Study: 0.1% of LTE users consume more than 50% of LTE data

A small sliver of LTE users worldwide, just the top 0.1 percent, are consuming more than half of all LTE downlink data, according to a new research report from network technology firm Arieso.

The study, taken together with past trends from previous reports, indicates that a small slice of high-bandwidth consumers are hogging most of the world's data usage, even more than in the past. This is the fourth year Arieso has reported on data usage trends. In March 2013, network test and performance assurance company JDSU paid $85 million in cash to acquire Arieso and gain its expertise in location-aware software solutions, small cell siting and network optimization. Arieso's study found that LTE users are 10 times more data hungry than 3G users, of whom 1 percent still consume half of the 3G downlink data. That was the figure Arieso cited in 2011 for 3G data consumption, or hogging. In 2012, Arieso reported that the hungriest 1 percent of all 3G subscribers consumed 40 percent of the 3G downlink data volume.