Mobile Broadband Networks Slowing Down due to High Usage

Given the predictions for exponential growth in mobile broadband traffic in the coming years, the industry is gearing up to meet the higher demand. However, experts believe the expected usage will be so high that the existing network will be unable to meet all the needs fully.

In fact, analysts warn that mobile service networks are already buckling under heavy usage. The data flow is expected to increase at least 25 times by 2012, according to telecoms analysis firm Informa Telecoms and Media. In some areas, the increasing load of data that has to be carried across the network has already begun to tell badly upon the service. This is especially true in high usage areas like London and New York.

Speaking about the problem, Dimitris Mavrakis of Informa remarked that markets are becoming saturated quickly in the UK and the US. Experts say the problem will worsen due to the use of 3G smartphones, which will enable easy access to mobile broadband service and thus increase the number of people accessing the internet at any given point of time. The boom in the mobile broadband industry is bound to start having an impact on the quality of service.

LTE technology is believed to be the only effective solution to the growing traffic problem. However, there is a long wait until this is fully deployed. Till then, users will have to make do with HSPA+, which will enhance the existing systems in a stop gap arrangement.

If you