Web browsing, peer-to-peer file sharing, audio/video streaming are driving a 50 percent year over year growth of data volume on fixed networks and 100 percent on mobile networks, the market researchers said. The average monthly consumption was 9,665 PB in 2010 and will climb to 116,539 PB by 2015.
"Despite enormous growth projected in IDC's forecast, it is difficult to overestimate this phenomenon. Fixed and mobile operators will have to deal with a new reality that will tax network resources to the limit —and perhaps past the limit," said Matt Davis, an analyst with IDC.
The survey also found that faster download speeds as well as more data-intensive applications will naturally impact bandwidth and promote greater data consumption. HD video streaming will be a major contributor on the application side as data downloads will retain a 10:1 share over upload data.
