As noted above, advertising is going to support a wider range of mobile data services such as Facebook, Twitter.
According to the latest Citrix Mobile Analytics Report, 2.5% of subscribers access sports media content through their mobile device. With the world's eyes on the 2015 Rugby World Cup, we predict a spike in video consumption with 5% of subscribers tuning in their favourite matches on their smartphone or tablet.
Internet Radio
Streaming has been set to replace side-loaded audio content for some time. People are unlikely to rely entirely on streaming since mobile coverage is not ubiquitous – nevertheless we'll see streaming services driving up mobile music consumption in 2015.
Based on information collected from Citrix ByteMobile Adaptive Traffic Management Solution deployments around the world, mobile audio – including Internet radio and audio file downloads – now constitutes 12% of mobile data volume in North America and 4% outside North America.
Mobile internet traffic is growing exponentially, and we're going to see more audio traffic in 2015. Applications including Pandora, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Rhapsody, Slacker and several local radio station applications are increasingly popular among mobile subscribers. Whether we see the proportion growing relative to other types of data traffic remains to be see, though it is likely that the rest of the world (or at least the world where smartphone ownership is most common) will start to catch up with North America.
4G/LTE
In 2015 mobile subscribers will be 2x more likely to watch video over LTE networks than over 3G networks.
Mobile subscribers are increasingly using LTE networks to consume video related content. The availability of LTE drives greater consumption of long-form content such as that offered by Netflix. In fact, Netflix viewing times are longer over LTE than over 3G and more subscribers seek to watch Netflix over LTE than over 3G with 74% requesting Netflix service over LTE versus just 26% over 3G
With Neflix announcing its European expansion plans and the penetration of 4G growing, operators worldwide need to maintain and ensure data Quality of Experience (QoE). This is precisely why operators need video optimisation solutions
Operators are faced with the same dilemma they were faced with when 3G networks were rolled out. Namely, that of making the technology pay. It is a careful balancing act, between providing data at a price that encourages its use, but not at a price that is unsustainable for growth. One thing we can be certain of is a rise in traffic, all of which means a greater demand for analytics, management and optimisation
Social Media & Big Data
Social networking will remain the most popular activity over mobile networks. Currently, social networking is the most popular activity over mobile networks at 40% of mobile subscribers engaged, generating 10% of daily mobile data volume. The majority of mobile social networking data volume consists of images and videos, which generate 87% of that volume.
With Facebook, Instagram and Twitter growing in terms of the number of users every day and new features arising, we predict that social networking will remain the most popular activity over mobile networks.
With data for mobile consumption growing exponentially, MNOs will be pushed to implement optimisation techniques geared towards delivering the smoothest quality of experience. With a growing amount of data now available for mobile consumption, MNOs will have to be able to provide a quality of service that matches both network speed and new customer trends, the likes of video streaming, internet radios and OTT messaging to name a few.
Mobile Health
Mobile networks will see a sharp uptake in health-related data traffic, to cater for the rise of wearable devices and the need for healthcare professionals to communicate.
Citrix analysis of 2014 mobile health traffic found that compared to Q1 2014, mobile health apps still generate minimal activity on the mobile network. And within this category, more people engage with fitness apps over the mobile network than with other mobile health apps, such as dieting or women's health.
