'Big video' trend to shake up telco network design

Mobile video is expected to account for 75% of 4G mobile data traffic by 2020, up from 15% this year, as new video trends including 4K ultra-HD video streaming drive up video usage.

This is one of the key findings of joint research from telecom vendor Huawei and analyst firm Ovum into the emerging big video trend and the opportunities this affords for telecom operators.

The increasing popularity of social media videos, virtual and augmented reality applications, improving fibre broadband network penetration and the upcoming commercialisation of the 5G mobile standard are all contributing to the emergence of the big video trend.

Enterprise video applications — such as video-based training, remote medical services and an evolving host of videoconferencing services — are also becoming a major factor, as are the latest IT technology trends including cloud computing.

Major telecom infrastructure operators are exploring new ways to implement enterprise video strategies in response to this dynamic, introducing targeted bundled services and new video business monetisation models.

Huawei and Ovum have concluded that telcos will need to strategically plan their video business development blueprint to capitalise on the explosive growth of video usage.

Telcos will need to adopt a video-centric network architecture rather than relying on existing infrastructure.

Image courtesy of Kirill Kniazev under CC