Global mobile data bandwidth usage surges 72% in the second half of 2009

Allot Communications (NASDAQ: ALLT), a leader in IP service optimization and revenue generation solutions based on DART (Dynamic Actionable Recognition Technology), announced that global mobile data bandwidth usage has increased significantly by approximately 72% in the second half of 2009, according to the company's Allot MobileTrends: Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report.

Bandwidth-intensive applications such as YouTube and Skype are driving this continued growth in mobile broadband. The Asia Pacific region saw the highest growth at 86%, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa reported a 70% increase, while the Americas saw a 59% increase. The Allot MobileTrends report, which tracks global IP application usage and growth, gathers statistics from leading mobile operator networks around the world, which together serve more than 180 million users.

The Allot MobileTrends report confirms that video is a mainstream medium and is the most important factor driving the demand for mobile network capacity. However, as P2P remains the leading cause of cellular congestion at top towers (5% of all cell towers), which handle the vast majority of cell signals, mobile broadband networks continue to face the same challenges as fixed networks - increasing bandwidth demand, congestion, and finding ways to enhance the user experience and mitigate the negative impact of some users on the network.

Allot MobileTrends report shows:

-- HTTP streaming remains the fastest growing application, increasing by 99 percent; its global mobile broadband share increased by 50 percent between the second and fourth quarters of 2009.

-- In the third and fourth quarters of 2009, YouTube accounted for 10% of global bandwidth.

——FaceBook achieved amazing growth in the second half of 2009, an increase of 180%.

-- Skype is the undisputed leader in the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications market, accounting for 77% of global VoIP bandwidth; the number of VoIP and IM applications grew significantly by nearly 47%.

HTTP downloads grew 73% and have become a viable alternative for large-scale file sharing.

-- P2P is the biggest contributor to cellular congestion. 34% of the bandwidth of the top towers (5% of all cell towers) that handle the vast majority of cell phone signals is occupied by P2P.

"Our MobileTrends report is a valuable tool for mobile network operators who need to gain insights into user behavior across different applications and geographies," said Rami Hadar, President and CEO of Allot Communications. "It highlights how mobile data services are evolving and the extent to which they are impacting users. This in turn helps operators understand the importance of adapting their networks to the ongoing need for bandwidth optimization."

The Allot MobileTrends report leverages the long-term reporting capabilities of Allot NetXplorer (http://www.allot.com/NetXplorer.html), Allot's centralized management and reporting system, and collects data from July 1 to December 31, 2009. The large span of data collection allows accurate identification of usage trends and patterns while minimizing the impact of transient events on the monitored networks.