LTE does not only deliver more capacity to mobile operators overwhelmed by traffic growth. It is also brings innovation in the RAN, where operators have started to experiment with new topologies, new ways to leverage existing equipment in new deployments, and more flexible network planning and managing tools and interference.

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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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A paper I wrote on the future of Wi-Fi in the enterprise just came out on GigaOM Pro. It was fun to write as it gave me the opportunity to think not only about the future of Wi-Fi, but also about its past. It is really impressive how flexible Wi-Fi as a technology has been to adapt to an increasingly diverse set of requirements in the market.

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Mobile operators have finally come to accept that small cells will be an essential component of their strategy to increase network capacity. As they start planning for small cell deployments, mobile operators have to figure out the business case. And backhaul has become one of the top key issues – and one that is tricky to address.

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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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I have argued for a long time that unlimited data plans are unsustainable – or basically that they are marketing fiction, because available wireless capacity is unfailingly limited, and subscribers cannot escape that fact no matter what operators tell them.

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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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