If you’re the head of a wireless operator then chances are you come to work crying every day because you know that the network you’ve poured millions, maybe even billions, into is showing signs of strain thanks to devices like Apple’s iPhone and the wide variety of Android handsets available on the market. You may even be concerned that customers are going to demand more speed, and that you’ll have to upgrade to LTE before you were even ready to. ABI Research confirms this, and says that operators all around the world are going to be “writing billion dollar checks” next year to make sure that their network is up to snuff. Flat rate data plans are the first to go on the chopping block, because the idiot few who used more than their fair share of bits and bytes have brought the network down to its knees.
“We estimate that mobile operators could well be writing out checks for $1 billion in 2011. But as vendors offer their fountain pens, there is still uncertainty. There has been some slippage in LTE deployments. In early 2010, there were indications that 20 or more operators were planning to launch commercial services before year’s end. If we compare the pre-launch marketing cycle of LTE with the pre-launch marketing cycle of WCDMA there is a distinct possibility a number of these launches could slip into late 2011. Assumptions, however, over the addressable market for LTE equipment, have not changed. LTE base stations could well climb to 600,000 by 2015.” – Jake Saunders, ABI Research Vice President for Forecasting
Lately it feels like I’ve been writing about the upcoming data explosion every single day. It’s only going to get worse since the devices that will hit the market in 2011, what with their 1080p video recording and 12 megapixel cameras and dual core processors, will make consuming data even easier than it is today.
Enough complaining, just build.