Wi-fi to handle majority of mobile data traffic by 2017

Wi-fi networks are expected to handle the majority of mobile data traffic by 2017, according to a report by Juniper on mobile data offload.

Data traffic generated by mobile handsets and tablets will reach 90,000 petabytes by 2017. This is equivalent to about 42 quadrillion tweets or seven billion Blu-ray movies.

Although unfathomable amounts of mobile data traffic is expected to be generated by mobile handsets and tablets by 2017, only 40 percent of the data will go over cellular networks.

Growth in data traffic is attributed to the advent of network technologies such as 3G and 4G driving the mobile network operators to monetise this activity by introducing a range of data-centric services allied to data and content bundles.

But traffic growth has continued to outpace revenue growth leading to congested and deteriorating networks. This problem can be solved by scaling, optimising and offloading.