Bangkok--14 Jul--Farh Agency Understanding consumer needs, technology leadership and end-to-end multi-service capabilities will be keys to success. Not to mention choosing the right partner. Mobile and fixed Historically broadband access has been supplied by fixed telecommunications and cable operators delivering services over a range of digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable and fiber technologies. Then utilities, municipalities and even private contractors came on the scene and built fiber access network connections into housing and development projects providing broadband services. And now, mobile broadband technologies are becoming widely available delivering similar types of services. Creating a mobile broadband mass market — and ensuring the benefits of a digital society — means having full local and global coverage, not just disconnected islands of hotspots like Wi-Fi. Although a variety of technologies are currently competing to deliver commercial mobile broadband services, 3G networks based on the established WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technologies clearly become the best solution in terms of global acceptance, interoperability and spectrum efficiency. WCDMA/HSPA offers worldwide roaming and economies of scale. This not only facilitates a consumer’s desire for broadband, but it also encourages industrial growth and research advances. This in turn enables a sustainable growth for operators by allowing them to leverage their existing assets such as their network infrastructure, operation and management systems, staff and their subscriber base and its management system. Different starting points There is a battle going on among different players, more than four years, trying to gain a larger share of consumer spending. Fixed and mobile operators have different assets at their starting point in their evolution to broadband service providers. Fixed operators will very high capabilities and offer more bundled services like TV and broadband Internet access together with basic telephony. Some of these operators will also offer mobility through partnerships or as virtual mobile operators (MVNO). Mobile operators with third generation (3G) licenses will add mobile broadband to their existing services. Mobile broadband equips with many multi-service capabilities such as mobile TV and leverage the coverage and mobility aspects inherent in a mobile network. Bundling means business Most legacy broadband networks were optimized for the best effort Internet surfing from a PC. This service will remain an important driver for broadband, but a transition to bundled offerings is changing the competitive landscape. Bundled services offer consumers a convenience of one bill and often have a lower total cost when compared to buying separate services from different providers. Bundled services typically include mobile and fixed telephony, broadband Internet access and broadcast TV. For operators, bundles can reduce churn while simultaneously increasing the number of subscribers and the average revenue per subscriber. For example France, the price of broadband packages have remained relatively constant by bundling services and adding services to their offering, offering more for the same amount of money. IP Throughout At the heart of multi-service networks is the ongoing evolution towards all-IP networks. Robust, telecom-quality solutions in areas including Softswitching and the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) enable network owners to cost-efficiently modernize their existing assets using open standards based components. An IP-based packet core and backbone network collects feeds from many sources including cable, xDSL, WCDMA/HSDPA or LTE and then aggregates that traffic and efficiently transmits routes and delivers it. Incremental investments can release cost-effective, reliable capacity that is paced to growth in demand and revenues, enabling multimedia services and additional revenue streams and provide the least total cost of ownership considering an operator's core assets and business plans. Many operators are discovering how their network infrastructure and customer bases can provide them with unique competitive advantages in an always on, broadband world. Those operators and network owners that can best develop and leverage these assets will be best positioned to prosper in the Broadband Everywhere landscape. The author: Bunyati Kirdniyom is Senior Manager specializing in 3G and its evolution. He has been working for Ericsson for 12 years holding management positions within business development within South East Asia. For further information, please contact: Mrs. Voraparn Eua-arporn (coco) GM of Farh Agency Tel: 0 26160991-2, Fax: 0 2616 0993, MB: 08 9144 4014, 08 1376 5927l Email: [email protected], [email protected]