Asia Pacific mobile data traffic to increase 14-fold by 2019

By Digital News Asia February 18, 2015

Mobile data traffic expected to reach 3.1 exabytes per month in 2019
96% of data mobile traffic will be 'smart' traffic in four years' time

Asia Pacific mobile data traffic to increase 14-fold by 2019

MOBILE data traffic in the Asia Pacific region, excluding China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, is projected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69% from 2014 and increase by 14-fold by 2019.

According to the latest annual update of the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014-2019, the mobile data traffic in these Asia Pacific countries is growing 1.6 times faster than the global average, which is forecasted to increase by nearly 10-fold over the next five years.

Mobile data traffic in the Asia Pacific region is expected to reach 3.1 exabytes per month in 2019, up from 228.4 petabytes in 2014. By 2019, the mobile data traffic of these Asia Pacific countries will be 731 times the volume of these countries’ mobile traffic in 2009, said Cisco in a statement.

[1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes]

Singapore’s mobile data traffic has been expanding over the last decade and its mobile data usage has grown by more than 2.5 times over the past four years, from 3.34 petabytes per month in 2010 to 8.63 petabytes in 2014.

The trends that are driving the mobile data traffic growth in these specific Asia Pacific countries include:

More mobile users: By 2019, there will be 510.8 million mobile users, up from 418.6million in 2014. In 2014, 50% of these Asia Pacific countries population was mobile users; by 2019, more than 58% of them will be mobile users. Singapore has one of the highest mobile phone penetration amongst these countries, with 156% penetration rate in 2013.
More data generated by mobile users: Mobile traffic per user will experience a CAGR of 65%, increasing from 543 megabytes per month in 2014 to 6,047 megabytes per month by 2019.
Faster mobile speeds: The average mobile connection speed in the specific Asia Pacific countries will grow three-fold from 2014 to 2019, reaching 6,838 kbps by 2019.
Growing mobile cloud: By 2019, cloud applications will account for 89% of total mobile data traffic. Similarly, mobile cloud traffic will grow 15.2-fold from 2014, reaching 2.8 exabytes per month by 2019.
More mobile video: Mobile video traffic will grow 18.4-fold, from 119.3 petabytes per month in 2014 to 2.2 exabytes per month by 2019. This would constitute 70% of this region's mobile data traffic in 2019. In Singapore, consumers already are downloading and streaming more video content on the Internet, spending an average of 12.9 hours per week to access media-related websites.

In the specific Asia Pacific countries, 52% of mobile connections will be “smart” connections by 2019, up by 19% in 2014, while 96% of mobile data traffic will be “smart” traffic. The shift from basic feature phones to smartphones – combined with the continued growth in tablets, the resurgence in laptops as well as expanding machine-to-machine (M2M) applications – are key factors supporting the increasing “smart” traffic trend.

In the Asia Pacific region, the mobile data traffic of smartphones will grow by 17.3-fold from 2014 to 2019. This will constitute 83% of the total mobile data traffic by 2019, compared to 66% at the end of 2014. The mobile data traffic for tablets and laptops will increase 10.5-fold and 5.5-fold respectively from 2014 to 2019.

In this region, between 2014 and 2019:

The number of smartphones will grow 2.4-fold, reaching 443 million.
The number of mobile-connected tablets will grow 2.4-fold, reaching 14.8 million.
The number of mobile-connected laptops will grow 2.5-fold, to 51 million.

Smartphones and tablets are primarily being used as content consumption devices, in particular for video viewing while on the move. As such, the growth of mobile video will increase mobile data traffic from these devices. Laptops, on the other hand, are still serving as the dominant content creation device and will continue to be an important tool for business users.

M2M (Machine-to-machine) refers to applications that enable wireless systems to communicate with similar devices to support global positioning satellite (GPS) navigation systems, asset tracking, utility meters, security and surveillance video.

In the specific Asia Pacific countries:

The number of mobile-connected M2M modules will grow 6.2-fold from 2014, reaching 118 million by 2019.
M2M traffic will grow 41-fold from 2014, reaching 38.6 petabytes per month by 2019.
M2M will account for 1% of total mobile data traffic by 2019.
The average M2M module, including Low Power, Wide-Area (LPWA) networks, will generate 327 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month by 2019.
The average M2M module, excluding LPWA networks, will generate 387 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month by 2019.

M2M nodes that are connected via LPWA networks are enabling new M2M use cases by delivering an optimised, ultra-narrowband solution that can support a wide area of coverage with minimal power consumption and connectivity costs.

LPWA solutions are opening a host of new Internet of Everything (IoE) use cases that could not have been addressed by cellular networks alone. Early adoption has already been observed in the healthcare and utility industries.

Harnessing the Potential of Wearable Devices Wearable devices are included as a sub-segment of the M2M connections category to help project the growth trajectory of the IoE.

In the specific Asia Pacific countries:

The number of wearable devices will reach 19.7 million by 2019, up from 4.3 million in 2014.
The traffic from wearable devices will grow 28-fold from 2014 and reach 8.1 petabytes per month by 2019.
The average wearable device will generate 412 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month by 2019, up from 69 megabytes per month in 2014.

The Singapore government is already exploring and capitalising on the potential of wearable technology. In 2014, Singapore's Ministry of Defence rolled out a trial that will enable Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) to use wearable fitness trackers to clock their training sessions, giving NSmen more flexibility and control over their schedule.

Mobile data traffic to increase 11-fold from 2013-2018: Cisco

Global mobile data traffic doubled in the last year: Ericsson

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