strategy analytics

SPOTLIGHT: Study: Enterprise FMC market will be worth $50B by 2012

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:52 -0400

A new Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies report predicts that the market for enterprise Fixed-Mobile Convergence solutions will grow to be worth more than $50 billion by 2012. Release

Report says WiMAX MVNO model may work

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:53 -0500

A new report from Strategy Analytics says the MVNO model may actually be more successful in the WiMAX world. The report, "WiMAX MVNOs: Just Crazy Enough to Work?," points to Synterra, one of Russia's largest telecom providers, and its invitation to regional telecom operators to partner on an MVNO basis to offer WiMAX services using Synterra's spectrum and backbone infrastructure.

"This sort of risk- and investment-sharing makes sense for WiMAX operators," notes Tom Elliott, Vice President at Strategy Analytics and author of the report. "If Sprint winds up staying in WiMAX, they may duplicate their wholesale business model from the CDMA space to WiMAX."

According to the report, the WiMAX community's history of open architecture and a broad supplier ecosystem may help WiMAX MVNO's in the key area of consumer devices. Of course, this is news NextWave likes to hear. Its plan is to make spectrum available to companies that want to enter the mobile broadband space and use its products and technologies, including WiMAX and TD-CDMA.

To read more:
- check out this article from Wi-Fi Technology News

Related articles:
- NextWave spells out plans for WiMAX chips
- NextWave ships WiMAX chipset samples

Femtocells to challenge VoWLAN

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:01:37 -0500

We have been writing about femtocell technology as a potential serious challenger to VoWLAN, and it is good to see that Strategy Analytics, a Boston-based research firm, is taking a similar view. Shortly before the holidays, it published a report entitled "Femtocells Enabled by picoChip to Square Off Against VoFi," which says that low-cost femtocells will emerge as an attractive alternative to VoIP-over-WiFi in future homes.

The reasons outline femtocell's bright future: Strategy Analytics' Chris Taylor says: "We believe that femtocells will attract wireless operators and consumers alike. However, the bill of materials for femtocells will have to fall close to that of cell phones that include Wi-Fi chipsets for femtocells to really take off." The research firm's Asif Anwar says: "The handset market shows that GaAs can compete against silicon technologies on cost, but the low transmit power of femtocells suggests that this market will probably use SiGe and LDMOS transistor-based PAs initially, eventually shifting to transceivers with on-chip CMOS PAs."

Bath, UK-based picoChip has developed baseband processors for low-cost femtocell basestations that can be installed in the home. These femtocells hold the promise of reducing the demand for WiFi-enabled cell phones. The kicker? Everyone predicts that WiFi-enabled cell phones will sweep the market during the coming years to support the convergence of fixed and mobile communications. What will the emergence of femtocells do to this trend?

For more on femtocells' challenge to VoWLAN:
- see this Electronic Engineering Times report

For more on picoChip's femtocell technology
- see picoChip's Web page

Muni-WiFi as supplements to cable, DSL

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:01:37 -0400

The list of cities and towns embracing muni-WiFi is growing. The purpose of these networks is to extend broadband access to neighborhoods and populations which otherwise may not enjoy such access, and make downtown areas more attractive to businesses and visitors. Indeed, a new study from Boston-based consulting firm Strategy Analytics says that WiFi networks planned by these cities and towns may provide Internet access to as many as six million homes within five years-- about 5 percent of U.S. households.

However, James Penhune, director of the Strategy Analytics broadband media and communications division, notes these WiFi networks may be better than dial-up Internet access, "But [they are] slow compared to the DSL service that is only slightly more expensive and usually offers better quality." With prices for commercial broadband services continuing to drop, only a small number of households will be likely to rely on these "low-cost" or even "free public networks" as their main source of online access.

For more on the state of muni-WiFi
- see Gene J. Koprowski's Technewsworld report

MORE: The following cities are jumping on the muni-WiFi bandwagon:
- Naperville, IL. Report
- Pleasanton, CA. Report
- Honolulu's Chinatown district. Report
- As of this coming Monday, Foothill Transit bus riders on six of of the company's Line699 buses which go from Montclair to downtown Los Angeles will be able to connect to the Internet. Report
- WiFi coverage is expanding in Buffalo: The new zones in Tonawanda's Gateway Park, Wilson Harbor, Niagara Falls, and Youngstown join seven hot spots already operated by BuffaloNiagaraWiFi.org in downtown Buffalo. Report