Video Generates Increased Mobile Data Traffic, Bytemobile Finds

The latest Mobile Analytics report from Bytemobile shows that the mobile data usage is growing aggressively, and that video streaming generates increasing traffic on wireless networks.

According to the company's report, mobile users are generating data traffic from video not only during peak hours, but at all times.

Wireless networks need to support video demand during all hours of the day, with between 40 to 60 percent of all mobile data traffic on wireless networks being generated by video.

Most of the videos are being consumed on Laptops, iPhones/iPads and Android devices these days, the reports shows. Half of the data traffic these devices generate at the moment comes from video.

On average, users request HD videos 29 percent of the time, but these videos account for up to 45 percent of all data traffic on a wireless network.

“Continued aggressive growth in mobile data – fueled by video and application usage over faster networks and more powerful, user-friendly devices in the hands of billions of people – has escalated the traffic management challenge for carriers,” the company notes.

“Bytemobile has analyzed data trends across its customers’ wireless networks, inclusive of Android device, iPhone/iPad and laptop data usage.

“The second-quarter 2011 report provides insights into the profile of the mobile data network, application traffic patterns and subscriber quality of experience (QoE) on operators’ networks.”

The said report also shows that users accessing YouTube via their browsers enjoy higher resolution videos than those who access the site via dedicated applications.

Based on the network conditions and the various times of the day, videos stall between 5 and 40 percent of the time. However, optimization technologies reduce the time by 30 to 50 percent.

“Subscribers on wireless networks optimized for video consume double the mobile video content than those on un-optimized networks,” the new report from Bytemobile also shows.