The year 2014 will go down in telecommunications history as a year of profound paradigm shifts: For the first time, a higher amount of data was generated by mobile than fixed-line devices.
In our study, we analyzed the development of data traffic in mobile and fixed networks in 44 countries between 2009 and 2019 and visualized our results.
Behind the paradigm shift stands the introduction and usage of new transmission standards, such as LTE and LTE Advanced, as well as an increasing penetration of smartphones and tablets. In addition, the data volume on fixed networks is further increasing, driven by new technologies (e.g. DOCSIS 3.0 or vectoring) and the provision of HD or UHD / 4K quality content.
Thus, network operators are faced with the challenge to expand their network capacity, making multibillion Euro investments necessary. Furthermore, they are forced to migrate to the latest transmission technologies to provide the demanded bandwidth and to reduce their average costs.
The telco map is available for download.