Internet video users to rise 7-fold by 2017

LTE services would fuel data consumption; There would be 113 mn internet video users by 2017

At a time when mobile operators are banking on video consumption even in the low-revenue markets by offering low-cost schemes like one rupee per video, Cisco has predicted that internet video users in India will increase more than seven times by 2017.

According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast (2012-17), there will be 113 million internet video users (excluding mobile only) in 2017, up from just 16 million in 2012. Globally, internet video users (excluding mobile only) is expected to double in 2017, from about one billion in 2012.

The trend has already been spotted in India. According to Digivive, which owns mobile TV service nexGTv, has recently said that mobile users have consumed about 2.6 million hours of live video of matches during the the recent cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL). nexGTv was used by 0.13 million users on a daily average basis totalling to 2.5 million users during IPL between April 3 and May 26.

As speed plays a key role for video on mobility devices, Cisco forecasts that average broadband speed in India is expected to jump more than three fold by 2017 to seven megabytes per second (Mbps) from 1.9 Mbps in 2012. According to the study, Internet users in India will reach 348 million by 2017 from 138 million in 2012.

“The good news is that Internet traffic growth in India is the fastest globally. While the Government and the industry are working together to drive broadband penetration and ensure Internet access, there is a lot more that needs to be done,” Cisco VP (Global Technology Policy) Robert Pepper said here, on Tuesday.

Pepper added long-term evolution (LTE) services would fuel data consumption. “For good speed and proper LTE services, operators would require sufficient spectrum. The proposed allocation of 700 MHz spectrum will play a key roll,” he said.

According to the Cisco study, Internet traffic in India will reach 2.5 exabytes per month in 2017, up from 393 petabytes per month in 2012. One exabyte equals one million terabytes. Globally, Internet users will swell to 3.6 billion by 2017, which will be more than 48% of the world’s projected population of 7.6 billion. In 2012, worldwide Internet users stood at 2.3 billion against a population of 7.2 billion, it added.

Wireless connectivity in India is expected to grow with about 40% traffic coming from WiFi users to the total IP traffic by 2017, up from 38% in 2012. More than 50% of the IP traffic will originate with non-PC devices including tablets, smartphones and televisions by 2017, the study noted.

Smartphones and tablets are expected to contribute 40% to IP traffic in 2017, up from 3% in 2012 in India, while televisions will contribute about 10% and machine-to-machine (M2M) modules will contribute 3% of the entire IP traffic in 2017, according to the study.