Customer Churn = MVNO Butter

Brand loyalty is rare among cellular subscribers, according to a study released this morning by In-Stat/MDR -- a finding that could have profound future implications for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) targeting enterprise customers.

According to the new In-Stat survey, entitled "MVNOs: Current and Planned Wireless Subscriber Interest in Alternative Carriers," 80 percent of the 1,017 current cellular subscribers and people who plan to subscribe in the next year would consider switching their service to a virtual operator. Often connected with established, familiar brands targeting niche consumer markets, MVNOs offer packaged mobile voice services along with specialized applications and features, running over conventional carriers' cellular networks.

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Bluetooth set to take over wireless from Wi-Fi

The IEEE has abandoned its effort to create a UWB standard, but has agreed on a draft for the next generation of WiFi, 802.11n. The conventional wisdom is that this week's events are great news for Wi-Fi, and a disaster for Ultra-Wide Band, UWB, and by association, Bluetooth. In fact, the exact opposite is likely to be the judgment of the future.

Who was surprised when the IEEE abandoned an attempt to define the ultra-wide band wireless standard? Amazingly, lots of people. "Why haven't you covered this? It's your area of expertise!" complained a reader. "Is it news?" I asked, astonished. Apparently, it was.

But it was only news if you weren't studying UWB. Insiders knew it was coming. It's been a horrible mess for more than three years now; politics, power groups, competing technologies which are completely incompatible, and confident statements by chief technology officers which have all proved to be cobblers. And I don't mean technical cobblers: I mean, nonsense in the field of commercial reality.

The technology is not a mystery any more. There are several ways of doing UWB; the trouble is, you can't make them all part of the same standard. And the reasons aren't simple, but if you want to simplify them a bit, you could say that there are issues of power, data speed, and carrier material - because UWB isn't just a wireless technology: it can be used down fibre, too.

Ultra-wide band wireless is close to being magic. It's the ultimate expression of technology advances in the last twenty years - which is to say, it's the exact opposite of how radio has worked ever since different wavebands started being allocated to individual transmitters. Those early radios tried to reach all around the world on one frequency, so it was very important not to have two transmitters on the same frequency. So the technology originally focused on getting the band narrower and narrower.

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Siemens To Build 3G Wireless Network In Malta

German technology company Siemens, Monday said it has received an order from Malta's wireless operator Vodafone Malta to build a third generation wireless, or 3G/W-CDMA, network.

The network which will cover the entire island of Malta, will be available to personal users, business customers and tourists later this year. Siemens has been an exclusive supplier to Vodafone Malta since 1997, and has already built its cellular wireless, or GSM, network.

In building the third generation wireless network, Siemens will plan, design and optimize the entire radio network, and will supply and install the radio and core network technology. This will enable subscribers to download large volumes of data, such as video clips or e-mail files, for example, over their mobile handsets or laptops while they are out and about.

With over 170,000 subscribers, Vodafone Malta Ltd. is Malta's largest wireless operator; nearly one out of every three residents makes phone calls over this network.

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Dell Puts Vodafone 3G in Euro Laptops

Dell is planning to embed Vodafone's 3G wireless broadband technology in notebook PCs sold in the UK, France, and Germany. The agreement represents the latest in a series of similar deals between Dell and wireless operators rolling out 3G networks.

Last Fall, for example, Dell inked agreements with both Cingular and Verizon in the U.S., with plans to roll out 3G-enabled laptops here soon.

In the first half of this year, Dell will offer the Vodafone-enabled computers with the optional integrated High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) capabilities.

HSDPA is a wireless broadband technology that boosts 3G download speeds by approximately four times. A subscription to a Vodafone wireless data plan will be required to use the new broadband service.

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The Impact of VoIP, WiFi and 3G Data on Wireless Telecom

Recently, there's been a great deal of industry chatter about fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). Mobile network operators plan to leverage emerging IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service platforms to deliver true “one phone, one number” telephony over both fixed and mobile infrastructure. This means your mobile handset will use 2G/3G mobile infrastructure when you are outdoors and VoIP over WiFi or Bluetooth when you are at work or at home.

Mobile operators see IMS and FMC as an opportunity to take additional market share from traditional fixed line operators. But mobile operators are kidding themselves if they think they can control the FMC market for very long. Once high speed Internet access becomes available on mobile phones, a plethora of VoIP services will follow.

READ ARTICLE by Brough Turner, SVP, CTO and Co-Founder of NMS Communications Read more!

The Challenges for 3G in a Fully Converged World

Within the developed world, IP connectivity is a reality for almost anyone that wishes to connect to the Internet. And within developing countries, cost-effective solutions are being sought to provide increased Internet access to communities as a way of enhancing and supporting communication, commerce, health care and education.

The communication protocol we refer to as IP has already had an enormous impact on the way people all over the world conduct business and their personal lives. Yet still greater change will come as wireless technology continues to evolve from its current nascent capabilities, and much of the attention today is focused on 3G technology and the word “convergence” – whether it be the device, service, fixed or wireless.

ARTICLE: by Simon Clayton-Mitchell, Global Crossing VP for Wireless Services Exchange

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PhoneDrive combines VoIP, Flash in USB key

South Korea's Iocell has integrated Internet telephony into a compact USB Flash drive all in the name of conversational convenience.

"The PhoneDrive can fit inside your pants pocket and be carried anywhere," says the company.

The PhoneDrive product line provides between 128MB and 4GB of removable storage capacity, squeezed into a 7.4 x 2.1 x 0.7cm USB drive. The unit also packs in a "built-in sound card and retractable earphone" and holds its own VoIP application tucked away in a write-protected 5MB partition on the drive.

Plug the PhoneDrive into your PC, and it automatically loads up the softphone app - the partition appears to Windows as a CD-RW with Autorun - ready to connect through to - presumably - SIP-compatible VoIP applications on other users' PCs around the globe.

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Alcatel wins GSM/GPRS/EDGE contract with SMARTS,Russia

Alcatel announced today the signing of a contract with SMARTS, a leading regional mobile operator in Russia for the delivery of Alcatel mobile solutions to extend SMARTS GSM/GPRS network in the Povolzhie region.

Thanks to the implementation of this project, SMARTS will be able to optimize its existing mobile infrastructure, to double its networks subscribers' capacity in the cities of Kazan and Saratov, to improve the quality of communication and to accelerate the deployment of new mobile broadband services, such as video streaming, MMS and high speed Internet access.

Under the term of the contract Alcatel will deliver its industry-proven Evolium® GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio access solutions, including all elements of the Base Station Sub-system (BSS). Alcatel will also deliver capacity extension of Alcatel Evolium® Mobile Switching Center (MSC).

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Siemens, IBM to team up on Internet telephony

German conglomerate Siemens and computer giant IBM are teaming up to offer Internet phone calls launched directly from email or instant messaging applications, Siemens said on Monday.

The two companies plan to embed Siemens HiPath softswitches for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) into IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino business software.

The result will be that customers will be able to launch phone calls and conferences with one click from their email, Web conferencing or instant messaging sessions, Siemens said.

Siemens added in a statement that the integrated features were expected to be available to customers by this summer.

IBM's head of software product management Ken Bisconti said in the statement: "By working together with industry leaders such as Siemens we are opening up a new realm of possibilities for our customers, without having to replace their existing IT infrastructures."

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Nokia, Motorola, Intel form alliance for mobile TV

Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV, Nokia said on Monday.

Other firms in the alliance include Intel Corp., Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle International Corp., it said in a statement.

The tie-up, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market.

DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.

It also allows them to use interactive services and order "on-demand" programs via mobile networks, which operators hope will be a new source of income.

Mobile operators are keen to exploit the marriage of mobile phones and TV as revenues from voice calls fall because of competition and regulatory cuts to call charges.

The Mobile DTV Alliance said more than 10 DVB-H network trials are under way or have been completed, including in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States.

It said most major U.S. markets are expected to have DVB-H infrastructure ready for use by 2007.

DVB-H competes with digital audio broadcast (DAB) technology, which is also under test by operators, as well as wireless firm Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology.

Source: Click Here

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Samsung Demos 'Fastest' Phone

Samsung Electronics has successfully demonstrated High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology, reaching speeds up to 3.6 Mbps, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Although there have been several demonstrations of speeds up to 1.8 Mbps in the past, Samsung's demonstration of HSDPA handset speeds of 3.6 Mbps is, according to the company the industry's first ever. Web browsing, as well as streaming and downloading of contents, will be demonstrated compared by 1.8 Mbps and 384Kbps. 3.6 Mbps HSDPA handset allows users to download contents much faster than WCDMA or GSM/GPRS network. For example, downloading a 4MB mp3 file takes less than 10 seconds at 3.6Mbps HSDPA.

"As a global telecommunications leader committed to developing handsets that serve as the most advanced personal multimedia devices on the market, Samsung is proud to showcase HSDPA as the future of mobile broadband," said Kitae Lee, president, Samsung Telecommunications Network Business.

SOURCE: http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=70334&cat_id=613

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Hopes raise for Mobile TV

Mobile TV -- an off-the-shelf-acronym for all TV services that are beamed to hand-held devices -- is gathering pace once more as the much-anticipated 'killer application' for 3G infrastructure. Within 10 days this month, three different announcements involving technological enhancements to 3G highlighted the strong interest in the European mobile TV market. Firstly, on 13 January, BT announced the successful completion of its 'BT Movio' pilot service with Virgin Mobile. On 18 January, O2 - recently acquired by Spain's Telefonica - announced that its six-month O2 Mobile TV trial in the Oxford region (U.K.) with cable giant NTL was a success. On the same day, mobile equipment vendor IPWireless launched its 'TDtv' services.

The recent trails of Mobile TV in UK and Europe raises hopes about Mobile TV to evolve to be used in daily life like we are using MMS etc. We may need to wait for some time to get full output from Mobile TV, but there is a cause of concern here. There might be some implications coming up as different technologies like DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), DVB-H (digital video broadcasting-handheld), MBMS (multimedia broadcast multicast service) are being used by different operators.

Deploying different technologies could have dire consequences for the market. For a start, consumers would need great persuasion to invest in handsets that would only work with one operator. Any attempt to pursue divergent standards would harm Europe's consistency in mobile communications, potentially drawing the ire of politicians. Judging by the level of vendor and operator interest, the likeliest near-term solution will be to unify under the ETSI-endorsed DVB-H standard. An early resolution would be a boost to mobile TV, given the enormous market for live TV coverage during the 2006 soccer World Cup.

For a detailed report: http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/16310

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First WiMAX Certifications Issued

Fancy this: There finally are a few products that legally can claim use of the WiMAX imprimatur. The WiMAX Forum yesterday said it had certified the first four applicants.

No matter that the industry has been inundated with companies claiming to be selling WiMAX products. That’s all marketing hype, because there is no standard called WiMAX. As the WiMAX Forum itself noted in its own announcement of the first four certifications, what the Forum has is a certification “profile … which is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN standards.” The way the technology has been hyped, though, the Forum has been trying to create the impression that WiMAX is another name for 802.16-2004.

Basically, what really happens is that companies that meet the WiMAX Forum profile get the right to use the “WiMAX Forum Certified” logo. There is no other known legal definition of WiMAX other than meeting the Forum profile. Spanish test house Cetecom currently is the only test outfit in the world that is franchised to help ensure products meet that profile. It was named to do the job a year ago (TelecomWeb news break, Jan. 27, 2005). The first products to be tested were sent to Cetecom in July 2005, according to the WiMax Forum.

READ MORE: http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1137783314.htm Read more!

China plans building 3G telecom network by itself

China will build a stand-alone national mobile network based on TD-SCDMA, a home-grown standard for third-generation (3G) wireless telecoms service, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) ... has set ... TD-SCDMA as national technology standard for the telecommunication industry," Xinhua said on Friday.

"The technology is already mature and ready for manufacturers to move ahead with production. ... A stand-alone network for TD-SCDMA will be built for the home-grown technology."

Xinhua quoted a senior official with the Ministry of Information Industry as saying that TD-SCDMA would have a place in China's 3G market, and would be run by a "competent telecom operator."

Industry watchers were expecting China to build a complete or partial network based on the technology, which was developed in China but has encountered numerous bumps in the road in the process of its commercialization.

The announcement could signal that China is preparing to issue one or more 3G licenses in the near future, paving the way for licensees to build networks based on TD-SCDMA and the world's two most widely accepted standards, WCDMA, popular in Europe, and CDMA 2000, the standard developed by U.S. wireless technology giant Qualcomm Inc.

The field of licensees is expected to include some or all of China's four major telecoms operators, mobile carriers China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. and China Unicom Ltd., and fixed-line carriers China Telecom Corp. and China Netcom Group Corp.

Most industry watchers expect China to award its 3G licenses in the first half of this year, a move expected to unleash up to $12 billion in spending as the country sets up the high-speed data networks in time for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Most of the world's major telecoms equipment makers are hoping to get a piece of the action, and have also entered into various partnerships to support TD-SCDMA to curry favor with Beijing.

Major investors in TD-SCDMA include European firms Siemens and Nokia, while others who have formed alliances to support the technology include Motorola, Ericsson, Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies.

SOURCE: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/21/content_514363.htm

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UK: O2 Adds to Mobile TV Momentum

Only days after BT and Virgin Mobile trumpeted the results of their mobile TV trial in the UK using DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) O2 has announced a glowing ‘interim’ report from its UK mobile TV trial in Oxford.

Using the Nokia-backed DVB-H (Digital Video Broadband – Handheld) wireless broadcast standard, 83 per cent of the 375 triallists (comprising a wide range of demographics) said they were ‘satisfied’ with the service provided. Moreover, 76 per cent of the triallists said they would take up the service within 12 months.

While this reflects the apparent high consumer demand for mobile TV shown in the DAB mobile TV trial, one surprising difference between the two pilots is the average length of viewing time per week. BT/Virgin found that users, on average, watched TV on their mobile for about an hour per week, while the average viewing time from the DVB-H trial -- overall -- turned out to be three hours a week. The increased viewing time from the Oxford trial can perhaps be explained by the greater channel choice with DVB-H. O2 was able to offer its mobile TV users a choice of 16 channels, while BT/Virgin could only offer three. However, DAB supporters point out that they too will be able to broadcast 15-20 TV channels within 12-18 months.

O2 is conducting its DVB-H trail in Oxford in partnership with Arqiva, which has a national transmitter network across the UK. Both O2 and Arqiva expect to announce the final results from the Oxford mobile TV trial this spring.

SOURCE: http://www.telecoms-mag.com/techzones/wireless/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_1600

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Nokia supplies WCDMA 3G network technology in Philippines

Finnish telecomms solutions provider Nokia said on Wednesday (18 January) that the Philippine wireless service provider Smart Communications Inc (SMART) and its sole network supplier Nokia have signed an agreement for the supply of WCDMA 3G network technology.

As part of the agreement, Nokia will deliver a WCDMA 3G radio network including the Nokia High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) solution, a 3G upgrade to the existing circuit and packet switched networks, and related services.

The network would enable Smart to offer its customers 3G services such as video streaming and high quality broadband mobile data services, Nokia added.

No financial information was provided.

SOURCE: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/01/18/1294594.htm Read more!

Kyocera Wireless and Novotech Technologies Team to Strengthen Worldwide Distribution for CDMA-Based M2M Solutions

Kyocera Wireless Corp., a leading global manufacturer of CDMA wireless handsets and devices, and Novotech Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of machine-to-machine (M2M) and man-to-machine products and technologies, today announced a new distribution agreement to bring the award-winning Kyocera 200 module and future generations of Kyocera CDMA modules to an expanding market, providing a cost-effective, single source for companies wanting to build comprehensive, industry-leading M2M solutions.

As one of the leading M2M distributors in the North America, Novotech's leverage in key vertical markets such as security, point of sale (POS), automated vehicle location (AVL), automated meter reading (AMR), telematics and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) significantly strengthens the Kyocera distribution channel. The Kyocera module also complements Novotech's other M2M product offerings such as GPS, 802.11, Zigbee, antennas and custom cable assemblies.

"The development of new lower-cost applications and embedded devices that take advantage of CDMA's increased data speeds and ubiquity has brought the M2M industry to a watershed moment with huge growth expected in 2006," said Dean Fledderjohn, general manager of the M2M division at Kyocera Wireless Corp. "Kyocera and Novotech are poised to capitalize on this expansion by offering the best CDMA products in the marketplace to a broad base of industries seeking to deploy M2M solutions."

SOURCE: http://www.freshnews.com/news/telecom-wireless/article_29165.html Read more!

Siemens Wins Nationwide Indonesia Wireless Deal

Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited today said PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications (HCPT or Hutchison Telecom Indonesia), its joint venture with Indonesia’s CP Group, selected Siemens as its supplier for a nationwide turnkey 2G/3G wireless network plus managed services in Indonesia.

The value of the contract was not disclosed, but it is believed to be in excess of $500 million.

Terms of the deal have Siemens building a GSM 1800 network throughout Indonesia, with 3G UMTS infrastructure overlaid in key cities. According to plan, the network will be built in four phases, with the target completion of around 2,000 cell sites in Phase One in the second half of 2006. That phase covers a large part of the island of Java, where Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is located.

For more details: http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1137615933.htm

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Telecommunications

Telecommunications is a fascinating, fast paced industry that
influences every aspect of our daily life like normal voice phone
calls, connectivity to the Internet, satellite communications,
surfing the web, fax transmissions, video conferencing, high speed
data communications.

The field of telecommunication is no doubt one of the most exciting
occupational fields that modern society has to offer. New technology
is constantly being developed and finds its applications in the technical
systems that make up a telecommunications network. This creates
opportunities for developing existing services further, and introducing
completely new ones - for the benefit of customers and society as a whole.

The telecommunication industry is often referred to as an "enabling industry".
That is, it creates opportunities for societal development in the broadest sense.

In the current day scenario, there are lot of telecommucations technologies
evolved and used by people all over the world. Wireless technologies
like GSM, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, GPRS and latest technlogy 3G
growing at a fast pace promising high speed data communications.

LINK: http://www.freewebs.com/telecomm/

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First post.

This blog will be updated with telecom news, trends, wireless related etc. Read more!