Capacity Crunch – stitching networks together!
Having seen the evolution of wireless from voice-centric to data-centric I can truly say that the spotlight now lies on data. And who would have thought a few years ago that the tipping point would come from apple. Apple products have done to wireless ecosystem what the warm temperatures of waters in Gulf of Mexico do to hurricanes in the gulf coast. I am an engineer by profession but all my theories of radio propagation, design principles, erlang B principles all stop to bow before the devices that are unleashed today on our networks! Wireless has become the utility like PG&E. And the pipes in networks are clogging. They are filling up faster than can be laid. Have we all become bandwidth hogs? What are we doing today that we never did in the past. One example I have from my own life – I update my Facebook status from phone, tweet every now and then, send an MMS to my circle. It is the ‘my’ profile that has changed, I used to maybe browse on my phone, send emails from Blackberry once in a while. So has the world changed faster than I did! Have the networks changed, very much too we are now on 4G – LTE/ LTE-A, is getting launched. Once SMS was the cash-cow for wireless companies, it is data now. Future networks will be networks of networks, consisting of multiple-access technologies, multiple bands, widely-varying coverage areas, all self-organized and self-optimized.
Capacity Crunch
MNOs have seen a seen a multi-fold increase in data traffic. With more than 5.75 billion mobile devices in service across the globe—including 5.2 billion Global System for Mobile Communications-Long Term Evolution (GSM-LTE) devices—mobile telephony is the most dominant form of communications on the planet. Mobile devices are stoking a dramatic and unprecedented transformation in personal communications and Internet access. And wireless technology is expanding the concept of mobility and connectivity beyond the traditional phone. The opportunity for operators and their vendor partners is not just in increasing voice and data subscribers, but also in connecting every facet of a person’s technology world. Someday, the industry will look back at terms such as voice and data ARPU as legacy analytics as they consider new research terms more relevant for the all-consuming, growing connected world. Read more…
