The 20 km drive through the French Riviera is spectacular ?? from Nice, the capital of the Cote d’Azur, with its broad palm-fringed boulevards to the stylish, chic city of Cannes, best known for its mid-May film festival. At this time of the year however ?? February 14 to 17 ?? Cannes is host to the 3GSM World Congress, the largest annual global mobile communications conference and exhibition.
Cannes, in fact, has been the venue of the GSM congress for the past many years. Rob Conway, CEO and board member of the GSM Association, explains the choice of venue thus: “With its unique ambience, Cannes has been an outstanding host over the last decade. It has become synonymous with the congress.
But the venue is now likely to change. Apparently, relocation has become necessary due to the rising attendance at the congress and the growing demand for exhibition and conference space, which Cannes simply cannot offer as it has reached full capacity. The city is woefully short of infrastructure in terms of hotel accommodation, exhibition space and associated services, and public transportation. “As our industry has grown to serve more than a billion people, the scale and scope of the congress has increased equally dramatically,” says Conway. The new venue for the 2006 congress could be Barcelona.
The numbers are interesting. In 2004, the 3GSM World Congress attracted more than 600 exhibitors, over 28,000 visitors, 4,600 conference delegates and nearly 1,000 mediapersons. This year the attendance was at least 25 per cent higher. According to initial estimates, the congress saw an overall pre-registered attendance of 43,000 ?? up 8,000 over 2004 ?? and over 5,000 conference delegates. The total attendance on the first day itself was around 35,000.
“Based on statistics, the 3GSM World Congress is perhaps the largest wireless show ever staged. It reflects the growing importance, diversity and scale of an industry that today serves more than 1.25 billion people across 200 countries,” says Bill Gajda, chief marketing officer of the GSM Association, which organises the congress along with Informa Telecoms and Media.
Latest technology developments
The congress is an important event on the calendar of GSM operators and vendors. As Richard Lee, deputy director, Huawei Technologies points out: “Such conferences are becoming increasingly popular as they provide an ideal platform for vendors across the world.” Mega events of this stature see the participation of all the big names in telecom ?? Ericsson, Alcatel, Nokia, Lucent, Huawei and Microsoft ?? as well as handset makers like Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Sagem and BenQ. They are also fertile scouting ground for telecom operators, who were conspicuously present at Cannes, including representatives from Vodafone, British Telecom and China Unicom. Also present were Indian telecom majors, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Bharti.
The congress is an avenue for companies to showcase the latest global trends in technology. This year the interest was centred on mobile broadband or triple play. “We are about to start a whole new stage in mobile communications ?? mobile triple play ?? enabled by mobile broadband,” announced Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson’s president and CEO.
Triple play combines telephony, internet and TV on one common infrastructure in fixed networks. But with mobility being a key driver, triple play is now going mobile, creating, what Svanberg calls, “mobile triple play”.
“Mobile broadband is the enabler for services like TV on the mobile, mobile office and internet access, similar to triple play on fixed networks,” said Svanberg.
Ericsson also announced that it had taken the next step in 3G rollout with the evolved version of WCDMA and high speed download packet access (HSDPA), in which it had an early lead. “The first phase of 3G deployments is behind us. 2005 will be the year for mass market growth for WCDMA and the start for mobile broadband,” said Svanberg.
In an industry that is focused on consumer convenience, speed, mobility and ease of use are essential drivers of business and technology development. Companies like Huawei are increasingly positioning their product lines to serve as roadmaps to mature markets with products like HSDPA and IP multimedia subsystems (IMS).
HSDPA was most certainly the big topic of discussion at the congress. The need to compete with technologies like Wi-Fi and Wi-Max and the urgent need for faster downloads have upped the profile of HSDPA. Assuring multi megabit download speeds, HSDPA will be on trial for the better part of the first quarter of the year with commercial runs possible in the subsequent quarters.
For service providers too, absorbing these technologies is increasingly making sense. They are not only revenue generating but can improve overall efficiency and reduce operating expenses.
Indian interest
India and China were clearly two “hotspots” on the vendors’ radars. India, with its low teledensity and positive government approach in pushing reforms, was being looked at as an attractive business opportunity. Companies like Alcatel, Nokia, Nortel, Huawei, ZTE, and others are all vying for a stake in this lucrative telecom equipment space.
Said Huawei’s Lee: “We appreciate what the government is doing in terms of pushing the market towards higher growth with policy relaxations. At the moment, India’s teledensity is low; therefore, it presents a huge potential to increase its subscriber base, which will generate demand for more equipment and more lines. It is a great opportunity for vendors.”
Key highlights
As in the previous years, debates and “fireside chats” were a big draw at the congress. Push-to-talk over cellular was discussed and it was debated whether it would live up to its promise to deliver increased ARPUs.
Also, companies noted that the industry had only scratched the surface of the wireless data market, which had huge potential. To take full advantage of the technology, a new approach was needed that revolved around not the operator or the tariffs, but on how exactly to use it. It was felt that the industry had enough creative people who could be redeployed to help subscribers to understand exactly how to use the medium.
Likewise, there was debate on the reasons for the slow take-off of MMS. Pricing and quality of service were identified as the primary factors inhibiting its growth.
Keynote addresses each day, including one by Bharti’s Sunil Mittal on the third day, touched upon issues like a new approach to take on the challenges and opportunities facing the mobile industry; changes in approach required for tariffs; need for a reduction in roaming rates; details on mobile broadband strategy; new mobile data devices and tariffs; and a call for the industry to align with the growing needs for interoperability and standardisation.
The congress also saw the launch of a range of 3G handsets, which were earlier available in a limited number only. All major handset makers, along with a number of new entrants from Asia, showcased 3G handsets with interesting and competitive features bundled with extra functionality.
The congress also saw the mandatory award ceremonies. For the second year in a row, Sony Ericsson took away the award for “Best handset, terminal or device”. In 2004, it was its model T610 that stole the show; this year it was its V800. Projected as the first true convergence handset, which can access 3G services around the world, the V800 claims to have great user interface and exceptional functionality with a range of user-friendly features.
Industry outlook
The mood at the congress this year was clearly upbeat, note vendors. After years of the overall business taking a beating as operators tightened their belts, there was now a definite surge in optimism. Vendor order books were again looking positive, with operators upgrading their networks and investing in new technologies. This is in sharp contrast to 2003-04, when the investment climate was visibly measured.
Also, according to suppliers, after a long period of uncertainty, WCDMA is now firmly on track. According to statistics, nearly 70 networks are operational worldwide and more than 12 million subscribers are enjoying the benefits of multimedia communications.
The year 2005 should see 3G entering telecom mainstream with dozens of networks scheduled to go commercial. A lot hinges on the successful commercialisation of 3G, as this would be an important factor in the revival of the industry.
All in all, the 3GSM World Congress was a good show, providing as it did a window to the latest offerings from the GSM mobile industry.
