3G auctions for the rest of us before the end of this year? Should we rejoice at the progress that the four new Knights of Truffle and Cupcake, sorry, National Telecommunication Commissioners, have made, or is one to despair at the naivete that such talk brings? The problem is not so much about pushing ahead with 3G, but what to do with the existing 2G infrastructure.

If AIS, Dtac and TrueMove were able to build a 3G network on top of their existing 2G infrastructure, it would cost so much less than building a new network from the ground up. This could mean that they could conceivably bid much more for the licenses, or they could roll out faster, bringing connectivity to rural areas much sooner than would otherwise be the case. Indeed, no stand-alone 3G business has yet made money.

Then there is the dual role of the telecoms sector. One is an industry within itself, the other is its role as infrastructure. A good telecoms industry must fulfill this dual role. Just try bringing in a financial centre without an adequate telecommunications infrastructure.

The problem is that those in power seem to think of 2G and 3G as separate. A lot of infrastructure can be shared and modern equipment needs only a change of the last "pizza box" to upgrade from Edge to 3G, or in the case of in-band migration, from just a software upgrade. To ignore that and push ahead with a greenfield 3G implementation would be foolish. But to find a way to reuse what we have in a way that is fair for everyone will not be an easy task.

The signs are not good. Already we have people in the corridors of power talking about laying new fibre for 3G, but Thailand already has an excess of fibre. Dtac has over 2,000 km of its "own" which it will have to return to CAT once its concession ends in around eight years. ToT, CAT and the electrical grids have more than enough fibre. The problem is one of a procurement mentality, where budget equates to prestige.

The other key problem is providing a coherent frequency map with a high and low-frequency pair. Low (850 or 900) for rural and high (2100, 2300 or 2500) for urban. Only, the frequency map is a state secret in Thailand, a statement that has left foreign investors scratching their heads.

NSN , one of the major infrastructure solution providers enabling telecommunication services, has strengthened its Bengaluru facility to push its growth furthermore. The Finnish player has been growing aggressively in the Indian market. According to VOICE&DATA estimates, the company clocked Rs 9,848 crore in FY 2008-09, registering an impressive 26.4% growth despite the recession. NSN also has been strengthening its market presence in the broadband equipment marketplace competing with other players like UTStarcom, Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco, etc, in India. It clocked a revenue of Rs 200 crore in FY 2008-09, registering 38.9% growth over the previous fiscal.

The Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen, inaugurated Nokia Siemens Networks' new and expanded development center in Bengaluru. The expanded facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies like telepresence to enable strong interaction with the company's other global development sites to further intensify its R&D efforts. It hosts one of the company's three remote testing laboratories where engineers innovate, develop, test and deliver softwares to support the world's telecoms networks. Apart from this, the center also hosts experts in pre-sales, product management, program management, and technical support, as well as process and quality assurance activities.

Johann Haslinger, head, Nokia Siemens Networks Development Center, Bengaluru said, For many years, our Bengaluru site fostered expertise in various product areas and became a vital element of our global R&D organization. By moving to a larger and more modern facility, the center will not only enhance our development efforts, but it also means that product innovation in one area can be easily transferred across our entire business.

Kanika Atri, head, marketing and communications, India region, NSN said, The baseline of innovation at our R&D center is to reduce total cost of ownership of our worldwide customers. To reduce capex/opex, we make the smallest possible base stations with the lowest footprint, and we innovate to make the existing base stations have the longest lifecycle. Our energy efficiency related innovation is clearly opex driven. Our expert R&D team-per equipment ability, to serve more subscribers-is increasing. This fundamental baseline is kept in mind for our products and services to be efficient and cost-effective.

Nokia today said it would completely change the role of a key plant in Salo, Finland to boost its position in the smartphone arena. The factor will be entirely focused on building "high-value smartphones," with Europe as the priority. Nokia expects the changes to result not just in a better mix of hardware but a quicker turnaround in making the smartphones themselves.

As a consequence of the switch to "highly specialized manufacturing methods," however, Nokia expects to cut 285 jobs, or about 13 percent of the 2,200 workers at Salo. The company hopes to move some of these to other positions elsewhere and adds that the cuts should help stop the temporary, rotating layoffs that have been ongoing in the wake of the economic crisis; Nokia expects full-scale use by June.

The role of a key plant in Salo, Finland would completely change in order to focus on smartphone production. High-value smartphones would be manufactured in this factory, having Europe as a priority. Nokia expects to get a better mix of hardware but also a quicker turnaround in manufacturing the smartphones as a major change.

A first consequence of this switch to manufacturing methods that are characterized as highly specialized is, however, a cut of jobs of about 13 percent of the 2,200 workers activating in the Salo factory, which means 285 jobs. Some of these are expected to be moved to other positions in other places. These cuts are meant to stop the effects produced by the economic crisis. This could be a solution that would stop the temporary, rotating layoffs that are in place now.

Nokia’s total job cuts during the recent months would reach about 2,600, which add to another 2,300 previous losses of working places. The company is making concerted efforts to stop its sliding market share in smartphones. The most important decline has been in Europe, where the iPhone had an important success in countries like France and the United Kingdom. It also has good chances in other countries. Other handsets, like BlackBerry and Android are also significant competitors for Nokia in Europe.

оппозиционность двух конкурирующих технологий, WiMAX и HSDPA, все как рукой сняло красной линией спустя весь минувший год. Не стал исключениям и декабрь. ко конкуренции двух технологий добавилась корпоративная конкуренция: во то дожитие как Intel демонстрировала индивидуальный нехоженый чипсет WiMAX Connection 2300 на конгрессе 3G World Congress and Mobility Marketplace в Гонконге, стало известно, что компании намерена «бросить вызов» Qualcomm . Если раньше борьба Qualcomm и Intel ограничивалась сегментом КПК и коммуникаторов, а единоличный операция XScale, как известно, последняя продала Marvell, то теперь компании столкнутся лбами в области встраиваемых беспроводных решений в ноутбуки и настольные ПК — как кого хочешь спроси, модуль Intel будет включен в стандартную конфигурацию ноутбуков на базе Intel Centrino Duo, обеспечивая возможности связи по WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) и HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access, плод сотрудничества с Nokia) 3G. Qualcomm, в свою черед, анонсировала набор микросхем базовой логики беспроводной связи Wi-Fi AGN400, соответствующий, как утверждает сам самец, второй редакции черновой спецификации стандарта IEEE 802.11n (Draft 2.0). с любопытством, истина, что-что эта редакция в поддельный период единаче не утверждена, круглым счетом как на настоящий момент существует примерно 370 предложений по части улучшению, рассматриваемых IEEE. Рассмотрение, и, почитай, утверждение Draft 2.0 должно состояться не более чем в марте, однако, Qualcomm полагает, что работа соответствует не более и не менее праздник редакции стандарта, которую утвердит IEEE. сие , конечно, несколько преждевременное и довольно самоуверенное заявление. Напомним, что такое с момента утверждения первого черновика 802.11n в январе текущего года было внесено 12 тысяч предложений, часть из которых была принята, в связи с этим прорицать , какой хорошенького понемножку следующая редакция документа, не сегодня завтра едва ли ли должно статься.

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