Nearly two-thirds of the world's mobile traffic will be video by 2013, according to the latest visual networking index forecast by international networking giant Cisco.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for one-third of all mobile data traffic within the next four years and will have the strongest annual mobile growth of 146 per cent, second only to Latin America at 166 per cent. Europeans will consume more video than Americans, the report predicts.

These are among the key findings of the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Mobile Forecast for 2008-2013 which projects global mobile traffic to increase 66-fold from 2008-13 with a compound annual growth rate of 131 per cent over that period.

The Cisco VNI mobile forecast highlights a variety of Internet protocol (IP) networking trends driven largely by the increased use of mobile broadband applications.

250 million DVDs

It predicts that global mobile traffic will exceed two exabytes--the equivalent of 250 million full DVDs--per month by 2013.

The research forecasts that mobile broadband handsets, with higher than 3G speeds and laptop air or data cards, will constitute more than 80 per cent of global mobile traffic by 2013.

"The Cisco Visual Networking Index Mobile Forecast findings reflect the trend that consumers will use a variety of services, applications and devices to drive an increase in mobile traffic we're predicting," said Suraj Shetty, vice president of service provider marketing, Cisco.

"The evolving 4G mobile Internet transformation is further diversifying how people access and experience the Internet and is causing an undeniable surge in bandwidth growth," Shetty said.

4G transition inevitable

"The projected increase in mobile rich media points to the inevitable transition to 4G. This will shift the industry's focus towards all-IP networks."

Kelly Ahuja, Cisco's senior vice president, service provider routing technology group, said more personalised services and applications were becoming available on a wide range of devices.

"The key to success will be delivering video-rich any-play services to users, enabling them to move freely throughout the world while maintaining connectivity to others," Ahuja said.

"As a result, service providers will have to take into account the need not only for more bandwidth when planning their network architecture but for greater network intelligence as well."

This story, "Video Expected to Rule Mobile Web Within 5 Years" was originally published by MIS Asia .