There was a time when mobile operators provided wireless voice connections and people were happy. Then, when smartphones created customer demand, they provided data plans. Data demand paralleled the spike of mobile services and apps, and every mobile operator was happy.
Now, the newest digital transformation wave is having a serious impact on mobile operators. Consumer and business demands for high volume, unlimited data and always-on connectivity are ready to exceed capacity. Online video content is expected to account for more than 80 percent of consumer internet traffic by 2020. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), flush with machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, is improving operational efficiencies in everything from manufacturing to healthcare. Business Insider predicted IoT devices will account for 24 billion of the estimated 34 billion connected devices online by 2020.