Mobile Broadband Subscribers Increase By 850 Percent

By Mikael Ricknäs

Mon, March 31, 2008 — IDG News Service —

The worldwide number of mobile broadband subscribers using HSPA has increased by 850 percent over the past year, according to the GSM Association. But carriers are also running the risk of becoming a victim of their own success.

HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) is a member of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) family, and currently offers speeds ranging from 1.8M bps (bits per second) to 7.2M bps.

There are now more than 32 million connections worldwide, compared to 3 million a year ago.

"Operators have found a brand new market, connecting laptops to the Internet," said Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms and Media.

The level of interest has even taken operators by surprise.

"The growth has been bigger than we could ever have dreamed of," said Nicholas Högberg, chief commercial officer at Swedish mobile operator 3.

There are several reasons for mobile broadband's increased popularity. Everything from lower pricing, to improved ease of use and the convenience of being able to surf the Internet almost everywhere has played a role, according Newman and Högberg.

But with enormous success comes new problems. For operators a big concern is capacity, both in mobile networks and backhaul -- the links that attach base stations to the rest of the world, according to Newman.

As the subscriber numbers increase, operators will have to upgrade networks, or users will see performance decrease and start to complain.

"So far, we have only seen a few isolated incidents. But we expect to see more of that this year," said Newman.

Carriers aren't turning a blind eye. But the question is whether they can upgrade networks before users start experiencing problems, he said.

"Of course it's a challenge, but my CTO says we have everything under control, and we have already handled the first wave," Högberg said.

Capacity demand will also force carriers to look at other ways of building mobile networks. It will also drive the demand for so-called femtocells, small base stations for the home that offload mobile network traffic by sending data via a fixed broadband connection.

"Sending data via base stations is a poor way of using capacity, if a majority of users are sitting at home," said Newman.

The installed base of HSPA subscribers isn't the only area of growth. The number of networks and devices has also exploded.

The number of devices has increased by more than 265 percent since January last year, according to the GSM Association.

Users can choose from about 467 USB (Universal Serial Bus) modems, mobile handsets, notebook PCs, data cards and wireless routers, compared to 128 devices in January last year.


Loading...
Network MarketSpace
McAfee's Network Security Platform IPS
McAfee's Network Security Platform IPS; the costs, benefits, flexibility, and risk elements. Learn more »
The Cost of SQL Sprawl
Learn how a new approach to SQL server consolidation can reduce server counts by 50%, lower maintenance costs by 70% and reduce administration time by 75%. Learn more »
A Bottleneck-free Infrastructure
Storage bottlenecks have a significant impact on performance and productivity. Learn more »
Application Delivery Despite Emerging Challenges
IT organizations need to choose appropriate application delivery solutions that can scale to support the emerging challenges. Learn more »
Eliminate the Impact of Distance
Learn how to be prepared to adapt your environment in a way that supports distributed employees, anytime anywhere collaboration and the need for business continuity during a disaster. Learn more »
Extreme Savings: Cut Costs with WAN Optimization
Learn about how Riverbed WAN optimization technologies reduce bandwith costs and optimize DR. Learn more »
Achieve Business Agility and Productivity
Learn how to evaluate ROI in hard dollars and soft dollars with three key ROI metrics. Learn more »
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Webcast: Unleashing the Power of Customer Data

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

White Paper: Legacy Tools: Not Built for the Helpdesk

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

White Paper: Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

The Total Economic Impact of Network Security Intrusion Prevention

Join us at the US-Brazil IT-BPO Summit, on November 10th in New York.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

Learn how advanced forecasting tools can deliver significant business results for global corporations.

Lower IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2

White Paper: Visibility and the New Normal of Mobile Work

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Learn about The Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Top Five CIO Challenges

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Want to know how you can maximize employee productivity?

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A new fleet of PCs with a total ROI in 10 months. Find your ROI.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

White Paper: 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

5 Key Virtualization Management Challenges

Secure Email and Web-Based Communication from Evolving Attacks

WagerWorks Takes Fraudsters Out of the Game using iovation

Seven Design Requirements for Web 2.0 Threat Protection

Generation Remote Infrastructure Management - Changing the Paradigm

Cloud-Based Email Management: Opinion Shifts In Favor

eBook: How Can You Make Your People Productive Anywhere?

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Tips for successful virtualization management.

Unified Communications: Thoughts, Strategies and Predictions. Join the discussion

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

Webcast: Looking to the Cloud for Email and Collaboration Services

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Keep your IT expertise up to date. Join the Intel Premier IT Professionals.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

 
 
RESOURCE CENTER