RCR Wireless News MBB Philadelphia: Carriers looking at various ways to stay ahead of data demand

PHILADELPHIA – It doesn’t take much looking to realize that the wireless industry is in the midst of a network capacity crisis. With data hungry smartphones flooding the market, carriers have been forced to come up with creative ways to protect their 3G networks, which are still the backbone for all-important voice services, as well as invest billions into next-generation networks that are designed to more efficiently handle data traffic.
During a panel discussion at this week’s RCR Wireless News Mobile Broadband Philadelphia event, representatives from both operators and tower companies touched on that current struggle as well as ways that the industry can look to handle the challenge.
Setting the stage for what carrier’s expect to happen over the next several years, Harry Martin, regional director of advanced wireless data at Verizon Wireless, noted that the while the carrier is seeing very similar usage levels between its recently launched Apple Inc. iPhone and Android-powered devices, he noted that usage levels from LTE equipped devices is beginning to climb. The carrier expects a 380% growth in data usage over the next three years, a number Martin called “staggering.”
“We are all working very hard to stay ahead of that curve,” Martin noted.
Representing a major player that has taken considerable heat for not staying ahead of that curve was Rene Pachinbhayag, in-building solutions consultant for AT&T Inc., who noted that the carrier was indeed surprised by the success of the iPhone and its related data-hungry nature.
“Having had the iPhone introduction first, we learned a lot of lessons that were very valuable,” Pachinbhayag noted. “Were we surprised at our success? Probably just as much as the industry. We are certainly happy about it, but that has been a challenge to manage our own success and we continue to do that. We are still focused as Verizon is on improving the network reliability and keeping the speeds going as fast as we can.”
Pachinbhayag added that while carriers are working as hard as they can to reinforce their networks, at the end of the day they really just “own air.”
“We just own air, and our focus is to give you the spectrum and transport for your applications,” Pachinbhayag explained. “We partners with manufacturers, we don’t make equipment or hardware, we just own air. We are trying to drive towards what people want and what devices and applications that are out there that suit the public.”
As an example of what carriers are trying to do to bolster their networks in support of those devices and applications, Martin noted that the increased use of fiber of backhaul is allowing networks to have the scalability needed to transport the additional traffic.
“That will allow us to stay ahead” of that demand, Martin said.
Stay tuned for more coverage from our RCR Wireless News Mobile Broadband Philadelphia event.