Mervyn Kelly, EMEA marketing director at Ciena has warned that network operators should not be too excited about the new iPad. He said that every time Apple brings out new gear it brings  increased challenges around connectivity and capacity. He said that a recent report by Arieso shows that users of the iPhone 4S consumed twice the amount of data as users of the iPhone 4.

“As features on mobile devices become more compelling and comprehensive, demands on operator networks increase,” he said.

While the iPad is a far more media-friendly device than the iPhone it generates three times the data traffic that an iPhone subscriber does, he said. Kelly said that the new iPad is capable of replaying HD content at even greater resolutions than a typical 1080p HD TV. But standard HD content typically requires at least three times as much bandwidth as SD content if being streamed.

“The increase in the consumption of data-rich content triggered by this launch will only serve to exacerbate the challenging situation operators find themselves in, trying to satisfy the growing demand for data in a viable and profitable manner,” Kelly said.

He claimed that operators need to look at how they can develop their networks to support the inexorable rise in bandwidth demands, while keeping their cost base low. Key to this will be ensuring that the backhaul portion of the network can cope. The backhaul connects base stations to the core network and has a great impact on the quality of service consumers get.