Beiruting News

According to the latest Cisco® Visual Networking Index^TM Global Forecast and Service Adoption for 2013 to 2018, global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic will increase nearly three-fold over the next four years due to more Internet users and devices, faster broadband speeds and more video viewing. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region continues to be the fastest-growing IP traffic region from 2013 - 2018 with five-fold growth and a 38-percent CAGR.

With the FIFA World Cup 2014 now well underway, tens of millions of people are viewing games and/or highlights via the Internet. Video streaming and IP broadcast of the World Cup is anticipated to generate 4.3 exabytes of Internet traffic, which is three times the amount of monthly traffic generated by this year's World Cup host country Brazil. In addition, Internet traffic generated by the 60,000 people in a stadium and traveling to games is forecast to surpass the average busy-hour traffic ***from all 94 million smartphones in Brazil.

Cisco VNI MEA Highlights:

In Middle East and Africa:

• Internet traffic will grow 5.5-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 41%.
• Internet video traffic will grow 8-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 50%.
• HD will be 19.6% of IP Video traffic in 2018, up from 6.9% in 2013
• Mobile data traffic will grow 14-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 70%.
• There will be 2.0 billion networked devices in 2018, up from 1.3 billion in 2013
• Fixed/Wi-Fi will be 60% of total IP traffic in 2018.
• There will be 3 million Internet households (5.1% of all Internet households) generating more than 100 gigabytes per month in 2018, up from 438,224 in 2013

Global Traffic Projections and Service Adoption Drivers

• The composition of IP traffic will shift dramatically in the coming years. By 2018, the majority of traffic will originate from devices other than personal computers (PCs) for the first time. Wi-Fi traffic will exceed wired traffic for the first time, and high-definition (HD) video will generate more traffic than standard-definition video.
• Mobile and portable devices other than PCs will drive the majority of traffic by 2018. In 2013, 33% of IP traffic originated with non-PC devices. However, by 2018, the non-PC share of IP traffic will grow to 57%.
• Wi-Fi and mobile-connected devices will generate 76%of Internet traffic by 2018. Wi-Fi will be 61%, and cellular will be 15%. Fixed traffic will be only 24% of total Internet traffic by 2018.
• Online video will be the fastest-growing residential internet service growing from 1.2 billion users to 1.9 billion users by 2018.
• Desktop and personal videoconferencing will be the fastest-growing business Internet service growing from 37 million users in 2013 to 238 million users by 2018.

Supporting Quote:

Tarek Ghoul, General Manager, Cisco in the Gulf, Levant, and Pakistan