Much has been written and a great amount of buzz generated regarding the ongoing rollouts of LTE; what hasn't garnered as much coverage are the issues that LTE presents to smaller carriers who will continue to operate 3G networks.
The cessation of production of 3G devices will force smaller carriers to purchase dual mode 3G/LTE devices. This, coupled with the SIM card purchasing minimums, has left smaller carriers in need of an immediately available and cost effective solution to not only purchase the cards, but also provision and manage the dual mode devices using OTA.
So what is fueling this race to LTE and causing OEM's to move rapidly to 3G/LTE only devices?
Data, Data, Data – And It’s Not Slowing Down
With CTIA reporting that data traffic has grown 120 percent year over year, and Chetan Sharma’s Q1 update on the U.S. mobile data market predicting that the U.S. will become the first country to reach the $100 billion mark in data revenue by year-end, it is no surprise that data consumption is the driving force behind the move to LTE.While this revenue figure certainly is promising, not all carriers will be able to ride the data wave to the bank… at least not immediately. Carriers in smaller, more rural areas often come in the form of legacy phone companies or incumbent utility cooperatives. These companies are finding themselves being pushed into the LTE race and asked to keep up with the pace set by the larger carriers – fueling the urgency with which they must find a solution to the aforementioned challenges of SIM card availability and OTA provisioning.
Purchasing Power-Size Matters
As mentioned, device manufacturers have followed the money to LTE and stopped manufacturing and supporting the 3G-only devices that work on the smaller carriers’ network and provide such a critical service as Internet connectivity.
Read the Full Article at The CCA Voice- Fall/Winter 2014
