Nokia and Ericsson deny costs will hinder 3G
By Christopher Brown-Humes in Stockholm and Paul Abrahams in Las Vegas
Published: November 14 2000 20:29GMT | Last Updated: November 15 2000 08:37GMT
Europe's two big mobile phone equipment makers have expressed confidence that the growth of the mobile internet will not be delayed by the financial difficulties weighing on some of the continent's biggest telecommunications operators.
In separate interviews with the Financial Times, Jorma Ollila, Nokia chief executive, and Kurt Hellstrom, Ericsson president, said they did not see any slowdown in demand for telecoms infrastructure.
There have been concerns that operators will delay investments, or opt for cheaper infrastructure solutions, because of their huge outlays on acquiring third generation mobile licences, particularly the UK and Germany.
Mr Ollila acknowledged that operators were looking more closely at their business plans because of the licence costs.
But he added: "We have not seen any indications that operators who have been given licences in the UK and Germany have slowed down the rate of their investments."
Ericsson is the world's biggest supplier of telecoms infrastructure, which accounts for 80 per cent of its business.
"There is a lot of difference in the financial position of some of the players. Some will have more difficulty than others in funding the next generation of mobile telecoms equipment," admitted Mr Hellstrom. "But nonetheless, they will have to invest.
"The capacity of second generation systems is now reaching saturation. Voice traffic continues to grow and data communications is expanding exponentially."
Mr Hellstrom said telecoms operators should not worry about being able to monetise this rapid growth in demand. "We had the same fears with second generation mobile," he said.
"Telecoms revenues are going to take a larger and larger proportion of the world economy. There is going to be rapid growth, not only in the number of subscribers, but also the amount that they spend.
"Third generation telephony is all about mobile internet and the convergence of the internet and mobile telephony will create new revenue streams. The cake will get bigger and bigger."
Mr Hellstrom said demand for mobile internet services was now taking off in Europe, while in the US all the conditions for success were now in place.
"Look at what happened in Japan with NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service. The potential is huge," he said. |
