In 2018, global mobile data traffic amounted to 19.01 exabytes per month. By 2022, mobile data traffic is expected to reach 77.5 exabytes per month worldwide at a compound annual growth rate of 46 percent.
Mobile video, gaming and app downloads are only a few examples of mobile internet activities that require a mobile broadband connection with sufficient speed. In April 2019, Norway was ranked first among the countries with the fastest average mobile internet speed. However, the speed of mobile internet connections is one thing, mobile phone network coverage is another. In 2018, 98 percent of the European population had mobile broadband with only two percent of the population not having mobile broadband coverage. By contrast, the MBB coverage gap in Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to 47 percent of the population, highlighting the disparities in digital access worldwide.
Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022
(in exabytes per month)
Characteristic
Traffic in exabytes per month
2022*
77.49
2021*
56.8
2020*
40.77
2019*
28.56
2018
19.01
2017
11.51
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2Traffic in exabytes per month11.5111.5119.0119.0128.5628.5640.7740.7756.856.877.4977.49201720182019*2020*2021*2022*
020406080100
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Cisco Systems. (February 27, 2019). Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved May 02, 2025, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/
Cisco Systems. "Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month)." Chart. February 27, 2019. Statista. Accessed May 02, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/
Cisco Systems. (2019). Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: May 02, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/
Cisco Systems. "Global Mobile Data Traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in Exabytes per Month)." Statista, Statista Inc., 27 Feb 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/
Cisco Systems, Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/ (last visited May 02, 2025)
Global mobile data traffic from 2017 to 2022 (in exabytes per month) [Graph], Cisco Systems, February 27, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/271405/global-mobile-data-traffic-forecast/
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