www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A number of game-changing challenges have been faced by the mobile operators as handset vendors corner the market for applications. Explosion in data usage is one of the challenges. Operators could not cope up with huge increases in data traffic and as waves of new smartphones and tablets appear, the situation is only going to get worse. Data-transmission bottlenecks could be clear with the use of technology such as Wi-Fi and femtocells, as well as network improvements like fiber backhaul and the rollout of WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution). Addressing the problem directly is the need of the hour for the operators. Need for new pricing schemes that address heavy users of mobile data has also been underlined by AT&T in the U.S., KDDI in Japan and Vodafone in Europe. Controls, limits and payment parameters will result in the increase in the subscription rate. Some heavy users might be disappointed because they won't be able to do what they used to, or will have to pay more for what they used to get. The changes will probably benefit normal users, for example, by people who download music all day. According to Alcatel-Lucent's CEO Ben Verwaayen, operators should rethink the notion of just charging for capacity and data and most people don't understand what a gigabyte of data allowance means, instead, operators should look at charging extra for services.