Mobile network giffgaff has released research estimating that average mobile data usage will climb to a mammoth 93 GB per month by 2025.

With 5G due to launch globally in 2020, giffgaff has based its estimations on theoretical speed increases. Research and advisory company Gartner believes 5G phones will begin to reach the market in 2019, when rollouts of 5G networks will start in select countries, such as the US and South Korea.

“We predict that, by 2021, 9 per cent of smartphones sold will support 5G,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.

“Overall, 5G will be a significant driver of video and streaming services, as it will bring faster uplinks and support new AI applications.”

Giffgaff have previously estimated that global mobile data usage will grow by 720% by 2021.

4K streaming

The research shows that the largest proportion of the increased data usage will be down to video streaming. Users consumed an average of 0.83 GB worth of their total data on video streaming in 2017, with this expected to rise to 24.7 GB in 2021.

Streaming 4K will be available to most mobile users in 2025, and giffgaff are predicting that this will send the proportion of mobile data used to stream video soaring to 73.87 GB.

Messaging is also likely to see a big increase in data usage. It consumed 0.46 GB’s worth of user’s total data in 2017, but this could grow to as much as 40.63 GB in the first half of the next decade.

“For millions of people, using a mobile phone for music and video streaming is more important than its traditional use for calls and texts,” Chief Commercial Officer at giffgaff, Kim Faura, commented. “With the launch of 5G, we will finally have the bandwidth to deliver speeds even faster than home broadband.

“Consumers need to bear this in mind when signing up for a two-year contract; 5G will be here in two years and many users will want a phone that will let them enjoy all 5G has to offer.”

– by Colm Hebblethwaite