Carriers are finding out that a side effect of offering unlimited voice and data plans is that people tend to use them more. Great, right? Not if their backend can't handle the new flood of traffic. One of Sprint's VPs told a panel at CTIA that "the increase in unlimited data and voice plans exponentially increases the backhaul requirements of 2G and 3G networks" so they're being forced to upgrade their network with higher speed pipes, like fiber. (AT&T already had its 3G wake-up call.) This is good for us, because it means faster, more reliable data services.

Plus, it'll also help the push to next-generation mobile broadband like LTE and WiMax, since carriers' current infrastructure apparently can't meet the exponentially higher bandwidth requirements. Neatly cyclical conclusion: Use more bandwidth, get more bandwidth! [GigaOM]

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