BROWSING: Opinion

Reality Check: The blurring of voice and data revenues – How mobile operators can win

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. Truth is, for mobile operators the per-bit profitability of voice (or, even more, of texting) is gone...

Reality Check: Why Standards Matter

In some situations using a non-standard solution may have governmental, technical, process based, financial or other commercial competitive advantages. This route works great if you have the time, money, and resources to develop, maintain, and support a ‘home-grown’ innovation. Certainly an organization can maximize...

Reality Check: There is no way back

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. It is known that there is an issue related to the telecommunication infrastructure that supports mobility in the world. We...

Reader Forum: Good coverage comes in small (cell) packages

4G and LTE technologies will only partially deliver the efficiencies required to handle the necessary network capacity. Service providers are looking towards the use of small cells to help alleviate the capacity issue.

Reader Forum: RCS – Gaining traction, but misunderstood

Though mobile users have embraced traditional messaging services, today’s converging communication environment offers a wide range of alternatives. In many ways, subscriber loyalty is shifting from the mobile network operator

Reality Check: Why should you care about small cells?

Small cells consist of femtocells, picocells and microcells. They are defined by what they aren’t – traditional macro cell networks. Small cells exist to improve data and/or voice coverage via throughput for users

Reader Forum: Fiber everywhere? Hold that thought

Due to the rapid adoption of tablets and new bandwidth intensive applications, mobile data traffic doubled in 2011 and user demand is expected to increase 18-times by 2016. This tremendous capacity growth

Reader Forum: HALEA opens new business models for wireless operators

April 20 marked the one-year anniversary of the so-called “location-gate” controversy in which it was first revealed that Apple (and soon after Google) were tracking subscriber location information and storing that data

Worst of the Week: That’s the way you debate!

I believe I have mentioned before that I would rather get punched in the stomach than give a wireless carrier a compliment, but this week it looks like I am going to have to toughen up and take one in the gut.

Analyst Angle: LTE – A game changer?

LTE initial network build activity has been particularly strong in North America, South Korea and Japan. Success by early adopters when it comes to network rollout and performance, device offering and subscriber adoption has compelled

Reality Check: Who had their vacation cancelled this summer (and why)?

Before we dig into four examples of those who had to work straight through the summer, let’s update a few of the trends we have been developing over the past few months.

Reality check: Big data challenges mobile operators

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. The current explosion in mobile data provides operators with a considerable opportunity to increase revenues and reduce churn, but only...

Reader Forum: Saving carriers money – The impact of ‘packet brokers’

Carriers and operators constantly face the challenge of containing costs while responding to rapidly changing business environments, especially when it comes to maintaining high visibility and compliance in their networks.

Reader Forum: Better passwords, better security

To many users, password policies are as daunting and ridiculous as the tax code. Nobody enjoys having to remember or type complex and difficult passwords day after day. Even worse is having to change those passwords month-after-month for no reason.

Worst of the Week: Mirror, mirror

Not sure how much everyone is following the ongoing court battle between Samsung and Apple over who stole who’s designs, but it’s pretty funny.

Analyst Angle: Choosing the right backhaul for small cells

There is a near universal consensus among mobile operators that small cells are the way of the future – the only solution that will enable them to provide the capacity they need to meet the expectations for the fast growing numbers of smartphone users.

Reality Check: Let’s hear it for voice

The disruption that the advent of Skype caused to telecoms operators was initially viewed as a challenge to the fixed line market – to international calls from landlines.

Reality Check: An enterprising proposal – targeting business clients to bolster revenues

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. As mobile data and voice traffic soars, Brazilian service providers are understandably focused on growing their consumer base. But they...

Reality Check: Cloud is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. Much is made of cloud computing today, but I'm not sure if the market is really aware of the correct...

Reader Forum: How to turn customer service into a win-win

With smartphones and other connected devices powering so much of our daily activity, it becomes a big headache when something isn’t working right. A broken link in the productivity chain

Worst of the Week: Apple’s redemption

Last week, I used this soapbox to go into some detail regarding Apple’s current “issues” in regards to the iPhone and how it’s positioned in the market and comparing its current 4S model to a non-too-handsome product of the U.S. automotive industry.

Analyst Angle: Research In Motion – Will going with QNX prove better than Android?

For a while there (before the introduction of the iPhone), it seemed Research In Motion just about had it all. BlackBerry sales were growing worldwide and the devices were so addictive that the public called it “CrackBerry.”

Analyst Angle: Service provider Wi-Fi trends are looking up

Service providers have dramatically increased their investment in Wi-Fi, a trend we expect will continue for years to come. Dell’Oro Group predicts that by 2016, over nine million service provider Wi-Fi access points will be in operation,

Reality Check: What’s behind last week’s strong earnings reports?

Many telecommunication providers reported earnings last week, and their stocks largely flowed with good news. AT&T started the parade, with Sprint Nextel and MetroPCS following.