The incorporated technologies are.

1. Nanotechnology.

2. Cloud Computing.

3. All IP Network.

4. Flat IP Architecture.

The entire paper mainly deals on vision of 5G networks by incorporating different technologies which also includes research and development topics in the related fields. This paper is intended as an introduction to the Concept of “5G – The NanoCore” for telecommunication Operator, Services providers Vendor, researchers and students who want to start thinking about potential opportunities afford by these emerging scientific development and approach for next generation wireless communication.

Key Findings:

• Research Paper contains the predictable 5G Architecture.
• Shows how pioneering concepts like Morphe, Graphene, Nanosensor, Optoelectronics, Quantum Cryptography, Multicore technology, and NanoDots can be compounded to form a 5G.
• Explain how Nanotechnology & Cloud computing can work collectively to figure a single entity the NanoCore.
• This paper forecast the future of telecommunication once after the deployment of LTE Advance.
• It also notifies the anticipation of future generation and counter how 5G – The NanoCore accomplish these.
• Acquaints the Basic requirements of NanoCore and retort how it’s getting contesnt by Nanotechnology and Cloud Computing.

The reader is encouraged, after reading this text, to seek out entire research paper that go in to greater details.

Full Paper Download :  5G The NanoCore

About the Author: Imthiyaz Ali is a senior software   engineer of Wipro Technologies. He received his B.E degree in Electronics and communication from Anna University. His prior technical experience also includes Radio Network Optimization of Live network. He has authored papers on NanoRobot, Nanotechnology, and Wireless communications.

Email : imthiyaz.ali@wipro.com

As we approach the middle of 2010, then, it’s worthwhile revisiting the state of the LTE global network deployment.

Operators are still looking for vendors with solutions that allow LTE to be launched as an overlay or as part of a 2G/3G network renewal. Th ey’re still looking to pair LTE launches with new applications and services (including voice, some day).

The positioning of 4G has been a real point of debate among operators. Last week MetroPCS has launched world’s first LTE commercial handsets on its new LTE network with positioning as new 4G service against its 3G with unlimited data, text, voice, Video and new content agreements with real etc. We witnessed Sprint doing something similar with their new WiMAX based 4G core. We saw high average data consumption at Clearwire (currently at 7 GB/mo) – clearly a precursor of what’s to come with new 4G networks.

Alcatel Lucent, Huawei, Ericsson , NSN ,Samsung and ZTE are competing to become market leaders in LTE based 4G Infrastructure. However, it’s much too early to translate commercial or trial reference numbers into clear indications of market leadership – though they may well support mind share leadership.

Source: Current Analysis

LTE Early Deployments and Market Drivers

In any new market, the first commercial deployments are always highly scrutinized; they provide insights into how a technology works, what it can deliver, its state of maturity, and how future launches can be improved. LTE is no different, meaning all eyes will be on launches in the Nordics (Telia Sonera), North America (Verizon Wireless, Metro PCS) and Asia (DoCoMo, KDDI).

Data Cards and Dongles. Talk with any operator or vendor involved with LTE and you will hear the technology positioned as a solution for addressing growing mobile traffic to PCs, laptops, smartphones, featurephones, consumer electronics, sensors and everything in between. For the next year, however, data cards and USB dongles will dominate usage, based on the relative lack of device diversity in the early days of a market along with early users focused primarily on laptop and netbook data access.

Data Services. Th e focus of early LTE device availability on data devices (axiomatic of any new mobile broadband technology) implies that early services will focus on data. More specifically, it implies that despite operator and vendor eff orts to standardize voice delivery over LTE networks, voice services won’t be an integral part of most LTE off ers for the next 12 months or so. Where they are, they will come thanks to existing 2G/3G coverage and CS fallback.

North America & Asia. The Nordics may have enjoyed the world’s first commercial LTE services, but broader momentum will first register in North America and Asia. Credit relatively new HSPA (and HSPA+) networks in Europe and Latin America along with relatively recent (or future) spectrum availability that will make commercial LTE in markets like Europe, and India a medium to long-term proposition.

Biz Model Explorations. Where LTE services (trial, commercial or otherwise) are launched, operators will leverage the opportunity to test out their assumptions around the technology from a business perspective. How will users react to policy decisions around usage caps? What applications will dominate usage? How will LTE free capacity (or drive usage) on 2G and 3G networks? Will indoor vs. outdoor usage patterns mimic 2G and 3G? We are already seeing these details from the early experience of TeliaSonera; and more of these findings – benefitting from a greater sample of users – will follow.

Operators Buying Criteria

Operators planning on LTE deployments in the near-term need to query their network vendors on their support for voice thanks to circuit-switched fallback (CSFB). Where the IMS-based VOLTE has become the de facto LTE voice plan for the industry, it’s not going to be a near-term option for most operators. Few vendors, however, have done much to highlight their CSFB capabilities or commercial solutions – making it key for operators to verify them.

• Like any new mobile broadband technology, data devices will dominate initial LTE launches. For LTE to become the mass-market success operators envision for it, the technology needs to move beyond PC cards and dongles. Speeding this process will require operators to make their demands well known, working closely with vendors to drive supply.

• Operators need to consider leveraging LTE launches to introduce new policy tools into their business. EV-DO, HSPA and HSPA+ launches have taught the market that fully monetizing mobile broadband services will require new ways of charging for usage, throttling usage and offerring tiered experiences. It may be diffi cult to add these new policies on top of existing services – making the launch of new network like LTE a logical starting point.

• WiMAX operators may to consider TD-LTE as a future network evolution. With vendors reiterating their commitment to 802.16m, there’s no need for operators to worry that WiMAX as a technology will cease to advance. Regardless, broad mobile operator interest virtually ensures that LTE will enjoy scale and ecosystem efficiencies over WiMAX – with TD-LTE offering a solution for WiMAX operator unpaired spectrum assets. To this end, it makes sense for operators to hedge their bets with solutions and vendors that can support both technologies.

Dowload PDF : LTE- Mid Year Review

( View expressed here are my own and does not reflect my employers opinion )

China Mobile, Vodafone, AT&T, Verizon and NTT DOCOMO retain global top5 positions: From the revenue perspective, the $50 billion revenue club is retained by China Mobile, Vodafone, AT&T Mobility, and Verizon Wireless and NTT DOCOMO.

China and India demonstrated strong growth in absolute subscriber additions: The Global Wireless Markets continued to grow rapidly especially in India and China where the carriers (combined) are adding almost 30M new subscriptions every month.  China touched 757M wireless subscriptions while India crossed 525 M by the end of 2009.   China Mobile Reported highest wireless revenues (16B US$) followed by Verizon and AT&T in Q1, 2010.

China Mobile announced highest Q1, 2010 wireless revenues: China Mobile Reported consolidated wireless revenues of over US$ 16 Billion in Q1, 2010. Total number of 3G subscribers is reported somewhere around 7.60 Million. China Mobile’s aggregate ARPU during Q1, 2010 was $ 10.32.

Verizon and AT&T surpassed DOCOMO to become top three operators in the world. Verizon and AT&T reported strong quarters and generated revenues in excess of 13.5 Billion USD. AT&T led the customer addition during Q1, 2010 with net addition of 1.9 Million consumers during this period. Verizon wireless acquired 1.5 Million wireless customers in Q1, 2010.

Softbank reported over 50% of their revenues from data services: NTT DOCOMO reported steady growth in customers and data revenues. Data as a percentage of ARPU crossed over 45% during first quarter for DOCOMO. Softbank reported very strong data usage with over 50% or wireless revenues generated from data services. KDDI reported similar trend with over 42% of their revenues were originated from data services. AT&T and Verizon topped data ARPU revenues in US and announced over 30% of their wireless revenues from data services.

Bharti Airtel of India acquired Kuwait-based Zain Group to become the 5th largest telecom group in the world (at the end of 2009, it was 9^th). There are now 14 telecom groups with over 100M or more subscriptions. While China Mobile’s ARPU is 1/5th of its western counterparts, it operates its business at significantly higher revenues. Indian operator’s wireless revenues were 1/10^th of their western counterparts.

Data ARPU continues to fuel growth for operators in Q1, 2010. NTT DOCOMO was followed by AT&T , Verizon Wireless, China Mobile, AT&T, KDDI, Sprint Nextel, Softbank Mobile, T-Mobile USA, O2 UK, and China Unicom to round up the top 10 operators by wireless data service revenues.

Globally operators are aiming to reverse the decline of Aggregate ARPU through continued increase in packet ARPU. Most of the operators in the developed nations (DOCOMO, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Softbank, KDDI, and Sprint etc) are contemplating future strategies to boost data revenues such that the decline in voice revenues is at least compensated for. There are very few operators who have experienced increase in overall ARPU in Q1, 2010.Data revenues for most of the Japanese operators are expected to supersede voice in early 2011.

Strong growth communicated by operators in India , China, US and Japan : While the countries like US, Japan, China, and India showed very little signs of pullback, most of Europe and the developing world experienced a decline in overall service revenues in 2009. Additionally, all the major markets have their data contribution percentages above 10% now. Major US and European operators are touching their 30% marks and Japanese operators are nearing 46% levels.

Operators from Japan and US reported highest aggregate wireless ARPU in Q1, 2010. Verizon Wireless, NTT DOCOMO, AT&T, Softbank and KDDI reported highest wireless data revenues among other global top 10. Most of the major operators around the world have double digit percentage contribution to their overall ARPU from data services. Operators like DoCoMo, and Softbank are over 46%. KDDI, 3 Australia, 3 Italy, 3 UK, Vodafone UK, O2 UK, Telstra, and 3 Sweden exceeded 35% and many others are on the verge of crossing the 30% mark

Lowest aggregate wireless ARPUs were observed by Indian and Chinese operators, however carriers are adding roughly 30 Million subscribers in India and China. China Mobile revealed highest number of net subscriber additions in Q1, 2010 at a monthly ARPU (US $10) roughly 1/5th of their western counterparts.

Smartphones with touchscreens, Wi-Fi connectivity, and advanced Operating Systems are growing in popularity^[1]. In May 2010, smartphones generated 46% of traffic in the operator’s network, up from 22% two years ago. 24% of wireless traffic in the US came over WiFi networks.

The iPhone is by far the leading devices; however, 7 of the top 10 Smartphone’s run on Android: By March 2010, there were 34 Android devices from 12 manufacturers made available to consumers. The Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset by May 2010 capturing 6.8% market share of Smartphone segment.

Android continues significant momentum and surpassed Symbian OS in Smartphone segment: Android operating system surpassed Symbian OS in Q1, 2010 to become second most widely used mobile platform for Smartphones. Apple iOS is leading mobile Smartphone OS market share, however steady decrease in market share were observed in last two quarters. Android surpassed Symbain in December 2010 to take become second most widely used Smartphone OS.

The launch of new Android devices over the past year has led to rapid growth in the Android platform. Traffic from the Android platform has grown 29% month-over-month since May 2009.

In Q1, 2010 Smartphone’s generated highest amount of web Traffic: Out of all mobile handsets category, Smartphone were generating over 45% of traffic consistently in last two quarters making itself as most preferred devices for web and applications.

The iOS and Android platforms show a higher usage than share of handsets sold, primarily due to strong app usage. Users of the iOS and Android platforms regularly spend at least 79 minutes a day using apps. Consumers on the iOS and Android platforms download approximately 9 apps a month reported by AdMob.

Download Report : Mobile Data Wrapup Q1, 2010

Figure : Quarterly Wireless Revenues (1 Jan 2010 to 31 March 2010)

AT&T Reported 29.8% wireless data revenue growth in Q1, 2010. AT&T reported wireless data revenues were up $947 million y-o-y, driven by continued rapid adoption of smartphones and industry leading access to applications. Driven by strong data growth, postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 3.9 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $61.89.This marked the fifth consecutive quarter AT&T has posted a year-over-year increase in postpaid ARPU. Postpaid data ARPU reached $20.13, up 21.9 percent versus the year earlier quarter, and total postpaid subscriber revenues continued recent trends, with solid double-digit growth, reflecting increases in both voice and data.

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>Wireless network initiatives by AT&T to support growing wireless data

Nations largest Wi-Fi Network: AT&T has built the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, with more than 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots in the U.S. and access to more than 125,000 hotspots around the globe. AT&T’s 3G network covers 80% of the US population and it has embarked and aggressive plan to further enhance its mobile network capabilities. The

AT&T announced their 4G partners to build LTE network. AT&T has announced their plans to build LTE network and contracted Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson as their LTE equipment suppliers. However the operator believes that LTE has its own time to come and may not be ready for a large scale deployment in near future. The operator is adopting a middle strategy to upgrade their current network to HSPA+ and LTE later.

HSPA as a short term strategy for immediate delivery: In January AT&T deployed HSPA 7.2 software nationwide. The company is now deploying additional backhaul connections to cell towers to support HSPA 7.2 and future LTE deployments.

These software and backhaul upgrades are expected to double the theoretical peak speeds of AT&T’s 3G network, although actual speeds will be less depending on location and environment. By the end of 2010, the company expects the majority of its mobile data traffic will be carried over the expanded fiber-based HSPA 7.2 and LTE-capable backhaul. AT&T offers 10 HSPA 7.2-compatible devices today, with millions of customers already using them.

>Wireless Innovation and driving data growth with application and devices

Introduction of tiered and flexible charging for data: AT&T introduced new wireless data plans that make the benefits of the mobile Internet more affordable for their consumers. Plans start at a lower price point and allow customers to migrate up as their data needs grow. Customers can pick the new data plan that best meets their needs — either a $15 per month entry plan (DataPlus) or a $25 per month plan (Data Pro) with 10 times more data.

Android based smart phones: AT&T Launched its first device on the Android platform, the Motorola BACKFLIP which offers AT&T customers a new way to connect to their favorite people, content and applications. AT&T announced the upcoming launch of the Dell Aero, which will be Dell’s first smartphone available in the U.S. and it will feature a new, custom user interface and with android OS.

Launch of new mobile data dongles supporting HSPA: Last quarter AT&T launched two new USB dongles capable of supporting HSPA and it come with inbuilt GPS. The built-in GPS functionality opens the door to location-based applications, making it easier than ever for customers to get to their desired destination.

Introduction of home femtocells: Announced national rollout plans for AT&T 3G MicroCell, which allows residential customers to route wireless phone calls and data connections across a home broadband connection.

Launch of Apple Ipad : Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G prepaid data plans for iPad, with easy, on-device activation and management. The iconic device supports 3G and Wi-Fi access networks. AT&T offers a 250 MB plan for 14.95$ and 2 GB plan for $25.00.

In the recent years, the ARPU from voice service has been declining due to the factors of discounted services and shorter phone calls. DOCOMO has seen downward trend in aggregate ARPU and is planning to offset this by taking steps to increase packet ARPU. In FY 2010, the ARPU from packet service is expected to surpass voice ARPU. To strengthen packet based services and reverse downtrend of aggregate ARPU, DoCoMo is planning to promote usage of flat-rate service. In FY 2009, the revenues from voice declined 12.9% year-on-year and aggregate ARPU declined 6.3% year-on-year. Packet revenue grew 2.9% year-on year and expected to surpass voice ARPU in FY, 2010. DOCOMO is aiming to increase packet ARPU by 4.5% in FY 2010.

In FY 2010, revenue from data is expected to reach $ 29.30 surpassing voice ARPU of 29.10.

Initiatives to strengthen Data Services by introduction of Flat Rate Service: DoCoMo has taken initiatives to expand its packet usage to offset declining Voice ARPU by promoting monthly flat rate services like i-mode. I-mode packet service allows monthly flat rate which varies in accordance with monthly usage. The operator in July 2009, as well introduced a flat rate data plan for data cards to enhance its data services. It aims to increase packet flat rate subscription by more than 6 million to reach 31.70 million subscriptions in FY10, i.e. 63% of total consumers.

Promote packet communications by enhanced services and content: DoCoMo is working to expand its lineup services and content. The operator will take steps to expand subscriptions and usage among a broad range of customers by expanding to areas closely linked to lifestyles, such as tourism and health care. Mobile phone usage is expanding rapidly with the availability of higher speed networks and more advanced handsets, but most of the video content that is available for handsets user is not optimized to smaller screens. DOCOMO is moving ahead with development of content that suits well for mobile phones and smaller screens ( about 3 to 4 inch). BeeTV launched in May, 2009 was one of those initiatives. DOCOMO is developing handsets functions which would be more suitable for replaying videos and other contents by introducing inline Flash.

Promote smart phone adoptions to strengthen data services. The market strategy of promoting smart phones with advanced functions rivaling those of mobile PC’s, such as general purpose operating systems, Internet connections capabilities, schedule managers, and personnel information management, as well as PC data cards, is positioned as an important part of efforts to expand packet ARPU. DOCOMO, principally targeting enterprise demand to strengthen its promotion of smart phones and data cards for PCs.

Initiatives of more advanced networks by introducing LTE: In 2009, DOCOMO introduced HSUPA services, which has the capability to deliver maximum uplink transmission rate of 5.7 Mbps . DOCOMO plans to launch LTE based services in December 2010. It aims to install nearly 1000 Base Station in FY 2010. The rollout will be progressive with high demand areas (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya) will be covered first using an overlay approach with existing 3G areas. Downlink speeds up to 37.5 Mbps will be offered at the time of launch. DOCOMO plans to introduce data devices first and smart phones are scheduled in 2011.

In FY 2010, DOCOMO will Launch LTE in high demand areas (Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya). It aims to install 1000 Base Stations in FY 2010

Verizon’s LTE Plans on track, all set to launch services in November 2010. Verizon is all set to launch LTE in 25-30 markets before year end (Boston and Seattle by 15^th , November) , covering about 100m citizens.  It is expected that operator will launch 4G iphone in Q1, 2011. Verizon and AT& T now controls over 69% of US mobile data market and  has seen biggest jump in data revenues along with Softbank, AT&T and DoCoMo(11%) in first Half 2010.

AT&T announced their 4G partners to build LTE network. AT&T announced their plans to build LTE network, and contracted Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson as their LTE equipment suppliers.  However the operator believes that LTE has its own time to come and may not be ready for a large scale deployment in near future. The operator is adopting a middle strategy to upgrade their current network to HSPA+ and LTE later.

T-Mobile all set with HSPA+ to answer immediate data demand. T-Mobile has rolled out HSPA+ services in more than 25 major metropolitan areas in last four month’s time to extend its 3G networks which will support 21 Mbps peak data rates. Their new HSPA+ network covers 75 million populations, and plans to cover 185 million people by the end of this year.

Clearwire has been expanding the network so fast that it has become the biggest construction company in the US. Clearwire strives to reach 2 Million customers by end of 2010. The network is now available in 44 markets in US covering over 50 million people. Things will get really interesting later in 2010 when Clearwire and Sprint take their 4G mobile broadband network to New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh for a 120 million person strong data footprint.

Reliance Industry marked its entry in telecom with nationwide BWA spectrum in India, after completion of five years agreement with younger brother. The operator paid close to $2.6 billion to win 2.3 GHz ( 20 MHz) nationwide spectrum in the country.

Qualcomm pumped $1 billion to protect TD-LTE: Qualcomm won 2.3 (20 MHz) GHz spectrum in four telecom circles of India in the recently held BWA spectrum auctions. Qualcomm’s final bid was INR 4912.54 crore or approximately USD 1.045 billion.

The Battle of LTE and WIMAX is fierce in India after auctions: Qualcomm protected entry of WiMAX in India by winning four circles and all the other players like Aircell ,Bharti, Augere and Tikona is watching Reliance controlled Infotel’s move for BWA technology choice.

Infotel holds the future of WiMAX in India. The WiMAX camp spearheaded by Samsung, Hauwei and ZTE is convincing Infotel for immediate WiMAX deployment to enter market in similar timelines as 3G. Their strategy is not impending from the fact that they do not have a LTE roadmap, but rather their eagerness to enter the agreement with Infotel and secure their mobile data business and do away with competition from Ericsson, ALU and Nokia.  Ericsson, Nokia , ALU and Qualcomm is taking every possible step to avoid WiMAX deployment in India.

LTE TDD Devices Availability for Indian BWA Operators: Our research indicates that the commercial availability of TD-LTE chipsets will start as early as Q3, 2010 by handful of suppliers and majority would be ready by Q1-2011 or later. Most reasonably it will at least take three to six months for ODM’s to supply finished products.  Expect first commercial shipment of TD-LTE chipsets after Q2/Q3-2011.

Teliasonera became world’s first operator to launch LTE network. Teliasonera launched two commercial markets last year covering about 400,000 people in the two countries’ capitals, Oslo and Stockholm. TeliaSonera has nationwide 4G/LTE licenses in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. During the first half year 2010, TeliaSonera has also opened up 4G for pilot customers in Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

NTT DOCOMO LTE Plans on track, all set to launch services in December 2010: NTT DoCoMo has been at the cutting edge of the mobile data evolution by creating new markets and it is aiming to launch its LTE service in December 2010. DoCoMo plans to invest in the region somewhere around JPY343 billion in its new LTE network. The operator has indicated installation of 20,700 Base Station covering 51.10% of area by 2014. It strives to acquire massive 17.7 Million consumers in their new 4G network by 2014.

KDDI announced LTE plans and contracted Motorola and NEC to supply LTE equipment. KDDI Corp. has awarded contracts to Motorola and NEC Corp for the supply of base stations and ancillary equipment to build its next generation long term evolution (LTE) network. KDDI announced its plan stating investment of 515 Billion Yen in new LTE Network which will start in November 2011 and likely to reach full coverage by 2012. The operator has indicated installation of 29,361 Base Station covering 96.5% of area by 2014. It strives to acquire 9.84 Million consumers in their new 4G network by 2014.

UQ WIMAX growing steadily, 7000 base stations live on air. UQ Communications is already ahead of its deployment schedule as compared to LTE, and plans to cover 55% of the Japanese population (most major cities) by the end of March 2010, with the goal of covering more than 90% of the Japanese population by FY2012.

Softbank of Japan looks set to be the first major operator (outside of Philippines) with more revenues coming from data services than voice. Softbank is upgrading its 3G networks to support 42 Mbps Dual Carrier HSPA to cater its rapidly growing data business.  Softbank plans to invest in the region somewhere around JPY207.3 billion in its new LTE network.  The operator has indicated installation of 9,000 LTE Base Station covering 60.63% of the area by 2014. It strives to acquire 5.41 Million consumers in their new 4G network by 2014.

LTE-Advanced & IEEE 802.16m WiMAX both officially selected as 4G standard by ITU . LTE-Advanced and IEEE 802.16m WiMAX satisfied the ITU requirements as 4G standard, effectively being selected as the ITU 4G standards during ITU-R WP5D meeting which was held from June 9 through 16 in Vietnam

Korea Telecom plans LTE in 2011, it continues to expand WiBRO in five metropolitans and plans 27,000 WiFi Hotspots by September 2010. KT announced plans in May 2010 that it will work with electronic giants such as Samsung and LG-Ericsson for a high-speed LTE network. Investment for the LTE network could start in 2011 .

New investments are expected in Korea to promote WiBRO Adoption. KT to expand WiBRO in five metropolitans markets and established a joint venture with Samsung and Intel to promote WiBRO.

CMCC begins LTE trials with Shanghai expo, but for all practical purpose may only start large scale LTE deployment in 2012. CMCC kicked of TD-LTE network with shanghai expo. Motorola, ALU, Huawei, Sequans, ALU, ST Ericsson, ZTE , Nokia and Ericsson is testing their equipment.

CMCC rolled out 108,000 TD-SCDMA base stations and acquired 7.69 million 3G subscribers.   China Mobile set up 108,000 base stations in total, with a combined investment of over CNY90 billion (USD13.16 billion) by the end of March 2010 claimed 7.69 million 3G subscribers, from its total user base of 780 million.

Download Report : Global 4G operator update 1H-2010

The LTE camp is euphoric about Qualcomm wining four circles which further got comprehensive media attention as Reliance controlled Infotel expressed their interest towards LTE. All the other players like Aircell ,Bharti, Augere and Tikona is watching Reliance controlled Infotel’s move for BWA deployment

The WiMAX camp spearheaded by Samsung, Hauwei and ZTE will try to convince Infotel for immediate WiMAX deployment to enter market in similar timelines as 3G. The strategy is not impending from the fact that they do not have a LTE roadmap, but rather their eagerness to enter the agreement with Infotel and secure their mobile data business.

The companies which are involved in TDD LTE system development are ALU, Ericson, Motorola, Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Samsung to name few. Huawei has a working trial network in china shanghai, followed by Motorola who has also deployed TDD LTE indoors. Nokia Siemens in a bid to be the part of big LTE ecosystem from China has opened a new lab Hangzhou R&D facility.

Most of the suppliers are working towards ensuring their base stations are ready as early as possible to grab markets share where WiMAX is gaining momentum especially at TDD space in India. In bid to accelerate uptake and proliferation of LTE, suppliers are aggressively developing LTE systems and strengthening ecosystem. The case of LTE in India is especially promoted by QUALCOMM, Nokia, ALU and Ericsson.

The new BWA operators are midst of this battle of titans who are ensuring their interests in mobile data business in India. In this short article I would like to present my own findings to provide new BWA operators with sufficient data to decide their technology choice and decisions. The data is collected from various research reports, direct discussions and Industry news.

TDD LTE Base Station availability for India BWA operators

Supplier who has WiMAX experience and are working for LTE products will become the first to supply LTE TDD trial equipments in Indian market. It is expected that ALU, Motorola and Huawei can quickly demonstrate a working LTE TDD systems followed by Nokia and Ericsson in a quarter or later. Trials are expected to happen in Q4-2010 time-frame. Readiness to ship equipment for mass scale deployment of LTE TDD is not expected to happen before Q1/Q2-2011.

LTE TDD Devices Availability

The most interesting of all is the LTE TDD device ecosystems. Let me report some broad time-lines based on my data which I have captured over period of time talking to industry experts and analysis reports.

• The commercial availability of chipsets will start as early as Q3, 2010 and most of them would be ready by Q1-2011.
• Most reasonably it will at least take one quarter more for ODM’s to supply finished products i.e. Q2-2011.
• We have experienced from wimax that time to complete device interoperability’s cannot be shortened beyond a specific period of time and hence the devices ecosystem would most likely to be ready by Q2-2011.Only USB dongles are expected in this time frame.
• Expect additional one quarter for Indoor Devices

When do we see handsets and Smartphone’s in LTE TDD?

• The commercial availability of chipsets for handsets and Smartphone’s is not expected before Q2- 2011.
• Most reasonably it will at least take one to two quarter more for ODM’s to supply finished products.
• It is reasonable to expect readiness of handsets by 2012

It is my estimation that most operators will launch their 3G services by November 2010. Four 3G operators per circle are expected to launch services apart from the old mobile data players who are operational with Ev-Do Technology.

• It is critical for BWA operator to launch their mobile data services in similar timelines otherwise the operator will face intense competition and early market entry benefit will be lost.
• If BWA is launched in similar timeline as those in line with 3Goperators the chances of mobile data from BWA technology ( WiMAX today, LTE later ) can succeed in winning a bigger market share.

  

• Ability to offer QoS , time and volume based unlimited plans will play an important role is customer behaviors in choosing mobile broadband networks as wireline is very limited in country.
• It is imperative to launch services before 3G operators or parallel with 3G operators to take that early lead and outperform competition to become market leader.

Finally, I have presented that it is reasonable to expect a mature TDD LTE ecosystem evolving around only after Q2-2011 for commercial deployments. Up to this period acquiring customers and retaining market share could be the best strategy for BWA operators. WiMAX could be explored for immediate deployment. It is imperative for BWA operator to start the services in the similar timelines when 3G networks are made available to compete and take the early market entry advantage. A long term strategy could be centered on or around TDD-LTE with initial deployment happening in WiMAX with migration plan towards LTE TDD. The Migration to LTE can be achieved in phased manner as suppliers are developing LTE products and in most cases it can be seamlessly upgraded with new software’s and channel cards. Operator can also look to 16m migration which has an added advantage of reusing existing devices.

Note: Views expressed here are my own and by no means reflect my company’s opinion. You can ask for more detailed analysis report at admin@beyond4g.org

He said in particular that tariff in 3G and BWA would remain high and large section of common people would not be able to afford it. This is not a win-win situation for government and people of India. The spectrum for broadband access in particular reached exorbitantly high levels with only two spots made available for auction and the vision of delivering affordable broadband to the masses in India looks challenging.

What would be the impact of high spectrum prices in Mumbai and Delhi?

Assuming an operator brought Mumbai and Delhi spectrum at combined price close to US $ I Billion for BWA application. My analysis predicts that price of mobile broadband services will shoot up 1.5 to 2 times of current levels. This is not an encouraging situation of India Consumers.

• Assuming BWA operator acquires 75 thousand subscribers every quarter in Mumbai and Delhi, which will take them to total of 3M at the end of Q4, 2014.

  

  (Note : Projected subscribers in Mumbai and Delhi)
  

• Using the current average price of Rs 905(US 18, Average price seen in Ev-Do) will make operators stand at negative Rs. 2000 Crores ( approx US$ 400 M) at end of five years. The exorbitantly high BWA spectrum cost would make impossible to offer services at current price levels in country.

  

  (Price in Crores)
  

• To compensate and make the business case viable, anticipate price to go up 1.5 to 2 times higher than current levels. Expect price of services to remain high in next 2-3 years as operators will try to recover the spectrum expenditures and other initial capex. With 1.5 times higher price operator has much better business case and in this scenario he will stand at cash flow positive of Rs.140 Crore (Approx 30 US$ M) .

  

  (Price in Crores)
  

What to expect in Indian wireless broadband market?

• To compensate and make the business case viable, anticipate mobile broadband service price to go up 1.5 to 2 times higher than current levels. Expect price of services to remain high in next 2-3 years as operators will try to recover the spectrum expenditures and other initial capex.
• Expect coexistence of Enterprise services in the same BWA RAN to make business case more viable and attractive.
• Expect low device prices to make entry cost as minimum as possible. Operators may subsidize devices or bundle low cost netbook to boost uptake of mobile broadband services. The low cost net tops from Intel and other variant may become popular.
• Without doubt India will have tiered pricing and differential QoS based services to gain every bit out of the network.
• The high cost of spectrum will require mass scale adoption among consumers. This is an interesting challenge of acquiring high volume subscribers, delivering true mobile broadband experience and remains competitive in offerings for BWA operators. I anticipate lot of innovation in technology, policy, charging, device and services.
• If WiMAX , which has upper hand today becomes natural choice for operators than 16m will have a very important role to play in India broadband market. It’s all about acquiring extra subscriber per base station with limited amount spectrum while remain competitive.

Finally, we could have worked out a win-win situation for both consumers and operators, if enough spectrum would had been made available for auction with encouragement for new players to make broadband as affordable as possible for the people of India. I am sure we can learn from Japanese regulator who has made spectrum available for free with only condition of a nationwide deployment, benefiting people of Japan and assisting economy.

(Views expressed here are my own and by no means reflect my company’s opinion)

Related Readings;

Why can’t we learn from mango traders?

Delivering affordable broadband in India

It’s not wise to sell Mercedes to everyone

One of the most well enjoyed human endeavors these days is social networking. It is mainly because we get to communicate with anyone from any part of the worldwide web by texting, chatting and VOIP or voice over internet phone. There are both great opportunities and huge risks in social networking, similarly to what has occurred with other extremely useful capabilities and technologies that have emerged and gained popularity in society. Using social networks have gained the opportunity and ability to influence many more people than before.

“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” (Steiner, 1993), suggests that identities are so hidden online that opportunities would be widely open to all, regardless of background characteristics that may have traditionally disadvantaged some people compared to others. The idea that people would be on an equal footing online assumes that offline characteristics are not mirrored in people’s online pursuits. Social networking websites provide a variety of services, such as users’ own unique “space,” as well as enabling them to share photos and videos, maintain blogs, and encourage group interactions through chat rooms, instant messaging (IM), and e-mail. This seems to say that our society is much more open now, and much more open to posting intimate information online, but it also is rather anonymous in a way, because users never see, meet, or touch the person they communicate with, and so, even though they know intimate details, they do not really know the person at all.

But have we ever given a thought on the fact that we have a lot more friends than we used to. All these not-real friends we have on Facebook, MySpace, Orkut etc — we had them before, we just didn’t count them. So, we can now measure things we couldn’t measure before.

Social networking may sound fluffy, but it can translate into real benefits for business. It’s taking the internet by storm and is revolutionizing the way society connects and interacts with each other. What once was thought to be an internet fad is now commanding the attention of people and businesses around the world. Although social networking began primarily as a medium to allow individuals with similar interests to interact on a social level, it has since evolved to give businesses and professionals a place to connect and grow their network of contacts and even careers.

In a social networking arena, world is governed by what is called as “three degrees of influence” — that is, your friend’s friend’s friend, most likely someone you don’t even know — who indirectly influences your actions and emotions and this is changing the advertising profoundly, not just by cutting into the traditional media budgets but also by revolutionizing the way advertisers reach consumers. Social ads let Facebook users share their interactions with different brands throughout their peer network through news feeds. Facebook lets local and national businesses and organizations, such as restaurants, bars, cafés, sports teams, artists, churches, health and fitness centers, and even politicians, create pages with which users can interact by adding them to their profile. They also can choose to share this information with friends in their network through news feeds.

These are just some of the ways in which Social networking websites engage consumers by letting them create content and become the vanguards of different brands. Even more interesting, advertising on Social networking websites generally is highly targeted and relevant. Because the information comes from a friend they perceive they can trust, users are more likely to pay attention to messages that come through the news feed.

Hence, with the gaining popularity, social networking websites are just programmed to bring you a friend. But is also programmed to make money, and they make money by data mining and by selling virtual ads.

Things do spread to social networks because social networks online are much more clearly defined than the offline connections. And hence despite dire predictions from naysayers who warned that spending too much time online would be damaging to real-life relationships, the opposite appears to be true. The rise of social networking websites indicates a shift in the organization of online communities. While websites dedicated to communities of interest still exist and prosper, social networking websites are primarily organized around people, not interests.

Suggested Reading : Do you have a location strategy ?

]]> http://www.beyond4g.org/presence-is-everything/feed 0 http://www.beyond4g.org/india-wireless-market-update-2h-2009 http://www.beyond4g.org/india-wireless-market-update-2h-2009#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:23:10 +0000 BP Tiwari http://www.beyond4g.org/?p=926 India Wireless Market Update

• The Indian wireless market grew at 32% Y/Y in the period between December, 2008 to 2009.
• India continues to be the hottest market on the planet in terms of net-adds with (again) a world record-setting month in Jan 2010 with 19.9 million net adds.  For the year 2009, India added 177 million subs vs. 106 million for China. Combined, one year of growth in these two market is equivalent to the size of the third largest market – the US, to date.
• Total Wireless customers in India surpassed 575 Million in Feb 2010.
• India became number two wireless market and the world order is : China, India, US, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, Pakistan and Italy.
• 3 Members joined the 100M subscription club from India :Bharti , Reliance and Vodafone .
• For India, data ARPU continues to stay below $1.0 as most of the new adds are voice only subscribers and there is continued price pressure in the market.
• In Q4 2009, Bharti Airtel was leading wireless operator in country with average ARPU of US$  3.94.
• India wireless Industry has witnessed heavy competition and operators wireless ARPU has declined at 8 % Q/Q.
• Reliance and TATA DoCoMo launched GSM services this year and fueled intense competition in Voice traffic.

India Internet Market Update

• Total internet customers in country were approximately 14.6 Million by Q4 2009.
• BSNL/MTNL is leading internet market share in India with over 10.9 Million consumers controlling approximately 75% of the internet market.
• Number of broadband connection in country was approximately 7.5 Million in Q4,2009. The number of broadband connections is less than 2 % as compared to number of current voice subscribers in India.
• Observed average ARPU of Mobile broadband service  2-3 times higher than voice as it stands at US$ 12 current
• With new 3G and BWA operators expected to launch services in 2H 2010, average data ARPU of mobile broadband service is expected to decline 2% Q/Q.
• TATA , Reliance, BSNL and MTS launched Ev-Do based mobile broadband services in top markets and robust growth in mobile broadband access ( dongles ) were witnessed.

What is expected in 2010 and 2011?

• Wireless subscribers are expected to grow to 747 Million by Dec 2010.
• Ev-Do (dongle) based subscribers are expected to surpass 2 Million by Dec 2010.
• 3G spectrum for four operators and launch of 3G services in top markets
• BWA spectrum for 3 operators and Mobile broadband services in top markets in India.
• Data growth in expected with new BWA operators deploying WiMAX/LTE.
• BSNL WiMAX launch in 3 circles and expected to expand to more circles
• For India, Growth of 3G and BWA technologies is expected to be limited in 2010 due to limited initial markets.
• In 2010, Mobile broadband growth is expected to be fueled by Ev-DO systems.
• Starting at a low base, India will experience the highest increase in smartphone penetration, which will triple over five years, and number of smartphone users, which will grow 5.5 fold by 2014. The growth of smart-phones will be driven by 3G and BWA networks.
• 3G iphone will fuel growth with availability of 3G networks in 2011.
• USB Dongles for Mobile data is expected to become mainstream device for mobile data.
• In 2011 , wireless broadband is expected to surpass number of wire-line connections in India.
• WiMAX could get significant foothold if three BWA operators deploys nationwide Mobile broadband market.

As 4G network deployments gather momentum, a substantial 22% of device subscription revenues will come from suites of operator-branded premium services. Total 4G mobile consumer service revenue – including mobile Internet services – will grow rapidly to exceed $70 billion worldwide in 2014.
According to ABI Research practice director Philip Solis, “Operators of 4G networks will refuse to be marginalized as ‘dumb data pipe’ service providers. Instead, they will offer suites of ‘smart services’ – some internally developed, others via partnerships with third party suppliers – that will be provided over ‘smart networks’ enabled with all-IP technologies, IMS infrastructure and cloud-based storage.”

These 4G services will be optimized to enable a proliferation of mobile devices, such as smartphones, netbooks and PNDs, and many operators will be offering pooled device subscriptions: one user subscription, many activated devices.

Internet access service will be the “killer 4G service” – no surprise considering 4G networks are data-only. However, a suite of premium services will collectively drive significant consumer adoption, revenues and profits, including:

- Location services, such as turn-by-turn directions and POIs

- Multimedia services, such as VoD and P2P video sharing

- Media broadcast services, such as pay-per-view TV and digital radio

- Gaming services, such as multi-player and augmented reality games

These “Web 3.0″ services will be integrated with popular Web 2.0 features, such as personalization, community, interactivity, presence, and localization, and will be delivered simultaneously, seamlessly and transparently to ‘three screens’ – PCs, TVs and mobile devices – over the Internet, over cable networks, and over wireless networks.

“Operators will take advantage of this market opportunity by breaking down their walls and building open ecosystems,” says Solis. “They will partner with third-party service providers from whom they can license and re-brand services; they’ll work with network and handset OEMs to influence infrastructure and device specs; and they’ll join ecosystem development organizations, such as Alcatel-Lucent’s ng Connect program.”

Executive SummaryWireless infrastructures have emerged as an effective option of connecting to an ever-evolving expansive information network such as the Internet. Such infrastructures, due to their inherent advantages, promise a renewed future in terms of offering improved and exciting services to the existing users. As a result, stakeholders are willing to encourage the success of such infrastructures supporting “Internet on the move”.This promise is not without a concrete platform. In the recent past, there have been ground-breaking innovations such as 3G, WiMax and the like that could support disparate forms of content. The practicality of their implementation resulting into improved usage is yet to be witnessed, however. Similar developments have been witnessed in the domain of devices that are designed to support such networks. There is a parallel and equitable importance of providing relevant content using the devices and the underlying infrastructure. Given the high capabilities, a wide variety of content can be provided to the users. Considering the absence of deployable infrastructure and upcoming developments in bandwidth auction, the jury is going to be out there for some time. On the demand side, our current estimates show that there are 2 Mn users that actively access Internet on any form of mobile devices. These users are matured Internet users and are fairly young (18-35 years). Understandably, in the existing scenario, there is a need for a major fillip in ensuring the deployment and success of mobile Internet infrastructure.This report details the existing scenario in the domain of mobile Internet, the drivers that could further the growth and the future trends that could be witnessed in the coming years.

Widgets will become the key to harnessing power of the mobile web. All device vendors now see potential opportunities in offering widgets since these applications enable them to enhance the value of their devices and complement revenues from handset sales. It is becoming clear that, in developed markets, handset vendors can no longer rely on mobile phone sales to sustain growth. They will have to look at other opportunities, such as playing a role in enabling content creation and offering services through application stores, the internet, and ‘widgetization’.

Fixed broadband

Fixed broadband operators will experiment with new business models in a bid to end the “arms race” of increasing speeds and declining prices. The recent history of broadband in mature markets has been characterised by a sort of broadband “arms race” of increasing speeds and declining prices.Operators must now face up to the need to grow revenues in saturated markets. The major effect of declining prices and increasing bandwidth has been the emergence of mass markets for the consumption of on-line video and music, which other players are now better placed to profit from.

Pay TV

North American pay TV revenues will peak in 2010 and global pay TV subscription revenues will start to decline from 2012 as operators convert subscribers to triple-play bundles. Western European pay TV revenues will do likewise in 2011.

Functional separation

Mobile operators will make small steps towards a de facto functional separation in order to position themselves to address the demand for third party connected devices and applications. Unless operators give full autonomy to wholesale units, Informa believes they will be too slow to succeed in shifting internal mindsets and retail businesses need to be seen as just another customer of the network operations, albeit a so-called “friend with privileges”. Only in that way does the analyst think operators will be able to fully address the undeniable and sizeable opportunities that exist on a wholesale level.

LTE

Mobile LTE commercial launches will slip to 2013/2014 but LTE’s role as a provider of rural broadband connectivity will gain momentum. 2010 will be a year of further LTE trials but progress towards commercial services is likely to be slow. Informa expects only a handful of cautious early forays from the likes of Verizon and NTT DoCoMo towards the end of the year. Mobile LTE commercial launches in GSM-only markets will slip back to 2013-2014 as HSPA+ comes into the market.

IPTV

Operators will embrace ‘over-the-top’ TV and open internet apps. Following years of promise but little activity, there are now an increasing number of ways that content providers will be able to reach the TV. These include open specifications such as Canvas and HBBTV, via connected devices such as the Xbox 360 and via initiatives within the CE industry, such as Yahoo’s Connected TV initiative. Many of these initiatives should be commercially launched by 2011, if not 2010.

App stores

Operator app stores will struggle to compete with handset-manufacturer initiatives and Android will emerge as a worthy competitor to the iPhone. Operators will be the ones that most struggle to make a success of their application stores, unable in most cases to compete with Apple and other vendors in global reach, brand coolness and agility. Their biggest chance of retaining a significant role in the mobile applications value chain will be as billing enablers, since most handset/OS vendors realize they need carrier billing to get downloads going on their app stores. Beyond Apple, Google will be the vendor to make the greatest headway with its Android Market, possibly matching or even exceeding the App Store’s success.

Network sharing

Network sharing and outsourcing will gain in popularity as the drive towards cost-control intensifies but the network itself will remain a key point of differentiation for operators. Expect further infrastructure sharing announcements during 2010 as operators attempt to extend coverage and reduce costs. Both network sharing and outsourcing will continue to gain momentum as mobile operators seek to reduce their capex and opex burden. Each of these individually is already an established trend but the industry can also expect to see more variations on a theme where the two approaches are combined.

Address books

Enhanced address books will become a focus for mobile operators and handset manufacturers. Mobile operators and handset vendors are poised to follow Vodafone, T-Mobile and Motorola in enabling enhanced-address-book services for mobile subscribers. These will be made available by the mobile operators as an application that is pre-loaded onto the device or downloaded over-the-air, and by the handset vendors as a native feature (typically as part of the Rich Communications Suite project). Mobile operators will launch enhanced address books as a focal point around which to aggregate a range of community, messaging and content services and seize back the initiative from online brands.

HDTV

HDTV will reach tipping point but platforms still need to increase channels to win over subscribers. HDTV is finally taking off, but platforms need to ensure that they have a critical mass of channels to guarantee its success. For example, BSkyB offers 35 HD channels, and the service has enjoyed successful take-up. Other countries are increasing their HD channel choice, but still need to win over subscribers. Providing only a handful of HD channels is not enough to make for a successful package.

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In the great playground that is the mobile telecoms industry, Huawei has just pulled Ericsson’s hair and run away laughing. The two have been working on LTE projects in the run up to the Christmas holidays, this week announcing a commercial network apiece. On Wednesday, TeliaSonera, the Nordic-Baltic specialist, switched on an Ericsson-supplied LTE network in Stockholm and one from Huawei in Oslo.

Two days later and Huawei’s bragging to all and sundry about its superior performance. Thumb on nose and fingers waggling in Ericsson’s general direction, the Chinese vendor sent out the following message:

“Please find the media advisory below that Huawei in Oslo for TeliaSonera reached 96 Mbps, as compared to a rival network in Stockholm that recorded speeds of only 43-44 Mbps.” Oooohhh! The release quotes an interview with TeliaSonera’s CTO Lars Klasson in Swedish technology publication Ny Teknik. Klasson’s quotation somewhat takes the sting out of Huawei’s gloating.

“Ericsson’s network runs at 10MHz, while Huawei’s network in Oslo uses 20MHz.”

Pretty silly, really. Still, that’s not all that Huawei’s been ribbing Ericsson about, as the vendor also announced an LTE win this week with Telenor/Tele2 joint venture Net4Mobility on Ericsson’s domestic turf of Sweden. This one seems to have hit home, with Ericsson moved to issue a statement proclaiming its disappointment to have missed out on a deal with local customers. But, the firm said, it just couldn’t compete with the Chinese player on price.

“We are of course disappointed that we did not manage to reach an agreement with Net4Mobility, joint venture by Telenor and Tele2 in Sweden. We would very much liked to have delivered this LTE network in our home market.

In the negotiation process we went as low as we could in terms of price but it was not enough.”

And Huawei was also on the case here in the UK. Telefonica-owned O2 said this week that it had carried out a successful trial of LTE in the UK, pumping out a cell peak downlink rate of 150Mbps, while showcasing high definition video streaming, mobile gaming, high speed file transfer and video conferencing.

The trial is part of Telefonica’s far reaching pilot project announced in October. The European carrier is to roll out LTE test projects in six countries, with a view to selecting technology providers for its 4G deployments. The suppliers Telefónica has chosen so far are Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networksand ZTE, all of which will start rolling out the equipment necessary for testing the technology during the coming months.

The project will take place over six months and will consist of field tests and the installation of base stations at Telefonica’s branded operations in Spain (Telefonica), the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic in Europe as O2, and Brazil and Argentina in Latin America as Telefonica Moviles.

In other news, Telefonica has set up an international M2M division that it hopes will enable it to gobble up substantial parts of a market that Gartner forecasts to be in the region of 200 million cellular modules by 2012.

Retail behemoth Tesco’s MVNO Tesco Mobile piggy-backs on the O2 network and the supermarket this week started offering the iPhone, at the lowest monthly contract price in the UK market. Users can have the phone for just £20/month on a year-long contract, but they’ve got to stump up more than ten times as much – £222 – to get the handset in the first place. And it’s not a fuel injected 3GS, either, it’s just the little 8GB 3G run-around.

If you want the latest model, then it’s a whopping £60/month tariff for 24 months. Hardly the kind of pricing you’d expect to appeal to a supermarket MVNO demographic. On this tariff you get the 32GB 3GS for £50 up front and you’ll be committing to a spend of £1,490. You’d have to be mental.

In other iPhone news Apple has overhauled the interface for its iTunes-based App Store platform, making it more graphically intensive. With over 100,000 apps now available in the store, the biggest problem developers face is discovery of their creations, a problem this new approach seeks to address.

Meanwhile, Google has confirmed the existence of a home grown Android-based device that is being tested within the company. In a blog posting, Mario Queiroz, vice president of product management at Google’s mobile division, said Google employees worldwide are testing “a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android”.

Queiroz said that the aim of the project is to establish a mobile lab, “to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities”, which actually makes it sound more like a software testing platform for Google’s in house Android-based developments and less like a bit of Google-branded hardware that might make its way into consumer hands.

In other handset news, Christmas came early for Research In Motion this week, with the news that the firm saw Q3 profits jump almost 60 per cent year on year to $628.4m. Revenue was up 41 per cent year on year to $3.92bn, with 82 per cent coming from handset sales, 14 per cent from service, two per cent from software and two per cent from other areas.

RIM has benefited from a push into the consumer market and the firm said that more than 80 per cent of its new customers were consumers rather than enterprise users. Two years ago corporate customers accounted for half of the firm’s users, it said. Today that number has dropped to less than 20 per cent. RIM sold more than ten million BlackBerry handsets, up from its previous record (in the second quarter) of 8.3 million units.

Unfortunately US firm Palm isn’t doing so well, but at least it’s trending in the right direction. Palm’s net loss for the three months to the end of November hit $81.9m, compared to a loss of $509m in the same period last year. Revenues, however, did slide to $78m, from $191m in the third quarter of 2008.

The problem, it seems, is that Palm isn’t shifting the units as fast as it needs to be, despite the high profile launches of its Pre and Pixi devices. The company shipped a total of 783,000 devices during the quarter, down five per cent sequentially, but up 41 per cent year on year, which actually suggests it’s doing something right with regard to its product line up.

Indeed, according to figures from Informa Telecoms & Media’s upcoming Future Mobile Handsets report, Palm is one of a handful of high-end players that are seriously threatening the volume market leaders like Nokia,Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

These challengers will continue to steal market share in 2010, with figures released Wednesday predicting that the market share of the four underdogs will jump to 35 per cent of all smartphones sold in 2009 from 32 per cent in 2008 and just 24 per cent in 2007.

It’s no secret that while sales in the mobile handset space in general are in decline, the smartphone segment is actually growing and has turned into the most profitable segment of the mobile handset market. Informa forecasts that volume sales of smartphones are to grow by 33.5 per cent year on year in 2009 and by 36 per cent in 2010 to account for 27 per cent of the total number of handsets sold in 2010.

Incidentally, smartphones will also represent over half (55 per cent) of the value of the total mobile handset market and almost two thirds (64 per cent) in terms of profitability.

Informa analyst Malik Kamal-Saadi said that key to the success of these new entrants and smaller players is the adoption of new operating systems that have been built from scratch and better reflect the realities of modern mobile device requirements. In addition, they are not burdened with the support of a long legacy of devices and content already in market.

“Volume market leaders have responded, with a multitude of me-too iPhones offering multi-touch and an enhanced internet experience but true innovation is still lacking from many incumbent OEMs’ portfolios,” Kamal-Saadi said. “Some players (Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and Samsung) have responded by opting for Google’s Android as key OS to bring innovation to their smartphone portfolios.  These changes will completely transform the smartphone market landscape and could potentially lead to the emergence of new leaders in the mobile handsets market,” Kamal-Saadi added.

We’ll have to wait until 2010 to see how this pans out, because the Informer is off on his Christmas break now.

All the best to everyone, have a happy break and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

Android has been closely watched over 2009, seen by some to represent a clear threat to both the establishment bulk of Symbian and the new-world order of Apple.

As 2009 drew to a close, Motorola’s latest phone, the Droid (sold as the Milestone in Europe), was being heralded in some quarters as the saviour of the US vendor’s malingering handset unit. Based, as the name suggests, on the Google-owned Android operating system, the Droid, if it fulfils the potential some suggest it has for its manufacturer, will surely gain a status to match iconic predecessors like the Startac and Razr.

The suggestion that the Android operating system could be about to contribute to a turnaround in the fortunes of a fallen giant like Motorola speaks volumes about the progress the platform has made in 2009. This was a year, after all, which began with just one Android handset in the market-the HTC unit dubbed the Dream, nicknamed the Googlephone and marketed by T-Mobile as the G1.

In mid-November, at the time of writing, there are more than 20 Android handsets either in the market or in the offing, with a Christmas rush of models still expected to come. As well as HTC and Motorola, the likes of Huawei, Samsung, Acer, LG, Dell, Sony Ericsson and even Philips are name-checked in the lists of products that are commercially available or anticipated by year-end.

That represents substantial growth in terms of product portfolio over the year-albeit from the smallest of beginnings. So for Android these remains very early days indeed. Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza says the firm is predicting that Android will gain no more than five per cent of the smartphone market for 2009. In the third quarter of this year, she says, the platform’s share of this market was 3.5 per cent, which equates to around 1.5 million sales (Gartner does not track shipments into the channel, only sales to consumers).

But in the slightly longer term, Cozza says, Gartner’s forecast for the Android platform is “very positive”. She continues: “From 2010 we should start to see all the vendors that have picked Android up offering more devices; certainly the likes of Motorola and Sony Ericsson are saying this is what they are going to do. And, if we see lower end units it will become more mainstream. We’ve published a prediction that sees Android being the second most popular platform, behind Symbian, in 2012.”

One of Android’s successes has been the widespread backing it has gained, with carriers and handset vendors alike populating the Open Handset Alliance that was created to oversee the development of the platform and ecosystem. In October US carrier Verizon struck an agreement with Google that will see the two firms collaborate on bespoke Android handsets and applications, sharing the marketing distribution and service development workloads. T-Mobile has also nailed its colours to the Android mast, leading the way to market with HTC’s first Android product and following up with others.

2009 has seen further iterations of the operating system, with version 2.0-known as Éclair-released in November. But, while Google remains effectively in charge of the technical roadmap for the platform, one of the most substantial challenges that awaits Android is the level of fragmentation within its own community, says Gartner’s Cozza.

“The problem is that Google has a hands-off approach in the marketing of Android and prefers to leave it to each manufacturer to do their own thing. I think that this could backfire, because this will not improve the awareness among consumers of the Android platform and ecosystem. Consumers are attracted by a single ecosystem like you have with Apple and there’s a danger that the consumer will see Android as a number of different environments,” she says.

Cozza’s comments call forth one of the central debates within the handset sector at the moment: Are communities better at developing product than individual companies? The success of Apple’s iPhone and its wider ecosystem, arguably the most closely managed example the industry has to offer, seems to find in favour of autocracy. The sluggish pace of development at the Limo foundation, meanwhile, could be used to argue against the selection of true community development models.

Android sits somewhere in between. But while the backing of some of the industry’s big names is a boon for Android, there could indeed be consequences if Google doesn’t keep those names focused. Samsung is a useful example. While Taiwanese vendor HTC might have played the role of Android’s standard bearer-and although it is now making concerted efforts to push its own brand in the market, launching television advertising campaigns, among other strategies-it is simply not a tier one handset brand.

Samsung, on the other hand, is a heavy hitter, with a very large installed user base. Its presence in the Android camp is important. But, although the Korean vendor looks set to bring an end to its days of OS promiscuity, it will continue to develop handsets for Windows Mobile and its own new operating system, Bada. Should Android fail to capture the user’s enthusiasm because there is no unified marketing strategy, the likes of Samsung may not be particularly motivated to continue the push on their own.

“There are some really great location-based applications in Android Market [the Android application store],” says Cozza, by way of a warning. “But nobody really knows about them.”

The mass market will prove increasingly crucial to Android’s success, and here it will face stiff competition from Symbian and from vendors’ proprietary operating systems like Bada. HTC, continuing to break new ground for Android, recently released the Tattoo, targeted more a the mid than the top tier and Android will require more product in this range to get those all-important volumes up.

Some reluctance from Google to get truly stuck into the handset market might be understood. But in November the unveiling of the firm’s own operating system, Chrome, gave observers yet more reason to question the firm’s commitment to the success of Android. Since Android has been mooted as an operating system for crossover devices like netbooks and smartbooks, the presence of another OS from the same company-and one which, it has been said, will not necessarily be restricted to the PC/laptop market-does seem a little strange.

The first proof of concept the industry required from Android was the arrival of handsets from a range of manufacturers, and 2009 has seen this delivered. Now those handsets need to start moving in volume and the end user community has to be persuaded that they are worthy of selection. The handsets will likely be heavily subsidised in most markets, so cost is not the issue.

The increasing popularity of application-led mobile data usage means that consumers are now selecting handsets with the ecosystem in mind as well as the product itself. If the Android ecosystem continues to be given over to the vendors designing the handsets, and skinning them individually with their own user interfaces (HTC’s Sense, Motorola’s Blur), then perhaps there is a risk, as Cozza suggests, that the ecosystem may whither on the vine. Or that Android may simply not be a platform ecosystem of the kind that we have come to know.

A push from carriers like Verizon could help to keep the platform prominent, of course but, in the end, Google’s feelings for the Android platform will play a more decisive role in its future success. What those feelings are remains unclear, given the firm’s renowned taciturnity. One thing seems evident, though. The opportunity is there for Android to become one of the most widespread mobile platforms in the market; an opportunity that, at the start of the year, wasn’t necessarily so apparent.

It used to be that a man was defined by his actions. Well, in Motorola’s world view, this is no longer the case. The US vendor this week proclaimed that man is instead defined by his technology choices.

Yes, it does sound like the synopsis to a science fiction novel, but the firm this week released the results of some research it recently carried out which suggests that connectivity is more of a lifestyle issue across age groups, than the yoof phenomenon we might otherwise be led to believe. “Being accessible at all times is seen as a necessity across generations (Millennials, 79 per cent; Gen Xers, 64 per cent; Boomers, 65 per cent),” Moto says.

And granny and gramps are just as likely to influence the technology habits of their grandkids as little Johnny is to influence theirs. Farewell to the whisker-lipped peck on the cheek and a fluff covered Werther’s Original, and welcome to heated debate over tea and biscuits about which is the best fart app to buy for the iPhone.

And if indeed we are defined by our technology choices, then Motorola must be pleased that it’s backed Android. There are reports floating around the web that the Droid device is selling like hot cakes and Motorola may even be on track to shift one million units before the year is out. The handset comes to Europe as the Milestone next week, which may give it even more of a boost over the Christmas shopping period.

Read full article…

Nokia Siemens Networks has been selected to participate in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial in the Czech Republic, as part of LTE trials that Telefónica will be running in about half a dozen countries in Europe and Latin America. During the six-month trial, Nokia Siemens Networks will demonstrate its end-to-end LTE solution that allows operators to offer a completely new mobile experience to their customers.

“We expect this trial with Telefónica to demonstrate the potential for our LTE to deliver an entirely new broadband mobile experience,” said Carlos Reines, head of the corporate Customer Business Team for Telefónica at Nokia Siemens Networks. “We are one of the main partners for Telefónica in the deployment of mobile radio networks around the world.”

”We have a long and successful track record of collaboration in the Czech Republic and have provided 2G and 3G technology for Telefónica CZ,” Reines said.

The two companies have also been focusing on LTE development. In November 2008, Telefónica and Nokia Siemens Networks pioneered the development of LTE technology by performing the first live LTE call to an Telefónica WCDMA mobile device. During an event held in London, Telefónica and Nokia Siemens Networks successfully demonstrated the usage of high data rate applications, such as data downloading, online gaming and High Definition video streaming, which demands low latency and increased data rates.

LTE greatly improves the consumer experience for mobile data applications with faster response times and throughput, much reduced latency and peak rates of up to 173/58 Mbps (downlink/uplink). LTE supports mobile broadband access for applications such as browsing, email, video-sharing, music downloads and many more. Such services can be provided either by the operator or accessed from third parties via the Internet.

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China’s TD-LTE standard is unlikely to face the same obstacles that plagued the country’s earlier mobile wireless standard, TD-SCDMA, industry analysts say.
China in October submitted TD-LTE specifications to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for approval as a 4G standard. If ratified, it will be officially recognized by the ITU as a 4G technology in October 2010, according to reports.
While the country’s 3G predecessor, TD-SCDMA, got off to a bumpy start, dogged by technical issues and a lack of device variety, industry watchers are expecting TD-LTE to fare better.
Julian Bright, Informa telecoms and media analyst told ZDNet Asia that TD-LTE, as a variant of FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplex LTE), is technically similar to the global LTE standard meant for markets where TDD spectrum is more readily available. As such, “strictly speaking, TD-LTE is not a new 4G standard”, he said.
In comparison, TD-SCDMA was developed largely for the domestic market, he noted. Apart from the technical problems and delays, this standard has also been slow to gain traction among vendors outside China, Bright said in an e-mail.

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Long Term Evolution (LTE) core network activity is heating up as many vendors look to seize a share of the next-generation packet core market, according to a new Heavy Reading report.

The pursuit of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is picking up pace now because of the strategic significance of these packet core products for many vendors, and not necessarily because of the potential market size. The packet core will be among the fastest growing segments in wireless infrastructure, growing at a rate of 10 percent per year for the next five years, and will be worth $2 billion in 2012, according to the report, “Evolved Packet Core for LTE: Market Forecast & Competitive Analysis.”

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Nokia Siemens Networks are the undisputed market leaders in the packet core market. In 2008, the 3GPP packet core market was worth $1.2 billion, and these two vendors had nearly 70 percent of the market, according to Heavy Reading.

Hot on the leaders’ heels are Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Starent Networks Corp. (Nasdaq: STAR) with the next-biggest market shares. These vendors have gained share recently by “mopping up the footprint from defunct vendors such as Nortel Networks Ltd. or through dissolution of partnerships (e.g., Cisco and Siemens),” writes the report’s author, senior analyst Gabriel Brown.

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Freshly funded mobile WiMax operator Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) has launched service in Seattle and opened a number of retail stores around the U.S.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based operator says that its mobile WiMax service is now available in 27 markets across the U.S., covering over 30 million people and meeting its deployment targets for 2009. The company recently pulled in over $2 billion in new equity and debt funding and says it will meet its target of covering 120 million people by the end of 2010. (See Clearwire Grabs $920M More Funds.)

Clearwire’s partners are following the company’s rollout curve, offering their own services on the WiMax service. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) has launched its “2Go” mobile service in Chicago using the network. Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is offering its “4G” service in every Clearwire market, including launches today in Chicago, Seattle, and, in Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui.

Clearwire, meanwhile, has greatly increased its retail efforts for the “Clear” WiMax service. The company says it now has stores in Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas; Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh, N.C.; Chicago; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; and Seattle/Puget Sound.

UBS AG analyst, John Hodulik, gave the operator another boost this morning, upping his rating on the stock to “Neutral” from “Sell,” thanks to the recent influx of extra funding for the company.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

The latest official date given for the auction is January 2010, but after numerous delays this may be postponed yet again.

But industry body the WiMAX Forum is also calling for the government to separately release spectrum for WiMAX deployments in the 2.3/2.5 GHz frequency bands in a bid to stimulate broadband growth and economic development immediately.

”WiMAX auctions should be done well ahead by de-linking the auction from the 3G auction process as the country needs broadband growth and wireless high speed Internet access now for the economic development of the Indian society,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “India needs immediate and affordable broadband access to meet the aspirations and expectations of the younger generation who constitute 56 per cent of the population.”

Today, there are 500 million mobile phone subscribers in India, but only 7.4 million have access to broadband connections. According to the Forum, WiMAX represents the only viable option to achieve faster roll out of broadband services in order to meet the government’s targeted 100 million broadband users by 2014.

The Forum predicts that the Indian WiMAX market including devices will be worth $13bn by 2012, taking into account 27.5 million WiMAX users in 2012.

Thanks

Shares of Clearwire Corp. rose Tuesday after an analyst said the company’s path to growth seemed more certain following a round of financing that will give it the capital needed to grow its wireless data network.

UBS analyst John Hodulik upgraded the stock to “Neutral” from “Buy.”

He said Clearwire, which provides mobile broadband services, has the funds for expanding its high-speed wireless Internet access to more cities, add capacity to markets it already serves and improve signal strength and customer service.

Earlier this month, the company said it will receive $1.56 billion from investors and issue $1.6 billion and $920 million in two debt offerings.

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Stratos Global Corp. says that it has won two of the three geographic zones for 2.5 GHz broadband radio service (BRS) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The two zones awarded to Stratos cover approximately 90 percent of the structures and oil platforms in the three auctioned areas.

“These critical licenses enable us to introduce new offerings to complement our existing services for the GoM energy industry,” said Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm. “The IP-based services we soon will introduce will be consistent with the high-bandwidth, low-latency features of our current microwave network and will be competitively priced against VSAT and legacy radio technologies.”

Parm added, “Stratos has more than a decade of experience serving the demanding communications requirements of the energy and transportation industries in the often harsh GoM environment. We most recently demonstrated the resiliency of our microwave network in the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.”

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Femtocell shipments will grow from 0.2 million units in 2009 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 127 percent to 12 million units worldwide in 2014, according to analyst firm Berg Insight.

In the U.S., 14.8 billion video clips are viewed online every month with an average user viewing time of 356 minutes and a consumption of 680Mbps (ComScore); in the UK, the average monthly consumption per user is 1.3Gbps(ComScore). This online trend is now migrating onto mobile. According to AT&T, data represented 27 percent of revenues in 1Q09 compared to 21 percent in the same period the previous year, with streaming audio and video accounting for 31 percent of network traffic.

In developed markets(Coda Research Consultancy), much of this mobile data explosion is generated by smartphone users, where the average year-on-year growth of mobile data per user is between three and five times.

“We need to drive down the cost per bit in operator networks while also meeting the rocketing demand for mobile broadband services, which is putting too much pressure on HSPA and HSPA+ networks,” said Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femto Forum. “We need a change and that is where femtocells have a major role to play.”

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That growth takes the number of mobile connections in India to 488.4 million at the end of October, and it seems likely that the 500 million mobile landmark will be reached this month.

Including fixed lines, India now has 525.65 million telephony connections, giving the country a teledensity of 44.87 per cent.

That means there’s still more than half a billion people in India without their own line, so the strong demand for new mobile connections is likely to continue for some time, especially as the market’s mobile operators push deeper into the previously under-served rural service areas, or “circles.” (See A Guide to India’s Telecom Market.)

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In this report we have covered aspects of Indian regulator, BWA spectrum, operator’s key decision factors & deployment scenarios. This report is specifically targeted for BWA application in India.

Finally we have presented top seven key factors for operators to have successful WiMAX Deployment in India.

Some of the detailed discussion in the free white paper includes the following;

- Real Drivers of Broadband in Country
o Current Access infrastructure
o Mobile data growth in country
o Creation of new business models
o Delivery of affordable broadband to masses

- Spectrum status and its availability in different circles

- WiMAX for Broadband in India
o Understanding WiMAX as a technology to deliver broadband
o Technology performance
o Comparison with 3G and other competitive technologies

- Top 7 Key factors to lead and build successful WiMAX network in India
o Channelization ( 5/10 MHz)
o Network Planning aspects for BWA in country( FFR, Reuse 1 and Reuse 3)
o Infrastructure consideration ( 4TRX, Macro,Micro,Pico , femto etc)
o Role of devices
o Applications for next millennial
o WiMAX vs HSPA/HSPA+
o WiMAX Evolution

Note : You can reach author at bramnha@gmail.com for more information or any other particular question.

Download full paper from here…