There is a common opinion in the industry that 3G/HSPA mobile data networks are congested because operators are running out of their spectrum resources. Considering the traffic demand, likely traffic geo-distribution, daily profile and the constrains of HSPA and LTE technology our models show that in typical mature mobile telecommunications markets spectrum scarcity alone does not cause a capacity crunch yet.

For example, 90% of Helsinki's population could be served by more than 10 Gbyte/month of mobile broadband traffic by the existing operators, using the existing site grid and the currently available 900, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz bands, such that customers could experience at least 5 Mbit/s with 90% probability in the peak hours.

In our study we analysed the spectrum situation for Helsinki, Berlin and Cairo.