Chetan Sharma has worked with major wireless carriers, content providers and technology companies around the globe, and his clients include companies such as NTT DoCoMo, Disney, Infospace, Reliance, Qualcomm, HP, Merrill Lynch and others. In this article he talks about the current penetration of 3G networks, future take-up of the technology and what this will mean for mobile content — also, which mobile content will actively drive take-up of 3G in the general population.
2005 will be remembered for some major achievements in the wireless industry such as reaching the milestone of two billion subscribers worldwide and Nokia selling its one-billionth handset in Nigeria. There were some modest successes worth noting as well like total number of 3G subscribers reaching the 50 million milestone. Following Japan and Korea, 3G networks are being deployed worldwide and the subscriber base will be reaching the 10% critical mass in the next 18-24 months. In this article, we will focus our attention on 3G’s diffusion to mass-market in key geographies, look into key drivers for 3G growth, and discuss the short-term (12-18 months) and long-term (1-5 years) trends.
After a hesitant start, 3G networks have finally started to proliferate. As of Dec 2005, over 90 operators have launched EV-DO (20) and WCDMA (70) networks worldwide and there are over 200 3G devices available (Source: 3GToday.com). For the purposes of this article, we will only consider broadband technologies such as CDMA EV-DO and UMTS and their subsequent enhancements as 3G. EV-DO Rev 0 and UMTS on an average provide 400-700kbps and 220-320kbps respectively; peak rates are a bit higher. EV-DO Rev A and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) will provide on average 500kbps-1Mbps. These upgrades will enable simultaneous (otherwise known as combinational services) rich multimedia content applications such as: full album MP3 downloads, video conferencing, movie downloads, high-res pictures, real-time VoIP, multiplayer, and interactive gaming.
In October 2001, NTT DoCoMo succeeded in launching FOMA â
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