ABI Research Anticipates In-Building Mobile Data Traffic to Grow by More Than 600% by 2020

With the majority of mobile traffic either originating or terminating indoors today, Wi-Fi is now a robust access technology for mobile data offload. In 2015, Wi-Fi offload traffic from mobile devices continued to exceed 4G mobile traffic, and, by 2018, Wi-Fi traffic is set to exceed all 2G, 3G and 4G cellular traffic combined. In a recent market study, ABI Research, the leader in technology market intelligence, forecasts that rapidly increasing adoption of 4G and Wi-Fi will drive monthly in-building traffic to 53 exabytes per month by 2020.

Read ABI Research’s In-Building Mobile Data Traffic Forecast report.

“Mobile network operators, neutral host providers, building, enterprise and venue owners can all leverage this growth in 4G and Wi-Fi traffic,” says Nick Marshall, Research Director at ABI Research. “Video traffic volume outstrips all other traffic types and will grow tenfold between 2015 and 2020. The enterprise and commercial segments, sports venues, transportation and healthcare verticals continue to transport the most traffic, with shopping malls and hospitality coming in at a close second place.”

In-building wireless data traffic will grow at a double-digit rate to reach 53 exabytes per month worldwide in 2020. Report findings show that the Asia-Pacific region will continue to consume almost half of the worldwide in-building wireless traffic throughout the forecast period. This is due to the region’s large population and extensive Wi-Fi and 4G deployments.

“With more than 80% of all traffic originating or terminating indoors, Distributed Antenna Systems have now become a must-have for handling mobile and Wi-Fi traffic,” concludes Marshall. “As such, DAS and mobile equipment vendors remain poised to benefit from this traffic explosion.”

North America continues to show the most DAS spend, followed by the Asia-Pacific region and then Europe. Leading companies in the DAS market include Alcatel-Lucent, Cobham, Cisco, CommScope, Corning, Dali Wireless, Ericsson, JMA Wireless, Nokia Networks, Wireless Telecom Group and Zinwave. These companies and others will benefit from increased DAS spending as mobile broadband operators densify networks to meet this mobile traffic surge.

In its in-building wireless data traffic forecast, ABI Research dissects in-building wireless traffic by region, vertical, access technology and traffic type, with more than 50 charts, tables and pivot tables. These findings are part of ABI Research’s In-Building Systems Service, which includes research reports, market data, insights and competitive assessments.

About ABI Research

For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.