Netflix will be 55% of all data traffic in 2 years, SaskTel says
Rise of smartphones, Netflix, behind huge growth in data use, company says
You'll be seeing more and more cell towers in Saskatchewan in the future and it turns out Netflix's explosive growth is an important reason why.
With Netflix, people pay $8 or $9 a month to watch TV shows over the internet. It's growing so fast, that internet service providers are having trouble expanding their networks fast enough.
Earlier this week, a SaskTel official told Regina city council that its network data traffic is growing at a rate of four to six per cent per week.
Part of the explanation is that people are abandoning their land line phones and switching to smartphones, which use data for things like web searches, YouTube — and Netflix, officials said.
"As an example, teens and young adults are not tied to the television set to watch their favourite show or movie. They watch it on-line on a device," SaskTel corporate service real estate manager Rob Kaminski told council.
Netflix, little known in Saskatchewan only a few years ago, now accounts for 35 to 40 per cent of all data traffic on the SaskTel network.
By 2017, it's expected that number will hit 55 per cent.
SaskTel provided the information about Netflix Monday before council agreed to sell it a parcel of land in Qu'Appelle Park near Hillsdale Avenue so the company could install a permanent cell tower. The permanent structure will replace a mobile tower.
"As people continue to change how they're using their cellphones, smartphones and data, we're going to see more of this," city councillor Mike O'Donnell said.