Mobile Network Capacity Crunch: A Strong Reason to Decouple Network Costs from Traffic Growth

Author: Aditya Kaul, Practice Director, Mobile Networks

Published: 31 Mar 2009

Mobile broadband subscriber growth is expected to hold up against the gloomy economic environment. Although there are indications of slowing growth in mature markets like the United Kingdom, a decline in mobile broadband subscriber numbers is unlikely. In developed markets like Europe, which have been quite badly hit by the recession, subscribers will likely shift from postpaid to prepaid mobile broadband plans. However, the resulting continued growth of data traffic is putting mobile operators in a difficult position. Operators are facing a capacity crunch that could pose problems in the future if not treated correctly. The question is: How do operators boost their top and bottom lines while keeping costs down as mobile traffic increases?

The full text of this Insight is available to subscribers of the Mobile Services Research Service and the Mobile Networks Research Service and the Femtocell and Small Cell Research Service and the 4G Research Service.

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