• The New York Times, Friday, January 6, 2012 1:36 PM

Half of all mobile traffic is generated by 1% of the world’s population, while 90% of wireless bandwidth is consumed by 10% of the population. The findings, from mobile operator advisor Arieso, also show the gap between heavy users and the rest of the world’s population to be widening. In 2009, the top 3% of heavy users generated 40% of network traffic, while, according to Arieso, these users now account for 70% of the traffic.

Michael Flanagan, the chief technology officer at Arieso, tells The New York Times that the study did not produce a more precise profile of extreme users. “But the group, he said, was probably diverse, with a mix of business users gaining access to the Internet over a 3G network while traveling, and individuals with generous or unlimited mobile data packages watching videos, the main cause of the excess traffic. The mobile situation doesn’t break down along socioeconomic lines.”

Also contributing to the trend is the fact that just 13.2% of the world’s 6.1 billion cellphones are smartphones -- i.e., those with Web access -- according to phone maker Ericsson. Arieso based its data on the mobile activity of 1.1 million customers of a European mobile operator during a 24-hour period in November.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »