CLARO, LIME and HSDPA+ - CEO Michelle English, The Maverick

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11, King James Version

The recent ruling by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), the Telecoms arm of the UN (United Nations) and Pope to us in the Telecoms World, has a lot of far reaching implications.

Aside from clearing Telecom Provider Digicel of being in the wrong as it relates to misrepresenting their Digicel Broadband powered by WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d,e) as a 4G Network as stated in the article “Digicel/ITU confirms classification of WiMaX as 4G”, published Friday, December 24, 2010, The Jamaica Observer and chronicled in my blog article entitled “FLOW vs LIME, Digicel, CLARO and Municipal Wi-Fi - The Empire Strikes Back Part Deux”.

One such implication can be readily gleaned from the press release in the article by CNET Reporter Kent German entitled “ITU blesses U.S Data Networks as 4G”, published December 20, 2010 3:12 PM PST by Kent German, CNET News - Dialed In also expanded upon in my blog article entitled “Digicel the ITU and Samsung Galaxy Tablet - The Sorcerer's Apprentice”, quote: “It is recognized that [4G], while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMaX, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed”.

This means that Networks that are an augmentation of the HSDPA networks, such as HSDPA+ Networks, can also be considered 4G, as they are a precursor to the prior mentioned qualifications to be 4G, putting Telecom Provider T-Mobile into the driver’s seat as it relates to what can be considered 4G.

But, alas, poor me, it also has a more interesting implication form local Telecom Provider CLARO, which currently has a 3G Network yet has decided to go LTE (Long Term Evolution) which sports speeds of up to 100MBps as stated in my blog article entitled “CLARO vs FLOW - Cats and dogs The Revenge of Kitty Galore”.

Telecom Provider CLARO wishes to go 100MBps and thus class themselves as a 5G Network as per the article “Game on!” published Friday October 22, 2010 by Mark Titus, The.

But the ITU specifications for 4G Network, despite alleged speeds of 176MBps, would still see them as “4G” despite this multi-million dollar upgrade as per the article “4G: What's in a name?”, published October 21, 2010 12:42 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength. This was the explanation in my blog article entitled “Digicel vs LIME - Mortal Kombat over 4G Title”

The ITU’s conditionality is simple: Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), effectively the same signal multiplexing inherent in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a descendant of CDMA Networks and speed capability demonstrable in achieving 100MBps and higher.

This was a previous edict or decree issued by the ITU, around the same time Triple Play Provider FLOW CEO Michelle “Dallas” English issued her declaration of an increase in “demand” despite evidence suggesting Broadband penetration of only 17% of Jamaican households islandwide as stated in the article  “Internet penetration lagging broadband speed”, published Wednesday, September 22, 2010 by CAMILO THAME Business co-ordinator, The Jamaica Observer and initially suspect in my blog article entitled “FLOW and 100 MBps Wired Broadband - Gossip Girl”.

This was later explained in my blog article entitled “LIME vs Digicel - The Truth About Charlie” as being a response to Telecom Provider CLARO expansion into LTE, who naturally, would have to pre-purchase T1 for the intended provisioning of their service.

LTE for CLARO would push them ahead of everyone in terms of speed, and would most likely be offered as a tiered service. However, 10MBps is quite adequate for even Business Customers and Telecom Provider Digicel  has recently upgraded their Microwave Radio Links with adequate T1’s to provide 10MBps best effort, noticeable in recent speed improvements in at Nighttime, albeit daytime congestion at certain peak traffic hours still remain an issue as per my blog article entitled “Digicel and WiMaX 4G Mobile - Sprint, My Brother's Keeper”, an article which, admittedly, shows my bias towards WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e).

Additionally, Telecom Provider Digicel is capable of upgrading to speeds of up to 120MBps via a protocol software upgrade to WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16m) as suggested in the article “WiMaX 2 standard gets date for approval”, published August 16, 2010 1:19 PM PDT by Jack Clark CNET News - Wireless.

The fact that to date Telecom Provider Digicel has chosen not to be drawn into a speed race with Triple Play Provider FLOW means that their focus is on Customer Care and building their Customer base, as Telecom Provider Digicel, John Public muses, is aware that the average Jamaica is more interested in quality service and not necessarily obsessed with specs and download speeds as are the TechJamaica forum fanatics, fans of gadgets with no sex appeal.

With such speeds of 100MBps rivaling Frame Relay offered as part of Telecom Provider LIME Metro Net Service, which is a Fiber Optic Service for Business Customers, their obvious prime target must be business Customers.

The typical Jamaican householder is yet to even begin conceiving of getting all their content over the Internet as prognosticated in my blog articles entitled “Telecom Providers, 100MBps Broadband and the Broadcasting Commission - Redemption Song” as well as the article “Telecom Provider and 100MBps - Diamonds are Forever”. In these articles I expressed the fact that to make Wireless Business-philic, ISO9001 would have to be a must.

This necessitates Data Services that are always on all the time with no downtime, implying Alternative Energy solutions such as a Solar Power Generator with Wind Turbine combination, Fiber Optics as backhaul and QoS (Quality of Service) as Wireless for Business Customers is not trusted and is known to be easily interceptable, if a hacker’s will is strong enough.

Thus, were I to have the ability to speak to Telecom Provider CLARO directly, it would be to suggest to have their GSM and 3G Telecoms Equipment Vendor Huawei to upgrade their 3G Network to HSDPA+.

This is akin to the clever move by Telecom Provider T-Mobile. Telecom Provider CLARO would thus up speeds to at least 10MBps, with Data Caps going up to 30GB, but imploring Customers that they would be able to receive these higher speeds if they come in to the nearest Customer Care Center and re-register themselves with Government of Jamaica Identification i.e. Birth Certificate, Driver’s License, Voter’s ID, to get this free upgrade to higher speeds upgrade, maintaining the same price margins similar to the 1.5MBps 3G service – which ironically are akin to those of Telecom Provider Digicel and their Broadband 4G Service.

Thus they stay competitive with their fellow Wireless Broadband competitors and extend the usefulness of their 3G Network from Telecoms Equipment Vendor Huawei, getting more “bang for buck”, as the Americans would say and use the time to build out their LTE Network in keeping with ISO9001.

A better guarantee of success than a speed race against Triple Play Provider FLOW! As the cherry atop the Vanilla ice cream, Telecom Provider CLARO would gain the added distinction of being a 4G Network via the recent ITU ruling, without having to expend that much cash, simply by going HSDPA+.

Telecom Provider LIME would also best upgrade to HSDPA+ and speeds of 10MBps also, before considering going to LTE with Telecoms Equipment Vendor Ericsson. Thus all of the Big Three (3) Telecom Provider would be on par in terms of speed and pricing with their more nimble competitors Wayne Chen and Lee’s owned Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1- Tech Services Limited, who ironically are the true threat to the Big Three (3) Telecom Provider expensive Wireless Broadband Services.

Ironically, Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks are powered by T1 from Triple Play Provider FLOW.  Triple Play Provider FLOW, is ironically the ultimate Beneficiary in all of this, as Big Three (3) Telecom Provider and the Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks utilize their T1 Services, effectively making John Public realize that Triple Play Provider FLOW CEO Michelle “Dallas” English, sitting at the Telecom Provider’s poker Table, is really holding a Full House in her hand, Maverick (1994) Style!

As Carletta Deleon aka the Pet Tales Chick aka “Dilly” character on Smile Jamaica on Television would say, quote “Clever indeed!”