{1:9} The thing that hath
been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall
be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.
{1:10} Is there [any]
thing whereof it may be said, See, this [is] new? It hath been already of old
time, which was before us.
Ecclesiastes 1 vs 9-10
It seems that the above
cribbed Bible verse in the Book of Ecclesiastes rings true, as now globally the
world is ramping up for the coming of 4G in its two (2) dominant flavours, LTE
(Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
Access), as suggested in the article “On call: Welcome to 4G”, published March 9, 2010 11:01 AM PST by Kent
German CNET News.
Albeit LTE is touted by
most 3G Telecoms Providers as the next evolution, requiring only a software
upgrade and few hardware upgrades of their existing 3G infrastructure, WiMaX on
the other hand was developed and based on Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) and incarnated
in two (2) forms WiMaX 4G Fixed (IEEE 802.16a) and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE
802.16d).
As such is a breath of
fresh air into the Global Telecoms Sector which has largely been controlled by
Telecoms Providers Vendors, whose technology is based on proprietary WCDMA
(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) licensed by Qualcomm.
Technology change seems
to be in the air for the Summer of 2010, what with the recent announcement of
the Apple IPadeReader device debut to challenge the Amazon Kindle and its ilk
as confirmed by Daniel Ionescu in the
article “Apple rolls out TV ad for IPad”, published Monday March 8th 2010, by
Daniel Ionescu, PC World PCworld, Yahoo News.
There is also the
soon-to-be tsunami that is the launch of HDTV compatible 3-D televisions and
Blu-Ray bundles as stated in the article “Samsung, Panasonic start selling 3-D
TV's this week”, published Tue March 9 2010, 11:04 am ET, By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer, Yahoo News.
There
is also the increasing dominance of the Google Android Mobile OS Development Platform,
evidence from it wide scale adoption by such Handset Vendors as HTC, ZTE, Dell, Samsung, LG and even Nokia, which
has also decided to make its proprietary OS Symbian Open Source and Sony
Ericsson as stated in the article “Sony Ericsson shows love for Android”published February 14, 2010 6:18 PM PST by
Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.
The fear RIM, makers of
Blackberry have of Google Android is obvious by their release of the Blackberry
Enterprise Server license free as stated in the article “RIM to give away server software”, published February 16, 2010 4:32 AM PST by
Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.
Then there is the
impending launch of OnLive in June 2010, a streaming gaming portal that will
allow players to play high quality video game titles over their PC without the
need for expensive setup as stated in the article “OnLive game streaming service to start in June”,
published Wed Mar 10 2010, 3:19 pm ET By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer, Yahoo
News.
Indeed, already here in
Jamaica, we have two (2) Telecoms Providers who have launched 3G namely Telecom
Provider CLARO and Telecom Provider LIME. Telecom Provider Digicel was slated to launch a WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE
802.16d) at the end of the second quarter of 2010 as stated in the article “Digicel to offer mini Laptops with 4G service next year”, published Friday September 4th
2009 by Lavern Clarke, The Jamaica Gleaner.
ZTE Corp of China will be
their build out partner of their new WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Network as
stated in the article “Digicel signs ZTE as 4G Mobile WiMaX Internet partner”, published Sunday, September 27,
2009, The Jamaica Observer.
There is even a more
potent mix that is set to be made more explosive in the Summer of 2010 with the
impending launch of Telecom Provider Digicel’s foray into broadcasting in the form of DigiTV in Jamaica.
This service was already
successfully launched in Vanatu, Tonga and other Polynesian islands also
possibly to be launched a little before the launch of their WiMaX 4G Mobile
(IEEE 802.16d) Network. This can be possibly at the start of Rising Stars, as
strongly hinted in the article “DigiTV
Launch for 2009 - Mobile Provider branches into TV”, published Friday November 14th
2009 by Ross Shiel, Online co-Ordinator, The Jamaica Observer.
Telecom Provider LIME is launching a competitor to
DigiTV, namely LIME TV, with exclusive all-island Wireless Subscriber Television
license to rebroadcast Direct TV. The
summer is looking to be very hot this year, making Telecom Provider CLARO look rather impotent as they are yet to announce any impending WebTV or
Wireless Digital Broadcast plans.
With no public news on
their possible acquisition of FLOW, one can only speculate that they might do
on this front as their current rival Telecom Provider Digicel is launching DigiTV.
Change is even evident in
the legal space, both locally and abroad with Apple now going actively after
HTC of Taiwan as it relates to patent infringements with regards to its Apple
iPhone as stated in the article “Is Apple launching a patent war?”,
published March 4, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET
News -
Signal Strength.
Telecom Provider CLARO is suing Telecom Provider Digicel with regards to already filed legal proceedings against Telecom
Provider Digicel and a complaint to the FTC (Fair Trading Commission).
They claim that the Cross-Network calling rate contract into with Telecom
Provider Digicel, albeit legally binding, in light of the Privy
Council ruling is now null and void.
In the United States of
America, Telecom Provider Verizon and Telecom Provider AT&T are building out their 4G Networks with plans to
use LTE, Telecom Provider Sprint has already rolled out its WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE
802.16d) and owns a majority stake in CEO Bill Morrow’s Clearwire.
Clearwire has plans to
roll out in ten (10) markets with ambition to be in eighty (80) markets by 2010
as stated in the article “Clearwire to bring WiMaX to 10 more Markets”
published August 3, 2009 11:30 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News – Wireless and Telecom Provider T-Mobile is as yet undecided at the time of writing this
article.
So what is now new in
2010?
All of the above is based
on news that has been heard before, for the learned John Public that lives on
the Internet. What is new is how all of the above are interconnected to the
deployment of high speed 4G Networks.
In the LTE camp, the
Telecoms Providers and Vendors recently came up with a platform that allows LTE
to handle both voice an SMS (Short Messaging Service) over the all data
infrastructure of LTE named One Voice, as LTE is great for data services, but
has little backward compatibility with the traditional circuit switching Networks
of most Telecom Providers as stated in the article “Telecom providers announce LTE Standards”, published November 5, 2009 1:02 PM PST by Lance
Whitney CNET News.
One Voice, which is a
consortium of Telecoms Providers and Vendors, namely Orange, Telefonica,
TeliaSonera, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson
within 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) that supports the
integration of IMS (IP Multimedia
Subsystem) and lays out the exact technical specification as to how this is to
be achieved.
More positive signs are
coming from the Telecom Vendor Qualcomm, which had released a 3G-4G chipset
that will make the data Network provided pointless, allowing the Handset
Manufacturers to focus on making phones as the chipset guarantees
interoperability on both 3G and LTE provided by Telecom Providers as stated in
the article “Qualcomm readies 3G/4G mobile Chipsets”, published November 12, 2009 4:07 PM PST by
Marguerite Reardon CNET News.
Meanwhile in the WiMaX
camp, they have Telecom Provider Sprint and Intel as its major backers, Telecom Provider Sprint not only has its own WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Network but is an
investor in Clearwire along with Comcast, Time Warner
Cable, Bright House Networks, Google and Intel.
Comcast, Time
Warner Cable and Telecom
Provider Sprint would be resellers of Clearwire’s
service i.e. they are not only selling the modems, but operate over Clearwire’s
infrastructure much in the same way a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator)
would operate.
Clearwire has
been growing from strength to strength, with surging usage from customers for
its all data services that mimics wired Broadband usage despite prior
speculation to the contrary as stated in the article “Will 4G Wireless Really Threaten Wires?”, published August 13, 2009, 8:22PM EST By Stacey Higginbotham,
BusinessWeek - GigaOM, indicating a future in which
customers may use it as their sole Broadband connection.
This despite
having sold very few data handsets and having very few handsets that support
WiMaX 4g Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) as stated in the article “Clearwire adds more subscribers, cuts losses”,
published February 24, 2010 8:57 AM PST by Marguerite Reardon CNET News - Signal Strength.
There has been an
increase in the deployment of WiMaX worldwide, inclusive of Jamaica and with
the exception of the United States of America as announced by the Wimax Forum
in the article “WiMaX deployments ramp globally, but U.S. lags”,
published February 16, 2010 7:53 AM PST by Larry Dignan, CNET News – Wireless.
With calls by FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski for increased deployment of higher speed Broadband
access as stated in the article “FCC chairman wants faster Broadband”, published February 17, 2010 10:05 AM PST by
Lance Whitney, CNET News.
There is also the noted
gradual decreases by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) in
Broadband prices and corresponding increases in educational performances and
gender equality as stated in the article “Mobile, Broadband prices dropping
worldwide”,
published February 24, 2010 9:43 AM PST by Lance Whitney CNET News.
Ditto too the declaration
of persons involved in a BBC survey that indicate that 78% believe that access
to Broadband Internet should be a fundamental right, as suggested in the
article “BBC survey: Net access is basic right”, published March 8, 2010 8:04 AM PST by Andrew
Nusca, CNET News, things can only improve as the Telecoms Networks
ramp up their deployments.
The main problems for
Telecoms Providers such as Telecom Provider AT&T in anticipation of the transition to 4G appears to
be issues relating to the increased Network traffic. This is due to high
bandwidth services and devices, such as the Apple iPhone as stated in the
article “AT&T considers incentives to curb
heavy data usage”, published December 9, 2009 3:08 PM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.
Poor signal coverage
issues are being addressed by Telecom Provider AT&T deploying a 850 MHz Network as well as Network
upgrades by Telecom Provider AT&T, Telecom Provider Verizon, Telecom Provider Sprint, Telecom Provider T-Mobile and Clearwire in anticipation of increased traffic
as stated in the article “Wireless operators accelerate upgrade
plans”,
published January 26, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.
Especially as it relates
to the most recently publicized conclusion of the case involving the rejection
of Google Voice from the Apple Apps Store on the Apple iPhone, which in the
United States of America on the Telecom Provider AT&T Network as stated in the article “AT&T to allow VOIP IPhone apps on 3G
Network”,
published October 6, 2009 4:46 PM PDT by Jim Dalrymple, CNET News.
There are also worries by
Telecom Provider AT&T, most likely shared by all Telecoms Providers,
that some of the new devices being developed, such as the Apple iPad, will
increase the data traffic levels on their Network as stated in the article “FCC: iPad use could further strain
AT&T 3G”, published February 6, 2010 4:56 PM PST by Jim Dalrymple, CNET News.
Despite these concerns,
4G deployments are under way as already official intermap sharing has already
begun, as suggested in the article “Telco companies to provide Data for Broadband Map” published Fri Aug 7, 2009 4:58PM EDT by JOELLE
TESSLER, Technology Writer, AP. PhysOrg
Jamaica is fully on the
path with the rest of the world as our Telecom Provider Digicel have already begun the process to transition to 4G.
Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom Provider CLARO having no choice but to follow suit or be left
behind, a situation which is definitely nothing new under the Sun.
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