While the debate around third-generation wireless technology to date has focused on which air interface to incorporate into the standard, leading wireless vendors brought up a few other crucial points at PCS ’98 in Orlando that will have to be addressed at some point.
Who is going to pay for upgrades to 3G, asked Nortel exec Matt Desch.
Desch contends a business case needs to be made that will inexpensively add data applications onto voice services.
Commercial 3G networks likely will not be ready for deployment until after 2000, so much will change between now and then, including the economy, the cost of new devices and the cost of new networks.
Nevertheless, telecom carriers will have to be sold that their customers will gladly trade up their handy wireless devices for new ones in order to receive these great new services. Or if there is no backward compatibility, to trade in their old handsets for new ones even if they don’t want to use all the new applications.
Will vendors be as willing this time around to finance these new networks in exchange for a piece of the business? Or will 3G wireless services have to compete for vendor financing with opportunities vendors may have in fixed broadband applications, say?
Several industry executives noted that how the wireless network will integrate into the wired network will be crucial in order to give people technology that will really help them-and applications that people will be able to use without too much fuss.
I wonder if new towers will have to built ?
How much spectrum should be put aside for these applications?
As Qualcomm CEO Irwin Jacobs commented, “The fun is really just beginning.”
