FT, Motorola demo video streaming EDGE to Wi-Fi handover
France Telecom and Motorola have demonstrated a project called Network Controlled Seamless Mobility. The demonstration showcased video streaming from a remote application server to the A910 Motorola handset where a seamless handover between EDGE and Wi-Fi occurs at what is described as the “optimised instant for the network operator and user”. The result of the development shows that seamless mobility can be experienced with a wide range of applications while the handover is controlled by the operator network with IP protocols. In this solution, the handover decision is managed with centralised information regarding radio link conditions, access networks load, application quality of service (QoS) needs, user preferences, and operator policies.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Russia ends August with 145 mln mobile subscribers
The number of mobile subscribers in Russia reached 145 million at the end of August, up from 143 million in July, according to figures from market researcher Advanced Communications & Media. Mobile operator MTS had 49.6 million subscribers and captured 19.2 percent of the net additions in the month. VimpelCom ended August with 47.5 million customers and had 16.9 percent of the net additions, MegaFon’s subscriber base hit 27.5 million in August with 36.9 percent of the net additions. Other operators gained 27 percent of the net additions. MTS’ market share stood at 34.2 percent, VimpelCom had a 32.7 percent share of the market, MegaFon had an 18.9 percent market share and other operators had a 14.2 percent share of the market
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Global handset sales to slow down – study
Global handset sales are expected to hit 1.25 billion by 2011; however, 2006 will be the last year of massive overall worldwide growth, according to research from Informa Telecoms & Media. The rate of overall worldwide mobile handset growth will slow dramatically from 2007 and saturation in developed markets will start to balance out the booming growth in emerging regions. Annual growth rates are expected to decline from 15.7 percent in 2006 to 3 percent in 2011.Furthermore, 9.6 percent (120.12 million) of all handsets sold will be equipped with broadcast mobile TV capability in 2011. The strongholds of China and South Korea will dominate this sector over the coming years, but by 2011 the US, China and Europe will have also grown to be key. The number of handsets sold with music capabilities will rise from 69.8 million in 2005 to 126.1 million in 2006, an 80 percent increase. Camera phones, one of the most successful features of next-generation handsets, will represent 81 percent of total handset market sales by 2011.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Alcatel ships latest WiMAX equipment
Alcatel has started shipping equipment based on the Universal WIMAX IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard. The company is already participating in trials of the equipment with ten customers on all continents and expects to announce commercial deployments before the end of the year. Customers testing the equipment include BellSouth and Acca of Japan. The company is producing fixed and mobile wireless equipment according to the wireless standard and supports an open customer premise equipment framework to ensure interoperability with a range of devices. Alcatel is working with chipmakers Intel and Runcom on device makers like Zyxel on compatible equipment.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Cingular completes network integration with AT&T
Cingular has completed the integration of its GSM network with AT&T Wireless. The companies merged in October 2004 and since then Cingular has been working to extend and integrate the two networks. It now has nearly 47,000 cell sites throughout the US. The company has also deployed 3G services, offering data speeds of 400-700 Kbps, in 105 markets with populations of 100,000 or more, in and around 44 cities. EDGE services are already available in over 13,000 cities to some 270 million people. Bloomberg reports that the 3G roll-out is running behind schedule. A spokesman for Cingular told the news agency that the operator expects to cover three-fourths of the top 100 markets by the end of 2006, with the remainder completed in early 2007.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Technorati : 3G, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, GSM, Mobile
Ice Rocket : 3G, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, GSM, Mobile
Wibree: The Bluetooth rival from nokia
A short-range, wireless technology that is more energy-efficient than Bluetooth has been unveiled by Nokia.
Wibree is a new radio frequency technology than can work alongside Bluetooth but using just a fraction of the power.
Bluetooth is commonly found in mobile phones, printers and laptops and is used to transfer data.
“It’s up to 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth,” said Bob Iannucci, Nokia Research Center’s head.
More than 500m devices currently contain Bluetooth technology.
Nokia has been developing Wibree for the last five years and will now put the technology through a standardisation process so that the wireless system can be offered to third-party firms.
“Our aim is to establish an industry standard faster than ever before by offering an inter-operable solution that can be commercialised and incorporated into products as quickly as possible,” Mr Iannucci said.
Radio chips
Wibree radio chips – which operate over a distance of 30 feet – are also smaller than Bluetooth chips and will suit devices which up to now do not typically have wireless technology built-in.
Watches, health monitors and sport sensors are three of the uses touted by Nokia. The technology is also likely to be used in mobile phones to help prolong battery power.
The new wireless system can transfer data at speeds of up to 1Mbps, about a third of the speed of current Bluetooth technology.
Nokia said it expected the first commercial version of the standard to be available during the second quarter of 2007.
The firm said it expected dual Bluetooth-Wibree devices such as mobile phones to hit the market within two years.
“The challenge is getting industry-wide support for yet another wireless standard, given the overwhelming number of standards in play at the moment its hard to see how companies can justify the research and development commitment to all of them,” wireless telecoms analyst Ben Wood at UK-based Collins Consulting told Reuters news agency.
He added: “Bluetooth is clearly not suited to some of the cooler applications like intelligent jewelry, watches – a less power hungry, smaller, cheaper solution will open some interesting new opportunities.”
Global sales of Bluetooth chips are expected to be between 500 million and 550 million units in 2006, up from 317 million in 2005, according to market leader CSR.
Bluetooth technology was invented by Ericsson in the 1990s and was given away to the market as an open standard.
Source: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5403564.stm”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5403564.stm
Mobile Blogging enabled by Opera
Opera Software ASA has created a new community-centered site that allows users to blog and upload photos directly from their mobile phones.Quietly launched in September to Opera browser users, the My Opera Community site is attracting an average of 1,000 new members per day, the browser developer has said.
A map of users shows that there is a dominant concentration of members in Europe and Asia, where mobile phone use is at its strongest, but other countries, like the United States, also have a number of bloggers.
New system to deliver e-coupons over broadcast mobile TV
Today DoCoMo and Japanese broadcaster Nippon Television Network Corporation announced a system to deliver electronic coupons to mobile phones via digital terrestrial broadcast mobile TV.
The preferred mobile TV system in Japan is OneSeg a form of digital terrestrial broadcast TV. Since it went live in April this year, operators have launched several mobile handsets which can receive the signal. As it’s digital, OneSeg offers the interesting possibility to combine data with the broadcast signal and there have been a few experimental services such as baseball programmes which offer viewers additional statistics on demand. This latest service is the first idea to really push the boundries of what broadcast mobile TV can do – offering coupons you can redeem at retailers direct from your mobile.
The coupons are delivered as Toruca e-coupons. The Toruca system uses the FeliCa contactless IC chip used by wallet phones so consumers can redeem them directly at retailers by holding their phone over an ic reader-writer touchpoint. The interesting point about this new system is that the coupons can be combined with video clips taken from the TV show to offer content-specific marketing. For example, the service provides the possibility of combining a coupon with a clip of a cooking recipe. The coupons can also be forwarded to friends through email or infrared, presenting some interesting viral marketing opportunities. The new system seems like a great opportunity for marketers to produce some integrated marketing campaigns using the mobile and a lucrative way for operators to monetize broadcast digital TV which lies outside of their billing control.
