Tefficient’s 43rd public analysis of mobile data trends and drivers compares data from 39 countries, where M2M/IoT can be excluded from the total bases. Mobile data usage grew in every country year-on-year, with Saudi Arabia remaining the usage leader.
Growth rates decelerated
However, growth rates have decelerated – Portugal saw the highest increase at 32%, while Croatia and Finland posted just 5%.
Data-only subscriptions, while limited in market share, continue to define average usage. Latvia led with 164 GB per month in 2023, followed by Austria with 136 GB per month in the first half of 2024. In pure FWA, Australia led with 498 GB per month in 2023, followed by Sweden with 316 GB in 2023 and Ireland with 313 GB in the first half of 2024.
5G’s proportion of traffic grew, but disappoints still
Unlike data-only subscriptions, 5G’s impact on traffic remains limited, except in South Korea, Austria, and Saudi Arabia.
Mobile service revenue per gigabyte continued to decline but at a slower pace, with Luxembourg seeing the sharpest drop, 22%. Inflation-affected Turkey, however, again saw its revenue per gigabyte skyrocket. But this time Finland had an increase too – a first-ever for the country.
ARPU followed data usage upwards
Encouragingly, 70% of markets saw ARPU growth aligned with higher data usage – a positive outcome in line with our previous edition of this analysis.
Download the analysis: Is the end of the S-curve in sight?
Updated 6 Dec 2024 with July 2024 data on 5G traffic and subscribers for the UK