The applications are developed, the hardware is ready. Who is not ready are the spectrum managers/regulators of Asia, who have barely started on refarming. Already some of Sri Lanka’s mobile data users are complaining that they cannot connect. The operators need to pay attention and so do spectrum managers.
America’s advanced cellphone network is already beginning to be bogged down by smartphones that double as computers, navigation devices and e-book readers. Cellphones are increasingly being used as TVs, which hog even more bandwidth. They can also transmit video, allowing for videoconferencing on cellphones.
And a new generation of netbooks, tablet PCs and other mobile devices that connect to cellphone networks will only add to the strain. “Carrier networks aren’t set to handle five million tablets sucking down 5 gigabytes of data each month,” Philip Cusick, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, said.
Wireless carriers have drastically underestimated the network demand by consumers, which has been driven largely by the iPhone and its applications, he said. “It’s only going to get worse as streaming video gets more prevalent.”
3 Comments
Payal
Asian regulators work in an institutional milieu that is prone to slow decision making process as the vested interests to appease are many.
The latest, the Indian 3G auction postponed to August 2010, the time when defence will release spectrum.
What a shame!
Abu Saeed Khan
Spectrum is the only intangible yet increasingly premium natural resource that never depletes. It is also available anywhere in the world with unaffected quality. Yet the state of wireless services across various economies significantly differs due to the variation of regulatory engagement.
Asian regulators and governments have found quite an easy way of formal and informal earnings through leasing out spectrum since mid 90s. The worst regulatory perversion was witnessed thereafter through auctioning the 3G spectrum in the western hemisphere. We know the consequences.
Since then the Asian regulators remain addicted to making the exchequer “rich” through spectrum auctions. Academics calling it “a scarce resource” have worsened the crisis. Look at India and Bangladesh.
The Asian economists have never bothered to link spectrum with economic development. Telecommunication, especially the spectrum, is very wrongly being perceived as the exclusive topic for the engineers. That’s why most of the regulatory outfits employ only the engineers for spectrum management. The operators follow suit. There is nobody to reveal the economic benefits of spectrum refarming.
(Research Report) Health-Related Information and COVID-19
Information collection (or data collection) is vital during an epidemic, especially for purposes such as contact tracing and quarantine monitoring. However, it also poses challenges such as keeping up with the spread of the infectious disease, and the need to protect personally identifiable information.
Locking down Sri Lanka’s lockdown communications strategy
Responding to the COVID-19 crisis has been difficult for many. Its volatile and uncertain nature has made planning even more challenging.
LIRNEasia’s CEO at Opening Panel of Stockholm Internet Forum
The theme of this year's SIF was "Mobilising for Digital Resilience – a free, open, and secure internet in the shifting landscapes of the pandemic". The opening panel set the stage for discussing issues that fit under this topic, and will be followed by 2 days of further panels that explore each issue further.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
12 Balcombe Place, Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2021 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific