The iPad - a wolf in sheep's clothing?

It would be difficult to have missed the news that Apple has launched its much anticipated iPad in the US and is on course for the UK and Europe shortly. On its launch week alone, Apple reported to have sold over 500,000 units and we expect to see uptake in the UK with similar vigour. The demand for the WiFi and 3G (pre-orders) models has been so great that it has had to delay its UK and European launches for a month. Much has been commented on about the iPads rich multimedia capabilities, innovative user experience and sleek appearance, but what impact will the device have on data traffic and how can operators prepare for this next shift in digital convergence?

Growing popularity of smartphones like the iPhone has already created bandwidth issues that are adversely affecting consumers and services that rely on a mobile operator’s network. Quality of service issues have already been reported due to the increase of smartphone and mobile broadband use. Recent press releases by AT&T and O2 about extensive network expansions confirm these issues and with the launch of the iPad, bandwidth consumption is only expected to increase at an even faster pace. To put the issue into context; according to the latest Cisco VNI report, a single iPad can generate as much traffic as 1300 basic-feature phones. Mobile network operators need to brace themselves for an even greater surge in mobile data consumption than with the iPhone and act quickly, or risk expensive downtime and poor service, creating consumer dissatisfaction and revenue leakage.

The launch of the iPad clearly shows more than ever that operators need focus on controlling the data flowing through their networks and effectively monetise it. This goes beyond network expansion alone. They need to secure a long term profit per GigaByte (GB) and require a supporting solution which enables them to:

• Control any aspect of the service to protect quality of service
• Decrease the traffic level where possible to free up capacity and decrease cost per GB
• Differentiate and extend the service to create more revenue per GB
• Secure affordable systems scalability & high performance

The iPad, and the expected competitive device launches, only exacerbates an existing data capacity issue. Moreover, iPad users are likely to join the current small group of mobile broadband users that claim disproportionate amounts of broadband, for example where five per cent of users claim 80 per cent of network resources. Operators need to evolve beyond today’s crude monthly quota management capabilities and introduce sophisticated fair use policies to control the service for individual customers, especially during highly contested periods or locations. This will not only create a personalised and better quality experience, for example by ensuring video is not stagnating due to bandwidth limitations, but also helps operators to control and manage their customer’s usage.

The key message here is that - yes the iPad is a very exciting ‘game changer’ but one that operators need to assess from all angles, not just from a subscriber uptake point of view. Although infrastructure investments are of course a must have, the necessary upgrades will come too late for an issue that is taking place now. By deploying sophisticated fair use policies, combined with intelligent optimisation capabilities, operators can manage peak users as well as using traffic and device identification, which allows them to make fast changes to their network which impacts the quality of service their customers receive, as well as ensure profit per GB in the long term.