Global Mobile Broadband Adoption, 2014-2018 [CHART]

From a global perspective, 4G mobile broadband networks are still in the early stage of adoption. 451 Research forecast that 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) connections would total 356 million this year. But this was also expected to grow dramatically over the next few years, nearing 1.41 billion in 2018.

In simple terms, 4G networks effectively widen the data pipeline for users, allowing consumers to engage in a myriad of increasingly data-intensive activities. Not surprisingly, users on 4G networks have responded to faster network speeds by consuming greater amounts of data. According to Cisco Systems’ “Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2013-2018,” a 4G connection, on average, generated 14.5 times as much traffic as a non-4G connection. Read the rest at eMarketer.