Mobile video to grow at a CAGR of 55 percent between 2017 and 2022

In Spain, mobile data traffic will multiply by 6 between 2017 and 2022, there will be 41 million mobile users (88% of the population) and 103 million connections.

More than a decade ago, when the Informe Cisco Mobile Visual Networking Index (VNI), mobile (or cellular) traffic represented less than 5% of total IP traffic crossing global networks. Today, the role and usage of mobile networks has increased tremendously.

Mobile access for consumers and businesses has increased on a global scale. The increased reach and quality of mobile broadband has generated enormous demand for mobile communications, multimedia services and mobile IoT applications.

According to this year's forecast update (2017-2022), mobile traffic will be about to reach one Zettabyte per year by the end of the forecast period. By 2022, mobile traffic will represent almost 20% of global IP traffic and will reach 930 Exabytes annually. This is almost 113 times more than all the global mobile traffic generated just ten years earlier, in 2012.

In Spain, mobile data traffic will multiply six-fold between 2017 and 2022 (43% year-on-year growth), reaching 6.3 Exabytes annually in 2022 (1 Exabyte in 2017) and accounting for 12% of all IP traffic in the country (fixed and mobile).

mobile video

Because mobile video content has much higher bit rates than other types of mobile content, mobile video will drive much of the mobile traffic growth through 2022. Mobile video will grow at a CAGR of 55 percent between 2017 and 2022, higher than the overall mobile traffic CAGR average of 46 percent. Of the 77 exabytes per month that will circulate through mobile networks in 2022, almost 61 exabytes will be video. In fact, since 2012, mobile video accounts for more than half of global mobile data traffic.

As for the virtual reality and augmented reality They are poised to be the next set of the biggest trends in mobile technology. The evolution of edge computing and advances in wireless networks, ranging from the imminent launch of 5G to highly efficient mobile connectivity solutions, along with access to smarter mobile and wearable devices, have helped provide a rich environment for the proliferation and growth of augmented reality and virtual reality.

The accelerated acquisition of smartphones, tablets and wearable devices is significantly contributing to the development of the AR and VR markets. Globally, smartphones will account for 54.7% of device connections in 2022 (CAGR of 9 percent), and 93% of total traffic growing at a CAGR of 48 percent. The development of the augmented reality and VR market is expected to follow a similar trend.

While video games are one of the key applications driving virtual reality, augmented reality is primarily driven by industrial applications such as retail, medicine, education, tourism, retail shopping...

Compared to VR, AR currently seems to be growing at a slower pace, but with its multiple applications in different industries it has the opportunity to become more popular than VR. The jury is still out, as things are just starting to evolve in this fascinating space.
All these innovations in AR and VR will place new demands on the network in terms of quality and performance.

Bandwidth and latency requirements will become increasingly important for a high-quality VR and AR experience, and service providers will need to take note of this new demand. Globally, augmented and virtual reality traffic will grow almost 12-fold from 22 petabytes per month in 2017, to 254 petabytes per month in 2022.

Internet of Things

Mobile technologies continue to connect more people and things than ever before. In 2017, there were 5 billion mobile users worldwide, but over the next five years this number will increase by 700 million to reach 5.7 billion users, representing approximately 71% of the world's population. In Spain, there will be 41 million mobile users (88% of the population) in 2022, up from 40 million in 2017.

By 2022, there will be more than 12 billion mobile IoT devices and connections (compared to 9 billion in 2017). By 2022, mobile networks will support more than 8 billion personal mobile devices and 4 billion IoT connections.

En España habrá 103 millones de dispositivos y conexiones IoT móviles en 2022 (2,2 per cápita), desde los 63,7 millones contabilizados en 2017 (10% de incremento interanual). Mobile IoT connections will account for more than half (50.3%) of the total (51.8 million), up from 13.6 million in 2017 (21.3%).

The updated Report also highlights the continued efforts of mobile operators around the world to improve mobile network performance. The average speed of the global mobile network will more than triple, from 8.7 Mbps in 2017 to 28.5 Mbps in 2022. Mobile speed varies significantly by geography, as 5G adoption begins to accelerate in some regions. In Spain, the average speed of the mobile network will multiply by more than four, increasing from 15 Mbps in 2017 to 66.7 Mbps in 2022 (year-on-year increase of 34.8%).

5G

In 2022, 5G connections will represent more than 3% of total mobile connections (more than 422 million 5G devices and global M2M connections) and almost 12% of total global mobile data traffic. In Spain, 5G connections will represent 4.9% of total mobile connections (5 million 5G devices and M2M connections) and 19.2% of total mobile data traffic in 2022.

By 2022, the average 5G connection (22 Gb/month) will generate approximately 3 times more traffic than the average 4G connection (8 Gb/month). In Spain, the average 5G connection (20 Gb/month) will generate 3 times more traffic than the average 4G connection (6.7 Gb/month) in 2022. In Spain, the average 5G speed (190 Mbps) will be more than 2.5 times higher than the average 4G speed (86.6 Mbps) in 2022.

Download to WiFi networks

In 2017, monthly downloaded traffic (13 Exabytes) exceeded monthly mobile/cellular traffic (12 Exabytes).

In 2017, 54% of total mobile data traffic was downloaded (62% in Spain); by 2022, 59% of total mobile data traffic will be downloaded (71% in Spain);

In 2017, total global IP traffic (fixed and mobile) was divided into: 48% wired, 43% WiFi, 9% mobile. In 2017, total IP traffic (fixed and mobile) in Spain was divided into: 38% wired, 56% WiFi, 6% mobile.

In 2022, total global IP traffic (fixed and mobile) will be divided into: 29% wired, 51% WiFi, 20% mobile. In 2022, total IP traffic (fixed and mobile) in Spain will be divided into: 24% wired, 64% WiFi, 12% mobile.

Globally, total WiFi access points (including those in the home) will increase four-fold between 2017 (124 million) and 2022 (549 million). In Spain, total WiFi access points (including those in the home) will multiply by four between 2017 (4 million) and 2022 (16 million).