According to the findings of a new report from Chetan Sharma Consulting, “The Gigabyte Generation” has arrived.
Mobile data traffic growth continued unabated doubling again for the 8th straight year.
“We expect the mobile consumption to double again in 2012,” the report reads, adding that data now constitutes over 85% of the mobile traffic in the US.
Approximately 30% of the smartphone users average more than 1GB/mo.
“As new devices and new network technology roll-out keep pace in 2012, the data traffic will grow at the expected pace,” the study projects. “The signaling traffic is expected to grow in even faster. Stay tuned for our research paper in the Yottabyte series of papers on the topic later this year.”
The US market generated $67 billion in mobile data revenues in 2011 accounting for 39% of the overall revenues for the country. The mobile data market grew 4% Q/Q and 19% Y/Y to reach $18.6B for the quarter. For the year 2012, we are forecasting that mobile data revenues in the US market will reach $80 billion.
The US market accounts for 5% of the subscriber base but 17% of the global service revenues and 21% of the global mobile data revenues, the firm says. It also accounts for 40% for the global smartphone sales.
Chetan Sharma Consulting will release its next US Wireless Data Market update in May.
