Dutch mobile phone operator T-Mobile is currently investigating how to prevent network congestion during large events, through limiting internet access or smartphones. Mainly due to the popularity of smartphone use, T-Mobile expect data traffic to increase. Although T-Mobile has doubled their network capacity last year, it remains by definition limited. At the moment it is common in the Netherlands that during big events or, for example, on new years eve networks are so overloaded that people cannot make calls or send tekst messages.

This weekend, a spokeswoman for the telecom company confirmed that T-Mobile launched a trial in the The Hague area, where certain applications that use a lot of network capacity will be shut down temporarily when telephone traffic is peaking. This could include the YouTube video service or the sending of video clips. T-Mobile Netherlands hopes to handle network traffic during peak hours better this way. The trial will result in a basic level of service during rush hours, allowing subscribers to keep calling and texting.

Over half of the smartphone users in The Netherlands are on the network of T-Mobile. The increasing popularity of smartphones has left the company with a worsening capacity problem. ''The test will help us to further optimize the network during peak loads. Basic services should be able to continue. In this pilot, we will also see what services are most important to customers. Ideally, those services should also be able to continue.'' the spokeswoman said. Demand for mobile services in the Netherlands is still rising, while the telecom operators reach the limit of what they can technically offer. It will be interesting to see what choices T-Mobile will make after the trial in The Hague.

Source: Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch)