Silver Skies & Dark Nights: A Realistic Look at Mobile Broadband's Future

Mobile broadband occupies the high ground in the global service provider industry. Spurred by a number of factors – including device diversification and machine-to-machine communications – service providers, rightly, are excited about the business opportunities created by the revolution in how consumers use communications services.

The revolution is barely underway. It promises to be dynamic, creative and lucrative, a service provider’s Garden of Eden, at least at first glance. That first glance can be deceptive. Things are not always as they seem. All revolutions have unforeseen and unintended consequences – and casualties.

So it  is with mobile broadband. A mobile-broadband boom is inevitable; in fact, it is already underway. But not all service providers are ready, and the price of unpreparedness is going to be severe.

The C suite at major service providers is increasingly alive to darker possibilities, once again asking themselves critical questions about their futures. Are their networks sufficiently intelligent to accommodate building huge new waves of traffic and demand for bandwidth? Are their business models adequate to the dynamic new economic realities these new consumption patterns will create? Are the service providers dynamic and agile enough to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie immediately ahead?

The "Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2011-2016" cuts to the heart of these critical questions.

V2M has created a Special Report that reviews Cisco VNI’s findings, and puts them in context. The Report also calls out many of the key data points of the VNI. The Report is written by V2M Editor-in-Chief Tara Seals. V2M’s reporting is based on an exclusive, first  look at the Cisco VNI.

Please click here for a free copy of the V2M Report.

The future is thrilling for service providers. It will be even more thrilling for those who are informed, thoughtful and realistic about the challenges as well as the opportunities. This V2M Report is must reading for those service providers who want the thrill of the future to create tomorrow’s revenues and profits for their businesses, and not tomorrow’s business casualities.

Larry Lannon is group publisher of VIRGO ’s Communications Network, which includes Billing & OSS World , Channel Partners  and V2M.