Mobile bandwidth
Smartphone Usage
The penetration rate is projected to increase at a 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the next five years. Entertainment apps will account for 59% of smartphone bandwidth demand in 2018.
Tablet and PC Usage
Tablet device penetration increases at a 20% CAGR through 2018. Though PCs are losing share to tablets, the large installed base of PCs will continue to contribute to mobile broadband bandwidth requirements.
The Rise of the Internet of Things
Machine-to-machine (M2M) penetration is expected to grow at a 20% CAGR during the next five years. Network payloads per device, however, will be comparatively small.
Mobile Device Use Patterns
Smartphone and tablet peak period usage will double within five years. Mobile media data rates will increase at 30% annually.
Mobile Hotspot Usage
Mobile hotspot/dongle usage time is projected to increase by 50% in five years, which is caused by increased viewing of longer video formats.
Peak Bandwidth Usage
Peak period bandwidth requirements per person are projected to increase from 10.1K bps per person in 2014 to 54.1K bps per person in 2018, a 52 percent CAGR. Smartphone traffic accounts for the majority of the bandwidth requirement.
Future Bandwidth Requirements
Peak period bandwidth requirements are projected to increase at a 52% CAGR through 2018.
Backhaul Requirements
A 1,200-square-kilometer metro area with a population of 2.5 million will require cell site backhaul bandwidth in the range of 0.4G bps to 2.5G bps in 2018. Additionally, 10G-bps Ethernet links in the access network and 10G-bps rings will be needed to meet the requirement.