3G for Enterprise: The Battle Of Gs

Officially, 3G arrived in the global mass market last year. The
mobile operators welcomed it as a honey pot. However, 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, it's 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 the 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 in 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 1Mbps, 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 7.2Mbps 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 Wi-Fi 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 a
country like India. "Countries where 3G rollouts are getting delayed for
various reasons due to regulatory or otherwise may directly leapfrog to WiMax
(4G). In the prevailing environment after the TRAI recommendations on spectrum
allocation to the 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.

'The most straightforward way for 3G to capture the corporate world is the PCMCIA card into a laptop' -Rob Bamforth, principal analyst, Service Provision and Mobility, Quocirca

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

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in