The increasing popularity of smartphones has led to the UK’s mobile networks making some important changes. In an interview with the BBC, O2’s European CEO Matthew Key admitted that the iPhone had caused “growing pains” and said that O2's data traffic had recently been doubling every three months.
Meanwhile, Orange says it’s been optimising its network for the iPhone ahead of the device’s pre-Christmas UK launch. According to Guillaume van Gaver, Orange UK vice president of sales and loyalty (speaking to Mobile News), the iPhone differs from most other smartphones because its applications require “short, sharp bursts” of mobile data.
It all ties in with a recent report from mobile infrastructure company Airvana, which says smartphones tend to generate eight times the network signalling load of a USB modem-equipped laptop when they transmit the same amount of data. It says this increased network activity is caused because smartphones are always on, they’re constantly ‘polling’ the network and they frequently move between cell sites.