WiFi offloading is becoming increasingly used
As we have regularly discussed in this blog, WiFi offloading is an important mechanism to curtail the traffic demands on mobile networks. With relatively limited deployment of LTE in many markets, WiFi offers significant benefits for smartphone users, in terms of speed, usage allowances and costs. Devicescape has just reported the results of a smartphone [...]
LTE news roundup
There have been a number of interesting announcements in the last few weeks related to LTE. Firstly, NTT DoCoMo in Japan has announced that the number of subscribers to its LTE Xi service reached two million on 18 March 2012 – an increase of one million subscribers since 24 December 2011. This growth has been [...]
iPad 3 launches with 4G LTE capability
Wednesday 7th March 2012 was an important date for the wireless telecommunications industry. It is the date that Apple announced its new iPad 3. As well as offering a range of compelling capabilities, such as a high-resolution display, the iPad 3 is particularly notable for supporting 4G LTE services. Not only will the iPad 3 [...]
USA pulls ahead of Europe with LTE
It doesn’t seem long ago that I remember looking across the Atlantic with pride as Europe forged ahead with the deployment of GSM systems, while the USA struggled to keep up with a disparate array of mobile network standards. Not anymore. Last week T-Mobile became the last of the four US national mobile operators to [...]
UK spectrum auction will shape mobile industry for many years to come
The forthcoming auction of 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum, and the associated licence conditions, will have a profound impact on the mobile industry in the UK. In its latest consultation and proposals, Ofcom highlights that the auction is “likely to be the last significant opportunity to obtain prime mobile spectrum for many years” and that the [...]
UK LTE coverage to be better than 2G by 2017
As we near the UK’s long-awaited auction of 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum for next-generation mobile services, there is very good news for UK consumers in terms of expected coverage of LTE services. Ofcom has published its latest proposals for the award of 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum, and it is clear that it has moved a [...]
Three UK highlights pent-up demand for mobile data
Contrary to the view from some analysts, recent results from Three UK show that there is little prospect of halting the tide of mobile data. Since the heady days of early all-you-can-eat mobile data tariffs, in the last couple of years we have reported on a trend of UK mobile network operators limiting mobile data usage [...]
Social networks to displace SMS text messaging?
In May 2011, I wrote my article ‘Will Mobile Messaging Revenues Decline?’, in which I discussed declining messaging revenues experienced by Vodafone Spain. As I reported, in the year to March 2011, there was a 13.8% decline in mobile messaging revenue compared with the previous year, from GBP400 million to GBP345 million. The publication by [...]
Mobile TV: rise of the BBC’s iPlayer on 3G networks
The BBC’s iPlayer has driven substantial traffic growth in fixed Internet networks in the UK. However, its impact has been artificially constrained on mobile networks by the restriction that iPlayer could only be viewed on mobile devices via a WiFi connection. This week, an update to the BBC’s iPlayer application on Apple iPhones and iPads [...]
Could some operators go straight to LTE-Advanced?
Last month, the GSA highlighted accelerating deployments of LTE networks, and predicted that there will be at least 103 LTE networks commercially launched by the end of 2012. While LTE itself is still a new wireless technology, the pace of further developments has not slackened. In my last post, I reported that Sprint Nextel and [...]
Contact Unwired Insight
+44 (0) 1480 819391
Keep in touch with Unwired Insight