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Will Mobile Operators Face a Capacity Crunch Soon?By Richard KinderVP of Technology and New Business for Europe Red Bend Software Mobile data has finally arrived. After years of hype, the volume of data on mobile networks is reported to have surpassed that of voice traffic. Whilst the majority of this traffic is driven by people with mobile broadband subscriptions, undoubtedly the new breed of data-intensive mobile devices contributes significantly to this rapid growth. This bandwidth consumption is stressing the edge of the network and backhaul, resulting in a potential field day for providers of optical and microwave infrastructure. I could successfully argue that the capacity crunch is already upon us. A frequently cited answer to congestion problems is to off-load mobile data from the mobile core network. Various techniques may be deployed to achieve this, such as WiFi or Femtocell offload. For the best results, both approaches rely on mobile devices being aware of their network context and acting accordingly. Unfortunately, the majority of handset software platforms have yet to acquire the necessary smarts to make best use of these whilst staying within the strict energy budgets imposed by today’s battery technologies. We should not forget that bandwidth usage is only one metric by which to measure mobile network capacity. As has been highlighted in numerous articles, blogs and elsewhere during and since Mobile World Congress 2010, today’s mobile devices also impose a greater signalling burden on the mobile network. Whilst I am yet to receive a clear explanation of exactly what signalling traffic is generated, one can hypothesise that the desire to preserve battery life results in these devices frequently establishing and tearing down PDP contexts, which in turn creates signalling traffic within the operator’s infrastructure. So what can the industry do about this? 4G standards such as LTE and WiMAX eventually will allow for future growth in mobile data usage – the key word being future! Prior to the halcyon days and unlimited bandwidth of 4G, network operators are committing significant amounts of money to enhancing their existing 3G infrastructure. As developers of device software, we too have a role to play, for example:
We cannot rely solely on network operators’ investments in infrastructure to address the capacity crunch. We have a responsibility to use what they provide as efficiently as possible. Services and platforms that can help operators manage their capacity concerns just may be more appealing to them. To misquote Scott McNealy (he of “the-network-is-the-computer fame”), one day datatone will be as important as dialtone. That day is here. Labels: 3G, bandwidth, LTE, mobile, mobile broadband, mobile data, mobile networks, mobile operators, mobile software management, mobile world congress, Red Bend Software, software, standards, WiFi, WiMAX
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