Huawei targets Japan's new networks, Chinese 3G far slower
Published: 26 June, 2009
Continued ...
Japan may be saturated, but its passionate mobile internet users can be relied upon to adopt new, faster services almost as soon as they are launched. The pattern in China is very different - huge untapped potential, but a long timescale for mass adoption, and therefore for operator ROI. Reminiscent of the time it took European 3G services to gain critical mass after the networks went commercial around 2002-3, China is seeing slow adoption in the early phase of its long awaited 3G offerings. So far this year, fewer than 3% of new subscribers to China Mobile, the most advanced 3G operator in terms of roll-out with its TD-SCDMA system, have opted for 3G, the rest just taking GSM/EDGE.
Apart from some special services for the Beijing Olympics, China Mobile went live on January 7 and by the end of May had attracted 746,000 3G subscribers, according to a US SEC filing. However, its total number of subscribers grew by 6.7% in the first five months of the year, to hit 457.3m, making 3G users just 2.4% of the 30.8m new customers, and 0.16% of its whole base. As in Europe seven years earlier, the main obstacles are limited range of appealing handsets, and only nascent markets for laptop and dongle services.
Pages: 1 | 2
More HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES News
More JAPAN News
More HANDSET News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
