Cisco says Australia's internet speeds set to double

Networking giant Cisco has released its 10th annual Visual Networking Index (VNI) for Australia, forecasting a continued exponential growth in internet usage and unforeseen levels of hyperconnectivity.

The research predicts huge increases across IP traffic, mobile usage, number of connected devices, consumption of data per capita and video consumption.

Cisco CTO Kevin Bloch said Australians businesses needed to ensure they're ready to take advantage of the opportunities presented by these trends, which are accelerating faster than predicted.

"Online connectivity is already one of the most important ways to keep in touch with your customers, workers, partners and other, and if you don't then someone else will," he said.

The VNI said IP traffic in Australia will increase three-fold by 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 22 per cent. IP traffic will reach 1.4 exabytes per month in 2019, up from 499 petabytes per month in 2014.

"To put this in context, that's 154 times the amount of traffic in 2015," Mr Bloch said. "This type of growth is unparalleled. Our research shows that technology and connectedness are being embraced and driven by consumers faster than businesses have time to adapt or that the current network has the capacity to hold.

"The implications of this are that growth, and importantly consumer satisfaction, will be hampered by companies' technological shortfalls."

The research also predicts video will continue to eat away at Australian data limits, estimating video will account for 81 per cent of total Australian IP traffic by 2019.

It said 74 per cent of total video viewing in 2019 will be made up of internet video, including services like Presto and Netflix. Mark Dioguardi, chief technology officer of local internet provider iiNet, has admitted Netflix had caused internet congestion across its network and that the service accounted for 25 per cent of the ISP's total traffic just a month after it launched. Australia's internet speeds overall however, a constant source of ire for consumers and businesses alike, are set to soar. Cisco said in Australia the average fixed broadband speed will grow 2.4-fold from 2014 to 2019, from 18.3 Mbps to 44 Mbps. It expects 75 per cent of fixed broadband connections to be faster than 5 Mbps in 2019, up from 59 per cent today, while the average internet user will generate 41.9 gigabytes of internet traffic per month in 2019. up from 15.7 gigabytes per month in 2014.

Originally published as Cisco says Australia's internet speeds set to double