Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
X

Your mobile appetite is going off the charts

Nearly half of the world's population will have mobile internet access by 2020, says consulting firm PwC. Online video and entertainment will help fuel that demand.

rochellegarner.jpg
rochellegarner.jpg
Rochelle Garner Features Editor / News
Rochelle Garner is features editor for CNET News. A native of the mythical land known as Silicon Valley, she has written about the technology industry for more than 20 years. She has worked in an odd mix of publications -- from National Geographic magazine to MacWEEK and Bloomberg News.
Rochelle Garner
textingonaplanecorbis.jpg
Arman Zhenikeyev/Corbis

People love their internet anywhere they can find it. In 2020, the world's appetite for mobile access will translate to nearly 3.84 billion internet subscribers, consulting firm PwC said in a report Thursday. That translates to almost half of the 7.4 billion people expected to populate the globe in four years.

And much of the time, we'll be using our phones and tablets to watch online entertainment of some kind. The world will spend about 82 percent of its data usage consuming video, according to PwC. No word on what percentage of the world's videos is dedicated to cats being cats, however.

The consulting firm also reckons about 92 percent of all internet subscribers will be outside of the US.