ITU-T will start work on defining future networks and for preparing new standards, according to a document circulated last week in radiocommunication study groups. Global research on future networks has started at the Internet Research Task Force, in National Science Foundation- funded projects, in efforts in Europe, China, Japan and South Korea and in standardization work at the International Organization for Standardization, the paper said. An informal group of industry, academic and other interested parties will identify possible study areas, possible timing of future networks and effects on standards development and suggest future areas of standardization. Countries at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly also assigned initial work on future networks to an ITU-T study group.
Exports to China
GENEVA -- Differences over dealing with proposed updates to WiMAX and CMDA technologies may lead to new ways for dealing with changes to the International Mobile Telecommunications standards- 2000 in the ITU-R. An IEEE and WiMAX Forum proposal in June suggested updating the part of the international 3G standard to include frequency-division duplexing and other changes, officials said. The Telecommunications Industry Association also proposed updating the CDMA-Multiple Carrier interface with a time- division duplexing profile.
Network vendors may survive if they look to markets in China, India and the U.S., experts said. But 2009 will still be a tough year because overall carrier capital expenditure is expected to be flat or down, analysts said. Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent posted a massive Q4 loss on a writeoff.
Motorola launched its Long Term Evolution trial network and testing lab in Swindon, U.K., the company said. The trial featured a live, over the air, standards-compliant LTE call during which high-speed data services were streamed using the manufacturer’s LTE infrastructure operating in the 2.6 GHz spectrum and a prototype LTE device. Development of Motorola’s LTE solutions is also conducted in Arlington Heights, Ill.; Fort Worth, Texas; Beijing, China and Bangalore, India. The company said its first commercial release of LTE solutions later this year will include products for the 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands to help operators increase coverage and capacity of their networks. Motorola is working with operators in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region for LTE field trial activity.
Nokia’s Q4 profit dropped 69 percent from a year earlier, the company said Thursday, offering a bleak outlook for 2009. Profit fell to $749.8 million and sales were down 19 percent. The operating margin shrank to 3.9 percent, from 15.9 percent a year earlier, partly due to restructuring charges for Nokia Siemens Networks and amortization after the acquisition of the location company Navteq. Nokia said it expects mobile device volume to drop 10 percent in 2009, double its previous prediction. On a conference call, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo blamed “even weaker consumer confidence, unprecedented currency volatility and credit tightness.” Sharp price competition in Q4 hurt Nokia’s market share, he said. It fell to 37 percent from 38 percent the previous quarter. The handset business suffered the most, sales dropping 27 percent year-over-year. The sharpest decline in handsets shipments, 36 percent, came in China, followed by the Middle East and Africa, 23 percent. Nokia also lost ground in the high-end, smartphone category. But it expects to maintain its global market share at 37 percent in Q1 this year. The company is set to slash costs in its handset unit and job cuts are unavoidable, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said. In sales and marketing, Nokia will cut some product program spending, he said. Kallasvuo said the company will continue to invest, but more slowly.
There should be more government involvement in global information technology standards development, speakers said at an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation conference Tuesday. They warned against using standards as barriers to trade, and advocated lowering the cost of entry in standard development and more standards education.
Microsoft said it turned on its first full IPTV service over a cable network with Zhujian Digital in China. The service includes a network DVR.
LAS VEGAS -- As EchoStar Technologies Thursday unveiled the first Sling-equipped Dish Networks satellite receiver, it’s also readying a tru2way version for the cable market, company officials told us here.
China issued three 3G licenses to its mobile operators Wednesday, its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. China Mobile got the home-grown TD-SCDMA technology license while WCDMA and CDMA2000 licenses were granted to China Unicom and China Telecom. The move could result in investments of some $41 billion in 2009 and 2010, meaning “huge business opportunities” for network equipment and handset vendors, Global Insight analyst Li Jing said. The likes of Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel Lucent will all win some 3G network deals, establishing strong partnerships with the Chinese telcos, he said.
Additional data on mechanisms used to arbitrate and resolve telecom disputes should be collected in support of a 2008 World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly resolution on dispute settlement, said a U.S. Department of State filing to an ITU-T study group. The resolution called for faster work on international connectivity and to collect data on implementing ITU-T recommendations on general principles for telecom pricing and fees. Many countries have agreed to the dispute settlement clause for interconnection in the World Trade Organization reference paper, the resolution said. Commercial arrangements between service providers that govern international connectivity routinely include mutually agreed dispute settlement mechanisms, containing venue, the choice of law for resolving disputes and efforts that must be made before arbitration can be started, the U.S. said. Current mechanisms have worked well and show no signs of failing to deal with current or expected connectivity matters, the U.S. said. Governments and private parties use several organizations for international arbitration, including the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Stockholm Chambers of Commerce, and ad hoc arbitration under United Nations Commission on International Trade Law rules. Other groups also arbitrate international disputes between private parties, the U.S. said, citing the International Chamber of Commerce, Stockholm Chambers of Commerce, London Court of International Arbitration, American Arbitration Association, and the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. The study group meets five days starting Jan. 19.