Light Reading Mobile already told you that tablets would be big traffic hogs on wireless networks but now Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) has put a number on that conspicuous content consumption.
The networking giant released its latest global mobile data forecast Tuesday, the first to factor tablet traffic into the equation. The company is already predicting that tablets will generate more traffic in 2015 -- 248 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1,000 terabytes, but you knew that) per month -- than the entire 237 petabytes per month carried on global mobile networks in 2010.
"The one that caught us by surprise was the proliferation of tablets," Suraj Shetty, VP of service provider marketing, tells LR Mobile.
Cisco estimates that there are now three million connected tablets worldwide, a number that is sure to grow. In its last quarter, for example, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said that it brought 442,000 new iPads and Android tablets onto the network.
"The tablets generate about five times as much traffic as smart phones," says Thomas Barnett, senior manager of service provider marketing at Cisco.
The vendor estimates that this will make tablets the third-largest traffic generator on mobile networks by 2015. The largest generator is still expected to be video-hungry laptops, with around 55 percent of all data generated. Smart phones will account for 26 percent and tablets weigh in at around 3.5 percent.
Cisco's Shetty doesn't rule out new devices arriving in the interim, however, to skew the company's 2015 predictions. "The mobile gaming handsets could be that wild card in the future," he notes.
The networking giant released its latest global mobile data forecast Tuesday, the first to factor tablet traffic into the equation. The company is already predicting that tablets will generate more traffic in 2015 -- 248 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1,000 terabytes, but you knew that) per month -- than the entire 237 petabytes per month carried on global mobile networks in 2010.
"The one that caught us by surprise was the proliferation of tablets," Suraj Shetty, VP of service provider marketing, tells LR Mobile.
Cisco estimates that there are now three million connected tablets worldwide, a number that is sure to grow. In its last quarter, for example, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said that it brought 442,000 new iPads and Android tablets onto the network.
"The tablets generate about five times as much traffic as smart phones," says Thomas Barnett, senior manager of service provider marketing at Cisco.
The vendor estimates that this will make tablets the third-largest traffic generator on mobile networks by 2015. The largest generator is still expected to be video-hungry laptops, with around 55 percent of all data generated. Smart phones will account for 26 percent and tablets weigh in at around 3.5 percent.
Cisco's Shetty doesn't rule out new devices arriving in the interim, however, to skew the company's 2015 predictions. "The mobile gaming handsets could be that wild card in the future," he notes.