The Cisco (News - Alert) Visual Networking Index has announced that it expects Internet usage to quadruple by 2016, AFP reports.

“Each of us increasingly connects to the network via multiple devices in our always-on connected lifestyles," Cisco vice president Suraj Shetty (News - Alert) said.

“Whether by video phone calls, movies on tablets, web-enabled TVs, or desktop video conferencing, the sum of our actions not only creates demand for zettabytes of bandwidth, but also dramatically changes the network requirements needed to deliver on the expectations of this ‘new normal.'”

Cisco expects Internet traffic to reach 1.3 zettabytes, or 1 trillion gigabytes, by 2016, four times the amount of traffic generated in 2011. Nearly 150 petabytes are expected to travel over the Internet every hour, the equivalent of 278 people streaming an HD movie. And speaking of video, it's expected to drive the growth of Internet traffic, with 1.5 billion video users.

The major reason for the projected explosive growth is an increase in the sheer number of Internet-enabled devices. The number of smartphones, tablets, Internet-enabled TVs and M2M devices is expected to push the number of Internet connections to 18.9 billion, up from 10.3 billion connections in 2011. PCs are only expected to account for 81 percent of traffic in 2016, down from 94 percent in 2011.

There will also be more humans on the Internet. By 2016, Internet users will make up around 45 percent of the Earth's population, or 3.4 billion people. The biggest regional growth in traffic will come from the Middle East and Africa with 58 percent growth and Latin America with 49 percent. The country that will add the most Internet traffic will be India with a 62 percent jump. South Africa and Brazil are tied for second place with 53 percent.

With more people on the Internet comes a greater need for speed. The average broadband speed will increase to around 9 megabits per second. Video will drive the increasing demand for broadband. Cisco estimates that 1.2 million minutes of video will travel over the Internet every second. At the same time, more Internet users will be mobile. Over half of the connections are expected to come over Wi-Fi.

As the standard IPv4 addresses have already been exhausted, the number of IPv6 addresses is expected to reach 8 billion, up from 1 billion in 2011. Other factors pushing growth include digital TV, VoIP and online music.