2010 marks a pivotal year for the telecommunications industry. Not only is it the beginning of a new decade, but it’s also the beginning of a new era in terms of connecting to others. It’s a critical juncture of technology, it’s an evolution: the 4th generation. Competing companies such as Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all have a role in producing this 4th generation. They have sunk massive amounts of commerce in the development of their own version of the technology but as of now, none of these companies are capable of producing the finalized product. Though each company has set their approximate nation-wide release year, which is 2013, as well as their estimation as to how many consumers will be connected to their 4G networks, roughly 100 million, none of the companies have commercially marketed their product to the public. There hasn’t been any newspaper articles or television commercials about the product, and trying to find information on their websites is pretty much a fool’s errand. It seems that the 4th generation of connectivity isn’t as ready as these companies portrait it to be.
Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint are the companies leading the way for this new product. They exude confidence during technology fairs concluding that the 4G revolution is upon us. They’ve developed products to help connect to the network such as portable modems, usb drives, and sim cards. They’ve even entitled their networks; Sprint’s being WIMAX (World-wide Interoperability for Microwave Access) while Verizon and AT&T’s shall be called LTE (Long Term Evolution). However, perhaps their confidence is missed guided and their promise of debuting in 2013 is unrealistic.
WIMAX developed by the Sprint and Clear companies respectively, seems to be losing ground in the United States amidst their attempt to bring WIMAX success domestically. Though they’ve raised 3.2 billion dollars in investments to produce the network, Sprint and Clear may have underestimated how expensive it is to blanket the country in connectivity. Sprint, the lesser of the three major telecommunications distributors in the country, may not have enough currency to continue production if the 3.2 billion isn’t enough, and investors Google, Time Warner, and Intel may grow weary of waiting and pull their investments early. Also those dependent on their WIMAX’s success is far less than those who are dependent on LTE”s success due to the fact that Verizon and AT&T are far larger companies. … Read the rest
Last week we wrote the first of a series of articles about broadband deployment, and offered suggestions to help foster and develop rural broadband through stimulus and Universal Service funds, municipal broadband projects and competitive bidding. In this article, we review the current status of broadband deployment in light of the recent Comcast Decision and the FCC’s proposed National Broadband Plan.
In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress codified the FCC’s distinction between “telecommunications services” used to transmit information and “information services” that run over the network. The FCC later eliminated the regulatory asymmetry between cable companies and other broadband Internet service providers by extending the information service classification to broadband Internet services offered over DSL and other wireline facilities, power lines, and wireless. Today broadband Internet service may be offered as an information service subject to consumer protection, network reliability, and national security laws, rules and regulations, but largely exempt from Title II telecommunications service regulation.
Expressing its resolve to further broadband deployment, Congress recently passed
1) the 2008 Farm Bill directing the FCC to submit to Congress “a comprehensive rural broadband strategy,
2) the Broadband Data Improvement Act to improve data collection and “promote the deployment of affordable broadband services to all parts of the Nation”, and
3) the Recovery Act, which appropriated up to $7.2 billion for broadband services deployment, and required the FCC to develop the National Broadband Plan.
Earlier this year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated the FCC’s 2008 Order barring Comcast from interfering with its customers’ use of peer-to-peer networking applications. Comcast Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission, et. al., No. 08-1291 (D.C. Cir. April 6, 2010). The Court vacated the FCC’s Order because the FCC failed to tie its assertion of ancillary authority over Comcast’s Internet service to any “statutorily mandated responsibility . . .” Id. at 36. With this blow to the FCC’s authority to force Internet service providers to keep their networks open to all forms of content, the Comcast Decision raises serious questions about the FCC’s ability to regulate broadband.
Faced with the reality that approximately 100 million Americans do not have broadband at home, the FCC’s July 20th announcement that between 14 and 24 million Americans still lack access to broadband overall, and Congress’s mandate that the FCC ensure that every American has “access to broadband capability,” the FCC rolled out its proposed … Read the rest
In the last decade, technological advances have become a necessity rather than a luxury for today’s American consumers and businesses. As a society we are always in demand of something new, something faster, something that will change our lives even if it means paying a little extra for the service. When turning on the television, commercials rule the airwaves using various techniques to coerce us into buying their product or at least implant a little annoying seed that unconsciously has us repeating the commercial slogan. An example of this would be the Optimum Triple Play Package advertisement, which uses corny rap and rock songs that are catchy, and I confess, are imbedded in my memory due to it’s continuous broadcasting during football games and practically all of television. Verizon and Apple use a compare and contrast technique, which subtly imply that they have a better product than their competing companies as seen from the “Can you Hear Me Now”, and the “Mac vs. P.C” commercials. These companies have been the pioneers of 21st century advertisement, and I’d bet money that most people have seen their commercials and/or own their product or service. With such marketing maneuvers it is no surprise that these companies are leading the industry with their respective product.
So with that said, has anyone ever heard of WiMAX or Clearwire? At first glance, it sounds like a bootleg version of Wi-Fi and water bottle brand, but it’s not, it’s an up and coming technology and company that will change the way the public connects to the internet. Want proof? Well how about 3.2 billion dollars of proof? Google, Time Warner Cable, and Intel have agreed to produce that amount in support of the Sprint’s Clearwire Company and the WiMAX product with hopes that it will unlock its 4G potential and make its mark on today’s market. WiMAX has the potential to cover entire cities with connections and works just like a portable modem, meaning you can be anywhere in the city and have access to the internet. WiMAX mean’s no restrictions; you can reconnect with society anywhere you go, it means you can say goodbye to hunting for coffee shops that have free internet access, or even paying 2.99 for three hours use of internet at Barnes and Nobles. WiMAX offers an option of a faster Internet with a stronger connection, so why in the world isn’t … Read the rest
Senza Fili’s latest white paper forecasts the future of WiMAX deployments and operators build out.
Strong subscriber growth over the past year has demonstrated the appeal of WiMAX technology
Key forecast results:
More than 90 million subscribers worldwide, with 47% of them in Asia Pacific
$24 billion in service revenues
$22/month ARPU
53% of subscribers will use WiMAX as a mobile technology
31% of subscribers will use dongles, 7% embedded laptops, 27% phones or other devices. Remaining subscribers will use desktop or outdoor subscriber units
Electric utilities are reliable, ubiquitous providers of essential services, but have often been seen as resistant to change and innovation. Smart grid initiatives are rapidly reversing this perception, as utilities take a leading role in technological innovation and the efficient use of natural resources. With smart grid applications, utilities can increase operational efficiencies, improve service quality, and save on costs. To make these achievements possible, utilities need to transform the way they operate their business-how they generate power, and how they deliver it to the end customer.
Compact base stations: a new step in the evolution of base station design. Squeezing out cost, volume, and complexity from WiMAX deployments. Compact base transceiver stations (BTSs) are the latest base station design to be introduced in the market. They bring WiMAX operators flexibility and cost savings while retaining the performance of macro BTSs. Compact BTSs can be installed in single-sector or multiple-sector configurations as alternatives to distributed BTSs with remote radio heads (RRHs).
Wireless operators face a myriad of obstacles, but fundamental to the performance of any system are the propagation characteristics that restrict delivery of signal power, and deployment scenarios that create interference. Broadband applications further exacerbate these problems and continue to create interesting challenges for system designers. Numerous techniques are used to improve link performance, but the use of multiple antennas provides the best approach to realize the largest gains to address increased coverage or reduced transmit power.
Simply put, the increase in smartphone usage and the subsequent explosion of data traffic on 3G networks has caused an immediate need for carriers to offload the data traffic from the 3G network, so that both the voice and data services perform optimally. And due to the built-in Wi-Fi capabilities of the millions of smartphones on the market, users are often turning to Wi-Fi hotspot services to fill in the gaps when the 3G network can’t cut it.
In looking at the WiMax market at the start of a new year, what better way to gain insight into future trends than by interviewing those who know the topic and technology best? The following piece is a compilation of opinions and foresights from seven experts in the telecom world who are part of the GoingWiMax.com community. According to these experts, a demand for mobile data capacity and more WiMax-embedded devices, increasing WiMax deployment both nationally and abroad, accelerated download speeds, LTE breakthrough, and the broadband stimulus bill will be some of the major factors affecting and influencing the WiMax market in big ways in 2010.
