Sometimes HSPA+ is as Fast As Some LTE Networks

Though controversy about what networks can legitimately be called “fourth generation” has been an issue, in some cases, some 3G networks can provide access speeds so comparable to 4G Long Term Evolution that most users could not tell the difference.

Though that should not continue to be the case always, at the moment, some 3G services offer access speeds quite comparable to LTE, Rootmetrics tests in the first half of 2012 suggested.

In those tests, Verizon delivered 77.4 percent of their downloads at speeds above 5 Mbps. Verizon also offered the least percentage of tests in the “slow” bucket.

“Verizon was the most consistent carrier for delivering fast speeds and also the most consistent at avoiding the slowest speeds,”  RootMetrics found.

But T-Mobile USA’s performance using an HSPA+42 network was quite strong.

Though AT&T edged ahead of T-Mobile, the distance between the carriers was small, Rootmetrics says. T-Mobile USA speeds  were often closer to T-Mobile than to Verizon.

Compare, for instance, how often each of these three carriers delivered speeds above 5 Mbps: Where Verizon delivered speeds above 5 Mbps 77.4 percent of the time, AT&T did so in 48.1 percent of the tests.

T-Mobile USA surpassed 5 Mbps in 46.7 percent of the tests.

Also, performance by Sprint and MetroPCS shows the importance of adding LTE service. Both Sprint and MetroPCS, nearly 70 percent of the time, tested in the “slowest bucket.”

On the other hand, Sprint proved much better at the top end of the tests. MetroPCS delivered speeds above 5 Mbps 0.9 percent of the time, while  Sprint did so in 17.2 percent of the tests.

AT&T to Buy 25% of Reliance Jio?

AT&T reportedly plans to buy about 25 percent of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. for $3.5 billion, the Times of India reports.  If so, the AT&T investment might be the biggest foreign investment ever made in India, Bloomberg says. 

If true, the deal could signify both AT&T's interest in one of the biggest global markets, but also an indicator that future prospects in its home market might not be so compelling, compared to moves offshore. 

The firm has ambitions to become the number one in India telecom market. 

The Indian company is the nation's second-largest wireless carrier with 105 million subscribers and a market capitalization around $7.4 billion.

Mobile Data Offload Growing "Faster than Expected"

Mobile data offload to the fixed network is happening a bit faster than many had expected.

In 2012, Cisco estimates, mobile offload represented about 33 percent of total mobile traffic, on a global level.  As recently as 2011, Cisco estimated mobile offload would comprise 22 percent in 2016.

In 2013, offload will grow to 38 percent of total data consumption.

By 2016, Cisco estimates about 46 percent of global mobile data traffic will be offloaded  to fixed networks. That represents a “dramatic shift” of mobile traffic offloaded to fixed networks, Cisco says.

Some might speculate that offload could be a bigger factor. Offloading is even more pronounced in the United States,  where mobile offload will account for 66 percent of total mobile traffic in 2017.

Mobile data offload has grown faster than expected at least in part because Internet service providers intentionally are encouraging users to do so. Mobile service providers do so to maintain capacity on their networks, while fixed network providers do so to create “wireless extensions” of their fixed access services.

Consumers have a vested interest in using mobile offload to avoid stressing their data plans, especially as video has become the dominant driver of data consumption.

As smart phones increasingly are used for content consumption, not talking or texting, the value of mobile offload is bound to grow.

And that ultimately could create some new opportunities for untethered devices and services that replicate 80 percent or more of the value of a smart phone but without the need for traditional voice or texting plans.

And though people have been speculating for more than a decade about whether dense Wi-Fi networks could “compete” with mobile networks, the possibility of doing so actually is growing as the primary applications shift to content consumption, while voice and texting become available as over the top apps, and the density of Wi-Fi nodes increases.

AT&T Says Unlocking Not a Big Deal

Some will see AT&T’s comments about device unlocking as posturing, but it is not entirely clear that device unlocking is something the leading mobile service providers could not live with or even support.

“AT&T’s policy is to unlock our customers’ devices if they’ve met the terms of their service agreements and we have the unlock code,” says  Joan Marsh on the AT&T Policy Blog. “ It’s a straightforward policy, and we aim to make the unlocking process as easy as possible.”

Federal law makes it unlawful to circumvent technological measures employed by copyright owners to protect their property, including software. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Librarian of Congress conducts a periodic review to determine whether or not users of copyrighted work – in this case device owners – will be adversely affected.

On October 28, 2012, as part of the periodic review, the Librarian issued a new ruling on the mobile handset exception which narrowed the unlocking exemption that it had previously granted.  

Under the latest interpretation, the unlocking must be initiated by the owner of the device (not a bulk reseller) who also owns the copy of the software on the device, the device must have been purchased within a specific time window, the wireless carrier must have failed to act with a reasonable time period on a request to unlock the device and the unlocking must be requested to permit connection to another carrier’s network.

The new interpretation “has very little impact on AT&T customers,” Marsh says.

“If we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer, AT&T currently will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days; whose account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement commitment,“ Marsh says.  

“ If the conditions are met we will unlock up to five devices per account per year,” says Marsh.

So “the Librarian’s ruling will not negatively impact any of AT&T’s customers,” says Marsh.

Some will say that is fine, but what they really want is unlocked phones at the start of a relationship with a service provider. Some might say that often is possible. Others might say the financial advantages are structured to make such practices nonsensical.

For example, if a user bringing an unlocked device has to pay the same monthly fees as a customer whose fees include a phone subsidy and a two-year contract, then there is no real financial break for supplying one’s own phone.

Unlocking, per se, seems not to be the issue. The ability to buy a user an unlocked phone “on any mobile network (consistent with air interface capabilities of the device)” with the benefit of a lower monthly service plan seems to be the real issue.

Just a nice graphic for International Women's Day

By Googledoodlers. 

The Value Driving Small Business to Mobile Payments

One issue proponents of many forms of mobile payment have had to grapple with is the issue of "value" for the end user, when the success of any such venture hinges on making several classes of end users happy, all at the same time.

That ecosystem includes people who buy things, the retailers who sell things, the financial institutions providing the end user accounts and the processors who handle the transactions, Unless each segment sees clear value, it is tough to create the new business. 

PaySimple, Intuit, GoPayments, PayPal Here, Square and Flint Mobile are solving one key element of the "value" question for some retailers, especially smaller businesses that always have cash flow issues. 

A primary benefit of retailer mobile payments systems is that sales are converted into cash inflows, within a day. That doesn't change the value proposition for shoppers, necessarily. Nor do such systems always and necessarily work to the advantage of banks or settlement brands. 

But getting paid right away is enough value for small businesses to drive adoption fast. Up to this point, convincing many retailers to invest money in mobile payments has been a tough sell. 

For small businesses, that increasingly is not the case. The cost of terminals is not much of an issue. The value does not have to hinge on "lower fees" for taking credit card or debit card payments. Just getting paid fast is the driver. 

EC Mobile Antitrust Probe Ends

European Commission regulators in March 2012 began a probe of whether five large telecom operators (Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, Telefonica, Vodafone and Telecom Italia) were using standards processes to inhibit competition in the mobile business.

But the EC now has concluded that since such standards work now is conducted by the GSMA and other standards bodies, there is no immediate problem. 

To be sure, all standards ultimately benefit some contestants and market participants more than others, especially when a standard plays to one specific technology approach that becomes an "industry" standard. 

That sort of "bias" cannot be completely eliminated. But the investigation points out how careful dominant service providers have to be when trying to develop new services and apps that require scale. Mobile payments and mobile wallets provide one other example.