Mobile Operators

FT on the state of the Telco Industry

In the first of a number of Mobile World Congress-themed posts, here’s the Financial Time’s take on the state of the telco industry. With the billing relationship being undermined by app stores, customers feeling stronger affinity towards their smartphone vendors and applications, and competition driving down both revenues and quality, it is a tough time. Yet Ericsson’s CEO sees opportunities too: “Ten years ago, they all did the same things. But now carriers have suddenly got a lot of options … Read more…

UK gives go-ahead for use of White Space spectrum

Radio spectrum, the lifeblood of any wireless or cellular service is a scarce resource, the pressures on which continue to grow in line with our hunger for mobile data. It is therefore not surprising that carriers and regulators are seeking ways to squeeze out better usage out of the available airwaves. The most recent step forward is the UK communications regulator Ofcom to allow wireless communications in so-called White Space spectrum. This is “prime-site” spectrum in the 470-790MHz range which has excellent … Read more…

New wireless networks for M2M and IoT

Earlier this year, Arqiva, a UK company that owns most of the broadcast masts in the UK announced that it was building a nationwide wireless communications network for the Internet of Things. As we are accustomed to hearing mobile operators tell us how many billions of pounds are invested in their networks, how can it be profitable to build such a network from scratch just to provide low-cost connectivity to connect meters, trackers and the like? The answer is to … Read more…