Ubiquitous Mobile Broadband

There has been a lot of press and buzz in the industry regarding 4G deployments and the related technology choices being deployed by carriers.  It is a good time to study the impacts of deployment of these technologies on the business of telecommunications providers.

Of the many articles I have read in the past few months, invariably when 4G (LTE or WiMAX) is mentioned in the same breath people start talking about more bandwidth to the cell/smart phones. While this may be true, the objective and scope for the development and deployment of 4G mobile technologies is certainly much more than that. Deployment of these technologies allows the wireless service provider to achieve the following:

1. Compete for High Speed Internet business, with a much differentiated service than traditional HSI service providers by not only providing the service but also adding mobility to the plan and thus significantly differentiating their service offering.
2. Provide a much richer multimedia experience on mobile phones and other devices. 4G certainly is going to emerge as a strong competitor for DSL and cable because of higher speeds and mobility. Based on current architectures it is understood that 4G could provide up to 15-30 Mbps broadband speeds to individual subscribers with about 100Mbps shared amongst various users on a particular cell cite.
3. Always-on connections and seamless mobility for all wireless enabled devices.
4. As technological innovation continues for these 4G technologies, there could come a time where broadcast video services are provided over the wireless infrastructure as well for certain demographic areas in the network. Voice will become ubiquitous where the phone picks the best network medium available based on the location of the subscriber

These are just some of the benefits that position 4G as the next step in mobile broadband. 4G can be used both in densely populated regions to increase capacity but also in rural areas to use spectrum that you cannot use today in existing networks.

The above points are just some of the benefits of 4G in terms of higher speeds and feeds. Another way to think about this technology is in terms of coverage for all services in areas of developing as well as developed countries which are under-served or not served in terms of telecommunications services. Even in a developed country like the United States of America there are areas of the country that are not served with broadband. As a part of the economic recovery stimulus spending the federal government has allocated $7.2 billion to serve these areas with broadband. There has been talk in certain sections of the industry that rather than spending a lot of money of adding wireline infrastructure it may be advisable to look at LTE and WiMAX as technologies that can blanket these under served areas across the country. This way the entire population can have access to not only broadband capabilities but also mobility for any type of service.

This model can also be replicated in countries where lots of greenfield infrastructure is being added to provide basic telephony as well as other advanced services.

According to a World Wireless Research Forum report, it is expected that by 2017 there will be 17 trillion wireless serving the world population and a wireless broadband network based on technologies like 4G and beyond could provide the seamless connectivity to anything from anywhere.

Growth of Mobile Services in India

Since I joined Dilithium Networks in June, in the exciting field of mobile video, I have had a chance to reminisce about my 15 year on and off association with the telecommunication industry in India from a vendor perspective.

Going by the saying “numbers never lie”, the growth in the mobile space has been mind-boggling. By 2010, India is expected to have 500 million mobile subscribers, growing at the rate of 10 million new subscribers a month. 40% of these subscribers are expected to use their mobile phone for something more than just making a basic call. The cost of making a mobile call is the lowest in the world and mobile devices are expected to be the primary device for internet access for a big section of the population.

The auction of 3G licenses in the 2H,09 is expected to provide a major boost to mobile video and related value added services (VAS) that are unique to the socio-economic set-up for the cost conscious Indian consumer.

One of the big challenges facing India is the inadequate power/electricity production, where rural areas receive less than 8 hours of powers a day on average. Since television cannot be turned on for most of the day, mobile devices are expected to provide back-up entertainment as well – from watching cricket snippets and getting the latest scores in a cricket crazed nation, to watching news or getting the latest on the ongoing soap operas.

Mobile video and VAS are also expected to play a major role in the small business and services sectors. Some possibilities include: construction contractors making a video call to their sub-contractors and monitoring progress from their phones rather than visiting each of their sites everyday; plumbers rather than visiting multiple shops for parts can make video call to check out the available choices; farmers can call experts and show them field conditions and get advice without traveling; explaining medical conditions to experts in the cities… the possibilities are endless.

The way to I think about it is that the pipes for mobile infrastructure are ready. The next step for the service providers is to enable video and VAS that are relevant in the context of India’s socio-economic set up. The mobile revolution is just beginning in India……..tighten your seat belts and get ready for the ride.