As the consumer’s insatiable urges to check Facebook on the go and stream movies on long car rides grow, so does the American consumer’s average mobile data usage. According to the CTIA Wireless Group’s annual survey, released on monday, Americans used almost 10 trillion megabytes of mobile data in 2015–this is more than double the amount of data Americans used in 2014. CTIA also noted that the increase was primarily due to an increase in data usage for music and video streaming.
This massive increase in mobile data usage by American consumers is great news for the large U.S. wireless carriers, whose revenues continue to inch up, but it could also mean clogged networks and slower wireless connections. These changes and consequences lead us to an important question…
Why the drastic increase in data usage?
Mobile data usage has been climbing since its inception, but last year’s increase in data usage is particularly special–never before have we seen this large of an annual increase in data consumption. Here are a few of the main reasons that the mobile data usage of Americans increased so drastically in 2015.
More people are going mobile.
Not that long ago it was normal for households to have both landline phones and mobile devices. However, it is becoming increasingly common for families to ditch their landline phones and use mobile devices exclusively. This increased reliance on mobile devices naturally contributes to an increase in overall mobile data usage, as consumers tend to rely more on email applications and mobile messenger apps for day to day communication.
Earlier adoption of mobile devices.
Not only are households becoming more reliant on mobile devices, but parents are also equipping their children with mobile devices at earlier ages. In 2012, American parents reported that they gave their children mobile devices by the age of 11 on average. Today, the average American child receives his/her first mobile device by age 7! This earlier adoption of mobile devices increases the number of consumers with tablets and smartphones, and thus the average consumer’s mobile data usage.
Increased use of data-intensive applications.
As we previously mentioned, CTIA’s survey indicated that the primary cause of the mobile data increase was an increase in streaming of music and video content. In fact, according to networking equipment firm Sandvine, YouTube and Netflix alone account for more than half of North American internet traffic at peak hours. As more and more American consumers sign up for services like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify, content streaming constitutes an increasingly larger portion of total mobile data usage. Larger smartphones and high resolution tablets make it easy for consumers to increasingly enjoy these streaming content services on the go.
Enterprise adoption of mobile devices.
Lastly, one of the key drivers of the recent nationwide increase in mobile data usage is increased enterprise use of mobile devices, and therefore mobile data. More businesses are beginning to realize the importance of tablets and smartphones in the workplace, and independent software vendors are continuing to develop tablet-friendly applications of their software, further driving enterprise mobile data usage.
As businesses continue to implement mobile device solutions in the workplace, mobile data is becoming increasingly more important from an enterprise perspective. In order to remain competitive, managers should seek out affordable mobile data providers that cater to enterprise needs. DataXoom is an MVNO that offers mobile data solutions designed exclusively for business. Interested in how DataXoom can add value to you company? Drop us a note at sales@dataxoom.com or follow us on Twitter.
The post Americans Are Using More Mobile Data Than Ever Before appeared first on DataXoom.