Internet traffic from video streaming services and video-on-demand (VOD), such as Youtube and Netflix, accounted for 56.1 percent of the total wireless data traffic in December 2016. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean Internet users have increasingly streamed content instead of downloading them though wireless services, government data showed Wednesday, mainly on the back of the introduction of a long-term evolution (LTE) service based on fourth-generation (4G) wireless technology.
Internet traffic from video streaming services and video-on-demand (VOD), such as Youtube and Netflix, accounted for 56.1 percent of the total wireless data traffic in December 2016, compared with 45.1 percent tallied in December 2013, according to the data by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
Also, streaming content from social networking services (SNS), such as Facebook and Twitter, accounted for 16.5 percent of the total wireless data traffic, compared with 13.1 percent three years earlier, the data showed.
Meanwhile, data consumption from downloading content from online data-sharing markets, such as P2P services and Internet portals, accounted for 3 percent and 16 percent of the total wireless traffic, respectively, the data showed. The comparative figures came to 7.9 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively, three years earlier.
The ministry said it has analyzed the network traffic behaviors of the country’s 30 most popular websites over the past three years.
The ministry said that LTE service enables smartphone users to access a stream of data faster than the previous third-generation (3G) network, and download and watch movies more quickly.
A total of 46.31 million people subscribed to the 4G service in December 2012, compared with 28.49 million in December 2013, the data showed.
(Yonhap)
