{"id":550406,"date":"2006-10-05T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T07:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/550406-cellular-operators-begin-to-co-operate.html"},"modified":"2006-10-05T07:35:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-05T07:35:00","slug":"cellular-operators-begin-to-co-operate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/550406-cellular-operators-begin-to-co-operate.html","title":{"rendered":"Cellular operators begin to co-operate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tentative steps to agree, up front, on which technologies to support promise to ensure that customers can roam on any network without interconnection problems, and that all handsets will work on every network. A united front would not eliminate innovation, but would ensure that all innovations were channelled in the right direction, says Joachim Horn, the chief technology officer of German telecoms operator T-Mobile. <\/font><\/p>\n

T-Mobile is a founding member of the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) initiative, along with Vodafone, which owns 50% of SA\u2019s Vodacom<\/a> . Others include Japanese giant DoCoMo, China Mobile Communications and Sprint. <\/font><\/p>\n

The initiative was designed to focus on standardisation to ensure the cellphone industry stayed healthy, Horn says. <\/font><\/p>\n

He outlined plans at a briefing by Siemens Communications, an equipment manufacturer that will provide technologies to meet the organisation\u2019s requirements. <\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to channel innovation into a common purpose rather than use innovation as an excuse for diversity,\u201d says Siemens Communications vice- president Klaus-Dieter Kohrt. <\/font><\/p>\n

A plethora of technologies<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>\n

Handset manufacturers now try to cram several systems into each phone so they can be used on incompatible networks, which increases production costs and retail price. Network suppliers also have to cater for competing technologies, making the production complex and expensive. <\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make decisions early to let vendors provide cost- effective solutions,\u201d says Horn. \u201cI don\u2019t know of any key vendor who hasn\u2019t shown interest.\u201d <\/font><\/p>\n

The idea was firmed into action this month with the creation of NGMN Ltd as a nonprofit organisation open to all. <\/font><\/p>\n

Operators do not want to throw away what they have invested in, says Horn, but their systems will need upgrading in the coming months to provide high-speed multimedia services for mobile users. That will include mobile television and internet data downloads at 100MB a second \u2014 10 times faster than today\u2019s networks. <\/font><\/p>\n

Rather than launch immature systems now, it would be better to wait until they can introduce high-quality services that conform to agreed standards and which offer a more satisfying customer experience, Horn says. <\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cThe key challenge is that this requires spectrum efficiency that is very close to the physical limits of what is possible, or in two or three years\u2019 time there will be new technologies that move closer. We don\u2019t want partial upgrades now so that every two years we have to reinvest in new equipment,\u201d he says. <\/font><\/p>\n

For mobile broadband to be ready by 2010 \u2014 when SA will host the Soccer World Cup and users around the globe will expect to watch the matches on their cellphones \u2014 agreed standards must be ready by 2008 and network testing must begin in 2009. <\/font><\/p>\n

The utopia of a single technology able to provide all the services that rival networks must offer to differentiate themselves may never be achieved. \u201cHaving one technology around the world is too much of a vision. But if we can absorb some of the layers and wipe them out, it would help keep the costs down,\u201d Horn says.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Discuss this article<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIVAL cellular network operators are beginning to co-operate to avoid wasting a fortune on competing technologies that are destined to grow obsolete. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}