By Marc Lippe, Director, Worldwide Field and Corporate Marketing, Infovista
In this month's round up of industry news, issues and updates, we feature the rise of public access small cell deployments, infrastructure trends discussed at Mobile World Congress, LTE drivers and the increase of global LTE traffic in 2013.
Telecoms.com — Public Access Small Cell Market to Hit $16bn in 2016 — March 4th
According to Informa Telecoms & Media, public access small cells are gaining momentum within the telco market and are likely to overtake non-public small cell revenues in the future. The rise in public small cell deployments can be attributed to big name telco providers, including AT&T, Vodafone and Verizon that have publicized their rollouts and trials in a number of announcements during the past quarter. When asked about the sudden influx, industry expert and Small Cell Forum chairman Gordon Mansfield said, “The mobile network is undergoing the biggest and most rapid change in its history due to small cells–they now account for 63 percent of all base stations globally.”
RCR Wireless News — MWC 2013: Infrastructure Trends — March 5th
If there was one key takeaway from the speaking sessions at Mobile World Congress last month, it was that network virtualization is the new hot topic among telco providers. Industry leaders Ericsson, Tekelec and Juniper Networks shared their plans to move to software-defined networks, to cut costs and gain better control of their networks. In addition, small cell discussions were also popular at the event, as vendors explained small cell momentum and tools for successful deployments.
ZDNet — What's Driving LTE Services? — March 13th
It's no surprise to see LTE service deployment numbers increasing in many regions around the world, but the real question on the minds of telco providers is why. In SAP's third annual survey, 36 percent of respondents thought the main driver for LTE and 4G launches was the demand for improved data speeds, followed by 30 percent who attributed the increase to the launch of new services. Although many telco providers see LTE as having great potential for revenue growth, obstacles like the lack of both LTE-compatible devices and support for roaming LTE services have hindered rollouts for many.
FierceWireless — Global LTE Traffic Will Grow by Over 200% in 2013, Says ABI Research — March 20th
A recent study conducted by ABI Research has shown that LTE traffic in 2013 is growing at rate of 207 percent compared to 99 percent in 3G. But, while factors like innovation in mobile technologies and the rise in smartphone apps drive data usage and provide operators with opportunities for profitable LTE and 4G rollouts, they also make it very difficult to stay ahead of the demand for faster network speeds. Regardless of the obstacles, LTE growth is expected to continue rising in the coming years.
If you're interested in learning more about these topics, I invite you to visit Infovista's website to see how we empower operators and IT-intensive enterprises to deliver high-performing and differentiated services, while cost-effectively planning, operating, optimizing and monetizing their networks.
