Are Korea and Japan Showing Operators
the Way Forward? - by Tom
Dibble
In some countries in today's wireless world, there
are operators who are able only to gaze into the distant future,
dreaming of the day they'll be able to profit from advanced
high-speed mobile services. Elsewhere, operators in countries
such as Korea and Japan are blazing ahead. What can we learn
from these countries?
Indicators for Korea are impressive, to say the least. Korea
is still rolling out their 3G networks, but has made available
2.5G services as a precursor to country-wide 3G coverage. Approximate
figures released in September stated 2.5G services had been
sold to 9 million mobile subscribers. Set against the mobile
phone ownership of South Korea, that's around a quarter of everyone
with a mobile phone. Analysts have put the actual advanced services
usage at around 75% of these people who are regularly using
the mobile data services offered. This excels far beond current
European mobile data consumption.
South Korea is fast becoming known as the most advanced nation
for mobile communications. Whether other supposedly advanced
mobile nations would agree is quite another story. SK Telecom
(the dominant mobile network) has driven forward with 3G services,
and Korea has seen ARPU increase steadily during rollout. But
can the experience of advanced data services in the East teach
Western operators anything at all?
Despite operators having made commitments to the W-CDMA 3G
standard, several major operators in Korea and Japan have found
success by migrating to CDMA2000 as an alternative. In Japan,
authentic 3G users of the FOMA service by NTT DoCoMo number
around 160,000. NTT had already created an established desire
for mobile data services under the i-mode technology they deployed
some years ago. Its subscriber base grew dramatically during
this period. i-mode offered low bandwidth, always-on, operator-only
content. This encouraged many users to investigate and dabble
with non-voice services.
FOMA now allows this audience to experience this content, but
the experience can be enriched. While all this is encouraging,
operators in Europe and North America won't admit that they
envy their Far Eastern colleagues in Korea and Japan. Bernd
Eylert, chairman of the UMTS Forum, stated that recent stats
were "encouraging."
So the figures are cheering, but do people use mobile devices
in the same way across the globe? Sure, why not? Commuter belts
all have trains don't they? We all have traffic jams. We all
get bored many times a week on the slog into work. Kids are
still taken to school. We all fundamentally do the same things.
Only difference is, we do it in different countries and languages.
Our routines are universal. Between planes, trains, and automobiles,
from car systems to handheld devices, there is a universal market
for enhanced communication and data services. Personal computing
penetration has driven the need for taking applications mobile.
These market conditions aren't unique and that's a key driver
to future uptake. How these are packaged and priced is another
case altogether. With the use of hindsight, it would be wise
for operators to plow more money into research activities before
launching services.
i-Mode in Brief
NTT DoCoMo synchronizes the entire i-mode value chain in order
to develop the i-mode mobile service. Their close collaboration
with equipment manufacturers, content providers, and other platforms
ensures that wireless technology, content quality, and users'
experience evolve at the same optimal pace. Ultimately, this
synchronization guarantees that their customers, partners, and
shareholders have their interests aligned with the end users,
enabling all parties involved to maximize value. They welcome
candid and direct feedback from all those involved in the value
chain including their customers. The feedback has enabled
them and their partners to align their interests, and has
improved the quality of services they release for the platform.
This open exchange of research and technical data has led to
the creation of richer content and increased subscription acquisition
rates.
Copyright © 2006 SYS-CON Media.
All Rights Reserved.
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