The telecommunications industry – which seems set for robust growth – will see the pressure to go increasingly mobile harder to manage as end-users become addicted to more connectivity and speed.
This is according to Andrew van Niekerk, MD of Teleforge Communications, a tier-3 voice solutions provider focused on providing carrier grade voice services to medium and large enterprises – as well as call centres
“The on-going expansion of the mobile sector, together with demand for higher-bandwidth applications and services such as video and gaming, is continuing to apply significant pressure on the industry to increase the availability and quality of broadband connectivity.
“This is one of the major issues at play – and it is not going to go away,” says Van Niekerk
This means carriers will have to remain on their present course of pursuing technological advancements to handle demand, including spinning off some mobile bandwidth requirements to WiFi.
While this will remain a strong and growing trend, long term spectrum accessibility, spectrum efficiency, small cells and continued backhaul advancements, look positioned to be a key focus to assure continued mobile broadband continuation.
According to Craig Wigginton, vice-chairman and US Telecommunications leader, Deloitte & Touche, another major marketplace focal point is the issue of security.
He said this encompasses a plethora of topics, including the threat of increased risks of hacking and malware as the global take-up of mobile devices continues to increase and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications gains momentum – and gains in popularity.
Moreover, the increasing popularity of BYOD at companies could worsen the potential exposure of vital company data – due to malicious malware or other hacking techniques.
Wigginton believes reducing the vulnerability of mobile devices to hacking, including embedded anti-malware software into devices and enhanced authentication features, will be a major focus area for device manufacturers and wireless carriers.
He also pointed out that innovation has been the cornerstone of success in the mobile ecosystem, believing that companies should keep pushing down hard on the development “accelerator” as many more opportunities occur.
Among these opportunities is the very likely possibility that new devices will continue to be introduced with varied price points and different form factors – equating to bigger screens, flexible screens, and curved screens.
Additionally, mobile capabilities are being extended even further and are now taking on technology improvements, and devices, that seem to be way out. This “way out” trend includes wearable technology such as glasses, smart watches and fitness and health devices.
But these are just the tip of the development platform.