Consumption 'far outstripping' capabilities

Consumers are using mobilebroadband networks at increasing rates - and the technology just can't keep up, according to a provider.

Niall Murphy, cofounder and chief strategy officer of The Cloud, told the Westminster eForum keynote seminar on next-generation broadband that the year-on-year industry average for broadband consumption per device is "six fold per capita".

"There's huge growth in capacity consumption in mobile networks which far outstrips the inherent ability of existing wireless broadband technologies to service it," he explained.

Mr Murphy added that in the future, there will need to be "significant changes" to how wireless access is serviced.

Mentioning the example of the US federal communications commission, which has said that businesses will be able to apply for white space in spectrum for unregulated access, he said that this was "part of the puzzle".

"It's part of squeezing capacity out of radio spectrum, which is crucial to figuring out how to meet this capacity demand crunch that is happening on mobile devices," he concluded.