Mobile broadband usage enjoyed a purple patch during the 2010 Fifa World Cup, with sharp increases being reported in mobile Web browsing.
The Allot Mobile Trends World Cup Report, which uses statistics collected from mobile networks around the world, representing more than 90 million subscribers, indicates mobile broadband usage surged by 24%. Web browsing on mobile broadband experienced the sharpest growth - a 35% rise.
“The World Cup highlights the integral role that mobile devices and mobile broadband have come to play in our busy lives and how consumers use them to enhance their lifestyles by accessing information anytime, anywhere,” says Rami Hadar, president and CEO of Allot Communications.
“This global tournament has demonstrated the continued rise of mobile data usage, in particular Web and video traffic,” he adds.
However, the Allot report shows mobile devices did not replace big-screen televisions during the World Cup, but rather created a new category where the two played complementary roles.
Hadar adds that during the World Cup, mobile broadband had the advantage of providing fans with the ability to watch replays at leisure and distribute them virally. “Mobile devices played a central role in enhancing the viewer's 2010 World Cup experience by offering them additional football and match-related information in real-time, he says.
With the data being collected from 42 individual matches from the tournament, the report found lunchtime matches showed the largest bandwidth increase, with 31%, while video streaming and P2P increased moderately by 11% and 13% respectively.
During post-match mornings, says the report, bandwidth usage experienced a 16% overall increase while YouTube traffic rose significantly by 32% during the same time.
Local analysts agree the upsurge in mobile broadband usage was expected during the tournament.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says: “The increase in broadband usage was widely expected when one looks at the way the World Cup was covered online. The needs and interests of soccer followers also boosted the need for mobile broadband”.
However, he says, mobile broadband still has a long way to go to catch up with big-screen television in SA. “The country only has around two million mobile broadband users and that can not compare to about 26 million television users.”
IDC analyst Pieter Kok says the increase in mobile broadband usage makes sense, due to the influx of tourists into the country and taking into consideration the following the event has traditionally commanded.
He adds that the World Cup showed SA “has the capacity to host mobile broadband at a bigger stage”.
One of the popular mobile broadband services in SA, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), also witnessed a huge upsurge in traffic volumes during the month-long tournament. Research In Motion, the company behind the smartphone, saw a correlation between BBM traffic and significant events during the World Cup.
For instance, during the final match when Spain scored the solitary winning goal, RIM says the smartphone's traffic increased abruptly by 280% as virtual communities of fans shared their reactions about the game.
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