Global mobile data traffic is expected to reach 131,000PB by 2018, a report from ABI Research has suggested.
According to the report, the mobile data traffic increased at 69% in 2012 and is expected to increase 72% in 2013 to reach 23,000PB.
ABI Research core forecasting VP and practise director, Jake Saunders, said that there has been much ‘doom-mongering’ about this growth in mobile data traffic but there is no need for the mobile carriers to panic yet.
"There are indications that mobile carriers have a number of options to handle the traffic loads," Saunders said.
Depending on the ABI Research’s ‘Carrier Strategies to Alleviate the Capacity Crunch’ report, the agency reveals a detail of the strategic options mobile carriers can use to manage the expanding mobile data traffic outlook.
As per the Radio Access Technology options, the carriers can use the LTE-Advanced path that introduces Multi-In Multi-Out antenna technology along with the interference mitigation technologies like CoMP and eICIC.
The report suggested that the Mobile operators can optimise their network base station assets to make the best possible use of their allocated spectrum.
The research agency expects that the available spectrum for the mobile cellular community will increase from around 300 MHz to 1,500 MHz over the next five to 10 years, which will be adopted by the incumbent mobile operators and equipment vendors on a dedicated basis.
Whereas the FCC, the EC, Ofcom, and additional governments are expecting to evaluate cognitive radio technologies including the white space TV, to boost spectrum capacity while allowing co-habiting users.
