Wireless Internet
Wireless Internet

Wireless Internet

ANA and Connexion by Boeing Sign Mobile Internet Services Agreement

ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Boeing today announced that the two companies have signed a definitive service agreement for the installation of the Connexion by Boeing mobile Internet service on the air carrier’slong-haul fleet of aircraft. The announcement was augmented by an agreement with SESAMERICOM for satellite coverage over the North Pacific region, to be used by ANA and otherleading global air carriers. During a joint press conference in Tokyo, Connexion by Boeing President Scott Carson praised ANA and SES AMERICOM for their contributions and support in helping to make connectivity possible for people on the move in the Asia- Pacific region.

Lucent Lands 3G Contracts in China

Lucent Technologies announced a series of agreements with China Unicom and China Telecom with total contract values of more than $350 million. The agreements cover virtually the entire range of Lucent’s next-generation network offerings and services that are designed to accelerate the smooth evolution to packet networks as well as enabling the delivery of advanced multimedia communications services. Lucent will deliver solutions that lay the foundation for Internet protocol (IP) voice and data services such as high-speed mobile data access, video-on-demand and IP Centrex services.

Emerging Mobile Business Applications

The mobile Internet may have gained popularity in Japan because of cool ring tones and text messaging, but now businesses are finding that using cell phones to track information increases productivity — and saves money. Just as entertainment has been an unexpected driver of growth and innovation in the overall mobile Internet, unexpected applications such as delivery, construction, maintenance and sales are driving business use in the mobile Internet. By Prof. Jeffrey L. Funk, this paper is a condensed version of a chapter from his soon-to-be-released book “Mobile Disruption.”

The Challenges -and Potential- of 3G

Currently, increased competition and stagnating economies have helped drive down end-user prices and voice service has become a commodity. While call minutes are increasing, ARPU is failing to keep pace with growing costs and shrinking margins. The 3G business case says that every incremental dollar spent on the network must produce a return on investment almost overnight. In the Asia-Pacific, Pyramid Research says 3G mobile subscribers will jump from 21 million in 2002 to 162 million in 2008.

2004 to be the Year of 3G in Japan

A quarter of all mobile-phone users in Japan are expected to switch to a 3G service by March 2005. Analysts say DoCoMo, Japan’s largest wireless carrier, could add a million customers a month in 2004, once improved phones are released. Meanwhile, DoCoMo’s rivals, KDDI and Vodafone KK, are also expanding, leading executives to predict that 2004 will be the year of 3G in Japan. “If 3G is validated here, a lot of carriers and suppliers will point to Japan as a success,” said Mark Berman, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo. “This could touch off a 3G rally” worldwide.

Market Too Gloomy on 3G

Hutchison Whampoa’s 3G business has been viewed too gloomily by the market, as its current setbacks are only short-term and supply-related, Merrill Lynch says. The investment bank holds the contrarian view that Hutchison’s disappointing take-up rate in Europe was mostly to do with a lack of handsets supply, rather than a lack of demand. It said Hutchison may spin-off part or all of its 3G assets in an initial public offering in 2005 or 2006.