Mobile Browsing Leads to Phone Data Jams

Mobile phone users are increasingly enjoying Internet browsing on their handsets, something that is expected to lead to an explosion in data traffic. According to a recently published report from Strategy Analytics, wireless carriers should expect for this to happen in the near future, due to a growth in the usage of mobile phones for accessing social networking sites, for performing searches over the Internet, accessing webmail, as well as other popular online destinations.

The “Global Handset Data Traffic Forecast, 2001-2013” report from Strategy Analytics shows that mobile phones are expected to generate an amount of data traffic that will reach 2.2 Exabytes, and that 84 percent of it should come from web browsing only (wireless PC cards and other cellular enabled devices have been excluded from the analysis). Moreover, the research firm also notes that this amount of traffic equals that of watching 120,000 years of DVD quality video.

“The current surge in network traffic experienced by operators derives from a disproportionately small base of cellular-enabled notebooks and laptops. However, traffic generated by mobile handsets, which includes smartphones and feature phones, will rise significantly, and will represent 30% of total data traffic in 2013. Access to web services on the move will drive a sizeable proportion of this data traffic growth,” notes Nitesh Patel, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

According to the research firm, mobile phone operators should take into consideration this explosion in web browsing usage, so as to prevent the appearance of potential issues. “Operators that provide low-cost, flat-rate data tariffs will address consumer demand, spur growth in data revenues and keep investors happy. However, consumer appetite for browsing, accessing applications and consuming downloaded or streamed audio or video content does have the potential to cripple mobile networks,” commented David MacQueen, director of the Wireless Media Strategies service.

Phil Kendall, director, Wireless Network Strategies service, said that one of the main focuses for mobile operators should be the management of data traffic, and that one of the most important aspects is the compression of web and video content. Moreover, carriers also need to make use of pricing for guiding the usage of data traffic off the peak times and to use more the Wi-FI capabilities of the handsets. Additional details can be found on Strategy Analytics' website.