Mobile Network Sharing

While the announcement has been some time coming, I’m delighted to see that the commercial realities of 4G LTE investment have caused O2 and Vodafone to make a very wise partnership decision. Vodafone and O2 have announced that they will pool their networks of radio masts and antennas, which will accelerate their roll-out of 4G… Read more

Voice revenues of mobile network operators are under intense pressure from a combination of competition and regulation. Strong growth in mobile data revenues is now essential, in order to reverse falling ARPUs. Mobile network operators must look beyond mobile messaging for this growth, since mobile messaging (particularly SMS) revenues may decline, as they face competition… Read more

In his wireless blog, Mark Heath expresses his concerns at Ofcom’s plans for a statutory report to the UK Government on the UK’s communication infrastructure. The UK Government’s Digital Economy Act 2010 gave Ofcom a new duty to provide a report to the Secretary of State every three years on the state of the UK’s… Read more

In his mobile blog, Mark Heath, of Unwired Insight, discusses the latest developments with Orange and T-Mobile in the UK. Consolidation of mobile networks in the UK is long overdue and I’m relieved to see that the combination of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, known as Everything Everywhere, is rapidly moving into implementation. In an… Read more

3G network sharing is set to sweep through developed markets, and will have profound implications for mobile operators, vendors and regulators, according to a new report, 3G Infrastructure Sharing: the future for mobile networks, written by Unwired Insight. “Despite a number of announcements made around the time of 3G licence awards, the mobile industry was… Read more

It seems that mobile equipment vendors are facing an uncertain future, according to two reports, Network Evolution from 2007 to 2012: HSPA+, LTE, WiMAX and femtocells and 3G Infrastructure Sharing: the future for mobile networks, written by Unwired Insight. “Mobile equipment vendors may be depending on 3G enhancements such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) to… Read more

Mobile operators are considering widespread deployment of indoor base stations – called femtocells – as early as 2008. A large-scale roll-out of femtocells carries considerable risk and many early business cases are not commercially viable, according to the report, Femtocells in the Consumer Market: business case and marketing plan, written by Unwired Insight. “Femtocells are… Read more

Mobile operators may experience substantial decline in ARPU in developed countries, as voice prices decrease, non-voice services fail to capture consumers’ interest, and mobile phones lose their fashionable image, according to the report, The Future of the Global Wireless Industry: scenarios for 2007-12, written by Unwired Insight. “There is increasing uncertainty about the future of… Read more