People are consuming data at levels unimaginable only a few short years ago. Ever more capable smartphones and portable computing devices mean that society and the human species as a whole rely more than ever on seamless connectivity. Unfortunately the network that supports this ravenous need has become increasingly strained under the weight of the billions of subscribers.

The Monday night keynote presentation from Alcatel-Lucent got started with a video that highlighted futuristic technologies like interactive city maps, GPS-enhanced car windshields and touch-based medical tablets. An idealistic view of what will be possible in 4G era. This set a tone of reserved excitement about the possibilities of the new network. Whether or not these scenarios are truly possible has yet to be seen.

Addressing the audience of room 151 in the L.A. Expo Center, Daniel Lockelear Executive Director of LTE (News - Alert) Development said, “For that to become a reality there are a lot of business and technology hurdles to overcome.” He then broke down the biggest issues preventing the technology’s adoption and offered strategies to get around them. “The growing reality is that we’re approaching 5 billion broadband subscriptions across the globe and predominantly the device of choice is the smart phone” Locklear said, “as these devices take up more and more band width the reality is that a major network overhaul will be necessary to continue to support an increasing audience.”

The evolution to 4G would benefit both service providers and smartphone users. Revenues are flattening with the price of the service dropping and voracious data consumption from most customers and competitive pressures are also much larger than they were at the onset of 3G and constantly driving down subscription fees. The good news for SPs is that people are much more willing to pay for a service that has the features that 4G offers, which means more money to invest into the technology.

Lockelear explained that the adoption of this tech is already gaining ground all across the United States. This will explode when Verizon (News - Alert) launches 20-30 networks by the end of this year and sprint expands in 2011. Even with this news, the network is still not big enough. Here’s hoping that Alcatel-Lucent and others can make the fantastic vision in the video presentation a reality.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master�s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of Chris� articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi