The engineers are skeptic about mobile broadband because they think it’s hard to manage an all-IP network. The voice-centric good old TDM networks are lot easier to handle. The investors lack interest in mobile broadband because 3G licenses are quite expensive. They prefer to continue the legacy of GSM as the ROI is pretty good.
Most of the governments are obsessed with auctioning the 3G licenses because of the guaranteed windfall. Yet such governments keep screaming about digital divide. Everybody claims to be right while it’s, actually, other way around. That’s what Tarek Robbiati, Hong Kong-based CSL’s CEO, is critical of.
Who will bell the (broadband) cat? The governments, of course! Eliminating all barriers to market through policy rationalization should be the top priority. Forget 3G, 4G, LTE and WiMax. Only the technologies that allow consumers to switch providers without changing the terminals are qualified. Mandate coverage and quality through shared networks or cancel the licenses. Otherwise, the markets will be hit by bandwidth divide.
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