Carriers to rule the airwaves

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 20 Nov 2003 at 16:49

Research from ARC Group suggests that in a post 3G and hotspot-enabled world, it's the network operators that will call the shots, while hot-spot operators will struggle to find a market if they choose to compete with the telcos.

Chris White, Telecoms Consultant at ARC Group said: 'Too much attention has been paid to how PWLAN (public wireless LAN) will compete with 3G rather than looking at the benefits of combining both network technologies. Independent PWLAN operators have found it hard to put a viable business case together but with the involvement of mobile operators and the widespread availability of WLAN capable mobile devices, the case looks much stronger.'

Wireless access from public hotspots may be undergoing an explosive nascent growth period, but services will find it tough to pose competition to 3G services offered by mobile operators - especially as the carriers start to implement high-speed upgrades.

The report says that 3.5G services will be deployed between next year and 2010, offering five times the current (theoretical maximum) downstream limits of 384Kbits/sec (for general use - in theory that is amplified to 2Mbuts/sec if you're stood underneath a base station).

Even with 3G handsets capable of connecting to a hot spot service, ARC Group reckons only about 20 per cent of 3G subscribers will use public hotspots through the devices by 2008.

Certainly teaming up with mobile operators may turn out be a lifeline to indie hot-spots. No doubt a burgeoning hot spot market of small players will at some point hit a period of consolidation where a number will struggle. The telcos have already been through that. Plus they have a heap of experience in roaming agreements and billing systems that will be sticky problems for the independent hot spot operators.