India's mobile data traffic to rise 7-fold by 2021: Cisco

This growth will be fuelled by massive consumer adoption of smartphones, IoT, smart devices

Last Updated : Feb 09 2017 | 7:10 PM IST

As India shifts its focus toward a digital economy, the adoption of mobile internet is on the rise as well. And the growth of mobile data traffic is projected to increase by 7-fold over the next five years i.e. by 2021, reveals Cisco Mobile Visual Network Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast.

“As India leaps towards a digital economy, 2016 alone saw a huge growth in mobile traffic – by 76% from last year and, by 2021 consumer mobile traffic will grow 7.4-fold at a CAGR of 49% y-o-y. Much of this growth will be fueled by massive consumer adoption of smartphones, IoT, smart devices and use of machine-to-machine connections with an estimated 1,380 million mobile-connected devices by 2021. As the Internet of Everything gains momentum, we are clearly headed towards a new era in Internet communications, with M2M connections predicted to increase 17-fold at a CAGR of 76% y-o-y. The way we use connectivity in devices today will change businesses, government, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, retail, transportation and other key industries.”, said Sanjay Kaul, Managing Director, Service Provider Business, Cisco India & SAARC

On the adoption of 5G, the report forecasts that by 2021, 5G will account for 1.5% of total mobile data traffic globally, and will generate 4.7 times more traffic than the average 4G connection and 10.7 times more traffic than the average 3G connection.

The key findings of the report forecasts some fascinating figures:

In India, mobile data traffic grew 2.2 times faster than Indian fixed IP traffic in 2016

In India, the average mobile-connected end-user device generated 251 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month in 2016, up 67% from 151 megabytes per month in 2015
In India, the average smartphone generated 559 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month in 2016, up from 430 megabytes per month in 2015
In India, the average PC generated 2,166 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month in 2016, up from 1,665 megabytes per month in 2015
In India, the average tablet generated 2,228 megabytes of mobile data traffic per month in 2016, up from 1,671 megabytes per month in 2015

In India, mobile data traffic will grow 7-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 49%

In India, mobile data traffic will grow 2 times faster than fixed IP traffic from 2016 to 2021
In India, mobile data traffic will account for 29% of Indian fixed and mobile data traffic by 2021, up from 15% in 2016
In India, 60% of mobile connections will be 'smart' connections by 2021, up from 19% in 2016
In India, 93% of mobile data traffic will be 'smart' traffic by 2021, up from 62% in 2016

In 2016, India's consumer mobile data traffic grew 1.8-fold, or 76%

In India, consumer mobile traffic will grow 7.4-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 49%
Consumer will account for 90% of India's mobile data traffic by 2021, compared to 89% at the end of 2016
In India, business mobile traffic will grow 7.1-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 48%
Business will account for 10% of India's mobile data traffic by 2021, compared to 11% at the end of 2016
In India, mobile video traffic will grow 11.5-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 63%.
In India, the number of video-capable devices and connections will grow 2.2-fold between 2016 and 2021, reaching 814 million in number
Video will be 75% of India's mobile data traffic by 2021, compared to 49% at the end of 2016.
Video reached half of India's mobile data traffic by year-end 2017

In India, cloud applications will account for 91% of total mobile data traffic by 2021, compared to 80% at the end of 2016

In India, mobile cloud traffic will grow 8.4-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 53%.
In India, 59.6 million net new devices and connections were added to the mobile network in 2016.
In India, there will be 1,380 million mobile-connected devices by 2021, approximately 1.0 per capita for this region/country
In India, 4G connections will grow 5-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 38%
India's 3G connections surpass 2G connections by 2019
In India, 2G connections will be 19.1% of total mobile connections by 2021, compared to 75.5% in 2016
In India, the number of smart devices will grow 4.2-fold between 2016 and 2021, reaching 823 million in number
In India, smart devices will be 59.6% of total mobile connections by 2021, compared to 18.5% in 2016
In India, the number of smartphones will grow 2.2-fold between 2016 and 2021, reaching 781 million in number

In India, the number of wearable devices will reach 6.8 million in number by 2021, up from 2.5 million in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 23%

In India, the number of wearable devices with embedded cellular connections will reach 0.8 million in number by 2021, up from 0.1 million in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 45%
In India, M2M traffic will grow 17-fold from 2016 to 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 76%
In India, M2M traffic will reach 44.7 Petabytes per month by 2021
In India, M2M will account for 2% of total mobile data traffic by 2021, compared to 1% at the end of 2016
In India, the number of mobile-connected M2M modules will grow 6.2-fold between 2016 and 2021, reaching 91 million in number