Did global mobile data traffic grow in 2009 at the rate you predicted in last years forecast? Has the economic downturn tempered mobile data traffic growth?
A. In spite of the economic downturn, which many regions only now are starting to slowly rebound from, the demand for mobile services has remained constant and has in fact grown in many areas. Our global estimates show that mobile data traffic increased 160 percent from calendar year-end 2008 to calendar year-end 2009, in line with our 2009 prediction of 157 percent. A number of mobile carriers have published some dramatic traffic increases. For example, United Kingdom-based O2 reported that its mobile data traffic in Europe doubled every three months in 2009; similarly according to Verizon wireless in the United States, mobile data traffic is more than doubling every year. Telecom Italia announced that its mobile traffic grew 216 percent from mid-2008 to mid-2009; and AT&T has reported that its mobile traffic increased 5000 percent in the past three years.
