Wireless Industry Needs Regulators' Help to Meet Mobile Demand, GSMA Says

Mobile network capacity could struggle to keep up with demand in New York and other big world cities unless regulators make more spectrum available and ease deployment of small-cells infrastructure, GSMA reported Thursday. By 2025, 48 percent of traffic demand may go unserved in ultra-dense urban areas, it said. GSMA predicted mobile demand will grow by more than 50 percent in major cities by 2025 as 5G and IoT expand. Mobile operator spending would have to triple to meet demand, but that’s not sustainable under current conditions, it said. GSMA recommended releasing affordable spectrum, facilitating deployment of fronthaul and backhaul infrastructure, reducing siting costs, OK'ing network sharing agreements, streamlining small-cell deployment and harmonizing power density limits with internationally recommended limits.