We live in a generation of people that need to be connected all the time, everywhere, regardless of where we are. Increased functionality in smartphones and tablets has made it possible to do just about anything on our mobile devices. Competitively priced services, along with innovations in smartphone functionality and an increasing range of apps, has made it possible for mobile broadband traffic to continue to grow.
BuddeComm is an independent research and consultancy company whose focus is on the telecommunications market, as well as its role within the digital economy. Developments in fixed and wireless telecommunications, especially in the areas of video and digital media, social media and multimedia are explored and reported on.
The firm recently published its annual report titled “Global Mobile Broadband - a Trailblazing Market - Insights and Statistics” which is designed to offer information on the global mobile broadband sector offering a valuable resource of insights, examples and trends. It provides insights into trends such as LTE (News - Alert) deployment, Wi-Fi growth, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Mobile Voice over IP (VoIP), along with mobile broadband apps.
Over the past 18 months we have seen LTE deployments steadily moving ahead in both developed and emerging regions. While it is true that this has led to greater mobile network capacity, the problem, according to BuddeComm, is that the physics of mobile technology is such that it will be impossible to handle all the traffic of these mobile devices over the mobile network. The result is that an increasing portion will have to be offloaded onto fixed networks and, as such, developments in LTE will stimulate the need for fiber broadband.
Essentially, the increase in connected devices, along with the increased availability of mobile devices that include tablets and smartphones, means that the amount of mobile data downloaded is in all likelihood going to double yearly for the next several years.
According to the latest report, “LTE systems were designed primarily for data communications and do not have the circuit switched capability of previous mobile generations. Therefore, on their own, LTE networks do not allow for voice or SMS. In order to offer these services, VoLTE solutions need to be added to the LTE network. In fact, LTE network deployment may turn out to be one of fastest technology migrations ever seen. In LTE's favor is the fact that it allows operators a smooth migration from both legacy 3GPP and non-3GPP systems.”
At the end of 2013 China’s top three telecoms were awarded licenses to deploy LTE networks. Since that time, the Asia Pacific region overtook North America to become the region with the largest number of LTE subscriptions.
The smartphone is the largest and fastest-growing LTE device category, followed by routers and tablets. China has been manufacturing low end smartphones that can be sold at significantly lower prices. It is expected that since India has recently begun to deploy LTE networks, these smartphone will find a home in that market.
This type of growth is something that has prompted Over-The-Top (OTT) startups the opportunity to offer mobile VoIP services, which should attract the largest revenue market shares, at least in the short and medium term. The major providers will be working on delivering HD voice services through their LTE networks, offering their customers VoLTE services.
Moving ahead, BuddeComm believes that commercial 5G is not expected to become available in any significant way until around 2020, with full deployment not expected to be seen any time before 2025.