Since we at Bytemobile spend a lot of time processing and analyzing the network traffic of mobile operators around the world*, we were surprised. Our experience leads us to very different conclusions.

Let’s start with the area graph using Cisco data. While we agree with the data, we disagree with the use of traffic volumes to infer usage patterns.

The average video generates more than 30 times the traffic volume of the average web page. In other words, a user would have to visit 30-plus web pages to generate the same amount of traffic as one video. This ratio becomes even more skewed as users watch more long-form video from providers such as Hulu and Netflix. While video is the fastest growing form of traffic in terms of volume, it is hardly stealing usage from web pages. Video-generated traffic volume growth can be driven by a number of factors in addition to increased usage, such as longer durations or higher video quality. It is inaccurate to extrapolate traffic volume to usage patterns and conclude that users are moving away from the Web.

Wireless Data Traffic Mix – By Geographic Region

Source: Bytemobile Mobile Minute Metrics Report, February 2010

We also disagree with Wired’s classification of video as being separate from the Web. Video is an integral part of the Web. Most video is delivered from websites such as YouTube through a web browser. Further, videos are searchable and can be linked just as web pages are. Analysis of tier-one 3G networks worldwide shows that more than 95% of video traffic is delivered over HTTP on port 80 - just as web pages are. Video is simply another form of content on the Web. 

As far as apps supplanting the browsed Web are concerned, while apps are experiencing tremendous growth on smartphones, the browser still generates a major portion of the traffic. In fact, web browsing generates as much traffic as all apps combined – about 30% browser, 30% apps, 40% video, according to our network data.

iPhone Data Traffic Distribution by Highest Bandwidth-Consuming Applications

Source: Bytemobile Mobile Minute Metrics Report, February 2010

Moreover, apps are built primarily on web infrastructure. They use the same technologies that are used by browsers, such as HTML, HTTP, JPEG, XML, and others. Therefore, while apps may change the way that users consume content, they are still very much a part of the Web.

What we see changing is not the Web itself, but rather the channels that consumers are using to interact with the Web. Far from being dead, the Web is alive, well and thriving. And growing.

- Girish Wadhwani

*See Bytemobile’s quarterly Mobile Minute Metrics reports for more information.

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Yesterday, ABI Research announced a new and very timely report, titled “Mobile Network Offloading”.

Noteworthy excerpts from ABI’s news release (italics ours):

The serious, well-publicized traffic overloads (including content data and radio signaling) that are starting to choke many mobile networks will only worsen as smartphones and other mobile devices proliferate, and operators must extend capacity. Brute force network expansion, requiring a doubling of capacity, isn’t an option.

Instead, several approaches and technologies will play specific roles in relieving network congestion. These include Wi-Fi, femtocells, mobile CDNs (content delivery networks), media optimization, and more.

“Each of these offload and optimization technologies is aimed at solving a particular problem and they will all coexist.” – Aditya Kaul, Practice Director, ABI Research

One of the most effective tools is media optimization – effectively improved compression – which is already being used widely. Media optimization will grow the fastest and deliver the greatest traffic reduction of all these methods.

For more information on the ABI report, click here.

-Tod Bottari
 

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In the second half of 2008, a number of 3G networks began showing signs of stress due to traffic congestion caused by multimedia-hungry subscribers with powerful mobile devices. After years of investment to drive data adoption and fill their 3G pipes, the operators of these networks were now facing frustrated consumers forced to contend for bandwidth and watch stalling videos.

Two years later, the stress has become seriously aggravated and elicited public comments like the following from the AT&T CTO, in response to widespread criticism of network service quality: “We will move heaven and earth [to meet our customers’ growing data needs]” (VentureBeat – July 12, 2010).

The In-Stat data, corroborated by other industry sources such as Gartner and Morgan Stanley Research, makes it clear that the challenge to operators is still in its infancy. Moreover, it will continue to accelerate for the next decade and beyond, as a) more consumers adopt mobile data, b) more consumers upgrade to iPhone-/Android-class smartphones, and c) more networks advance to 3G and beyond.

-Tod Bottari

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Carl Ford, co-founder and vice president of  Community Development at 4G Wireless Evolution, interviewed Joel Brand, vice president of Product Management,  at the International CTIA Wireless 2010 conference back in April. In this video clip, Brand discusses the impact that mobile data has had on operators’ networks and highlights Bytemobile’s market-leading optimization solutions.

-Stacey Infantino

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Today, approximately 15 of Bytemobile’s largest tier-one operator customers – serving more than 350 million subscribers in North America, Europe and Asia – have deployed the Unison platform on the BladeCenter for the delivery of web and video optimization, traffic management, content adaptation, and analytics services.

The throughput capacity of these operators’ networks is estimated to range up to 2.6 petabytes (PB) of data traffic daily. The mobile internet revolution is not only in progress, but also accelerating in momentum.

Together, Bytemobile and IBM enable operators to cost-effectively manage and monetize consumer demand for mobile data services. The BladeCenter has become an industry-standard server in the networks of the world’s leading wireless telecommunications groups. Customer feedback on the performance of the Unison-BladeCenter platform has been consistently positive.

We look forward to continued joint success with IBM and to expanding our partnership in new and complementary directions.

-Lee Llevano
 

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Image courtesy of Ondra Soukup  via the Creative Commons attribution license.

Andrew Seybold, consultant on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility, today published an interesting perspective on data congestion and new pricing models. Seybold prefaces the article with the following scenario:

Every network operator with the exception of Sprint/Clearwire is moving to broadband data usage pricing models and away from all-you-can-eat data. If you have an iPhone, you still have access to unlimited data, but if you opt to tether it to a notebook or other external device, your all-you-can-eat pricing goes away. Why is this happening?

You can blame this on data hogs—that 3-4% of the wireless broadband population that accounts for nearly 50% of all wireless broadband usage—but it is also because wireless bandwidth is shared bandwidth. Unless bandwidth is well managed, data hogs end up with most of it and the rest of us with very little. Data usage has increased more than 5,000% over the last two years and there is no sign of a let-up. A large percentage of wireless broadband traffic (some say up to 40%) is video, which is increasingly popular and requires a lot of bandwidth.

Responding to the current state of the mobile industry, Seybold offers a number of ways to manage available bandwidth and capacity usage in wireless networks, including the roll-out of new pricing models.

Click here for the article. 

-Stacey Infantino

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Bytemobile is sponsoring an important thought leadership event for wireless network operators and ISPs next month at India – VAS Asia 2010.

Deepak Mahajan, Bytemobile country manager for India and SAARC, will present the challenges and opportunities of managing the data deluge. He will address the priorities of customer satisfaction and retention, and how to achieve them by enhancing the user experience and increasing network efficiency and intelligence. Mahajan will also focus on the delivery of greater personalization based on a deep understanding of the customer’s individual needs and interests – ultimately leading to profitable revenue growth for India’s wireless service providers.

- Jaishree Subramania
 

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Image courtesy of Ben Dodson via the Creative Commons attribution license.

Since Apple made the iPhone OS 4.0 beta available, developers have been digging for clues as to the future of the iPhone platform. We believe that one of the answers is tethering, a technical term used to describe a mobile internet connection from a laptop/PC using a smartphone as a modem.

So what tipped developers off to this future feature? A new configuration page for internet tethering and an alert sent to users to call AT&T to set up tethering. Tethering has always been in the future of wireless data plans. It was not a matter of if, but when.

If tethering really is a feature of the next-generation iPhone, it will provide another incentive for consumers to switch to wireless-only homes – no landlines and no wired Internet. Very likely, even the most generous projections of mobile data growth will end up proving conservative.

-Subhi Andrews

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