Mobile broadband traffic has surpassed
voice traffic and is continuing to grow rapidly. This trend is set to continue,
with global traffic figures expected to double annually over the next five
years1. By 2014, the average subscriber will consume about 1GB of data per
month compared with today’s average figures that are around some hundred MB per
month. This traffic growth, driven by new services and terminal capabilities,
is paralleled by user expectations for data rates similar to those of fixed
broadband.
Actual figures per subscriber can vary greatly depending on
geographical market, terminal type and subscription type; some users with
mobile devices are already creating traffic in the order of gigabytes and
predictions are estimated to be several GB per month for some devices and
certain user behavior. This user behavior continues to evolve as expanded
mobile broadband usage over time is responded to by operators and vendors with
enhanced technology to meet these new demands, thus leading to more enhanced
technology that is more capable and enables new usages that then drive
additional demand. Faster mobile broadband connections, more powerful smart
phones, connected tablets, networked laptops as well as new consumer and
enterprise applications are all driving the wireless industry to provide new
technical capabilities. The mobile industry is, therefore, preparing for data
rates in the order of tens of Mbps for indoor use as well as outside and
gigabyte traffic volumes. With the expected explosion of mobile broadband data,
it is therefore of great interest for the mobile industry to continually seek
the introduction and improvement of advanced features that improve network and
user-equipment efficiencies and increase the overall quality of the end user
experience
Whereas,
LTE has tremendous momentum in the marketplace and it is clearly the next
generation OFDMA based technology of choice for operators gaining new spectrum,
HSPA will continue to be a leader in mobile broadband subscriptions for the
next five to ten years. Some forecasts put HSPA at over 3.5 billion subscribers
by the end of 2016, almost five times as many LTE subscribers predicted.
Clearly, operators with HSPA and LTE infrastructure and users with HSPA and LTE
multi-mode devices will be commonplace. As of October 2011, there are 412
commercial deployments of HSPA in 157 countries, including 165 HSPA+ networks.
Thus, with the continued deployment of LTE throughout the world, and the
existing ubiquitous coverage of HSPA in the world, HSPA+ will continue to be
enhanced through the 3GPP standards process to provide a seamless solution for operators
as they upgrade their networks. READ THIS WHITE PAPER FOR FURTHER INSIGHTS:
The Evolution of HSPA
The Evolution of HSPA
