PARIS-Lloyd Carney knows U.S. carriers hate him for saying it, but the facts speak for themselves.
“Europe is the dominant player in the wireless data space,” he said last week in Paris. “The U.S. lags behind.”
As Nortel Networks’ president, wireless Internet, Carney used his company’s wireless data announcements last week to highlight its commitment to the European arena. Nortel plans to hire 2,000 new people in Europe and also dedicate increased resources in the region.
Carney said European wireless operators are about 1.5 years ahead of their American counterparts, which are “just trying to keep up with voice.”
He said major focuses for U.S. operators are turning up new subscribers and increasing cell coverage, because that is what currently pays the bills. Carney said any conversation he has with American carriers eventually evolves back to voice issues, whereas European carriers are much more data focused.
“If we’re going to be successful in this space, Europe is key,” said Carney.
Carney said U.S. operators will quickly catch up to their European and Asian counterparts. He predicted the U.S. market will see mobile virtual network operators, similar to the agreement between Virgin and One 2 One in the United Kingdom announced last year. Virgin leases wireless capacity from One 2 One to offer a wireless service completely Virgin branded and marketed. The catalyst behind U.S. MVNOs will be the increasing number of content providers looking to have more control in the potentially lucrative wireless market.
Carney also does not think carriers can continue to control their subscribers’ wireless Internet experiences as data use increases. Carriers in the United Kingdom and France are being investigated for their “walled garden” strategies, which limit users’ access to competing wireless portals.
Carriers like the United Kingdom’s BT Cellnet are offering wireless Internet portal services to avoid becoming pipes similar to landline telecom operators.
“Any attempt to make it restrictive, they will fail,” Carney said. However, he said carriers that take the approach of charging content providers for premium space on their wireless services will become more common.
The majority of Nortel’s current customers are in the United States, but it hopes to increase its presence in Europe and Asia in the third-generation arena. It recently won a contract with BT Cellnet to build its 3G network.
Nortel said Europe’s wireless subscriber base will surge to 500 million by 2004, surpassing North American projections of 290 million.
Asia, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore are focus markets for the company.
“Culturally, [Asians] have no aversion to changing phones every six months,” Carney said. “They are fashion statements vs. productivity tools.”
Carney, formerly president of Nortel’s enterprise data division, began his new role in March. He is responsible for capitalizing on the company’s strengths in optical and Internet Protocol technology to ensure Nortel secures a leading position in wireless Internet. He is based in Paris.
Carney was executive vice president at Bay Networks when it was acquired by Nortel about three years ago and before that was director of technical operations with Wellfleet.
