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Asia
Pacific Watch
October
6, 2004
ITU
report foresees a wire-free future
KOREA
-- A new set of advanced wireless technologies promises
to bring affordable, high-speed Internet connectivity
to the masses. This set of technologies, and the market
opportunity they create, has been termed the "Portable
Internet", and is the subject of a new ITU report.
The
Asia-Pacific region passed the symbolic mark of one
billion telecom users, mobile phones and fixed lines
combined in October 2003. Until now, those users that
wanted to have high-speed access to the Internet had
to have a fixed-line connection. Before the end of this
decade, another billion users of ICTs are likely to
be added to the region's networks, but the majority
of them will be connected using radiocommunications.
Dr.
Tim Kelly, head of ITU's strategy and policy unit, which
produced the report, noted: "The fixed-line network
is simply growing too slowly to meet the region's burgeoning
demand for broadband, especially in rural areas. But
today's second-generation cellular mobile networks are
not geared up for delivering high-speed Internet access."
The technologies that make up the portable Internet
operate at short, medium and long range, according to
the geographical range of their radio signals. Short-range
technologies, such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and RFID allow
low-power connectivity within a range of 30 metres.
Medium-range technologies can communicate at least 150-metres
from a hotspot (e.g. Wi-Fi, or IEEE 802.11b) and up
to several kilometres, depending on environmental and
regulatory factors. Finally, long-range technologies
such as WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) and IMT-2000 (3G) have ranges
that extend up to 50-km from a base station, and provide
near-nationwide coverage when offered as a networked
service.
Dr. Taylor Reynolds, one of the authors of the report,
and the project manager of the Digital Bridges symposium,
said: "Fixed-line technologies generally offer
higher speeds while IMT-2000, also known as 3G mobile
phone networks, offer greater mobility. However, there
is a wide gap between these two and many see this as
the prime market segment for new portable Internet technologies,
especially in developing countries."
While
WLANs, such as those based on the IEEE's Wi-fi standards,
already help plug this gap at the local level, a more
significant technological advance is on the horizon
with WiMAX (more correctly IEEE 802.16a, WiMAX is short
for Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access;
sometimes called "Wi-fi's big brother"). These
offer connectivity of up to 54Mbps over a range of up
to 50-km. In rural areas, and other parts of the world
that have no wired network, WiMAX could be the preferred
platform for offering a wide range of voice, data and
broadcast entertainment services.
In
the developed world, at least in urbanised areas, portable
Internet technologies are likely to be complementary,
rather than substitutive, for existing networks. The
market is being driven by handset manufacturers keen
to add ever more value to portable devices.
Ms.
Lara Srivastava, lead author of the report, added: "Imagine
a device that could store all your personal information,
such as ID information and entertainment, including
favourite music, photos and films. Add voice and videocommunications,
and location-based information, and it becomes a very
powerful communications tool. But this will not come
without profound implications for society and lifestyles.
A handheld portable device on which the whereabouts
of people and objects can be detected instantaneously
may be intriguing, but not everyone is willing to make
such compromises with their personal privacy."
The portable Internet will be arriving soon and this
report will help to quantify the size of the market
opportunities and to identify the challenges it brings.
In addition to 140 pages of analysis, the report also
contains around 60 pages of statistical tables and charts
with the latest available data for over 200 economies
worldwide.
Contact:
ITU
www.itu.int
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