How to relieve mobile network overload from mobile over-the-top (OTT) traffic: Proposing a user-based content-sharing solution

Today, a growing number of over-the-top (OTT) service users access content through mobile devices with dynamic consumption patterns, and enhanced mobility allows them to enjoy OTT content anytime and anywhere. However, mobile network infrastructures are struggling to keep up with this rising demand, leading to more frequent access delays and playback errors for users. To improve the OTT experience by enhancing the speed and reliability of content delivery while reducing the operational burden on mobile network operators (MNOs), this study proposes a novel approach that utilizes sociotemporal dynamics and trust among OTT service users to enable more efficient content distribution and sharing. To validate this approach, an agent-based model (ABM) testbed was developed to simulate an ecosystem for OTT content sharing that reflects the social context of user mobility and daily activities. The simulation results reveal that a content-sharing solution based on user trust can effectively reduce mobile data traffic. Building on this insight, we introduce a networking approach called ‘friendship-assisted relaying and distribution’ (FREND), which leverages social relationships to enhance content-sharing networks. Numerical evaluations demonstrate that the FREND solution outperforms traditional physical caching techniques in practical scenarios, offering a more efficient solution for managing mobile data traffic.