South Africa’s internet traffic is expected to grow 6-fold by 2019, according to networking technology firm Cisco.

A Cisco report has revealed that the country’s IP traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44% over the next five years.

Cisco’s 10th annual ‘Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast 2015’ further predicts that the southern African nation’s internet users to reach 27 million by 2019.

In the report it is stated that South Africa’s mobile will constitute 21% of the IP traffic derived from cellular connections, and 62% of the IP traffic will come from Wi-Fi connections.

Factors expected to drive and shape IP traffic in the coming years include the increase in internet users, personal devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, faster broadband speeds, and the adoption of advanced video services.

Vernon Thaver, chief technology officer at Cisco South Africa stated, “South Africans are well on their way to adopt video and by 2019 the citizens would have streamed 43 billion minutes of video content. This stat highlights that consumers and businesses alike are using rich media clips as they head towards the digital era with the Internet of Everything.”

Thaver added, “We are entering into a very dynamic technological era and the rapid increase in connected devices will benefit a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, utilities, government, healthcare, sports and entertainment, and education.”

Other key South African projections:

* There will be 189.8 million networked devices in 2019, up from 112.2 million in 2014

* 59% of all networked devices will be mobile-connected in 2019

* M2M modules will account for 22% (42.0 million) of all networked devices in 2019, compared to 13% (14.4 million) in 2014, (23.9% CAGR)

* Tablets will account for 11% (21.2 million) of all networked devices in 2019, compared to 5% (5.1 million) in 2014, (33.2% CAGR)

* Smartphones will account for 30% (57.5 million) of all networked devices in 2019, compared to 22% (25.1 million) in 2014, (18% CAGR)

* Connected TVs will account for 6% (12.0 million) of all networked devices in 2019, compared to 3% (3.3 million) in 2014, (29.6% CAGR)

* Non-Smartphones will account for 14.3% (27.1 million) of all networked devices in 2019, compared to 44% (49.3 million) in 2014, (-11.2% CAGR)