February 9 , 2010 

The world needs more mobile bandwidth, study
Video driving need for increased capacity

Allot Communications Ltd., a leader in IP service optimization and revenue generation solutions based on Dynamic Actionable Recognition Technology (DART), announced today that its Allot MobileTrends: Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report indicates that worldwide mobile data bandwidth usage has increased significantly by approximately 72% during the second half of 2009.

Over-the-top applications such as YouTube and Skype are driving this continued momentum in mobile broadband growth. APAC leads the growth with 86%; EMEA posted 70% growth and the Americas 59%. The Allot MobileTrends Report, which tracks global IP application usage and growth, collected statistics from leading mobile operator networks worldwide with a combined user base of more than 180 million subscribers.

The Allot MobileTrends Report validates video as a mainstream medium and demonstrates that it is the single most influential factor driving the need for increased mobile network capacity. However, with P2P remaining the biggest cause of cell congestion in the top 5% of cells, mobile broadband networks are still facing the same challenges as fixed networks - growing bandwidth demands, congestion, as well as finding ways to enhance the user experience and to lessen the negative impact of a few subscribers on the network.

According to Allot MobileTrends Report:

• HTTP streaming continues to be the fastest growing application with a 99% increase; its global mobile broadband share grew by 50% between Q2 and Q4, 2009.
• YouTube accounted for 10% of global bandwidth during Q3 and Q4, 2009.
• FaceBook experienced tremendous growth of 180% during the second half of 2009.
• Skype is the undisputed VoIP traffic market leader, accounting for 77% of the global VoIP bandwidth; VoIP and IM applications have increased significantly by almost 47%.
• HTTP downloads grew by 73%, and have become a feasible alternative for massive file sharing.
• P2P is the single largest factor leading to cell congestion which accounts for 34% of bandwidth utilization in the top 5% of cells.

"Our MobileTrends Report is a valuable tool for mobile network operators who need insight into subscriber behavior across applications and regions," said Rami Hadar, President and CEO of Allot Communications. "It highlights how mobile data services are evolving and the extent of their influence over the subscriber, which in turn, helps the operator understand the significance of adapting their networks for the continued demand for optimized bandwidth."

The Allot MobileTrends Report data was collected from July 1 to December 31, 2009 using the long term reporting capabilities of Allot NetXplorer, Allot's centralized management and reporting system. The length of the collection period allows accurate identification of usage trends and patterns, reducing the influence of temporary events in the monitored networks.