Yankee Group: Mobile Backhaul: Will the Levees Hold?

Executive Summary
Yankee Group forecasts that mobile traffic will have a CAGR of 130 percent from 2008 through 2012—that is, 1 MB of traffic in 2008 will equal 28 MB of traffic in 2012. However, volume is just the first of the five major changes we are seeing on the mobile network. The second is more of a challenge than a change in the 2009 network: As we move toward 4G/LTE, the mobile network must meet the performance, quality of service and resiliency requirements of a converged, voice and data network. Third, mobile data traffic is becoming more truly mobile. By 2012 more than 55 percent of the traffic will be coming from smartphones or the “advanced OS” category of mobile devices, i.e., the traffic is becoming more mobile and less nomadic. Fourth, the traffic is becoming more critical. We are conducting more work and running more applications over the mobile network and the percentage of voice cord cutters—those users who have canceled their land line and rely only on mobile phones—is increasing. And fifth, ARPU is stagnating. The growth in data revenue is slowing and, together with declining voice revenue, does not compensate for the meteoric rise in data traffic.

Keywords

Mobile, Backhaul, MNO, T1, DSL

Pages
Publish Date & Author(s)

by Jennifer Pigg, Vice President
10 pages
June 2009