Wireless industry 'caught by surprise' about wireless data traffic

Qualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs said the wireless industry did not anticipate the explosion in data traffic on their networks as people began accessing the Internet on their mobile phones.

"Demand for data has grown so rapidly, it almost has caught the industry by surprise," he said. Stressing access to spectrum as a key solution, Jacobs said last year marked the first time data traffic exceeded voice traffic on the networks. "AT&T is talking about 5,000 percent increases in their traffic in a span of three years," he said. "But guess what, it's not stopping at all." Mobile is "dominating" the broadband landscape, according to Jacobs, who cited a "a perfect storm of innovation and opportunity." Seventy-five percent of total broadband subscribers will be mobile broadband subscribers by 2014, he said, calling wireless the "the largest platform in the history of mankind." Going forward, the phone will become a sixth sense, he said, figuring out what users are interested in.