Mobile data surpasses voice: industry demands more spectrum

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 24 March 2010 14:51

IT Industry - Strategy

The mobile industry has used the milestone of mobile data volumes surpassing voice, globally to re-inforce its demand for more spectrum.

Ericsson announced earlier today, at the CTIA show in Las Vegas that  measurements taken on its networks around the world showed that the volume of mobile data had surpassed that of voice in December 2009, at a volume of 140,000 terabytes (or 140 petabytes for those who prefer fewer zeros) in the month.

According to Ovum analyst, Nathan Burley, mobile data volumes surpassed voice some time ago in Australia. However, he added, "we think mobile data service revenue won't exceed mobile voice service revenue until 2014."

Kursten Leins, general manager, strategic marketing, Ericsson Australia/NZ, warned that there was already a shortage of spectrum for mobile broadband.

"With just under 25 percent of Australians now connecting to the internet using wireless broadband services, growth is likely to be constrained as insufficient spectrum has been made available to support the ongoing rapid growth of mobile broadband.

And he urged mobile operators to "continue to evolve their HSPA radio and core networks, together with backhaul, to cope with this burgeoning demand," and consider LTE "as a 'step-jump' to increase network capacity and reduce overall data carriage cost."

AMTA CEO, Chris Althaus, warned that Australia's future productivity could be threatened unless mobile operators gained access to additional spectrum. 'Australia cannot sustain strong economic growth unless it lifts its productive capacity'¦And a key enabler of gains in productivity is mobile telecommunications, which in turn relies on retaining existing and acquiring new spectrum infrastructure to keep up with demand."