplying 40 per cent of that, according to Allot MobileTrends report for the fist half of 2010.
The statistics is based on data passing through operators around the world with a total of 190m subscribers. That data shows video streaming in the first half of 2010 was almost double the previous six months, and is now the largest consumer of mobile bandwidth as everyone seems to be watching TV on the move.

YouTube counts for 40 per cent of the video,
VoIP has also increased hugely since 2009, rising more than 80 per cent which should concern mobile operators despite the fact that VoIP is still a small proportion of the total. Mobile VoIP is dominated by Skype, whose traffic makes up 83 per cent of voice total.

According to the study, titled ‘Global Mobile Survey' which was conducted among active smart phone users across Italy, Sweden, the UK, the US, Australia, China, India and South Korea to find out their usage patterns, found that 65 per cent of smart phone users use their handset to connect to the Internet every day to check e mails, visit social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and download videos from YouTube. In India, 40 per cent of smart phone users access the Internet daily, with 34 per cent of them accessing it for more than half an hour each day.

Another recent study by Nielsen Online on the accelerating adoption of mobile web has also attributed it to the proliferation of smart phones, the expanded availability of unlimited data packages and an increasingly compelling consumer experience resulting from high
3G network speeds.

The Initiative study also says that applications have become the catalyst for change in the way that people view mobile handsets, shifting perception from voice, text and email to a never ending array of new functionalities.

According to Gartner, almost three billion of the world's population will be able to make electronic transactions via mobile or Internet technology by 2014, and that by as soon as 2012, 20% of businesses will 'own no IT assets' and that employees would be using their own personal computer, and that the businesses themselves would be relying on cloud-based services.

This is a remarkable development as it now proves that people are increasingly realizing the power and importance of a mobile phone not only as a medium to talk or entertainment but also as a versatile device that can play a much more important role like accessing the web world instantly on the move.

akankshas@cybermedia.co.in