José Ribamar Smolka Ramos
Telecomunicações
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ComUnidade WirelessBrasil

Julho 2010               Índice Geral


12/03/10

• Sempre é bom saber que alguém concorda com você...

de J. R. Smolka <smolka@terra.com.br>
para WirelessBR <wirelessbr@yahoogrupos.com.br>, Celld-group@yahoogrupos.com.br
data 12 de julho de 2010 09:23
assunto [Celld-group] Sempre é bom saber que alguém concorda com você

Pessoal,

Minha opinião sobre os caminhos percorridos pelas operadoras móveis nos seus serviços de dados é conhecida, e publicada em diversos posts aqui nos grupos e no site e-Thesis. Mas sempre dá um certo conforto quando alguém mais publica algo que concorda com o que você vem dizendo há algum tempo.

É o caso deste editorial do Fierce Wireless Europe desancando a burrice dos modelos de tiered pricing, tão na moda hoje para as redes 3G.

De quebra mais uma má notícia para aqueles que (como eu) esperavam que o WiMAX formasse uma alternativa sólida ao rolo compressor das operadoras celulares (que rezam todas, hoje, pela cartilha do 3GPP) no fornecimento de acesso a serviços de telecomunicações em modo IP nativo. Segundo este artigo o órgão regulador da Rússia voltou atrás e vai permitir que as operadoras usem LTE nas mesmas alocações de espectro anteriormente destinadas ao WiMAX.

Prometo para breve um post explicando porque acho que este "monocromatismo" do acesso móvel é ruim para os usuários.

[ ]'s
J. R. Smolka

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Tiered data pricing and a missed opportunity
July 9, 2010 — 12:08pm ET | By Paul Rasmussen

The hurried introduction of tiered data pricing--first triggered by AT&T--has been roundly condemned by industry pundits as a backward step. Having set consumers' expectations with notions of 'unlimited data', O2 and others have now introduced data plans more focused on what they can profitably provide rather than what users might want.

While 'unlimited' never quite meant what was advertised, consumers felt reassured with the concept. With tiered pricing operators are now asking these same users to understand what 50Mb means in terms of the number of internet pages accessed, the size of downloads or the duration of a video stream in terms of data volumes.

However, the MVNO Giffgaff, which is owned by O2 Telefonica, has decided to ignore this trend and stated that it would not be scrapping its unlimited data plans. The company, which claims it has discussed this refusal to follow the herd with its parent O2 Telefonica, maintains that it has a very different customer base to O2 so it would be wrong to drop the concept just because other operators have done an about turn.

Albeit that Giffgaff is far from being a traditional MVNO and considers itself to be more of a social networking company with a focus on increasing engagement between members, the worry must be of attracting the wrong sort of user--the data-hungry consumer less worried about social chitchat.

The company's MD, Mike Fairman, has admitted that there is a worry that this could occur, and data usage patterns would be carefully monitored.

Whether Giffgaff can survive by offering a service that other, significantly larger, operators have withdrawn, will be watched closely by other MVNOs that might consider offering a similar service to their niche customer base.

However, the blunt instrument of tiered pricing would seem to lack imagination given the sophisticated technology available to operators. Policy-control techniques and real-time charging platforms are capable of enabling much more than what is essentially an exercise in capping data consumption.

Perhaps the reoccurrence of their networks becoming overburdened with smartphone traffic--and the resulting bad publicity--has promoted this knee-jerk reaction by operators. But the opportunity to implement something creative using Deep Packet Inspection or policy control would seem to have been missed, and instead there has been a hurried retreat to what worked previously.

After many years waiting and hoping that mobile data traffic would become a meaningful element of an operator's business, its arrival would seem to have caught the community totally by surprise. - Paul

Read more: Tiered data pricing and a missed opportunity - FierceWireless:Europe
http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/tiered-data-pricing-and-missed-opportunity/2010-07-09?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0tsiotYG2

Subscribe: http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceWireless:Europe-FierceWireless:Europe

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Russian WiMAX-to-LTE transition given go ahead
July 9, 2010 — 12:24pm ET | By Paul Rasmussen

The Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has caved in and given WiMAX operator Yota (Scartel) and national operator Rostelecom the OK to use their existing frequency allocations for deploying LTE networks.

The regulator had previously taken a hard line with these requests and stipulated that the allotted spectrum was to be used for a WiMAX build out and not used for other wireless technologies.

Yota, the brand adopted by Scartel for its WiMAX network, launched its service in September 2008 and was reported to have broken even after five months of operating the network in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The company had been a keen advocate of WiMAX and was the first to announce that it wanted to migrate to LTE, causing an upheaval within the WiMAX community.

Scartel (it remains unclear what will happen to the Yota branding) has stated that it plans to start construction of a commercial LTE network this summer covering 15 cities, with five networks going live before the end of 2010.

Rostelecom said that it hopes to launch LTE networks in regions where it holds licences, with a target date of service availability of mid-2011.

Both operators said they were preparing LTE tests using Russian equipment.

Separately, the country's top three cellular providers have written to the Communications Ministry requesting a ban on the non-competitive distribution of LTE spectrum to companies which might acquire them for further sale.

Reports indicate that these operators fear smaller companies would be awarded spectrum and that would have a detrimental impact on users. Two potential firms--Voentelecom and its subsidiary Osnova Telecom, have been named as likely winners.

The owner of these companies, the Russian Defence Ministry, already owns the bulk of Russian frequencies, and has requested surplus frequencies to resell them to other companies or offer services to households.

Read more: Russian WiMAX-to-LTE transition given go ahead - FierceWireless:Europe
http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/russian-wimax-lte-transition-given-go-ahead/2010-07-09?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0tsjG3wdH

Subscribe: http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceWireless:Europe-FierceWireless:Europe

 


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