3G for Corporates: Nothing Official Yet

Officially, 3G arrived in the global mass market last year. The mobile operators welcomed it as a honey pot. However, the customers have not particularly swarmed around the honey pot too eagerly. While Japan and South Korea have been the poster boys of 3G, with 40% penetration of 3G services, Europe and US still have some distance to catch up.

In most countries including India, its still early days for 3G but the perceived importance of 3G has grown significantly in the past year. There has been a surge in business interest in 3G applications over the last quarter. According to a recent 'Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker' report by research company IDC, close to 1mn basic units will be shipped in 2006. The report also states a significant rise in number of people interested in mobile devices capable of applications like videoconferencing, Internet access at broadband speeds and real-time content sharing.

So, where does 3G stand for the corporate worlds across the globe? The jury is still out.

Rob Bamforth, principal analyst, Service Provision and Mobility, UK based Quocirca says, “While many businesses have yet to progress beyond 2G applications, like mobile email, others are starting to relish the possibilities of high bandwidth on the move.” The UK based Quocirca is a leading primary research and analysis company specializing in the impact emerging and evolving technologies have on businesses of all sizes.

3G in Corporate Mainstream

For the road warriors, there are two basic means of utilizing 3G services to enhance productivity-3G mobile handsets and 3G data cards for laptops. For many, a company-sponsored cell phone has become a reflection of one's status in the workplace.

According to World Wide Worx (WWW) Study, some 78% of the responding corporates provide cell phones to senior management with 55% providing them to mid-management. Only a small proportion of corporates provide these tools to low-level staff.

“The reality for 3G and data is more complex,” explains Bamforth. He points out that the initial hype was all about rich media applications, perhaps live video etc, but most businesses were only starting to get into mobile data via email. “Currently, for most mobile email use, GPRS offers plenty of bandwidth, especially to an email user on a small screen, like a BlackBerry or some other PDA or smartphone.”-a view supported by Aman Mustafa, COO & VP, Global Services, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a leading BPO and IT provider. He says, “We find GPRS based communication medium more than sufficient for our business environment. The impact of 3G on our business delivery value will be minimal.”

While there has been a big growth in business interest in 3G compared to last year, most of that are centred around 3G data cards for laptops. On the success of 3G data cards, Bamforth says, “Applications on laptops are more likely to need more network performance, downloading email attachments, sharing documents etc, even without the next step up to videoconferencing or VoIP calling. So the most straightforward way for 3G to capture the corporate world is the PCMCIA card into a laptop.”

The advantage of having connectivity built into the laptop is that no IT department or user action is required. Embedded 3G broadband marks a significant step forward in the user experience. The user is assured of faster and more reliable applications. What it offers  is the office-based broadband experience. Videoconferencing to the device is not merely a possibility, it's already here and reasonably good quality images can be achieved on 3G. According to Vodafone's research, about 75% of all UK businesses have indicated that they are going to move to mobile email.

Ramdev Sharma, chief technology officer, Huawei Telecommunications India lines up some services that would be of interest to Indian corporates. He says, “High speed Internet access, entertainment, e-governance, m-commerce and e-learning/education are expected to be the right services in the Indian environment. Sports, games, music, mobile TV etc are already some popular applications in the developed 3G economies like Korea, Japan etc. Some of them potentially will be killer services in India too.” However, he points that availability of localized content and applications, affordability, reliability and quality of services will be some of the issues of paramount importance.

Despite the hype, 3G mobile handsets haven't quite ruled the pockets of the road warriors. Bamforth explains the reasons, “The early 3G phones had more limited enterprise appeal, with  more consumer feature oriented, and had lower battery life.” However, he adds optimistically that the situation is fast changing now. “The current generation is somewhat different. As the tag '3G phone' disappears and it becomes a default part of new phones, this type of usage will probably increase as it allows a single SIM and account to be used for both purposes-voice and data-and reduces the asset management overhead.”

The Changing Scenario

A lot is happening to boost the 3G momentum in the corportae world. Firstly, there is a rich plethora of devices on the market, from voice-enabled PDAs to smart phones, and access speeds are now reasonable.   More mobile operators are  working with the PC industry to capitalize on this interest. Vodafone has signed up four leading PC vendors -HP, Acer, Dell and Lenovo-to build 3G  functionality directly onto the laptop motherboard.

Emergence of new technology called high-speed digital packet access (HSDPA) is sure to trigger off a gamut of new services and applications riding on high speeds of 1Mbit/sec, which is twice as fast as a basic broadband connection to the internet. With HSDPA, the quality of videoconferencing and image dounloading is bound to be good rather than reasonable.

Early this year, Qualcomm and Nortel Networks claimed to have completed the industry's first 7.2Mbit/s mobile data calls over HSDPA gear. Their tests achieved data downloads at speeds that are several times faster than most fixed-broadband connections, and mostly quicker than what's achievable using today's WiFi networking gear.

The time is also ripe for B2B products and services that leverage 3G power. Many application developers like Israel based Radvision are moving ahead on the technology curve to develop PC-to-mobile videoconferencing gateways which allows instant, interactive communication between 3G handsets and 2G video-enabled IP terminals and desktops.

 These new changes mean a shot in the arm for business and mobility. It gives mobile users the ability to connect and download data from the office while they're on the road.

Leading mobile operators in India have shifted their gears and carrying out 3G trials. The mobile carriers who have been given 3G spectrum for tests include state-run telecoms firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., Bharti Airtel and Hutchison Essar.

Airtel recently introduced 'seamless roaming services' on 3G networks across the world including Japan and the Korean peninsula. This latest initiative is set to benefit more than 25.65 mn Airtel mobile customers; especially the corporate client base while roaming to any of the 3G networks worldwide. When contacted for more details on 3G for corporate, an official spokesperson of Bharti said, “We are actively preparing for our 3G launch and intend to launch as early as possible after acquiring the spectrum. Bharti has applied for 3G spectrum for testing purposes”

Race Against WiMax

On the other hand, there is a serious threat that competitive technology like WiMax can wipe out 3G by 2010 (suggested by WWW study). WiMax promises to provide bandwidth much higher than the 3G. Although not a direct competitor for 3G, VoIP is equally potent. So, with so many choices of technologies, which direction should the enterprise customer head towards?

Rob Bamforth, principal analyst of Quocirca says, “Wi-Fi and WiMax are quantified as cost per connection time rather by the megabyte, and this is easier to quantify and budget for. This fixed, predictable monthly costs are generally beneficial for financial managers. Roaming data costs is another factor, and in this regard Wi-Fi appeals more to the road warriors.”

VoIP is also seen as another way to cut costs. “It doesn't directly compete with 3G as a technology, but it might compete for corporate spending, and that could be the challenge.  Enterprises don't have infinite resources for investment,” he adds.

Sharma believes that this wide choice could mean good news for country like India. “Countries where 3G rollouts are getting delayed for various reasons due to regulatory or otherwise may directly leapfrog to WiMax (4G). The prevailing environment after the TRAI recommendations on spectrum allocation to government of India, it appears that 3G and 4G rollouts will be mixed but subject to the way spectrum policy tilts.”

Under The Scanner

The road to 3G is new and many aspects are still under construction. For instance, pricing of the 3G services is a nagging issue for the mobile operators and service providers. As a result some operators are devising innovative schemes. It will be crucial for operators to price their services right and have a wider basket than usual for 3G to succeed in India. In a market overwhelmingly dominated by voice-based revenues, wrong pricing for 3G services could lead to a lackluster demand, and failure to take off.

A word of advice for the corporates from Bamforth, “Don't invest just for the sake of the technology. Look to the business process first, not the technology.” He professes that businesses should not invest in solutions with long payback cycle-laptops and PCs may have a 3 to 5 year life, but mobile devices tend to be much shorter, perhaps 9 to 24 months. When the numbers grow, it will become an increasing IT support headache to look after several different platforms, but that has to be factored in to the plans.

Mustafa echoes the view, adding, “We do not see much business benefit of the technology. We'd rather go for IP-based communication in the long run for hand-to-hand communication devices.”

On an optimistic note, Sharma adds, “3G and its evolutionary versions hold great promises in India as a mobile wireless broadband technology. 3G would succeed thanks to maturity of technologies, reduced cost due to economies of scale, availability of multimedia phones at affordable prices, urgent need for capacity expansion of 2G networks in cities.”

In India, 3G is yet to take off and irrespective of the size of its impact on the corporate world, 3G will undoubtedly open the door to BlackBerries and smartphones becoming the de rigueur business tool for office, travel, and home use. 

Malovika Rao

malovikar@cybermedia.co.in

© Source: Voice&Data