'Alcatel-Lucent's 4G initiative lacks big telecos'

BARCELONA, INDIA: Alcatel-Lucent cranked up the debate about 4G and the services it would enable. In a statement, the French-American vendor said that it had founded the ng (Next Generation) Connect Program, a group aimed at promoting future mobile and fixed broadband services, devices, applications and content.

Since its conception, the ng Connect Program had attracted several members including HP and Samsung.

Emeka Obiodu, senior analyst, Ovum, says: "While the idea of an industry-wide initiative to promote future services is laudable, a lot more needs to be done to craft a coherent framework for future mobile services. We notice that the ng Connect Program has yet to sign up any of the big players that lead the industry. Unfortunately, if the likes of Nokia, Microsoft, Vodafone and Google are not brought onboard, the ng Connect Program has little chance of achieving its objectives."