Global mobile data traffic 2017-2022

In 2018, global mobile data traffic amounted to 19.01 exabytes per month. By 2022, mobile data traffic is expected to reach 77.5 exabytes per month worldwide at a compound annual growth rate of 46 percent.

Mobile traffic

Mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. In the first quarter of 2019, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 48.71 percent of global website traffic, consistently hovering around the 50 percent mark since the beginning of 2017. Some regions have wider mobile internet adoption than others. Many developing digital markets are mobile-first, having leapfrogged desktop PC internet due to cost and infrastructural restraints. Asia and Africa have a higher share of mobile web traffic than the global average and in March 2019, mobile devices accounted for over 73 percent of web traffic in Nigeria.

Mobile broadband

Mobile video, gaming and app downloads are only a few examples of mobile internet activities that require a mobile broadband connection with sufficient speed. In April 2019, Norway was ranked first among the countries with the fastest average mobile internet speed. However, the speed of mobile internet connections is one thing, mobile phone network coverage is another. In 2018, 98 percent of the European population had mobile broadband with only two percent of the population not having mobile broadband coverage. By contrast, the MBB coverage gap in Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to 47 percent of the population, highlighting the disparities in digital access worldwide.