The combination of new mobile subscribers and the desire to stay connected via bandwidth intensive applications has led to exponential growth in the amount of mobile data traffic, which reached 1.4 million terabytes per month in 2013, according to a recent report from iGR.
That leaves mobile providers with the difficult task of keeping up with demand, particularly considering that the same report predicts that such traffic will rise to 13.5 million terabytes per month by 2018. Mobile data traffic includes activities such as checking email, streaming music or video, or checking social sites and apps.
“iGR believes that the consumption of mobile data will grow aggressively over the forecast period due in part to the addition of new mobile subscribers in developing markets," said Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR, a market research consultancy specializing in the wireless and mobile industry.
It’s not just new subscribers, however, Gillott cautioned: “Current subscribers will also contribute to the growth, as they more frequently use the applications on their mobile devices, especially the more data intensive activities, such as streaming audio and video,” he said.
Consumers’ increased rate of smartphone adoption isn’t the only contributing factor to the data explosion either. Connected cars and tablets are two emerging technologies adding to the growing traffic numbers. Additionally, IGR believes that the faster data speeds offered by LTE will increase both the number of subscribers and the use of mobile data, further increasing network demand.
This synergistic combination of factors means mobile providers need to start thinking about how to manage the growth of mobile data use now, concentrating on capacity and throughput.
Edited by
Blaise McNamee 
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