Ramsey,
<< There must be close to, if not over, 100 GPRS networks in operation covering every corner of the earth by now. >>
I think that there are probably 75+ in very soft or soft launched "commercial" operation and perhaps another 30 to 50 coming on line.
Very few are marketing GPRS data aggressively yet as you know.
Networks are still being optimized and still being built out. Billing systems, messaging centers, and OTA platforms are being upgraded and a lot of handsets are still being qualified. Most importantly, beyond some basic business applications, applications and content isn't out there in sufficient quantity to encourage use by the mass consumer, and tariffs are being kept prohibitively high, partially to see what the market will bear, but also to discourage heavy usage until everything is really simpatico.
<< There must be a few million MOT and NOK GPRS handsets sold to subscribers by now. >>
It appears that 10 to 12 million GPRS handsets or WIDS or modem cards have shipped from a dozen manufacturers.
Maybe 75% of those are in users hands, but the majority are not being used with GPRS subscriptions yet.
There are probably no more than 2 million GPRS subs at this time, and that might even be a stretch.
<< Are there any reports on how well they are working? Minutes used? Popularity? ARPU? >>
They seem to be working fine, but I think a lot of product is still working through IOT.
Motorola was first out of the chute and has the broadest lineup. Anybody I've talked to says that the Timeports work fine but the feature set is pretty mundane.
Ericsson's lineup gets the best reviews. The T39, T65, and T68 are all pretty popular, and so far the T68 has garnered a lot of attention.
Nokia's 8310 is probably 2nd most popular to the T68.
Too few subs yet to impact APRU.
Since in GPRS land packet billing will be pretty universal I don't forsee much impact on MOU.
Just like 1xRTT in the States if using the terminal as a data as well as voice appliance (as opposed to using it as a modem) WAP 2.0 with color support and CSSs is almost an imperative (and its not here yet). In the GPRS world MMS will also be an imperative.
Products like Ericsson's T68 will be flash upgradable to both WAP 2.0 and MMS but that's several months out.
The push will start once WAP 2.0, MMS, some new security routines, Java support are in the clients, and the ancillary components of the network are there to support them.
Mass deployment will probably commence this fall.
I suspect we are a year away from seeing measurable impact on APRU.
<< In fact, have you used one? >>
I haven't really "used" one. Nothing in a mobile environment.
I had demos of the T39 and the PocketPC based Trium Mondo in a London shop in September.
I almost boought the tri-band T39 to replace my 4 year old Bosch worldphone (dual-band 900/1900).
One of my golf mates brought his laptop equipped with a 4+2 modem card he is beta testing over to the house a few weekends ago and we benchmarked some file transfers on VoiceStream using the card, my KYO6035, my old Bosch Worldphone, and his 9100 Communicator for comparison.
Best,
- Eric - |
