GLOBE Telecom’s mobile data traffic grew 44 percent in 2016 to 361 petabytes (PB) from 252 PB a year earlier, as smartphone penetration reached 61 percent last year.

The significant increase in mobile data traffic follows the company’s aggressive network enhancement build in a bid to boost capacities and expand coverage.

Burgeoning mobile data traffic also corroborates a special report released by social media management platform Hootsuite and a UK-based consultancy firm We are Social that more and more Filipinos are accessing the internet through their mobile devices.

According to the report, total mobile subscription is now at 129.4 million as of January 2017, a nine percent increase from a year earlier, based on a total country population of 103 million. (PR)