Anyone know if 4G is a CDMA product? If not how does this effect Qualcom?
Thursday May 17, 12:37 pm Eastern Time
BusinessWeek Online
DAILY BRIEFING -- A Wireless Generation Gap
DAILY BRIEFING
By Olga Kharif in New York
Call it the great wireless waffle. A year ago, everyone from telecom-equipment vendors to mobile-phone operators was salivating at the prospect of third-generation (3G) wireless networks. These advanced systems, they claimed, would lay the foundation for sending data from one cell phone to another and drive a whole new array of applications, from mobile commerce to streaming video.
ADVERTISEMENT
Such great expectations led equipment vendors, including Nortel (NYSE:NT - news), Lucent (NYSE:LU - news), and Ericsson (NasdaqNM:ERICY - news) to anticipate billions of dollars of orders for 3G equipment. And mobile-phone operators figured 3G would drive purchases of handsets and supercharge service sign-ups. The hype drove wireless operators around the world to spend more than $100 billion to license the electromagnetic spectrum necessary for 3G networks.
But recent doubts about the systems have led many carriers to slow down their 3G rollouts. And now, some industry insiders believe many operators might have bet on the wrong horse. Carriers that aren't neck-deep in 3G might want to skip the new networks altogether and wait for so-called fourth-generation (4G) systems. That's bad news for the companies that have already assumed mounds of debt paying for 3G spectrum, and for gearmakers that have invested huge sums in designing and producing the systems.
SIMPLE AND EASY. Why the change of heart? Analysts now think 4G systems will prove far cheaper than 3G, since they can be built atop existing networks and won't require operators to completely retool. Even better, they won't require carriers to purchase costly extra spectrum, since much of what's needed is public and doesn't require a license. And 4G would arguably provide better data services, allowing for real-time video streaming and other bandwidth-hogging applications which voice-heavy 3G networks won't be able to offer.
In fact, unlike 3G, 4G will more resemble a conglomeration of existing technologies rather than an entirely new standard. Analysts define 4G as a seamless combination of existing 2G wireless networks with local-area networks (LANs) or Bluetooth short-range radio technology. Bluetooth allows devices to communicate and access the Internet at high speeds over short distances, while LANs provide high-bandwidth wireless connectivity within a short radius of the base station.
The 4G technology, with its transmission speeds of more than 20 megabits per second, would offer high-bandwidth services within the reach of LAN ``hotspots,'' installed in offices, homes, coffee shops, and airport lounges. There, customers would be able to access heavy data content to watch movies on their phones and handhelds, for example. Away from these hotspots, customers could connect to souped-up 2G networks for voice and rudimentary data coverage.
PRICE RESISTANCE. Such an arrangement makes sense for several reasons: The 4G systems would be considerably cheaper than 3G networks and would thus be capable of recovering the money invested in them very quickly. Providers would be able to charge for advanced data services to subscribers or businesses that want to maintain hotspots. Cost recovery for 3G systems could be problematic. Although these networks can theoretically zip data at up to 1.4 megabits per second, no one expects that customers will be willing to pay much more than they already do for what remains, essentially, a voice platform......... <i/>
Rich |
