These Apps Are Putting a Strain on Mobile Networks

In recent years, larger smartphone screens and faster mobile networks have led to a surge in video and other rich content consumption on mobile devices. Mobile data traffic subsequently surged and, according to estimates by Cisco , will continue to do so for years.

Interestingly, it is just a handful of apps that account for the lion’s share of mobile data consumption. According to a recent report by broadband equipment company Sandvine, YouTube and Facebook alone account for 36 percent of North America’s mobile traffic during peak hours. In total, the seven most data-hungry applications combined with plain old web browsing (HTTP) account for two thirds of mobile data traffic while the millions of other apps account for the remaining third.