the new one percent?
Internet hogs: Half the world's bandwidth is consumed by 1 percent of mobileusers around the globe
Meet the new face of the global digital divide.
One percent of the world's mobile phone users are currently sapping up half of the global bandwidth, according to a study by UK-based mobile technology group Arieso that tracked 1.1 million customers from a European mobile operator during a 24-hour period in November.
The report marks the rise of so-called "extreme" smartphone users operating popular devices like the iPhone 4S or any number of high-end Google Android phones.
Compared to its statistics from the same time frame in 2010, Arieso reports that owners of the iPhone 4S demand three times as much data as iPhone 3G users and twice as much as iPhone 4 users. Such a sudden increase is sure to be a burden on current systems around the globe.
Compared to statistics from 2010, owners of the iPhone 4S demand three times as much data as iPhone 3G users and twice as much as iPhone 4 users.
“The introduction of increasingly sophisticated devices, coupled with growing consumer demand, is creating unrelenting pressure on mobile networks," study author Dr. Michael Flanagan said in a statement. "The capacity crunch is still a very real threat for mobile operators, and it looks set to only get harder in 2012.”
“The mobile industry needs new investment and new approaches to boost network performance and manage the customer experience,” he continued.
The report found that different users and different devices placed different demands on mobile networks, with laptops causing more than 60 percent of the traffic, smartphones about a third and iPads around three percent.
Flanagan told The New York Times that the heavy data strain was likely coming from a diverse mix of business users and a continued increase in individuals with generous mobile data packages that allow them to stream more video. Beyond that, the specific demographic information of an extreme user, such as their nationality, remains hazy.
Given CNNMoney's recent article reporting that Americans make up half of the world's richest one percent, it's a safe bet to assume that the United States is using its fair share of the global network.
