Cannes hangs up on GSM. System fails at GSM comference.
`I can't call here! It's ridiculous! You have people shouting, wanting to throw their phones
against the wall in frustration because they're not getting through to call or they get cut off in
the middle of the conversation,'' said an executive from an Israeli wireless security start-up."
In Cannes, the Mobile Phone World Struggles
CANNES, France (Reuters) - The global mobile phone industry is in Cannes to convince
skeptics of its vision of a perfect wireless world, but it may have a much simpler problem to
deal with first -- being able to make a phone call.
Key players at the world's largest annual wireless trade show have found it almost impossible
at times to make mobile phone calls and are instead finding text messages as the only way to
communicate between each other or with the outside world.
``It's quite ironic that we're here to promote the mobile phone and wireless Internet and we
can't even make a phone call,'' a top executive of one of the world's largest wireless firms told
Reuters in frustration.
``I've given up trying to call. I'm just using SMS (short messaging service).''
The reality is that with some 20,000 participants attending the fee-paying GSM World
Congress located on the waterfront in Cannes this week -- most trying to use their handsets to
make calls -- French mobile networks are getting overloaded.
``I can't call here! It's ridiculous! You have people shouting, wanting to throw their phones
against the wall in frustration because they're not getting through to call or they get cut off in
the middle of the conversation,'' said an executive from an Israeli wireless security start-up.
Facing skepticism about mobile phone operators' potential to generate money with expensive
new high-speed wireless networks in Europe, key industry players in Cannes have been
unveiling new cellphone services and devices that they hope will lead to actual revenues soon.
Unlike last year wireless companies are now saying that SMS messages -- some 18 billion
are sent globally between cellphones each month -- and future improved services will be a
way for operators to generate additional revenues.
``So far everybody knows that the mobile Internet has been more hype than reality and a
disappointment -- except SMS and we see a lot of new opportunities to drive growth rates
here,'' said John Jensen, managing director of J.P. Morgan Chase's European equity
research department. |
