Broadband, mobile, VoIP: The next-gen of telecom

The next generation of telecoms services will be led by broadband and mobile.

Service providers are boosting their investments in converged networks but what will they be spending on? According to a study from Infonetics Research, broadband internet, metro ethernet and IP VPNs are the technologies causing the highest growth in IP traffic for telecoms carriers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America - and thus should be receiving plenty of attention.

As revenues for legacy services such as leased lines dwindle, service providers will be looking to these technologies and others such as VoIP and IPTV to make up the difference, said the market research firm.

Mobile is another big issue for service providers due to the rapid growth in subscriber numbers and new services from operators. Half of the service providers polled by Infonetics offer mobile voice and data services and many are considering both wired and wireless solutions such as WiMax for the next generation of transport networks that will deliver these services.

Creating new services is a bigger headache here than in the US, though, with 56 per cent of European carriers saying it's a challenge compared to only 14 per cent in North America.

The study, Service Provider Plans for IP, MPLS and ATM: North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, interviewed 29 carriers from across the world.