Infinite Path

New research from mobile analysts, Informa, has revealed that mobile data traffic could increase 25 fold by 2012, leaving operators open to a plethora of potential problems. The main issue appears to surround the discrepancy between growth rates for traffic and revenue.

The rise in revenue generated from the use of these mobile data services is expected to pale in comparison to the traffic increase, with experts believing that it will double over the course of the next few years. Flat-rate pricing makes it difficult for operators to recover the mounting costs that they’re facing, whilst they also face an uphill battle against the culture of the smartphone, which sees consumers needing to satisfy their desire for information at all times of the day and night. Placing limits on data browsing does not sit well with mobile users in today’s day and age.

Financial problems such as this one, coupled with the rapid boom of mobile data traffic, has set up something of a vicious circle for operators, which is likely to impact negatively upon users as a result.

The gaping chasm between the growth rates has left operators in a dilemma over recent months; networks that needed urgent upgrades were abandoned and left to continue operating in their existing state due to financial restraints. This has left the operators vulnerable to data jams, which will only get more severe as traffic increases and revenues fail to follow the exponential growth rate of this additional usage.

One thing is for sure: a solution needs to be found, and fast. Mobile users will not put up with an inferior service from their operators, so the race really is on to find a long-term method of reducing the gap between the two rates of growth.