Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of customer experience systems, today released the results of a survey that outlines the scale and significance of the data capacity crunch for mobile network service providers and their customers. The survey examined wireless service providers' strategies for coping with the increasing demand for data on their networks while maintaining acceptable service quality. Key findings include:

•Mobile networks are struggling to cope: More than 60 percent of wireless service providers interviewed are experiencing data congestion, with 20 percent registering severe overload at specific times. Service providers in the Middle East and Africa report that this overload poses serious consequences for their brand reputation and has led to an increase in customer complaints around service quality; Asian and American operators say it is contributing to churn.

•Data demand is driven by smartphones and laptops with mobile broadband: In the Americas and Europe smartphones are driving data demand, accounting for more than 40 percent of total data consumption. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, laptops with mobile broadband is the key driver. A further factor fuelling demand is flat-rate data tariffs where "bandwidth hogs," although comprising only an estimated 2-3 percent of the customer base, are consuming approximately 30 percent of the network's capacity, contributing to further service degradation for the overall user base.

"Wireless service providers want to provide a good quality of service for customers, but the challenge they face is that they have been caught in a 'perfect storm' with data demand doubling year on year, yet revenues are static due to flat-rate pricing," said Teresa Cottam, research director of Telesperience, the firm that conducted the research. "By blindly throwing capacity at the problem, it becomes harder for operators to cope with data growth. A smarter approach to capacity management and network planning is needed for future success, with quality of service providing the competitive differentiator."

"The capacity crunch is not just a network problem, it's a widespread commercial and brand issue that wireless service providers need to address in the short and long term," said Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs. "While service providers are adding extra capacity to their networks in the short term, they need to explore policy management solutions to enforce traffic flows and enable premium rate charging. But policy management on its own will not solve the problem. It's about combining policy with charging capabilities and network knowledge. Rigorous engineering of network capacity is critical to ensure customer experience is not compromised and that brand equity is protected."