Social networking also consumed a growing amount of mobile data capacity, with mobile Twitter use shooting up 297 percent in terms of bandwidth and Facebook increasing 166 percent.

Apple's App Store dominated sales of new mobile applications, accounting for 84 percent of all app downloads in the period. The Android Market saw downloads increase 196 percent in the first half but still only controlled 13 percent of the market, according to the survey.

Carriers are responding to the rapid growth of data traffic by clamping down on unlimited service plans, which can have the effect of encouraging subscribers to put an even greater load on networks. Among the carriers surveyed, 51 percent no longer offer unlimited plans, according to Allot. In addition, 32 percent of the operators used "application-aware" charging systems, such as allowing a subscriber to use a certain app without being charged for data consumed.