Posts Tagged ‘wireless carriers’
Written on August 31st, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
Smartphones are double-edged swords for carriers. They attract big-spending customers, but tax networks designed for simpler times, explains Fortune.
Independent telecom analyst Chetan Sharma estimates that the typical wireless subscriber consumes 120 megabytes each month; typical iPhone owners use four times that.
And it’s just getting worse. By 2010, global mobile data traffic is expected to exceed 200 terabytes per month, six times last year’s levels, according to Cisco Systems.
“3G networks were not designed effectively for this kind of usage,” says John Donovan, AT&T’s chief technology officer, referring to the current generation of broadband wireless. “We fight the day-to-day guerrilla warfare as the customers move around.”
Many of AT&T’s 60,000 cell towers need to be upgraded, with new 850 MHz gear and backhaul. That could cost billions of dollars, and AT&T has kept a lid on capital spending during the recession. AT&T will delay their LTE upgrade, upgrading its HSPA 3G network from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps, instead.
Verizon plans to have 30 US LTE Markets by 2010. Verizon will use their nation-wide 700 MHz band. The carrier hopes to have a data-only LTE trial service available in Seattle and Boston later this year.
It can’t come soon enough. The tsunami is about to hit. Android phones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola are due in stores by early 2010. Motorola will launch their Android portfolio on September 10th. The data-oriented Palm Pre, which operates on Palm’s WebOS platform, is already on Sprint and should be in Verizon stores early next year.
A Cisco Mobile Forecast for 2008-2013 noted that a single high-end data phone today generates more data traffic than 30 basic-feature cell phones, while a single laptop air card generates more data traffic than 450 basic-feature cell phones. Cisco projects that mobile data traffic will increase a thousand-fold over the seven years from 2005 through 2012, with video being a significant component.
AT&T offers free Starbucks WiFi (with a paid data subscription) while Verizon is partnering with Boingo to deliver free WiFi access at hotels, airports, restaurants and coffee shops (with a data plan). PCCW, the Hong Kong operator, has started using Wi-Fi hot spots to ease the load from smartphones and its digital TV service.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said that the most active 5% or so of data users are causing problems for the other 95%. AT&T is working on a revamped data plan whereby light data users would pay less, and heavy users would pay a premium rate — or leave.
Source: Dailywireless
Written on August 31st, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
Mobile internet usage will grow 39 percent in Western Europe in 2014 from 13 percent in 2008, according to a new report by Forrester Research released today. That means that more than a third of consumers in Western Europe will access Internet from their mobile phones by 2014, great news for mobile advertisers.
At the end of this year, Forrester expects mobile Internet penetration to reach 17% in Western Europe — the same adoption rate for the PC Internet a decade ago, according to Forrester analyst Thomas Husson.
“Consumers who have a flat-rate data bundle spend more and more time on the Internet from their mobile phones, brands begin to launch their mobile Web presence to monetize these growing audiences and engage with their customers via more relevant mobile content and services, which in turn attracts more and more consumers to unlimited mobile Internet tariffs. The current economic climate will lengthen handset renewal cycles, foster the development of low-cost offerings, and boost the uptake of SIM-only contracts.
At the end of 2009, mobile Internet penetration will reach 17 percent in Western Europe, the same level of adoption that PCs with Internet access had in 1999, which Husson described as being a critical mass. “In the next decade, the mobile Internet will replicate the success story of the PC-based Internet as social networks, widgets, search engines or company websites adapt for mobile presentation,” Forrester reports.
Hussan writes that the “iPhone is just the tip of the iceberg” and that many other devices and services will enable the surge of mobile internet usage in Europe over the next five years. Source: Mobile Marking Watch
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Written on August 31st, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
With the search deal finally culminating between Yahoo and Microsoft, what does the future hold for mobile search between the two giants?
Obviously a significant push to out Google as the number one mobile search provider is the number one goal, but how will they do it? Will the two utilize Yahoo’s search technology, Bing’s quickly growing technology or combine the two moving forward. It’s a big decision, and one that won’t be decided on a whim.
So far, Yahoo said that it hasn’t made any definitive decision as of yet, stating only that it “will carefully consider whether and how to implement Microsoft’s mobile search services, and our approach may differ on a country-by-country basis,” according to Investor’s Business Daily.
Looking at the numbers, taking on Microsoft’s largely un-tested mobile search technology might not be the best idea- In June, Yahoo ranked No. 2 in mobile search with more than 5.5 million visitors, whereas Microsoft ranked No. 4 with more than 2 million visitors. Even together, the two wouldn’t be able to beat Google, which had a commanding lead with 22 million visitors.
The only saving grace in terms of the two companies competing against Google is the fact that together, Yahoo and Microsoft now have exclusive mobile search partnerships with 3 out of the 4 wireless carriers in the US- presumably making it the largest mobile search provider in the US. Still, having the upper hand with wireless carrier partnerships doesn’t mean it will un-seat Google anytime soon.
It’s a war that will be interesting to watch. In my opinion, Yahoo will likely hand over the search aspect of their business – both mobile and traditional – to Microsoft so they can focus more on investing in other technologies that have less competition. We’ll have to let this one play out and see what happens. Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
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Written on August 29th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
The Federal Communications Commission decided unanimously on Thursday to review the state of “innovation” in the wireless industry (pdf), reports C/Net. The FCC will investigate (pdf) the state of innovation and competition in the U.S. wireless market, indicating that more regulation may be coming to the industry.
The FCC will look for ways it can stimulate innovation and competition, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (pdf). The agency will take a three-pronged approach in its investigation:
- Innovation and investment in the wireless market (pdf)
- “Competitive conditions” (pdf)
- Consumer billing practices (pdf)
It plans to ask industry players and the public to comment on the issues and summarize its findings in a report that could lead to new regulations.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said (pdf) he favored policies that promote “investment, competition and consumers.” He also noted that the industry is at a “pivotal moment” as consumers seek to do more with their mobile devices and cellphones.
But the commission’s two Republicans questioned whether the FCC should get significantly involved in pushing for more innovation and competition. Ninety-four percent of U.S. residents have at least four mobile carriers to choose from, said Commissioner Robert McDowell.
Over the past seven years, the mobile-phone industry has invested an average of US$22.8 billion a year to update networks and provide broadband services, added Republican Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker. “We stand on the verge of the next generation of wireless broadband products, and the government should proceed with great caution so as to ensure the best outcome for consumers,” she said.
The FCC is already examining the wireless industry’s practice of locking some handsets to particular carriers and, following a controversy involving a Google Voice application for the iPhone, looking at the way Apple vets submissions to its App Store.
The CTIA, which represents more than 200 wireless companies, says the average U.S. consumer pays 5 cents per minute for voice service — a rate cheaper than other advanced telecom markets, such as the U.K., Germany, South Korea and Japan, according the the organization (pdf).
Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group said, “The Commission took exactly the right path today when it voted to look at all aspects of competition in the wireless industry. For too long, the appearance of competition among a few carriers has masked underlying anti-competitive industry practices ranging from consumer contracts to roaming agreements.”
Written on August 29th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
I came across a rather interesting article out of the Philippines that talked about the concept of wireless carriers using digital marketing to help lower the costs of subscription rates for its customers- much like magazines use the revenue generated from print advertising to make the magazine itself inexpensive for consumers.
It’s a concept I’m surprised I never thought of before, most likely because I always thought wireless carriers would always charge what they charge no matter the revenue they’re generating elsewhere. ”If telcos will get revenue from mobile marketing ads, the more they can lower subscription rates to customers,” said Emmanuel Allix, managing director of mobile advertising firm Pudding Media (Asia Pacific), during an interview with Computerworld Philippines.
To be fair, the interview was conducted with someone that obviously has an interest in mobile marketing, and therefore would love to see wireless carriers utilize the medium in large quantities, but the idea still makes sense. ”Through simple mobile phone functions like ring tones when someone is calling or when you’re receiving text messages, we can insert ads of businesses. And ours is even non-intrusive, permission-based. It is both opt-in and opt-out,” Allix continued.
Wireless carriers are already using the practice to some degree, but as revenue from digital marketing goes up, prices will undoubtedly stay the same- at least for the foreseeable future. We’ve already seen telcos try to offer completely free wireless service based on ad-revenues, and while it does work, it’s by no means a sustainable business model for large-scale carriers. Finding a happy medium would be a boon to the industry, but It’s definitely a long way off.
Source: Mobile Marketing Watch
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Written on August 19th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
A survey recently carried out by ABI Research in the United States indicates Cellular Modem Uptake is Limited by Service Cost.
Typical cellular modem users currently pay $50-$60/month for mobile data services from national providers. Respondents who don’t currently own cellular modems but are interested in them, however, place a significantly lower value – somewhere between less than $10 and $30/month – on that service.
“Over 47% of US survey respondents had at least some interest in cellular modems and their willingness to pay for mobile data service is at half of current market prices,” notes analyst Jeff Orr.
“In the US at least, consumers want a mobile data service costing no more than their home broadband.” Source: http://www.dailywireless.org/2009/08/17/abi-cellular-data-too-expensive
Written on August 16th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
Motorola launched its LTE drive tour in Sweden today, to demonstrate their Long Term Evolution technology to operators from across Scandinavia. During the drive tour, visitors will witness LTE’s mobile broadband performance on the move in an urban environment via an LTE-enabled van. The demonstration will include hand-over between sectors and a number of demanding, bandwidth hungry video applications – including live TV over LTE.
The LTE network, which includes two Motorola LTE eNodeBs running on commercial hardware, is operating at 2.6GHz. It was deployed and optimised in just 10 days, says Motorola. Inside the van, which also toured the streets of Barcelona at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, visitors will see Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) streaming video from a Motorola video-on-demand server, as well as voice over IP calls, web browsing, file downloads and other high bandwidth and low latency Internet-based applications. 
Swedish cellular operator TeliaSonera selected Ericsson to build the world’s first commercial LTE site in Stockholm. There are no paying customers on it, but it will be part of the Nordic carrier’s commercial LTE network in Sweden’s capital city. It is scheduled to go live in 2010. The Swedish carrier will also use LTE gear from Huawei Technologies. Huawei has been aggressive in LTE development. Ericsson is currently the largest LTE proponent. Ericsson expects 80% of mobile broadband services will be enabled by cellular by 2012, using HSPA and LTE technologies. Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said the bulk of mobile broadband deployments in the coming five years will be based on HSPA. But Huawei faces little competition in the market for LTE gear, opines Om Malik, with Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent in financial difficulty. Vodafone will use Huwaei gear in its LTE trials where Vodafone Germany and Huawei will test the performance of LTE in the 790-862MHz band using Huawei’ s end-to-end LTE solution. Huwaei opened a Long Term Evolution laboratory in Richardson, Texas. In June, Huawei launched what it proclaimed the world’s first commercial WiMax distributed base station (DBS) with four transmitters and four receivers (4T4Rs).
Motorola is actively involved in LTE trails with operators in North America, Europe and Asia, and earlier this year launched its LTE trial network and testing lab in Swindon, United Kingdom. Earlier this year, Motorola deployed a live 700MHz LTE demonstration network in Las Vegas, replicating their 2.6GHz live LTE experience in Barcelona. In addition to the collaborative trials with operators, Motorola is actively engaged with the TD-LTE trials initiated by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as part of its efforts to develop a globally competitive TD-LTE industry.
Ericsson’s CEO believes LTE will always have a price advantage — through volume — reports Om Malik. Ericsson drew a comparison to India, where GSM-enabled handsets enjoy a price advantage over their CDMA counterparts. “It will be the same for LTE and WiMAX,” he said. “In the end it will be about the economies of scale.” The ITU says their IMT-Advanced specification will be the only “true” 4G system. It calls for 100 Mbit/s downloads and a 1 Gbit/s link for stationary or local area connections. The ITU has said two specifications, 802.16m (or WiMax 2) and LTE-Advanced, will be considered, and it’s also possible that the Chinese government will submit its own specification for consideration.
Meanwhile, Motorola’s WiMAX infrastructure was used by Clearwire in Portland, Atlanta and Las Vegas. The Atlanta area is served by more than 400 cell sites that utilize Motorola’s WAP 400 and WAP 450 Diversity Access Point products. The WAP 400 and WAP 450 utilize tower top power amplifiers linked by their fiber optic cable with the base control unit housed in a small outdoor cabinet situated at the bottom of the tower. Source: Dailywireless.org
Source: http://www.dailywireless.org
Written on August 16th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
Cell phone users in the U.S., Spain, and Canada pay more for mobile phone service than cell phone users in other parts of the world, according to a survey published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
For a medium-use package that provides about 780 voice minutes, 600 short text messages, and eight multimedia messages, the survey found that the monthly price of service ranged from $11 a month for service in the Netherlands to $53 dollars a month for service in the U.S. as of August 2008.
On a yearly basis, American cell phone users are spending about $635.85 on cell phone service. Spanish cell phone users pay about $508.26 for the year. And Canadian cell phone subscribers pay about $500.63. By contrast people in the Netherlands and Finland pay the lowest amount for cell phone service, only $131.44 per year. And cell phone users in Sweden only pay $137.94 per year.
The New America Foundation says bandwidth caps in US very restrictive compared to Japan (pdf). In the U.S., the lowest bandwidth cap identified for an ISP was Cable One, with a 1GB per month for combined up- and downstream traffic, while none of Japanese ISPs studied set caps lower than 150GB per month. Another key difference between the U.S. and Japanese business practices is that while U.S. companies regularly set bandwidth caps for download traffic, Japanese companies only cap upstream traffic. Source: Dailywireless.org
Written on August 16th, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
Thailand’s three major wireless carriers- AIS, DTAC and True Move have banned together in an effort to block SMS spam collectively for the country- up to 9 million messages per day.
It’s estimated the carriers will collectively spend roughly 30 million baht (roughly $883,000) on anti-spam software using an application center to filter unsolicited advertising across their networks. Before, customers could only inform their mobile operators to block spam SMS messages if they were sent from within the same network, but starting August 31st, the new software put in place will block an estimated 90% of SMS spam across all networks.
Thailand serves a lot of SMS messages- AIS has 28 million subscribers, DTAC 20 million and True Move 15 million. The country’s largest operator, AIS, handles about 100 million text messages a day, DTAC about the same, while True Move registers 70 million. In addition to the measures put in place, each operator has dedicated a “call center number,” or shortcode so to speak, to allow customers to block unwanted content. Spam SMS sent from any of the three networks will be automatically blocked within 24 hours of a complaint.
Accompanying the 100s of millions of regular SMS messages sent every day in Thailand, each carrier also sends roughly 10 million bulk SMS messages daily from brands sending marketing and promotional messages, cutting down on this spam will undoubtedly cut into the profits of each carrier, but customer complaints regarding spam have overtaken the need to profit from these bulk messages. The only exception to the blockage of SMS messages is from what’s called “white” messages- those relating to financial information or transaction updates from banks.
It’s an unprecedented move by all carriers in a specific country, and one that will most likely be adopted in other parts of the world. SMS spam has become a problem in North America as well, but for some reason I don’t see something like this happening. Getting all the major US carriers to agree to something is much easier said than done, but I think all carriers should take notice of what’s going on in Thailand’s wireless industry. It shoud be interesting to see the results of this move later down the road, to see not only if it’s effective, but also how it affects the carrier’s bottom lines- being that bulk SMS distribution is a major source of revenue for any carrier.
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Written on August 3rd, 2009 by ADMINno shouts
LTE activity gathering pace: Wireless internet access is going to be a better, richer experience than fixed link access Professor Michael Walker, group R&D director at Vodafone told Wireless 2.0 conference in Bristol, organised by Silicon South-West. “People think wireless can’t compete with fixed link, but it can”, said Walker, pointing out that the 100Mbit/s of FTTH is the same as the theoretical maximum throughput of LTE. “LTE capacity on 20MHz is an order of magnitude higher than HSPA,” said Walker. He said that, “in the first real field trials,” average downlink speeds of 15Mbit/s, with 4.5 spectral efficiency, were achieved. “Wimax takes three times more spectrum”, he said. “We decided with LTE that we would make sure the technology works before we buy spectrum,” said Walker. To that end, Vodafone has been working with China Mobile and Verizon to make sure LTE has compatible standards. Source: http://the4gportal.tumblr.com/post/141013908/lte-activity-gathering-pace
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