The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) event, which has taken place in New Orleans, has seen a few revelations. The representatives of the companies present at the event have debated over data overloads, and the spectrum crunch that threatens networks.

Some carriers have tried to blame the data overload on the customers' habits and even on technology. At the beginning of this year, Siri, the digital assistant featured in Apple's latest iPhone, was seen as the culprit.

On the Verizon network, the mobile data traffic is doubling every year, and this has happened for the past five years. Verizon is the top US carrier, in subscribers, but its main rival, AT&T, has to face the same situation.

Mobile phone users have become more and more addicted to video streaming, data downloads and uploads. The situation, coupled with the limited availability of the wireless spectrum, puts carriers in a difficult position.

US carriers warn: if they cannot get access to an additional wireless spectrum, which is the raw material of their networks, the mobile data traffic will exceed capacity by 2014.

In order to prevent this from happening, the US Federal Communications Commission has to find a way of freeing an additional 500Mhz of spectrum, in the next ten years.

Source: VcCircle