The wireless industry has settled on a single interface for 4G networks, LTE. Gone are the holy wars, first pitting GSM against CDMA; then W-CDMA against EV-DO; and finally HSPA/LTE against WiMAX. Operators can now focus their resources on new network topologies, and how to increase spectral efficiency and capacity.

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In a recent report, I argued that data caps are not effective as a traffic management tool as they may encourage peak traffic, and thus increase congestion, instead of containing it. Fairly enough, one question that I often get is what works then, if data caps don't. Mobile operators have different tools--Wi-Fi and small-cell offload, policy, content optimization, QoS-based tiering to name a few--and they will have to employ many of them to manage traffic effectively.

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Apparently that's possible -- and it is not at all a bad idea. Telekomsel in Indonesia has announced an unlimited Skype plan priced at slightly less than three dollars per month. Why pay for something you can get for free anyway, you can get for free anyway with your data plan? You would not, if you have a multi-GB data plan. But the untapped market for data subscribers -- now that all the deep-pocketed early-users have their fancy iPhones and Android devices -- is among those who are not willing to pay $30+ per month

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In the days when voice dominated and traffic loads were easily manageable, mobile backhaul was a boring business. But the massive growth in data traffic driven by smartphone adoption and usage, coupled with more spectrally efficient air interfaces such as HSPA+ or LTE, have added increased pressure on backhaul requirements.

As a result, the backhaul market has become a much more exciting place, with better growth prospects, more innovation driven by more exacting requirements and greater competition. These factors are driving prices to a point that even U.S. operators have taken notice and begun to question their own commitment to optical fiber.

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New report available at GigaOM Pro

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Vertical applications have become one of the hot areas in the wireless industry. With cellular penetration approaching saturation and subscriber ARPU slowly declining or remaining stable despite the strong growth in mobile data adoption, turning to applications where humans are not required or only play an ancillary part is understandably appealing.

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What are the main drivers that are pushing mobile data traffic indoors, and what does that mean for mobile operators?

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For mobile operators fighting network congestion, Wi-Fi offloading has been an unqualified success. In some high-traffic locations in Hong Kong, up to 80 percent of the cellular data traffic is offloaded.

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UQ Communications and Samsung have demonstrated in Tokyo that WiMAX2 is ready for prime time, with download speeds of up to 140 mbps in a 20 MHZ channel in a dense and challenging urban environment.

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Cost per bit is a useful metric to capture costs associated with the delivery of data, and make comparison across technologies, operators, or markets. Yet cost per bit estimates cited as absolute values may be misleading or inaccurate.

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