Emerging mobile broadband technologies
5 September 2007
News
Next generation mobile broadband technologies including 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE), xMax and Mobile WiMAX hold the promise of transforming the mobile broadband landscape.
Carriers are increasingly investigating the potential of these emerging technologies as a means to sustain their profitability and boost average revenue per user (ARPU).
"Carriers' dependence on voice to increase ARPU can no longer be a driving factor, given the prevailing saturated market and various alternatives such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and reduced local and roaming call charges due to regulatory policies", notes Frost & Sullivan programme manager Luke Thomas. "As a result, carriers are now keenly looking at various next generation mobile broadband technologies so as to increase their ARPU in data applications and remain profitable in the long term."
More than 62% of the current world population of nearly 6,6 billion is not connected to a cellular network. Various emerging wireless technologies still have potential to make major inroads into the vast untapped market.
Current Mobile WiMAX standards are not yet optimised for mobile VoIP at vehicular speeds. Frost & Sullivan believes that Mobile WiMAX will therefore initially target the ultra mobile PC or PC tablet market rather than the mobile smartphone market.
xMax technology will potentially enable service providers to promote unlimited local and long distant voice calls as well as unlimited text messages at very low monthly prices. xMax is a likely prospect to be the first 4G technology to be commercially available in 2008. Once 3G LTE is a ratified standard, its performance characteristics are expected to be superior to Mobile WiMAX.
"A major portion of existing cellular networks would need a hardware upgrade to support 3G LTE," notes Thomas. "Service providers are still undecided if they need to completely shut down circuit switched networks with the deployment of 3G LTE networks."
For more information contact Patrick Cairns, Frost & Sullivan, +27 (0)21 680 3274, [email protected]
Further reading:
Altron celebrates 60th birthday with a call to rebuild Johannesburg
Altron Arrow
News
Altron is celebrating its 60th birthday by honouring Johannesburg’s heritage and encouraging business, government and civil society to come together and respond to our President’s call to rebuild Johannesburg.
Read more...
Electronic News Digest
News
A brief synopsis of current global news relating to the electronic engineering fields with regards to company finances, general company news, and engineering technologies.
Read more...
Jemstech to produce PCB assemblies for Kamstrup
Jemstech
News
Jemstech is pleased to announce that they have successfully concluded a supplier agreement with Kamstrup A/S in Denmark, a leading supplier of intelligent metering solutions in the global market.
Read more...
New appointments at Hiconnex
Hiconnex
News
Hiconnex, a leading provider of electronic components and solutions, has announced key appointments to support its continued growth and commitments to its clients.
Read more...
FoundriesFactory service more affordable for smaller OEMs
News
Foundries.io has announced a new, tiered pricing scheme which reduces the cost of its highly regarded FoundriesFactory service for OEMs in the development phase of a new edge AI or Linux OS-based product.
Read more...
DMASS 2024 results
News
The semiconductor business faced a severe downturn, with a 31,9% decrease compared to 2023 and a 30,3% drop in Q4 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Read more...
Using satellite comms to end copper theft
News
According to Transnet COO Solly Letsoalo, the scourge of copper theft could be a thing of the past by eliminating the use of copper cabling and switching to a satellite communication system.
Read more...
Strategic merger: Etion Create and Nanoteq
Etion Create
News
Reunert has announced the successful merger of two business units within the Applied Electronics Segment, namely Etion Create and Nanoteq, effective 1 October 2024.
Read more...
Securex South Africa 2025
Specialised Exhibitions
News
Securex South Africa 2025 is co-located with A-OSH EXPO, Facilities Management Expo, and Firexpo to provide a time-saver for visitors looking for holistic solutions for their facilities.
Read more...
Chinese AI causes Silicon Valley stocks to tumble
News
Many stocks took a downward spike, with Nvidia being the hardest hit, losing 16,9% after one day’s trading.
Read more...
printer friendly version