There is increased use of legitimately acquired data globally, with streaming service providers such as Netflix helping tackle the illegal P2P file sharing promoted by services such as BitTorrent that allow users running software that utilize peer 2 peer protocol to share data, according to a new report by Sandvine.
A growth in online data consumption on subscription based digital media services with North American fixed line networks witnessing a 120 percent jump from 23GB to 51GB or 81 hours of video.
At the same time, consumption of data in Asia through mobile phones is up by 10 percent in the last six months to 659MB.
The report further indicates that unlike in North America where Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and GBO control the scene, Youtube controls a huge stake in Europe responsible for 20 percent of downstream traffic.
Sansvine adds that the next step is for the industry to prioritize real time applications like audio and video in that to maintain the high quality standards even as it utilizes video quality metrics (display and transport quality) to gain better understanding of major events like the 2014 world cup.
However, the basis of this conclusion arises from statistics that sharing of data on peer to peer protocol running services is on the decrease.
The report paints a grim picture for p2p file sharing, with indications that application sharing is on the decrease accounting to just 16 percent of traffic in Europe and 12 percent in North America on BitTorrent with the figure falling below 10 percent by 2015.
The report notes a sizeable percentage of the population in Asia (where paid over the top video services is available is lacking) continue to use Bit Torrent.
Analysts however raise questions on the report arguing that illegal downloads may be on the increase in places not evaluated such as Africa and South America, where the population is now reportedly receiving more broadband after heavy investment in infrastructure.
