“By 2020 the average person will download one gigabyte of personalised data each day, and it will be delivered for less than $ 1 a day.”
That’s a striking comment from Hossein Moiin, CTO of Nokia Siemens Networks. Not only does it speak to the enormous growth in our data needs through this decade, but also to a more intelligent, personalized web. Obviously, the trend is that we’re downloading more data to our mobile devices, but we’ll also be uploading additional preferences, favored activities and other bits that will further shape our mobile web experience.
As for handling the growth in demand, Moiin is specifically talking about LTE, which is relatively new as a mobile broadband technology, but one with legs, as 200 new LTE networks are expected to launch by 2015. And LTE will gain additional efficiencies with new releases going forward. That’s important because so far, the promised savings from LTE hasn’t yet filtered down to consumers. Moiin suggests it will by 2020, but not only through cost reductions. Operators will need a little revenue help from value-add services for that dollar-a-day plan.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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- LTE-Advanced: what it is and isn’t
- LTE changes everything; LTE changes nothing
- Updated: Forecast: global mobile subscribers, 2010–2015
