Carriers Seek Role In the ‘Mobile Home’

The launch of e-readers, the Apple iPad and other embedded mobile broadband devices is set to transform the way users access the Web and personal content at home, as demand for innovative services transforms the way we consume media. That means the role of wireless carriers must shift as well.

Ericsson’s new in-home 3G router.

Even when they’re at home, people increasingly like to use their connected devices over Wi-Fi and 3G networks for mobile entertainment. “The traditional services are voice, SMS and data connectivity or transport,” said Kittur Nagesh, director of service provider marketing at Cisco Systems Inc. “Now, that’s shifting to a world of mobile Internet services – video, cloud services, UC, social networking.”

“As networks grow, users will be looking for a fully featured broadband experience over the mobile network,” Doug Webster, senior director of strategic communications, service provider marketing at Cisco, told VON. Video will soon make up 60 percent of the traffic on mobile devices, as larger screens and higher resolutions give users new ways to access content.

In its Global Mobile Data Forecast for 2009-2014, Cisco projects annual global mobile data traffic to reach 3.6 exabytes per month – an annual run rate of 40 exabytes – by 2014. That’s a compound annual growth rate of 108 percent. Much of that will be driven by the rapid consumer adoption of smartphones, netbooks, e-readers and Web-ready video cameras. By 2014, more than 400 million of the world’s Internet users will access the network solely through a mobile connection.

The question, then, is: How can wireless operators generate higher revenues from these trends, in an era of flat-rate data connectivity, where carriers are losing control of the customer relationship? One way to do that is within the most common use case for personal entertainment: in-home activity. Projectors will most likely be used in the residence, after all, not on the subway.

Replacing Home Broadband

T-Mobile USA tried wrestling consumers from LECs with its hotspot@Home dual-mode Wi-Fi-cellular home broadband replacement service. Sprint-Nextel Corp. dabbled in femtocells with the same goal. Neither had much luck. But wireless carriers will soon have a real chance to usurp wired broadband, thanks to faster networks, more embedded 3G and ever-spiraling demand for personalized content that’s accessible anywhere, via personal devices.

Wireless infrastructure giant Ericsson this week announced a strategic launch into the home router market. The Swedish company has teamed with NETGEAR Inc. for a 3G mobile broadband router with internal HSPA radio. It can connect Wi-Fi or 3G devices and provide an uplink to the mobile WAN for Internet access. The new product gives consumers an alternative to cable, DSL or fiber broadband, provides options for locations lacking wired infrastructure, and creates ad hoc networks in RVs, trains, buses and so on.