Telecom service providers along with network equipment vendors will increase the adoption rate of LTE-A to enable mobile broadband speeds above 500Mbps and support the transition to 5G, according to research firm Analysys Mason. The proportion of mobile operators that offer fixed broadband services will rise to above 50% worldwide in 2016.
Further, the average monthly data consumption per household will exceed 100GB in developed markets in 2016. In 2016, the communications service providers (CSPs) will prioritise short-term gains over new service delivery opportunities. As a result, network function virtualisation (NFV) spending will nearly double in 2016, outpacing software defined networking (SDN) spend, to account for more than 20% of the $9.5 billion software-controlled networking market, Analysys Mason said in its 2016 predictions’ report.
This year, network virtualisation technology will enable distribution of content delivery elements much closer to the mobile edge to improve customer experience even as video traffic grows, as demonstrated by at least one high-profile “mobile edge computing” commercial deployment.
Communications service providers to digital service provider (DSP) conversions will also increase in 2016 and will require stronger relationships with digital content providers, including video and music distributors.
The firm also said that the contest for worldwide dominance in low-power, wide-area (LPWA) networking technology will be confined to NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) and LoRa.
Telcos across the globe will be extending service reach to non-SIM devices such as tablets and watches. The report said that they will also integrate real-time features into IoT initiatives, such as smart homes and connected cars.
According to the research firm, the most important M2M sector in 2016 will be connected cars – the number of connected vehicles will increase to over 150 million, with the largest operators reaping the benefits.
The firm also predicts that internet major Google will decisively intervene in the communication services market with Android N, and will start supporting Rich Communications Suite (RCS) services natively while also opening up the handset’s native dialler to third parties.
