The Middle East and Africa are the fastest growing markets in terms of internet protocol traffic and will see a 38% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next five years.

This is according to Cisco’s ‘Visual Networking Index Global Forecast and Service Adoption’ for 2013 to 2018.

“The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region continues to be the fastest-growing IP traffic region from 2013 – 2018 with five-fold growth and a 38% CAGR,” the report reads.

“Our first Cisco Visual Networking Index nine years ago established the zettabyte as a major milestone for global IP traffic. Today, we are firmly in the ‘Zettabyte Era’ and witnessing incredible innovations and shifts in the industry,” Sabrina Dar, general manager, Cisco East Africa said.

“The reality of the internet of everything, the increasing demand for network mobility, and the emergence of 4K video are among the key trends highlighted in this year’s forecast that represent significant opportunities for service providers in East Africa”.

More growth prospects are in the offing for the region.

Here are other predictions that Cisco has made about the Middle East and Africa:

• IP traffic will grow five-fold to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 38%.
• Internet traffic will grow 5.5-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 41%.
• IP video traffic will grow seven-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 48%.
• Internet video traffic will grow eight-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 50%.
• HD will be 19.6% of IP Video traffic in 2018, up from 6.9% in 2013 (82.3% CAGR).
• Mobile data traffic will grow 14-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 70%.
• There will be 2.0 billion networked devices in 2018, up from 1.3 billion in 2013.
• Fixed/Wi-Fi will be 60% of total IP traffic in 2018.
• There will be 3 million internet households (5.1% of all internet households) generating more than 100 gigabytes per month in 2018, up from 438,224 in 2013.