Cisco Visual Networking Index estimates that internet traffic in Australia will grow six times before 2015, at an annual growth rate of 41%, while the world traffic will quadruple in the same time frame.

Cisco’s annual Visual Networking Index (VNI) foresees that internet traffic in Australia will grow at a rate of 41% per year until 2015, which means that current internet traffic volumes will grow six fold over the next four years.

“These results show that we are on the verge of a zettabyte (a trillion gigabytes) era, which is particularly significant in light of the Government’s National Digital Economy Strategy,” said Kevin Bloch, Cisco ANZ’s Chief Technology Officer.

“This era promises a substantial evolution in how information networks catalyse the growth in Australia’s commerce and national well being. The results of Cisco VNI suggest that governments, business and society across Australia need to be prepared for an increasingly interconnected world, in every walk of life.”

Globally, the report finds, internet traffic will quadruple every year until 2015, which translates to an annual growth of 32%. The index also predicts that 15 billion will be the number of network connected devices by 2015, a number that is twice the world’s population.

The reasons for the growth

According to Cisco, there are four main reasons for this significant growth over the next four years.

The increasing number of devices connected to the internet:

As mobile technology usage increases, along with its availability to the public, so will the number of appliances connected to the internet. From mobile phones to tablets and laptops, the number of devices connected to the internet by 2015 is expected to be more than 15 billion.

Internet use is still spreading:

By 2015 the number of Internet users is expected to be more than three billion users.

Faster broadband speed:

The average broadband speed is expected to increase four times, from 7 Mbps (megabits per second) in 2010 to 28 Mbps in 2015.

Widespread use of video:

In 2015, it is expected that one million minutes of video will be transmitted across the internet every second.

“The explosive growth in Internet data traffic, especially video, creates an opportunity in the years ahead for optimising and monetising visual, virtual and mobile internet experiences,” said Suraj Shetty, Vice President of Worldwide Service Provider Marketing, Cisco.

Other numbers and facts

According to the Index, by 2015 the Asia Pacific region will surpass North America as the region that generates most traffic with 24.1 exabytes (a billion gigabytes) per month, while the fastest growing regions will be Africa and the Middle East with a 52% annual growth rate.

Average global traffic in 2015 will be equivalent to 200 million people streaming an HD movie at the same time all day.

By 2015, 10% of global traffic and 18% of internet video traffic will be consumed by Web-enabled TVs.

Mobile internet traffic is expected to grow 26 times between 2010 and 2015, to 6.3 exabytes per month.

Photo by James Morris