Smart Phone Data Consumption Catching up to USB Modems

Historically, smart phone users have consumed far less data than USB modem users. "On the Orange Switzerland network, USB modems accounted for approximately 80 percent of data traffic in early 2010," says Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group analyst.

Telefónica O2 Czech Republic has had a similar ratio in early 2011. Today, Orange’s average modem user generates 4 GBytes of traffic per month. But it appears smartphone data consumption, though significantly lower, is catching up.

In part, that is a function of more smart phones being used, users consuming more data and consumers using their devices for longer periods of time.

The net result is that—in the case of Orange Switzerland, for example—by early 2011, smartphones far exceeded the number of active modems on the network, and these devices are now generating the majority of data traffic.

The trend is similar in the United Kingom, where Vodafone expects a fourfold increase in smartphone data, contributing to an estimated threefold increase in total mobile data traffic by 2015, Longergan predicts.