Digital Lifescapes

A recent survey revealed that tier-one mobile network operators expect 22 percent of all additional data capacity added during 2014 to come from Wi-Fi offload, according to the Wireless Broadband Alliance. By 2018, Wi-Fi offload is predicted to contribute 20 percent of additional mobile data capacity -- plus a further 21 percent will come from small cells with integrated Wi-Fi. These findings demonstrate how important data offload is to mobile network operators, accounting for an average of 20 percent of data traffic, up to 80 percent in densely populated areas such as transport hubs and cafes. Within homes and businesses offload levels are 50 to 60 percent. Meanwhile, as worldwide mobile broadband traffic reaches 200 Exabytes per year, network operators deploy 4G LTE or LTE-A, plead for spectrum, and try to manage usage through policy controls and subscription pricing. The physics of mobile broadband radio do not follow Moore’s Law of digital scaling, so network operators are ...