DNA’s comparison reveals people in their forties and fifties are catching up to younger people in mobile phone data usage – “Increasingly a universal pastime”

Finns’ daily mobile data usage is growing faster than before in every age group. Unsurprisingly, people aged 18–29 have the highest mobile phone data usage, increasing 11% in the past year and approaching an average of 2,500 megabytes a day.

“These data volumes are mostly explained by young people’s consumption of short-form video content on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Watching habits are rarely centred around one long session. Instead, data-intensive content is usually consumed in bursts throughout the day. Naturally, social media is where most mobile data usage happens, not e-services or navigation”, says DNA’s Vice President, Mobile Business Cedric Kamtsan.

Even people in their fifties now use an average of a gigabyte a day

According to DNA’s latest Digital Life survey,* though social media and communication apps are popular among all age groups, there are clear differences in what kind of data different age groups are consuming. Young adults make heavy use of entertainment services, such as social media, music and streaming, while the mobile phone use of older age groups leans more towards mobile payment apps and utilities such as map and navigation services. However, a comparison of the most recent data reveals that these differences between age groups are shrinking: Relative growth in data usage is highest among age groups over forty.

“What surprises me most is the high data usage of people aged 50–59, which has reached one gigabyte a day. This tells us that entertainment content is becoming more popular across all age groups. Young people are no longer the only ones consuming data-intensive content like video; it is increasingly a universal pastime. We can expect to see a similar spike among people in their sixties in the coming years, followed by people in their seventies soon after”, Kamtsan says.

Video quality has a significant impact on data usage

Depending on the browser and program, one gigabyte corresponds to approximately 90 minutes to 3 hours of standard definition video. In high definition, one gigabyte corresponds to 90 minutes at most, as little as 20–30 minutes in less ideal circumstances. The figures also reveal how much improved video quality has increased data usage.

“According to DNA’s Digital Life survey, 5G phone usage has increased from 17% to 50% in two years, which has also played a pronounced part in increasing data usage. For example, more advanced technology brings with it higher image quality, and when you watch video, that higher image quality means more data usage. This means that, even if you are spending the same amount of time on your phone, you are using increasingly more data in exchange for a better user experience”, Kamtsan says.

Calculated based on place of residence, DNA’s 5G network already reaches nearly 93 per cent of the Finnish population – more than five million people across 239 localities.

*Source: DNA’s Digital Life survey 2023 (in Finnish).

Media enquiries:

Cedric Kamtsan, Vice President, Mobile Business, DNA Plc, tel. +358 (0)44 906 2377, cedric.kamtsan@dna.fi
DNA Corporate Communications, tel. +358 (0)44 044 8000, communications@dna.fi