The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will continue to be the fastest growing IP traffic region from 2013-18 with five-fold growth and a 38 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

In MEA region, Internet traffic will grow 5.5-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 41 per cent. IP video traffic will grow seven-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 48 per cent. Internet video traffic will grow eight-fold from 2013 to 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 50 per cent. Fixed/Wi-Fi will be 60 per cent of total IP traffic in 2018.

There will be 3mn Internet households (5.1 per cent of all Internet households) generating more than 100 gigabytes per month in 2018, up from 438,224 in 2013.

With the FIFA World Cup 2014 now well underway, tens of millions of people are viewing games and/or highlights via the Internet. Video streaming and IP broadcast of the World Cup is anticipated to generate 4.3 exabytes of Internet traffic, which is three times the amount of monthly traffic generated by this year's World Cup host Brazil.

Also Internet traffic generated by the 60,000 people in a stadium and travelling to games has been forecast to surpass the average busy-hour traffic from all 94mn smartphones in Brazil.

To place the World Cup in context, the report adds that the global IP traffic is expected to reach 132 exabytes per month by 2018, which is equivalent to 8bn screens streaming the FIFA World Cup final game in Ultra-HD/4K at the same time, 5.5bn people binge-watching Game of Thrones Season 4 via video-on-demand in HD or 1.5bn watching in Ultra-HD/4K, Season 3 premier of House of Cards streaming in Ultra-HD/4K on 24bn screens at the same time, 940 quadrillion text messages and 4.5tn YouTube clips.

The report also states that the composition of IP traffic will shift dramatically in the coming years. By 2018, the majority of traffic will originate from devices other than personal computers (PCs) for the first time.

Wi-Fi traffic will exceed wired traffic for the first time, and high-definition (HD) video will generate more traffic than standard-definition video.

The other drivers of growth other than PCs will be mobile and portable devices by 2018. In 2013, 33 per cent of the IP traffic originated with non-PC devices. However, by 2018, the non-PC share of IP traffic will grow to 57 per cent. Wi-Fi and mobile-connected devices will generate 76 per cent of Internet traffic by 2018. Wi-Fi will contribute to 61 per cent traffic and cellular will be 15 per cent. Fixed traffic will be only 24 per cent of total Internet traffic by 2018. Online video will be the fastest-growing residential Internet service which will see increase from 1.2bn users to 1.9bn users by 2018.

Desktop and personal videoconferencing will be the fastest-growing business Internet service growing from 37mn users in 2013 to 238mn users by 2018.

According to the networking giant, the evolution of advanced video services, such as HD/ultra HD video, may create new bandwidth and scalability requirements for service providers. Residential, business and mobile consumers will continue to have strong demand for advanced video services across all network and device types with quality of service, convenience, and price will be the key factors for success.