Africa and the Middle East are set to contribute 20% of total global mobile data traffic by 2015, according to a new global mobile data forecast from networking company Cisco.

According to the study, worldwide traffic will surge to 6,3 exabytes (6,6m terabytes) of data per month, or an annual rate of 75 exabytes in five years time. Of the total monthly traffic, 4,2 exabytes will be attributed to mobile video downloads.

Mobile video and mobile-connected devices like tablets will be the two major drivers of this growth.

Africa and the Middle East will probably show the highest growth rate, enjoying a 129% increase, growing the region’s contribution to total traffic from 12% to 20%.

Within the region, SA is expected to be the second highest contributor to mobile data traffic growth, rising 144% in the timeframe. India will take the top spot with a compound annual growth rate of 158%.

Cisco’s study estimates that by 2015 there will be a mobile-connected device for almost every person on earth. According to population estimates released by the United Nations, that will be 7,2bn people.

Mobile network-connected tablets will generate more traffic in 2015 – about 248 petabytes a month — than all the traffic that flowed across mobile networks in 2010. — Staff reporter, TechCentral