europe

GSA says 207 HSDPA operating in 89 countries

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:57:16 -0400

The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) said that 207 HSDPA networks are now commercial in 89 countries, compared with 126 commercial HSDPA networks in 63 countries a year ago. Today there are 110 commercial HSDPA operators in Europe, 44 in APAC, 26 in the Middle East and Africa region, and 27 in the Americas and Caribbean. A further 35 HSDPA networks in 10 additional countries are in various stages of deployment, the GSA said. Article

Related article:
HSDPA device growth accelerating. HSDPA report
The GSA reported an 80% rise in commercially launched HSDPA networks in 2007. GSA report

EC 2.6 GHz decision good for WiMAX

Lynnette Luna — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:06:07 -0400

The WiMAX Forum applauded new regulations handed down by the European Commission pertaining to the 2.6 GHz band, a key frequency for mobile WiMAX in Europe. The new regulations allow regulators to be flexible when it comes to the amount of FDD (paired spectrum) and TDD (unpaired spectrum) bands they can award to operators. The intention is to allow the market to decide which technology to deploy in the 2.6 GHz band.

The decision is important for the WiMAX industry because previous guidelines set in 2005 called for more rigid guidelines that required that two 70-megahertz swathes of spectrum be allocated for FDD and 50 megahertz allocated for the unpaired TDD spectrum, which mobile WiMAX is designed for. That tipped the scale in favor of technologies such as LTE. But now the EC can truly claim it is being technology neutral by not taking a position on how much spectrum can be allocated to either FDD or TDD spectrum.

For more:
- read telecoms.com

Related stories:
Will WiMAX be shut out of U.K. 2.6 GHz auction? WiMAX story
Intel among winners of 2.6 GHz spectrum in Sweden. Swedish WiMAX story

Report: Bulk of capital spending finally shifts to 3G

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A new report from Heavy Reading says mobile operators are finally shifting their infrastructure capital spending away from GSM/EDGE and toward WCDMA/HSPA. The report says Western European operators are leading the way in the trend.

"Over the last 18 months, HSPA has finally started to deliver on the mobile broadband performance promise of 3G," says Patrick Donegan, senior analyst with Heavy Reading. "There is genuine excitement on the part of users at being able to get out their laptops across extensive urban and suburban areas and consistently get at least 1 Mbit/s throughput over the air."

Donegan cautions, however, that the slower-than-anticipated adoption of 3G could result in a shorter lifespan as 4G rounds the corner. "Just as WCDMA is finally starting to establish itself as the preferred global platform for mobile broadband services, it faces the prospect of being made redundant by an acceleration in the time to market of the 4G mobile WiMax and LTE standards," he says. "These technologies are designed to be deployed in much larger spectrum channel widths and offer better spectral efficiency, higher throughput, and lower latency than anything W-CDMA/HSPA can support."

For on this story:
- read Cellular-News

Related stories:
Is China ready to move to 3G? China 3G story
India could see 3G, WiMAX in 2009. India 3G story

Report: Vodafone chief to announce departure

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

According to the Financial Times, Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin is expected to announce his departure from the global operator giant in July. Vittorio Colao, currently Vodafone's deputy chief executive and head of the company's European business will replace Sarin.

Sarin has most recently been a vocal debater when it comes to the company's choice of LTE and his desire to see WiMAX as a subset of the 4G technology. In 2005, Sarin was strongly criticized for the company's slowing financial results. Some investors called for him to resign. Today, the operator is posting solid profits.

To read more about Sarin's departure:
- check out this Financial Times report

Related stories:
- Vodafone CEO: WiMAX has a home in LTE. See this Vodafone LTE story
- Sprint's CTO attacks LTE. See this Sprint WiMAX story

ALSO NOTED: Truphone scores $32M in VC money; Tough going for iPhone in Europe; and much more...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:51 -0400

> Mobile VoIP provider Truphone scored $32 million in VC funding. Article

> U.S. mobile subscribers in St. Louis, Missouri have the fastest 3G data networks, according to The Nielsen Company. Article

> Tough going for iPhone in Europe Article

> Analyst: China's 3G still years away Article

> Russia's third largest mobile operator, MegaFon, this week started commercial service over a large scale WiMAX network in the Samara region. Article

And Finally... According to a recent Accenture survey, about 12 percent of U.S. and UK respondents borrowed someone else's unsecured WiFi connection. Article

iPass moves into consumer market

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:53 -0400

iPass announced today that it is moving into the consumer market. The company, whose core business is providing wireless connectivity services to the enterprise market, announced the availability of iPassConnect mobility service for individuals. The service enables business people and consumers to buy a subscription-based service, which was previously reserved for enterprises, directly from iPass.

"We had consumers ask how they could get our service," said Piero DePaoli, director of global product marketing. "Looking through our statistics, WiFi hotspots are great but very destination oriented. 3G services are up and coming and work well in big cities, but once you leave the big city, you get downgraded to slower speeds. And if you travel internationally, the moment you leave the country you're paying big fees."

The iPassConnect mobility service offers subscribers unlimited access to more than 95,000 WiFi hotspots as well as 3G service across the U.S. for a fixed monthly fee.

iPass is taking a conservative approach to the consumer market, viewing it as a niche part of its business, but as DePaoli said: "Consumerization is a huge trend and could become very powerful for us."

For more about iPass' consumer offering:
- check out this release

Related articles:
- iPass breaks 40,000 WiFi hotspot barrier in Europe Report
- 3G usage offers a business case for 4G Editorial

More speculation surfaces about 3G iPhone

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

Due to disappointing iPhone sales across Europe, Apple is reported to have ramped up its efforts to launch a 3G-enabled handset. According to the market research firm Gartner, Apple has already placed a contract with an Asian manufacturer for 10 million of the second generation cellphones.

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said that the new handset was likely to include an OLED display in an effort to reduce the overall power drain that the 3G components will bring with them.

Launch timescales for the new handset are thought to be only months away, perhaps around the time that Apple releases the iPhone 2.0 firmware upgrade.

To find out more about the iPhone speculation:
- read these articles in GearLive and PCadvisor

Related articles:
Analyst: Infineon-powered 3G iPhone by June? Report
Rumor du jour: HSDPA iPhone coming in June Report

India's Reliance looking for overseas WiMAX play

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

India's Reliance Communications (RCom) plans to use WiMAX to gain an international presence, according to an article in the Business Standard. The company has aspirations of setting up WiMAX networks across 50 countries during the next three years. The company, which already has a WiMAX network up and running in 18 cities in India, is reportedly planning to purchase a European WiMAX operator that has about 20 markets in Europe for about $400 million.

To read more about Reliance's WiMAX aspirations:
- take a look at this article from the Business Standard

Related articles:
Telsima, Sequans capitalizing on Indian WiMAX market Report
WiMAX Forum to set up lab in India Report

FCC changes broadband calculation rules

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new data collecting and reporting practices for helping to more accurately determine broadband penetration in the U.S. The FCC changed its methods after coming under heavy fire for using a model that was too lax in its definition of what constituted broadband speed, and was not capable of counting broadband adoption accurately at street level. With the new rules, broadband speeds are defined as beginning at 768 kbps rather than the old baseline of 200 kbps, and service providers must organize data based on the different speed tiers they offer. Also, companies must calculate broadband penetration by looking at census blocks, rather than the old way of looking at a zip code and counting it as conquered if broadband happened to be available for one household anywhere in that zip code. The FCC also said broadband speeds now have to be reported for both downloads and uploads.

For more about the FCC's changes:
- see this post at CNET News.com
- check out this survey commissioned by Tellabs that details broadband gaps

Related articles:
U.S. broadband growth slows Report
Broadband up in Europe Report

Sonera looks to migrate fixed users to wireless

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

TeliaSonera's Finnish division, Sonera, has publicly admitted that it will begin migrating end users from its fixed network to its wireless businesses in rural areas. Sonera is seeking regulatory approval to migrate both voice and broadband users once wireless technology is available to make the transition.

"Instead of spending millions of euros to replace hundreds of thousands of telephone poles that are approaching the end of their lifecycle, Sonera has decided to invest in modern, wireless technology," said Juha-Pekka Weckström, senior vice-president of TeliaSonera Broadband Services Finland. "This allows us to safeguard the continuity of our customers' telecom services in sparsely-populated areas, and we are convinced that the customers will notice the benefits of the change," he added.

Sonera's move will likely make it the first former incumbent in Western Europe to adopted a fixed-to-mobile substitution plan publicly. The operator says that as much as half of its fixed network in sparsely populated areas is now idle as the number of customers drops by 10 percent to 15 percent a year.

In September, TeliaSonera made a deal in Finland to provision wireless broadband services from Digita Oy's Flash-OFDM broadband network that operates in the 450 MHz band. TeliaSonera is using the technology as a way to cost effectively extend the reach of its fixed broadband services in more difficult-to-reach areas of Finland.

For more about TeliaSonera's plans:
- read this analysis from Communications Direct

Related articles:
- TeliaSonera nears FMC launch Report
- TeliaSonera Finland uses Flash-OFDM as fixed play Report

ALSO NOTED: GSA reports 80% increase in HSDPA networks; Europe poised to overtake US in WiFi use; and much more...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:51 -0400

> The Global Suppliers Association reported an 80 percent rise in the number of commercially launched HSDPA networks in 2007.

Article

> Europe poised to overtake U.S. in WiFi use. Release

> The University of Minnesota is preparing to roll out what it calls the "world's largest 802.11n deployment." Article

> Altair Semiconductor announced it is sampling the ALT2150 mobile WiMAX baseband processor with handheld device and module manufacturers. Release

And Finally... Who makes what in wireless? Article

Ericsson: LTE will be widespread in 2012

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Ericsson anticipates Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology will see widespread deployments in 2012, with the U.S. and Japanese markets leading the way and Europe to follow. According to Juniper Research, 24 million subscribers will use LTE technology for mobile broadband services by 2012.

Arun Bhikshesvaran, vice president of business strategy and CTO for Ericsson North America, said Ericsson has begun a trial of its LTE baseband equipment with an unnamed carrier. He expects it will be completed toward the end of the year.

For more about Ericsson's LTE plans:
- check out this blog from GigaOm

Related articles:
Mobile World Congress: Ericsson plugs LTE, HSPA Report
Verizon committed to LTE Report

Deutsche Telekom has nothing against WiMAX

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:59:56 -0400

Deutsche Telekom AG Chairman Rene Obermann said his company would be interested in WiMAX technology if it owned the right spectrum, according to an article from Globes. Obermann was speaking at a conference in Israel last week.

"I have nothing against WiMAX… But we are unable to provide it right now due to the frequencies spectrum the state has allocated us," stated Obermann. "I hope that in future, when we have greater capabilities, we'll provide infrastructure for this as well."

For more about DT's views on WiMAX:
- read this article from WiMAX Day

ALSO NOTED: When will Europe auction mobile broadband spectrum?; DoCoMo's 3G subscribers surpass 40M; and much more...

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> When will Europe auction mobile broadband spectrum? Check out this chart.

> NTT DoCoMo's 3G subscribers exceed 40 million. Article

> The city of Gothenburg, Sweden, will soon form the world's largest ZigBee network. Article

And finally... eWeek likes the BlackBerry 8820. Article

Yankee Group: FMC marketing must change

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:59:53 -0400

According to Yankee Group research, enterprise adoption of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) remains low, with only 2 percent of large enterprises in Europe deploying FMC and even fewer in the U.S. and Canada. The firm says competition from alternative mobility initiatives, technological immaturity and reduced priority placed on voice communications by IT decision-makers have contributed to the low adoption rate. In addition, 29 percent of large enterprise IT decision-makers surveyed in the U.S. consider the technology "nice to have," but not a "critical" application on their IT/networking road map.

As such, Yankee Group says these statistics don't bode well for FMC in the form that carriers are marketing it. Carriers are pushing the idea that FMC can reduce costs for the enterprise. Yankee Group recommends that the focus needs to shift from cost reduction to an emphasis on productivity.

For more about Yankee Group's views on FMC:
- read this article from Tekrati

Related Article:
Yankee Group: Enterprise FMC half baked

Boingo to launch first global flat-rate plan for WiFi

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:59:56 -0400

WiFi aggregator Boingo Wireless, which claims to have more than 100,000 hotspots, is introducing today what it calls the first worldwide flat-rate plan for WiFi hotspots. For $39 per month, subscribers can use any of the company's hotspots for an unlimited time. No software is needed, although Boingo recommends that clients download GoBoingo, a program that alerts users when they are in range of a Boingo hotspot.

Boingo said its targeting the international traveler who passes through many major cities. "There are some existing customers who travel who we think will be interested, and we'll market to them, but we think this serves a new segment," David Hagan, chief executive of Boingo said.

It looks like Boingo is putting a new stake in the ground to lower prices around the globe, especially in Europe, where WiFi pricing is still quite high.

For more about Boingo's new pricing:
- read this article from the International Herald Tribune

Mesh metro-WiFi comes to Europe

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:01:35 -0500

Mesh technology was developed on this side of the Atlantic and has been slow to gain a beachhead in Europe. It is beginning to do so. HiTel Italia and RoamAD announced an OEM partnership to respond to the growing demand for metro WiFi mesh solutions in the European market. HiTel is already selling RoamAD-based metro WiFi systems in Europe and expects to be able to announce its first metro WiFi deployment in Europe within the next 30 days. HiTel said it was gearing up to be a major player in European metro-WiFi, and that it was initially going to concentrate on providing WiFi services for public transportation systems, small communities and inner city commercial and residential districts.

Patrick Scarlata, managing director of HiTel, said: "As European carriers and ISPs are developing a better understanding of the capabilities of large-scale WiFi networks, they are increasingly demanding mobile VoIP/VoWiFi as well as mobile data as core requirements on their networks. We are therefore pleased to be partnering with RoamAD, the leader in mobile WiFi network technology."

For more on the HiTel-RoamAD deal:
- see this RoamAD press release (.pdf)

ALSO: Telecom Italia has decided to conduct field trials of Korea's home-grown WiBro wireless broadband implementation of the 802.16 standard. WiBro competes directly with Europe's HiperMAN implementation of 802.16 from the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), which these days is being hyped around the world under the brand name WiMax, which itself is not a standard. Report

SPOTLIGHT: New cell services put on hold

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:01:32 -0400

The largest mobile operators in Europe have seen their market becoming more crowded, squeezing sales and profits. According to financial data from the carriers, the average European consumer is now spending just about half what he or she spent in the late 1990s for mobile service. Equally worrisome for the opeators, these consumers appear uninterested in doing much more with their cell phones than talk and send text messages. Analysis