The amount of data that users transfer via mobile devices is one of the most interesting figures related to mobile telecommunications. Mobile service providers generally do not publish this data. Unfortunately, the three big cellular network operators Swisscom, Sunrise, and Salt did not disclose these figures to moneyland.ch upon request.
Those challenges make the data recently published by Galaxus Mobile about its customers’ data use exceptionally interesting.
5.77 gigabytes per month
The magic number – for Galaxus Mobile – is 5.77 gigabytes per month. That is how much data each customer uses, on average, every month. In simplified terms, that translates into 5.77 billion characters. That figure only accounts for local data use in Switzerland, but not for data roaming in foreign countries. But there are clear differences between men and women, and between age groups.
I am somewhat surprised by the fact that male Galaxus Mobile customers – with an average of 6.93 gigabytes per month – consume a substantial 40 percent more data than female customers.
On the other hand, it is hardly surprising that younger customers transfer much more data than older customers. Customers under the age of 30 consume around 7.7 gigabytes per month. Adults between the ages of 30 and 40 transfer much less data, with an average use of 5.7 gigabytes per person and month. That is one-quarter less than the average consumption among young adults. Customers between 40 and 50 years old use 4.81 gigabytes per month, and those between 50 and 60 years old use 4.65 gigabytes, on average. I am surprised that the last two age groups have very similar data usage. Data consumption among adults aged 60 or older is much lower, at just over 2 gigabytes per month.
Every fourth customer transfers more than 16 gigabytes
The figures above are arithmetic averages. While the figures are still interesting, I find averages based on median and quartile calculations more useful. Galaxus Mobile responded to my request and sent me those figures.
The median is 5.68 gigabytes. That means half of customers transfer less than 5.68 gigabytes per month, while the other half transfers more than that amount. The upper quartile is even more interesting. This figure is 16.52 gigabytes per month. That means every fourth Galaxus Mobile customer uses more than 16.52 gigabytes per month.
The differences in the upper quartiles for men and women are even revealing. One out of four male customers transfers more than 18.53 gigabytes per month, compared to 12.92 gigabytes per month consumed by the top quarter of female customers.
One out of four young adults uses more than 32 gigabytes
That young people consume more data than older consumers is well known. The reason for the higher consumption is that young customers are more likely to stream videos frequently. Video streaming consumes more data than any other common activity such as text messaging, email, or browsing news websites.
Current studies have estimated that more than 70 percent of worldwide mobile data consumption results from streaming videos. Other studies have returned a lower estimate of 50 percent. But if you account for the popularity of Youtube, Netflix, Tiktok, and many other video-based services, it is easy to understand how video streaming could, indeed, account for a large portion of data consumption.
An evaluation by Galaxus Mobile shows that one-fourth of customers under the age of 20 transfer more than 29.26 gigabytes per month. Consumption is even higher among customers aged 20 to 30, at 32.11 gigabytes per month. The upper quartile gradually declines across other age groups.
Table 1: Data consumption by age group
| Age group |
Median |
Quartile |
Half of customers use less than
this amount and half use more |
One-fourth of customers use
more than this amount |
| Up to 20 years old |
12.45 GB |
29.26 GB |
| 20- to 30 years old |
14.26 GB |
32.11 GB |
| 30- to 40 years old |
6.44 GB |
15.88 GB |
| 40- to 50 years old |
4.12 GB |
11.03 GB |
| 50- to 60 years old |
2.89 GB |
9.13 GB |
| Over 60 years old |
0.86 GB |
2.74 GB |
All of these figures made me wonder how high my own personal data consumption has been over the past four months. It varied month by month: I used less than 2 gigabytes in February, nearly 14 gigabytes in April, and between 5 and 7 gigabytes in the other months. The reason for these fluctuations is that my data consumption is higher when I use my phone as a modem to connect my laptop to the Internet (tethering). My consumption is also higher when the weather is good and I spend more time away from home. I also often revert to my hotspot when I stay in hotels that have slow Wi-Fi connections.
Important note
The figures in this post are solely based on data from Galaxus Mobile, which is one of the smaller Swiss mobile service providers. Figures for all cellular network users in Switzerland combined would likely differ from these somewhat because user habits can vary between different customer circles. The kinds of consumers that are most likely to use a mobile service offered by the Digitec and Galaxus online shopping platforms would likely be heavier Internet users than the customers of some other mobile service providers.
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