Carriers are increasingly investigating the potential of these emerging technologies as a means to sustain their profitability and boost average revenue per user (ARPU).
"European carriers' dependence on voice to increase ARPU can no longer be a driving factor, given the prevailing saturated market and various alternatives such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and reduced local and roaming call charges due to regulatory policies", notes Frost & Sullivan Programme Manager Luke Thomas. "As a result, carriers are now keenly looking at various next generation mobile broadband technologies so as to increase their ARPU in data applications and remain profitable in the long term".
More than 62 per cent of the current world population of nearly 6.6 billion are not connected to a cellular network. This situation is paving the way for various emerging wireless technologies such as xMax by xG Technology and Mobile WiMAX to make major inroads into the market.
Current Mobile WiMAX standards are not yet optimised for mobile VoIP at vehicular speeds. "Therefore, Mobile WiMAX will initially target the ultra mobile PC or PC tablet market rather than the mobile smartphone market", states Thomas.
xMax technology will potentially enable service providers to promote unlimited local and long distant voice calls as well as unlimited text messages at very low monthly prices. xMax is a likely prospect to be the first 4G technology to be commercially available in 2008. Once 3G LTE is a ratified standard, its performance characteristics will be superior to Mobile WiMAX.
"A major portion of existing cellular networks would need a hardware upgrade to support 3G LTE," notes Thomas. "Service providers are still undecided if they need to completely shut down circuit switched networks with the deployment of 3G LTE networks."
Related links to this article:
Frost & Sullivan
Platinum sponsor is KPMG.
The Awards are supported by the Government Chief Information Officer (Cabinet Office), the Office of Government Commerce, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers).
"Several weeks into the new era of Coaltiion Government and certain key themes are emerging. First up, it's clear that the battle of the 'who can get their memoirs out the door quick enough to steal a march in the revisionist history stakes' has been triumphantly won by M'Lord Mandelson (Weren't those TV ads scary – the velvet smoking jacket, the leather fireside chair, all that Brillcream! The only thing missing was the theme tune to Tales of the Unexpected and the accompanying prancing sillouette of Harriet Harman or Diane Abbott dancing!)” Read more
Colin Rickard, managing director EMEA at SAS subsidiary Dataflux, argues public sector data must be of high quality if the efficiencies promised with ICT and infrastructure is to be realised.
"Tackling the public sector’s data integration and data quality challenges is a tough prospect. The challenge may require more effort than a comparative project in a large private company. Data must be governed according to a strategy that necessitates bringing interested parties together.” Read more
Complete and enter our draw to win a free seat at the e-Government Awards. The public sector is already perceived to be lacking in innovation, but is that a fair assessment, and what role could it play in helping the government meet efficiency targets? What do people working on the frontline of ICT in public sector organisations think? Take part and share your views
Source: K2 Advisory