YouTube responsible for 22% of all mobile bandwidth

Close to a quarter of all global mobile bandwidth is consumed by people watching YouTube videos, according to a new report from network management vendor Allot Communications. The global bandwidth share of the Google-owned video site was 22 percent in the first half of 2011, compared to just 17 percent in the first half of 2010. YouTube now accounts for 52 percent of all global mobile video streaming, according to Allot.

Overall, video streaming now accounts for 39 percent of all mobile traffic. File sharing, which includes both P2P file transfers and downloads from one-click host sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare, is a distant second with 29 percent, and web browsing accounts for 25 percent of all mobile traffic.

Video streaming grew 93 percent in the first six months of 2011. VoIP and IM traffic grew even faster at 101 percent, but they still only represent a total of 4 percent of all mobile traffic.

All in all, mobile data grew 77 percent over the past year. Thats far higher than the growth of fixed networks, which Allot puts at 25 percent. Allot Communications gathers its data from mobile networks around the world, representing more than 250 million customers.

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