Japan's DoCoMo Looking to Reduce Android Data Load

­Operator backlash against every increasing data demands from smartphones is starting, as Japan's DoCoMo has asked Google to rein in the data consumption of its Android smartphones.

Report in Nikkei

Citing a report in Nikkei, the Reuters news agency said that NTT DoCoMo had identified an Andoid VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) app as being the main cause of a network outage that disrupted its network last week as the local infrastructure collapsed pursuant to this agreement a surge of traffic when public transport services stopped.

Some Android apps ping their servers every 3-5 minutes, even when not in active use, leading to data traffic loads that are as much as 10 times as high as a conventional mobile phone, the paper added.

Android handsets as well transmit control signals automatically every 28 minutes, and DoCoMo is asking for that to be reduced.

The Android OS is unlikely to be the only recipient of such requests - with operators as well questioning the rise of server sides apps being developed for the Apple iPhone, which rely on increasing levels of mobile data to perform.