FCC may include mobile in next broadband report

As more people come to rely on mobile Internet access for a major portion of their total Internet activity, it just makes sense to include data on mobile access as part of the total Internet access situation in any country, including the United States.



The Federal Communications Commission probably will do so.

Charter Will Get into Mobile: Just Needs to Figure Out the Business Model

Assuming the Charter Communications acquisition of Time Warner Cable succeeds, mobility strategy is likely to come to the fore.

“Should we have a mobile product...and the answer is yes, we should ultimately figure out how to create our service infrastructure everywhere we are and where our customers are,” said Tom Rutledge, Charter Communications CEO.

“We continue to rollout our Wi-Fi product and the bulk of wireless activity on smartphones today is on the Wi-Fi product that we've deployed,” Rutledge said. “And so I think there are opportunities, business opportunities to create mobility for us whether that's with T-Mo or any other provider for that matter.”

Will Triple Play Reach its Limits?

There is sound logic to the triple play. It basically represents a business model built on scope rather than scale. In other words, you sell more things to fewer customers, instead of a few things to more customers.

But are there limits to the model? At some level, yes. Up to this point, only four services have proven to be high-volume services “most” people will consider buying: voice, mobility, TV and Internet access.

In a competitive market, where the number of subscribers or accounts is limited, bundling works because it allows a service provider to sell more things to fewer people.

For a firm such as Cablevision Systems Corp., that means revenue still can grow, even if the number of new accounts is flat to declining.

Cablevision reported “Improved subscriber performance with largest quarterly gains in both customer relationships and high-speed data, in more than two years,” in its second quarter of 2015.

Average monthly cable revenue per customer of $158.52 was an increase of $5.80 or 3.8 percent, compared with the same quarter of 2014.

“Customer relationships” is not the same thing as “accounts,” but an indication of total services sold to any single account.

So the bundle still works for Cablevision. But there are limits. Unless at least one major new revenue source is found, Cablevision will eventually find it cannot simply keep raising prices to maintain revenue volume.

And by “major” one might suggest a new revenue source the size of voice, entertainment video, mobility or Internet access.

At some point, without discovery of a major new consumer revenue source, or new sources outside the consumer sphere, Cablevision’s bundling strategy will falter--as it will for any service provider--as consumers balk at ever-higher prices.

Why 5G Partnerships are the Rage

NEC Corporation is working with KT Corporation on fifth generation (5G) next-generation mobile networks. Such agreements are commonplace these days.

SK Telecom is working with Ericsson. Nokia is working with NTT. Huawei is working with Softbank. The European Union and Japan also are working together on 5G. China Mobile is working with Alcatel-Lucent.  

What might be instructive, though, is the range of technologies and platforms NEC and KT are exploring in relation to 5G: Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Management and Network Orchestration (MANO).

That might be the larger point. One reason so many efforts are underway is that 5G will be the most-comprehensive mobile network generation ever launched, requiring much more than an air interface and modulation protocols.

In a real sense, 5G is a complete network vision, not a radio or mobile air interface, speaking to application support and full network performance, not just the radio link.

In other words, 5G represents the most-complex next generation network ever attempted in the mobile realm. And that’s the point: 5G is not restricted to the mobile realm.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Qualcomm and Ericsson will present their visions of coming 5G networks at the Spectrum Futures conference, Sept. 10 and 11, 2015, in Singapore.

Other confirmed speakers will discuss spectrum sharing between LTE operators, spectrum sharing between Wi-Fi and LTE, new access platforms and the critical role spectrum plays for coming 5G networks.

At the same time, the intimate relationship between applications (Internet of Things), core networks (SDN. NFV, cloud computing, fog computing) and all access networks will be examined.

In the coming next generation network, clearly separating spectrum and mobile networks from Wi-Fi and fixed network access, core networks and cloud infrastructure, will be nearly impossible.

REGISTER NOW

Ting Ponders Gigabit Network Expansion to Perhaps a Half Dozen New Locations

Ting, perhaps better known as a mobile services supplier, also sells gigabit Internet access in two U.S. communities, Winchester, Md., a community of about 18,600, and Charlottesville, Va. , a community of about 45,000, and home to a major Virginia university.

The company now is looking at entering other markets. “We are probably looking at going forward with five or six markets,” said Elliot Noss, Ting CEO.

It would not be surprising to see Ting target communities unlikely to get Google Fiber.

In many ways, the new trend of independent Internet service providers building new gigabit Internet access networks reminds me of the earlier development of competitive local exchange carriers in the wake of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

You had an explosion of providers, including many independent firms, but also firms such as AT&T and MCI (Worldcom, at some point).

In the end, most of the CLECs faltered, including AT&T and Worldcom (MCI).

But something substantial did happen: cable TV providers emerged nationwide as the long term winners in the CLEC business. At the same time, a few legacy telcos, including notably Frontier Communications and Windstream, emerged as significant CLECs.

What eventually happens with the growing number of U.S. gigabit ISPs is yet to be settled. The CLEC market initially featured lots of players--with a few name brand contestants. It might not have been expected that cable TV companies would come to dominate the business.

Other surprises are possible with the gigabit ISP market as well.

Why LTE-Advanced Matters

LTE-Advanced matters for end users because it means downlink speeds can range as high as 300 Mbps, in principle. 

Sistema Syam TeleServices Goes "Wi-Fi First"

Sistema Shyam TeleServices, commonly referred to as MTS, is  an Indian mobile service provider with about one percent market share. When you have that share in a market, you have to do something different.

So Sistema now is wiring whole towns for Wi-Fi. It appears Sistema is doing with a de facto "Wi-Fi first" model for mobile Internet services.

Bhadra, in that regard, is the first city in India to be completely covered by Wi-Fi. Bhadra has some 40,000 residents.

Sistema also plans to build public Wi-Fi networks in about a dozen towns. The others are Navrangdesar, Asalsar, Nakrasar, Dhawa Forest, Baramsar, Hodsar, Partapur, Dundara, Posaliyan, Netra and Nalbari.

There is a business model. Sistema sells mobile service, but can rely on Wi-Fi to provide an enhanced Internet experience, without relying on licensed spectrum. And it appears that Wi-Fi access coss money, just as use of mobile data would.

Wi-Fi plans start with a Rs 25 starter pack offering 150 MB over a three-day period and going all the way to a Rs 749 monthly pack, offering 10 GB of data.

source: Telecom Lead