Archive for January, 2009
Thailand – 3G service in 2010?
January 31st, 2009 | 
Author: BusinessThird-generation (3G) mobile technology inched closer to reality when the National Telecommunications Commission assured operators that it could award licences by the third quarter meaning service is likely early next year.
NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck said the board would meet next Thursday to fix significant details on a 3G licensing timeframe.
He said both 3G draft regulations and nationwide public hearings had been completed. It remains uncertain how many operators the board can allocate for the remaining 45MHz band on the 2.1GHz frequency and what methods should be used to select the licensees.
He said the board was considering whether to use a first come, first served option, a lottery, a “beauty contest” (based on technical capabilities), or a hybrid method to choose licensees.
“If there are no mishaps, 3G services should be seen in the second quarter of next year at the 2100 MHz frequency,” he said.
He also said that wireless broadband service or Wi-Max licences could be awarded at the same time.
He said the delay in 3G licences resulted from a lack of clarity on the duty and role of the NTC. The existing Frequency Management Law became effective in 2000 and brought about the NTC in 2003, but frequencies were meant to be allocated jointly with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which was never formed. The Council of State finally ruled that the NTC could allocate frequencies even without the existence of NBC.
Sanchai Tiewprasertkul, marketing director of Advanced Info Service, said telecom service consumption contributed 3% of GDP. If 3G service became available, at least 50-60 billion baht in working capital would be in the market in the next three years.
AIS has offered 3G service on 900 MHz since the middle of last year in Chiang Mai, and within three months will provide services in Chon Buri and Bangkok.
He said that at present users still did not see much difference with 3G service because AIS began with only advertisements on video calls.
In fact, video calling services might not be popular, but the real killer applications for 3G would be wireless broadband, digital broadcasting and high-speed internet, he said.Roar Wiik Andreassen, DTAC’s chief strategy officer, said it set aside 5-10 billion baht for 3G annually, depending on roll-out conditions from the NTC and delays in licensing. He added that DTAC would provide 3G service on 850 MHz and the new frequency.
Atip Asvanond, True Corporation ‘assistant director, said the significance of 3G service did not lie in the network but in the content. This was why True Move approached Apple for iPhone 3G imports in the Thai market because of the variety of applications.
Posted in Communications | 
Tags: advertisement, apple, application, business, Communications, Internet, iphone, Management, Marketing, Mobile, Network, Technology, Wireless | 
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WiFi networks – virus risk assessment
see also Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
We?ve all gotten e-mails warning us about nasty computer viruses. Maybe you even have antivirus software installed on your machine. Well, now scientists say that our wireless networks are particularly vulnerable to infection, especially in densely populated urban areas.
The use of Wi-Fi routers has become increasingly commonplace, as more people get online at home, at school, at the coffee shop. And these wireless networks are an excellent target for computer viruses, because they?re always on, always connected to the Internet, and don?t have specific software to protect them.
The scientists simulated the infection of real wireless networks in a handful of U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Boston. They found that the infection of just a small number of routers triggered an outbreak, with the virus spreading to tens of thousands of routers within a week, most within the first 24 hours. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Wireless networks are weakened by a general lack of security, including a failure to change the default password. So if you want to keep your network virus-free, at the very least choose a password that?s hard to guess. Like Bosco.
WiMAX – adding international roaming
The WiMax Forum kicked off an initiative on Thursday that someday may be critical for making WiMax a true rival to cellular networks.
The industry group launched its Global Roaming Program, aimed at helping mobile WiMax operators set up roaming so subscribers can get online when they travel to areas served by other carriers. The program offers resources for service providers, including technical specifications, a manual, a contract template, and a test plan, on the organization’s Web site.
Domestic and international roaming is widely available among cellular operators, especially those using the most widely adopted mobile standard, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). WiMax is just beginning to be rolled out in many parts of the world and has a long way to go before it’s as widespread as 2G (second-generation) and 3G (third-generation) mobile networks. But the WiMax Forum is smart to get the ball rolling on roaming agreements now, said Robert Syputa, an analyst at Maravedis.
“Generally, it’s always favorable to have these operators do roaming, because that enhances the value of their network,” Syputa said.
The program provides a “how-to” manual, a template for writing a contract between operators, a test plan for trying out roaming services with other operators ahead of launch, and specifications for exchanging information to track usage and settle the bill. The documents were developed by WiMax operators and other participants, including iPass and Verisign.
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The WiMax Forum’s work may help carriers get through some of the rough patches that come with setting up roaming with a new technology. But other challenges remain, according to Syputa. Carriers in different countries use different radio bands for their WiMax networks, such as 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz, and client devices may be equipped to use only one of them. In addition, service providers can allocate varying amounts of bandwidth to individual subscribers. So customers of one WiMax carrier may get a fat pipe of 1Mb per second or more at home and then find they can’t use a roaming partner’s network for the rich applications they’re used to, he said.
In any case, it is too early for the largest U.S. WiMax operator, Clearwire, to get involved in any international roaming deals, Syputa said. With mobile WiMax commercially available in just two metropolitan areas — Baltimore and Portland, Oregon — Clearwire probably doesn’t have enough demand to make it worthwhile.
“They need to have some critical mass” with 20 cities or more, Syputa said. That isn’t likely to happen until some time in 2010, he said.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: application, Communications, information, Mobile, Network, online, system, Technology, world |
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Google – Net Neutrality tools
see also MeasurementLab.net
Google and a group of partners have released a set of tools designed to help broadband customers and researchers measure performance of Internet connections.
The set of tools, at MeasurementLab.net, includes a network diagnostic tool, a network path diagnostic tool and a tool to measure whether the user’s broadband provider is slowing BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P-to-P) traffic. Coming soon to the M-Lab applications is a tool to determine whether a broadband provider is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic, and a tool to determine whether a provider is degrading certain users or applications.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: application, Design, google, Internet, Network, research, world |
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OECD – market development and policies influencing telecommunications investment
Players in communication markets are no longer the traditional alternative operators providing voice services, but a range of service providers including Internet Service Providers and cable television service providers who provide VoIP services and broadband access. This paper assembles some evidence on developments in investment by incumbent and alternative telecommunications operators during the period 2000-2005.