Is 3G a failed technology? What seems like an outrageous question becomes ask-able when 3G is accounting for a small portion of telecoms operators’ revenues, when its achieved data rates are pathetically less than touted, and when WIMAX, with its vastly greater data rate, is already being deployed in Asia and will shortly be hitting Europe.
Vodafone’s CEO Arun Sarin conceded earlier this week that 3G is only accounting for 10 per cent of the company’s revenues, some six years in since the company paid six billion (GBP) for the licence.
According to authoritative industry sources that 10 per cent is about average across the industry.
With my recently acquired 3G phone I find I am getting, wherever I go, a steady data rate of 115kbits/sec.
And this technology was supposed to be the vehicle for the ‘mobile Internet’, for transmitting video over the airwaves, for showing us highlights of football matches on our mobiles and many similar video delights..
Some hope. At 115kbits/sec, 3G is just not up to supporting the mobile Internet. Why are the achievable data rates so much lower than those theoretical data rates above 1Mbit/sec being thrown around five years ago?\
Does the technology stink, or were the operators not prepared to spend the money required to get it to work properly?
Did the operators stint on the networks? That’s possible. After being skinned for the licence fees, the operators weren’t in the mood to be openhanded in building the infrastructure.
And what happened to HSDPA and HSUPA, the CDMA enhancement technologies supposed to radically improve access speeds? We don’t seem to have heard much of those recently.
So there it is. After UK licensees spent over twenty billion quid on 3G licences, and with WiFi and WIMAX creeping up all around us, the technology could, just could, be going down the toilet.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Comments (2)
I think HSPA is happening quite quickly. But will the operators have money to spend on the next wave which is LTE? You have to change modulation, use MIMO and move all data as IP. The current HW will not do. So who will pay the bill?
In some other European countries the operators didnt pay for the 3G licence. However, it seems that they were pretty good at messing it all up in spite of that.
Posted by VO | February 14, 2007 1:00 PM
Posted on February 14, 2007 13:00
Good point Veijo, the operators' haven't, so far, showed themselves to be the sharpest tools in the box when it comes to making technology choices.
Posted by david manners | February 14, 2007 3:23 PM
Posted on February 14, 2007 15:23