Ake Persson confirmed that at the time of Telecom ’95, the telecommunications business seemed a simpler industry than that of today. “We viewed it as either a fixed or mobile world-period,” he declared.
But unlike some of his colleagues in the industry, he is candid enough to admit that few appreciated at the time the speed with which the Internet Protocol paradigm would make itself felt. “In ’95, we knew about IP, it was being considered as a possibility, but we didn’t then understand the full impact that it might have,” he said.
However, Persson claimed that in 1995 Ericsson realized that the stability and future coverage of cellular systems were going to form a platform for sophisticated data services over the next five years. “This is on its way to being realized,” he added. “This upgrade in network capability is occurring at the same time as the shift to IP. It’s all coming together now.”
But he said there are radical differences between Europe and the United States regarding this future cellular data opportunity. Persson pointed to what is happening in Europe on wireless data and maintained there is nothing comparable in the United States.
“Europe is so much ahead in this area, whereas in the U.S., we are still wrestling with getting the voice services deployed in a good manner,” he said.
While maintaining there is a regional difference today, Persson said it won’t prevail: “It will change. The CDMA market in the [United States] is growing very fast, and the operators are fulfilling the basic need for good voice communications. CDMA is as capable as other wireless technologies, while GSM might be a little ahead in capabilities and deployment today.”
He added that this lead will vanish in the next year or so, with both technologies providing the same platform for value-added services.-Paul Rasmussen in Oxford, United Kingdom
