Technology innovation has driven the growth of full service providers in Latin America and the Caribbean in a period characterized by the continuous decrease in the number of facilities-based telecom operators.
As 4G smartphones and tablets become more prevalent, iGR has noted a change in consumer behavior – more people are likely to stay stationary while using the new devices. Contrast this behavior with the typical cellular users who, for the last 25 years or so, have moved-and-talked, usually while driving.
The prevalence of multiple-SIM use remains one of the most critical issues for mobile operators in emerging markets. It is driven broadly by consumer choice and potential manipulation by retail partners, and brings with it the double difficulties of stagnating voice revenue and eroding subscriber valuation.
The pace of innovation is accelerating as convergence has joined technology with telecom, media, entertainment and consumer electronics. As innovation races forward, relying solely on homegrown inventions and vertical innovations is proving suicidal.
Ever get a feeling of déjà vu? The longer I spend in the wireless industry (2012 will be 20 years), the more it seems that history repeats itself. This has become apparent recently as we have been looking at the developments in the smartphone market.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
Number portability is a policy that was included in regulatory frameworks during the process of opening up...
The annual Pacific Telecom Council (PTC) conference is known as the "Davos of Telecom.” For 34 years, CEO's and telecom regulators descend on Hawaii to sip mai tai cocktails and spar over policy.
In an earlier article we discussed how the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show had a highly visible new presence from the major automakers this year, and how this revealed their strategy to defend the in car infotainment market opportunity by re-inventing themselves as technology firms, and providing improved in car infotainment solutions.
Service providers that prioritize opportunities, place their teams properly, participate knowledgeably in the supply chain, form partnerships effectively and establish credible personae are bound for success in the machine-to-machine services market.
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there was a new category of product making its debut as consumer electronics, and it was the automobile.
The LTE spectrum auctions are changing competitive dynamics in mobile markets. Leading mobile operators are paying billions to achieve long-term spectrum dominance, while challengers are hoping to use acquired spectrum to deploy smart network solutions and boost their competitiveness. In this article, we assess who may be the winners and the losers of the spectrum poker.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
There is no doubt that the question of what to do with over-the-top content (OTT) will...
The case for deploying smaller cell configurations – such as picocells, microcells and femtocells – to supplement traditional macro-cell-network architectures, both for LTE and existing 3G networks, is becoming more compelling as traditional macro cells will soon not be able to cope with traffic demand in urban areas.
Mobile technologies in unpaired spectrum have always been a challenge for me. I’m not ignorant of the many local successes of WiMAX and other alternative wireless broadband technologies, but none have really become global movements in the way they would have liked.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
The arrival of a new year brings with its numerous expectations of what would be the changes...
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
After years trying to modify the market dynamic by not subsidizing handsets, Brazilian operator Oi...
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
It is not a secret that the current macroeconomic conditions do not present a favorable outlook for...
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
I’ve been having fun this week playing – and working – with my new AT&T...
Mobile phone intellectual property rights (IPR) licensing significantly includes patents that are “essential” to implement various standards including GSM, CDMA, HSPA and LTE. Purported IPR valuations including those derived from essential patent ownership “determinations” are subject to great uncertainties, inaccuracies and biases.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
Over the past two decades, I’ve seen many telecom companies define their geographic reach as encompassing the...
The so-called net-neutrality rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission last December have finally been published in the Federal Register, meaning that they will become law on Nov. 20 (see United States: 23 December 2010: FCC Passes Net-Neutrality Vote in US, Excludes Mobile Broadband...
Even though it happened about four and a half years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the most depressing CTIA show I ever attended, March 2007 in Orlando Florida, and it definitely wasn’t the Happiest Place on Earth.
The problem was...
Mobile phones today are virtually unrecognizable from when they were first commercially released 30 years ago. Throughout this incredible period of innovation, the SIM card, the removable card placed in the mobile phone with a chip enabling operators to provide access to their network, has remained virtually unchanged.
