Vodaphone CEO Vittorio Colao took to stage at Mobile World Congress is Spain this week to warn that smartphones—representing the only growth proposition in mobile phone sales—will soon begin to outstrip wireless networks' capacity to send and receive data. While chipmakers, handset makers, and services providers are all cashing in on the growth, mobile carriers are left trying to "cope" with the growing demand for data from increasingly data-hungry phones.
Echoing comments from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega late last year, Colao said that new business models need to be created to enable carriers to invest in improved network infrastructure while still earning profits. In effect, Colao is saying that users should be charged more for using more data. Also, he seems to be pointing a finger at Google—though it's not clear why—saying that its hold on a large majority of the search and mobile ad business needs to be "looked at," according to Reuters.
