Lakers,
Noticed you commenting on status of GPRS handsets elsewhere today. For sure they are not very plentiful yet, and for sure they still have performance problems. This article bears that out, and the fact that Australia might not be a major market doesn't mitigate that.
Optus is reporting that "of the many units from several manufacturers currently being tested, all but three were found to be unstable. The best so far being a Motorola model".
It is interesting however that Telstra is claiming "better handset battery life" as a GPRS benefit.
>> Australian Handset Shortage Highlighted at GPRS Conference
EMC Cellular
15-Aug-2001
About 50 people attended IBC's second annual GPRS Conference in Sydney, held on 25-26 July 2001 and at which a number of industry representatives presented papers.
TeleResources Managing Director, Maurie Dobbin, claimed the future for GPRS looks favourable, with regional operators spending millions of dollars establishing GPRS networks. But the current difficulties associated with obtaining quantities of reliable GPRS handsets have severely hampered the launching of GPRS services. Handsets can be found on web sites, but not in the shops, and clearly manufacturers are having serious difficulties making them, as shown by constantly slipping availability dates.
Fuelled by the biggest success story in data so far, SMS, the growth of mobile data revenues as a percentage of mobile revenue is being noted by many operators worldwide. Recent announcements by Vodafone indicate they expect it to reach 20% to 25% by 2004.
Against this, WAP has failed due to a number of significant problems,
including:
* Users unhappy with performance and non-colour screens
* Only about 11% of WAP sites usable by WAP-enabled handsets
* Initial expenses and operating costs are too high
* Lack of appealing applications
* Concerns about privacy and security.
However, DoCoMo in Japan has recorded the opposite experience, with its i-Mode service achieving a major success with about 20 million users and over 55,000 sites. Although significant cultural reasons exist, the key success factors include:
* Compelling applications
* Colour screens
* Acceptance and strong growth by business
* Fast take-up in the youth market
* High entertainment value.
Meanwhile, GPRS is evolving concurrently with UMTS, and since the release of UMTS Release 99 definition, there have been over 250 changes to specifications. But the trick for GPRS operators will be to overcome WAP's bad reputation, learn from i-Mode, and use GPRS to:
* Deliver better user experiences
* Ensure applications are demanded by users
* Increase profits for business.
Regardless of what happens with GPRS, Dobbin predicted that the use of mobile data in an increasing variety of devices, not just phones, could see penetration rates of 300% in some markets within a few years.
Although, as revealed at an earlier conference, it is "probably one of the hardest things Telstra has ever done", the operator considered it important to be the first to launch a GPRS service in the Australian market, making it commercially available on 19th March 2001. Product Manager, Bruce McNamara said Telstra has customers using the service, but they have been hampered by the lack of handsets. Nevertheless, GPRS delivers a superior WAP experience, and he believed GPRS will allow WAP to develop and flourish. Telstra is currently looking at important corporate applications.
Amongst the benefits of GPRS, McNamara listed:
* Coverage, which is almost up to that of Telstra's GSM network
* Better for browsing
* More cost-effective for users
* Better handset battery life
* SMS and voice calls can be made and received during a GPRS session
* Faster connection times than WAP
* Good training ground for 3G.
The Telstra GPRS service is available through Telstra retail channels, and is currently being offered with the purchase of a Motorola P7389i for an unsubsidised price of A$649 which includes one month free access to GPRS WAP and internet. He noted that all operators would prefer to dispense with handset subsidies.
Telstra GPRS tariffs are still being developed, but the introductory offer, mainly intended for WAP usage features:
- A flag fall of AUD 0.22
- Then, AUD 0.022 per kilobyte for the first 200 kilobytes per session
- Then, AUD 0.011 cents per kilobyte thereafter.
As an alternate path to 3G, Telstra is also exploring 1xRTT mobile data technology for its CDMA network, and applications are being considered for both platforms.
C&W Optus, the only other operator with a GPRS service in the Australian market, was represented by Keir Preedy, Director of Mobile Networks. He asserted that GPRS had not been that difficult to install, was currently
being trialed by a small number of corporate customers, and working very well. He claimed that network costs to date had been far less than those associated with Mobile Number Portability.
Although the Optus GPRS network has been open for some time, it is targeted at corporate users, and not heavily promoted through prime channels. Its mass market launch is likely to be at the end of 2001.
But like Telstra, the lack of handsets is a severe limitation to Optus. Of the many units from several manufacturers currently being tested, all but three were found to be unstable. The best so far being a Motorola model.
Preedy saw applications and the 'always-on' aspect of GPRS as key drivers to its success, and a logical path to 3G development. And on 3G, he noted that although Nokia currently has about 50% of the Australian handset market, he believed European manufacturers will struggle against Japanese makers for 3G handsets.
With data revenues currently at 4% of Optus mobile revenues, largely due to SMS, Optus expects that to reach 50% by 2010.
Stephen Moore formerly with One.Tel, but now with Moore Wright Associates, agreed WAP hype has damaged the reputation of GPRS, and believed applications to be the key to GPRS success, although they must be stable and very reliable. He also expected an explosion in the growth of mobile data and associated ARPUs.
Despite the lack of a clear marketing message for GPRS, Peter Lemon, IDC's Senior Research Analyst for Mobile Communications, believed it will succeed and grow, providing content can be made easily and reliably accessible. He foresaw the early adopters as being gadgeteers, messageers, news junkies and gamers. He went on to note the increasing use and popularity of other wireless technologies such as the 802.11 wireless LAN standard, and suggested these would complement and even compete with GPRS.
According to the Director, Centre for Telecommunications and Information Networking University of Adelaide, Reg Coutts, the marketplace for mobile services in Australia has become messy, with multiple operators and multiple offerings. In his often controversial style, he said the Japanese market is not dissimilar to Australia, and there is no reason why an i-Mode service should not also be successful in Australia. He believed GPRS handsets will be made available to larger markets before Australia.
Paul Young, Billing Consultant with Lucent said the ex-Kenan, Lucent billing systems are ready for GPRS and are a good deal more complex than those for existing mobile services. This is due to a greater variety of modes by which operators may chose to bill their customers, such as by duration, volume, numbers of transactions, content, or combinations of all four. He went on to say all operators experience some problems with billing, as was recently highlighted during the demise of One.Tel, but this could become worse, as 3G will inevitably inject even more complexities into applications. <<
- Eric - |
