Australia’s mobile data usage is set to grow 32-fold from 2010-2015, according to a forecast released by networking provider Cisco.

The news will come as no surprise to many Australians, who continue to guzzle down our nation’s mobile data with a range of tablets, smartphones, laptops and netbooks available through numerous tech companies. This increase in the country’s data usage would mean there will be 2.4 mobile-connected devices for every Australian  in 2015 (56 million mobile-connected devices in total).

For each device, an estimated 1548MB will be generated. This is a steep rise from the 119MB average in 2010 and a meagre 41MB average in 2009.

With evidence that the country’s data usage will continue to burst over the coming years, many telco experts have been left wondering whether our mobile carriers will be capable of maintaining their network infrastructure. The Optus and Vodafone networks have already collapsed in recent years due to the iPhone and the rise in smartphones and wireless mobile broadband usage.

The report estimates worldwide mobile data traffic to grow 26-fold during the same period, with India predicted to have the highest growth rate (115-fold growth). By 2015, “there will be a mobile connected device for nearly every member of the world's population” the report estimates. The study also predicts there will be more than 5.6 billion devices connected to mobile networks by 2015.

In 2010, worldwide mobile data traffic had grown 4.2 times faster than fixed broadband data traffic.