U.S. FCC Examining Resiliency of U.S. Mobile Networks

The Federal Communications Commission will convene a series of field hearings in 2013 to examine challenges to the nation’s communications networks in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, and make recommendations to improve network resiliency. 

Issues to be examined include backup power, ways to increase levels of sharing between networks and resources during emergencies, and other ways to increase overall resiliency during emergenices. 

By some estimates, 25 percent of mobile cell sites were knocked out in areas affected by Superstorm Sandy.  Others mobile network resiliency, though. 

White Spaces in U.K. Will Have to Operate as a Managed Network

White spaces networks using former broadcast TV spectrum in the United States and United Kingdom are intended to be used on a non-licensed basis, with a new twist. 

Today's unlicensed spectrum allows devices to register and use the network, but without any admission control, as a private network would do, or frequency coordination, as a mobile network must do. With the Wi-Fi router model, the user can configure some elements of the access. In the U.K. white spaces case, the network will do all of the configuration. 

So in the United Kingdom, it appears mild forms of admission control and frequency coordination will be used, essentially turning the white spaces spectrum into what is effectively a managed network of sorts. A white spaces network therefore will more nearly resemble a cellular network than a local Wi-Fi network. 

U.K. devices operating in white spaces will have to consult with an online database for usable frequencies, and check back regularly to ensure nothing has changed. That makes a white spaces operation more a managed "network" than has been the case in the past for "networks" using unlicensed spectrum. 

The reason is that white spaces networks will have to sense which frequencies are usable in any given location. In some cases, those frequencies could change over time. What isn't so clear yet is whether a data base entity will be able to monitor which frequencies are currently in use by other devices and then adjust device transmission power automatically, a step that would further prevent interference and optimize total network performance. 

Devices which cannot contact a data base administrator immediately on seeking admission to the network can use their "remembered frequencies" list, but have to check back every hour, Ofcom says. 

Device manufacturers will have to pay entities running the data bases, as well. The point is that white spaces networks in the United Kingdom will use non-licensed spectrum, but will operate in ways that are more like a managed network, in a few ways, than a traditional non-licensed Wi-Fi network. 

The networks apparently will operate as "best effort" entities, but the network itself will take some steps, or might be able to take some steps, to manage radio resources in ways that provide better user experience. 

European Parliament Says:Stop the ITU taking over the Internet"

Control of the Internet must be stopped from falling into the hands of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the European Parliament has warned.

The resolution calls on the E.U. member states to prevent any changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations that would be harmful to the openness of the Internet, net neutrality and freedom of expression.

European Mobile Industry is Contracting

Globally, telecom revenue is growing. But not in Western Europe, it appears. The mobile industry’s combined revenues from voice, messaging and data services in the EU5 economies (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) will drop by nearly 20 billion Euros, or four percent a year, in the next five years, and by 30 billion Euros by 2020, according to STL Partners. 

The obvious implication is that mobile service providers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will have to create new revenue streams worth 30 billion Euros, just to stay where they are, by 2020. 

That is roughly in line with a rule of thumb I use that suggests service providers in just about every developed market will need to replace about 50 percent of current revenue in 10 years. 

Mobile Operator VoIP Revenues Remain Paltry

For mobile service providers, the fundamental problems with over the top voice and messaging services have to do with the business model, for obvious reasons. 

Since mobile service providers do not own the over the top apps, they do not participate in the revenue. But if they try and offer their own OTT apps, priced competitively with the over the top providers, they make little money, and potentially disrupt their own more-lucrative voice and messaging services. 

In fact, mobile VoIP is still worth less than 0.5 percent of overall mobile voice revenues, according to ARCchart.

ARCchart sees similar issues for mobile service provider messaging. ARCchart expects that instant messages will exceed text messaging volumes by 2014 and continue growing rapidly, accounting for 65 percent of all message traffic pushed over mobile networks by 2016. 

As with voice, OTT messaging will cannibalize mobile operator services. In 2012, global mobile VoIP service revenues might be about $2.5 billion. But mobile voice revenue overall could be in the range of roughly $1 trillion. 

Mobile Roaming Revenues to exceed $80 Billion by 2017

Mobile roaming, with growth powered especially by use of data services out of region, will grow to more than $80 billion by 2017, compared to $46 billion in 2012. 

Mobile data will provide most of the growth, if not the absolute greatest volume of revenue, generating about $35 billion in revenue by 2017, when data roaming revenues will represent about eight percent of total mobile service provider revenues, says Juniper Research. 

Still, that means voice roaming will account for $45 billion in 2017. Western Europe will continue to be the region where roaming revenue is the most significant revenue contributor. 

Lower roaming fees, often mandated by regulators, actually will help. As any economist might say, lowering the price of any product tends to increase consumption of those products. 

Children Want Their Gadgets

Approximately half of children six to 12 surveyed by Nielsen say they want a full-sized iPad  and 36 percent want an iPad Mini. 

The iPod Touch and iPhone are also coveted devices among these young consumers (36% and 33%, respectively).  

Kids are also likely to ask for dedicated gaming hardware for the Christmas and holiday season, with 39 percent wanting Nintendo’s Wii U. 

About 29 percent say they want a portable DS. About a quarter say they want  Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and a similar percentage want a Sony PlayStation 3.

Among consumers aged 13 and older, tablets and full-sized computers were the top electronics choices, with roughly one in five indicating they want to acquire the iPad, another tablet brand or a computer.