Between 1997 and 2003, global internet traffic grew at an average annual growth rate of 127 percent, from just 5 petabytes per month in 1997 to 681 petabytes per month in 2003. The internet was changing our lives in a way and at a pace that was at once unprecedented and seemingly unrepeatable.
Fifteen years later, we are in the middle of the "mobile revolution" which is happening even quicker than the first digital revolution did a decade ago.
Since 2006, mobile IP traffic exploded from 4 petabytes to 885 petabytes per month, which is equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 146 percent. In the past year, mobile traffic was already 12 times as high as total internet traffic was in 2000.
With growing adoption of smartphones, tablets and most importantly high speed networks such as LTE, mobile IP traffic is expected to continue growing rapidly through the next few years. By 2017, mobile traffic is expected to reach 11 exabytes per month, a more than 12-fold increase over last year's level.
Mobile Traffic Is Growing at Unprecedented Pace
Description
This chart illustrates how mobile internet traffic is growing even quicker than fixed-line internet traffic did back in the 1990s and early 2000s.
