Vodafone 4G: Faster wireless data, but not more data

When Vodafone announced New Zealand’s first 4G mobile network last month, the company didn’t announce larger data caps allowing customers to make full use of faster downloads.

In the short-term this may not matter. In any technology market early adopters often put up with less than ideal conditions – many see this as the price they pay to get access to new technology.

Yet it will matter over the long term. Telecom will launch a competing 4G network before the end of the year and 2degrees will no doubt follow soon after. It's possible, although unlikely, there could be another market entrant.

Mobile data is where carriers can differentiate

Either way, mobile data is one area where wireless network competitors can differentiate their products.

Make no mistake, mobile data use will increase. According to numbers from this year’s Mobile World Congress, mobile devices exchanged 0.9 exabytes per month in 2012. An exabyte is a billion gigabytes.

Last year more mobile data moved through the airwaves than in all human history.

Wireless data traffic is growing at a huge rate

Mobile data traffic is growing at an annual compound rate of 66 percent. That means it doubles every 15 or 16 months.

By 2017 the world's wireless networks will shift 11.2 exabytes of data.

The fastest growing sector will be machine to machine (M2M) communication which is growing at a compound rate of 89 percent.

Consumers demand ever larger data bundles with their mobile plans. Of course keeping a lid on the amount each user downloads is one way carriers can manage their networks, reduce congestion and control costs. Yet people's appetite for data is only going to head in one direction.