Vish Nandlall, the CTO of Nortel spoke at the LTE World Summit about what he envisions as the way to ensure a return on investment for LTE.

The market dynamics have changed. We cannot use the same conditions and business models in a multi-application environment – we can’t keep up with the level of applications.

Using the USA as an example he cited that Verizon, which leads U.S. wireless operators with its 60 percent 3G subscriber penetration, saw the most growth in 3G usage and the most data revenue — $2.6 billion for the quarter.

It has been observed that iPhones generate 20x the traffic of traditional smart phones. Why? Because the iPhone's user interfaces makes it so simple for users. The corollary is that the simplicity of the iPhone epitomizes the path to what we call the "True" broadband experience, providing seamless low latency access to any business application.

AT&T, the exclusive provider to the Internet-friendly iPhone, had 25 percent 3G subscriber penetration but also saw its data sales come close to Verizon’s at $2.5 billion, proving that the Internet on the phone is a powerful driver of data revenue.

So how can operators bridge that revenue gap with LTE? Vish stated that operators need to improve user experience for the 80% of subscribers that are using less than 10% of bandwidth. Is differentiating performance for different paying customers the way forward? There is certainly a case for moving away from flat rate plans, as consumer appetite is not clear for data services.

Addressing the question of who the market players are is also am important question. It as not just about operators and vendors anymore, players such as Google, Microsoft and Apple are extremely important to the value chain, but what role will they actually play in driving the roadmap for LTE?