Mobile Network Comparison

Eighteen mobile networks have pledged their support to the new Firefox OS for mobile phones. At the Mobile World Congress, many of the world’s mobile operator conglomerates have put their weight before the new mobile operating system.

It’s thought that many major networks are regretting supporting Apple’s closed “walled garden” system. As they lose income from voice and texts as people use more and more data, mobile networks are fed up with the greedy was Apple set up their digital ecosystem. Apple gets the whole share of revenues from app and content purchases made in iOS and the mobile networks now want their fair share.

At the massive Mobile World Congress, networks were heard attacking Apple and saying that the mobile market was moving backwards thanks to the dominance of iOS and Android. Amongst the networks calling for a more open market are 3 Mobile, T-Mobile and O₂.

The upcoming Firefox OS will take a while to come to the UK but it is designed to be a truly cooperative operating system. And at the Mobile World Congress in Spain, the following global mobile operators added their support to Mozilla’s new project: América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefónica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom.

It’s easy to paint this as the operators actually being greedy instead and wishing they could tax the data we pay them to transmit for us, but Firefox OS has now got a lot of momentum. There are also concerns that Firefox will be slower than iOS and Android as it runs on an HTML5 browser rather than a kernel based on the low-level C programming language. However, better integration with the web is Firefox’s big promise.

Firefox phones will first come to the UK from O₂ stores.

What do you think about Mozilla’s new mobile operating system? Keep an eye on this blog as we report the latest news about the new Firefox OS as it happens. We’ll have screenshots and reviews soon.

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A recent report by the GSM Association (GSMA) has claimed that the income from mobile data services will eclipse that from voice calls by 2018. The GSMA is made up for over 700 mobile phone networks in more than 200 countries and runs the biggest industry event in the world, the GSMA Mobile World Congress. This latest report was conducted in combination with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the multinational services and accountancy company.

The GSMA report claims that the increase in mobile data will largely come from business applications in embedded connected devices and automated machine-to-machine communication. It is thought that it could provide a technology revolution over the next five years.

For example, potential applications of mobile data in the future include connected “smart” cars, and automated emissions metering. We will start to see more and more consumer products being connected via mobile data networks to make things easier for us. Whether it’s a fridge that can automatically order new food once its run out or intelligent transport systems, the possibilities are almost endless.

The report has claimed that healthcare savings could be as much as £250 billion and carbon emissions may be reduced by as much as 27 billion kilograms. The statistics are impressive but before this can become a reality, mobile networks need to invest more in mobile internet infrastructure. Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer at GSMA made it clear that the mobile industry bears a significant responsibility and must do its part in making these amazing new technologies possible.

Other reports have said that data revenues will overtake voice revenues even faster. If 4G is picked up quickly, this is a very real possibility. However, everyone agrees that the potential that technology can help realise is huge. Especially in areas such as healthcare and education.

For example, infectious diseases can be massively curtained with greater connectivity in developing countries. As always, communication is the key. Also, it is often said that famine occurs not because of a food shortage but because of distribution limitations. A huge part of this is that 240,000 kg of food is wasted each year as it spoils in storage or whilst being transported. It is thought that mobile technology could remotely monitor temperatures and locations resulting in saving enough food for almost 50 million people by 2017.

Do you think this prediction will come true? What mobile data devices and technologies are you most looking forward to? Respond with your ideas below.

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It’s taken five years but finally Ofcom has completed the 4G spectrum auction. We may be miles behind pretty much every country in Europe, but at last, all networks will soon be able to offer a 4G service in the UK.

The latest auction of spectrum consisted of two frequency bands capable of carrying 4G communications: 800 Mhz and 2600 Mhz. The 800 Mhz frequency band is much more valuable as it travels about 10 times faster making it more useful for long-distance rural applications without requiring as many masts. In contrast, the 2600 Mhz band works well in densely-populated areas such as city centres.

It was thought that Three Mobile would not manage to afford any of the 800 Mhz but it did manage to get hold of a small slice and only had to pay the reserve of just over £200,000. Vodafone paid a huge amount to secure the maximum amount allowed under the rules. O₂ also paid a lot to get as much 800 Mhz spectrum as possible. This is likely due to the fact that O₂ has long been maligned for having very poor 3G coverage outside of major urban areas. Having a large amount of low frequency spectrum to hand will hopefully allow it to plug these gaps. The big surprise was that all the operators managed to get themselves a share of the more valuable 800 Mhz band. This hopefully will encourage more competition.

As for the 2600 Mhz band, only O₂ and Three didn’t manage to grab any. This means that EE acquired a large amount as did Vodafone. Because of the slight imbalance, it’s thought by industry analysts and Ofcom staff that some agreements might be hashed out between the networks for them to share masts or trade some of the spectrum they now own. EE is already offering 4G wireless data servers that it calls “superfast” broadband. And all networks will use the new spectrum they have bought to provide much fast 4G internet services to mobile phones and tablets.

The full picture of how the mobile spectrum is divided up is as follows:

There were seven bidders in the auction but only five won any spectrum. O₂, Vodafone, 3, EE and, new kid on the block, BT. It is thought that BT will not launch a mobile phone service (they originally owned BT Cellnet which became O₂) but rather that they will use their spectrum to provide wifi hotspots.

The amount spent by each network varies quite a lot. Vodafone spent the most forking out a massive £791 million. It’s the only network to have made a net gain in the amount of spectrum it now owns. EE, which is easily the largest mobile network in the UK after it was formed when T-Mobile and Orange merged, spent almost as much. They paid £589 million but didn’t get much of the lower frequency spectrum. O₂, which probably has the worst 3G coverage cheaped out and would only commit £550 million. However, they did get a lot of 800 Mhz spectrum which should allow them to improve their rural coverage.

What do you think of the results of this auction? Did any of the bids catch you by surprise? Did O₂ get enough, should EE have got more low frequencies, did Vodafone overpay? And what do you think BT could do with their spectrum?

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