While murmurs discussing the possibility of another looming tech bubble can be heard throughout the mobile industry, the recent CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans kept its focus on positive future developments. Key topics such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and the implementation of small cells to address spectrum needs heated up both discussion panels and Twitter feeds.

AT&T and Cisco announced that they are looking into creating “small cells” or short-range cell sites to help improve 4G data speeds, boosting network coverage to help increase outdoor reception in dense urban areas. This may in turn help alleviate some of the concerns around spectrum exhaustion as consumers use up more and more bandwidth with their mobile devices. Sprint was even more aggressive, detailing specific plans to install tens of thousands of picocells in buildings and high-traffic outdoor areas in the next two years.

Meanwhile, 4G voice services based on Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology may not be available as soon as many had hoped. LTE has long been anticipated to become the first truly global mobile phone standard and while LTE has been successful in data applications now that many service providers have upgraded their networks, voice capabilities are lagging as manufacturers do not yet support the standard in their mobile devices.

As service providers scramble to meet the huge bandwidth demands of their customers, we get a unique opportunity to witness a fantastic network evolution happen right before our eyes. Our constant use of mobile devices to communicate, look up information and play interactive games has created amazing huge marketplace driving a tremendous period of growth for the mobile industry. Telecoms and other tech companies must make sure they are properly positioned to take full advantage these current mobile trends. Now to get back to our next move in Words with Friends…