Manovega Communications

http://venturebeat.com/2008/01/02/14-ways-to-broadcast-yourselflive/

http://www.masternewmedia.org/live-video-streaming-guide-to-the-best-broadcast-services/

Source: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4048-global-broadband-connections-reach-445-million.html

The Broadband Forum has today announced the latest broadband statistics (based on figures from Point Topic) covering the period Q2 2009 (April-June) which shows growth of 12.9 million broadband lines bringing the total to 445 million. IPTV also saw 11% growth bringing numbers to 26.9 million with a substantial 54% increase in the Asian market to nearly 3 million subscribers.

Growth has slowed in some regions- Western Europe continuing to fall from 4.11% growth in Q1 2008 to just 1.64% in Q2 2009. Most regions also have a decline in growth based on figures from the last quarter although Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific are bucking the trend with growth increasing.

The league table of top 10 broadband countries, which make up over 70% of all broadband connections, ranks the UK as 6th, no change from Q1 2009, with 17.8 million broadband connections. China is edging ever closer to the 100 million mark at 93.5 million subscribers, a 23% increase from last years figures.

Number of broadband connections ranked by country

In terms of access technology, DSL maintains it’s dominant position with 64% of the market, cable at 21%, fibre 13% and Wireless and Satellite/Other each having 1%. The growth of IPTV services is demanding higher bandwidth broadband, increasing the demand for fibre based access services.

Source: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=181322&

Table 1: HSPA+ Deployments in Asia

By Raj K.

One argument I hear a lot from people these days when I talk about combining wireless channels is ‘Wi-Fi is so fast and prolific that I don’t even need to consider using 3G when I’m at the office or at home.’ Some people have gone as far as telling me that even when they travel hotspots are so common that the need for our technology is lessening everyday.

In this vein I have launched an investigation into the average Wi-Fi hotspot speeds around the world. We know from our previous investigations into average mobile broadband speeds the approximate ranges we can encounter on 3G. Wired.com conducted a test in May with around 12,000 people using mobile broadband on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon; Verizon users reported an average of 1,940 Kbps (856 participants), T-Mobile an average of 1,793 (1189 parcitipants), Sprint with 1,598 Kbps (1570 participants) and of course, last and definitely the least, AT&T with 901 Kbps (8153 participants – i.e. AT&T milking that iPhone juice). AT&T’s low speeds seem consistent with the latest reports of users on AT&Ts mobile broadband network experiencing network congestion or total network unavailability, like in this Sept 2 NY Times article here.

The average speed across networks if we take a simple average of the four is 1,558 Kbps. If we take an average weighing for the number of users on each network in the survey, to get the average speed per user, the results drop even further – 1,157 Kbps.

A similar test conducted by PC World in May placed Verizon, Sprint and AT&T at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively as well (T-Mobile was not included in this test). The methodology varied slightly, with the speeds tested in 13 different cities by Novarium Inc . All in all 5443 individual tests were run from 283 testing locations. The methodology is quite impressive, and a complete table of the results is available here. For your ease I’ve taken an average of all of the displayed speeds – a mind-jarringly low 845 Kbps (AT&T, again, really drags down the average results).

Taking an average of the Wired.com and PC World results, we get an approximate average mobile broadband speed across the US’ largest cities and networks of 1,001 Kbps = 1 Mbps. That’s not bad for 3.6 Mbps network max I suppose.. users are getting about a 1/3 of advertised speeds.

Getting the average speed of a Wi-Fi hotspot is a trickier affair. No systematic study has been done in the U.S. like it was for mobile broadband. However, a mobile broadband MVNE in the UK, Freedom4Wifi, conducted a test of 600 hotspots across the country. You can see the breakdown of the WiFi tests in the chart below.

The largest proportion of users are experiencing speeds between 2 and 4 Mbps. A couple of things to bear in mind here; these tests were conducted at WiFi hotspots, as opposed to WiFi connections in the home or office. There are considerably more people sharing such a connection when you log on at say, a Starbucks or a Mcdonalds. They also give an average speed, which is critical in our investigation – 2.8 Mbps. Some other highlights include:

• 70% of WiFi users experience speeds greater than 1 Mbps, and 20% faster than 4Mbps
• Average WiFi download speed of 2.75Mbps is faster than the fastest download speed of 3G operators – 2.6 Mbps
• The fastest WiFi hotspots are 6.5 times faster than the fastest 3G speeds recorded

So the consensus seems to be WiFi is certainly faster than 3G, in most places. Or is it? Testmyiphone.com tallies the results of speed tests of iPhones for both 3G and WiFi from different countries around the world. Here are some findings:

Great Britain – Average 3G speed: 1147 kbps (9,347 tests), Average WiFi speed (12,404 tests): 1063 kbps
Singapore – Average 3G speed (2,434 tests): 503 kbps, Average WiFi speed (595 tests): 593.2 kbps
India – Average 3G speed: 312 kbps (17 tests), Average WiFi speed (428 tests): 238 kbps
USA – Average 3G speed (119,411 tests): 800 kbps, Average WiFi speed (118,834 tests): 2584.66 kbps

Global – Average 3G Speed (439,128 tests): 815 kbps, Average WiFi speed (509,158 tests): 1969 kbps

So although on average, WiFi seems to oust 3G in terms of speed, WiFi by no means consistently trumps 3G – it really depends on where you are, what 3G network you are on, and what WiFi network you are on. I will keep adding more data in the days to come, but this seems to be a good starting point into our investigation – and it shows you that with our technology, combining multiple 3G channels will probably give you a higher speed than your average Wi-Fi hotspot, consistently – without the trouble of you having to go out of your way to buy an $8 dollar cup of coffee.

An article on Wi-Fi use in Smartphones Quadrupling talks about more trends: (http://www.internetnews.com/mobility/article.php/3835381):

“Meraki’s findings echo recent reports studying the connection between Wi-Fi and smartphones. ABI Research found that 74 percent of people who have Wi-Fi on their smartphone use it, and 77 percent say they want Wi-Fi on their handset when they make their next purchase. The increased Wi-Fi usage on smartphones comes as carriers try to maintain their overtaxed 3G networks straining under the heavy data traffic.

As a result, some carriers are scooping up Wi-Fi companies to expand their hotspot coverage in an effort to offload heavy data users to these wireless networks. Verizon, for instance, announced in July that it would partner with Wi-Fi firm Boingo Wireless that will allow the carrier’s broadband customers to use Boingo hotspots. Similarly, AT&T, the exclusive operator for the iPhone, purchased Wayport in November 2008.

Also highlighting the role of Wi-Fi in the mobile market is the support for auto-authentication in the iPhone’s software, OS 3.0, designed to let users seamlessly switch from the AT&T 3G network to hotspots without having to manually enter any information. Those same benefits also apply to the enterprise, as more workers use their smartphones for business, according to a whitepaper on the topic by iPass, a mobile enterprise firm with Wi-Fi services. Spotty coverage issues with 3G, international roaming charges and choking 3G networks are also factors for companies managing mobile services.

Wi-Fi also plays another role in the complex relationship among handset makers, developers and carriers — that of the workaround. When applications are released that are seen to compete with the carrier’s network or duplicate the phone’s functionality, access is sometimes limited to Wi-Fi, as was the case with the Skype for the iPhone. With the mobile market fueling Wi-Fi usage, it’s no surprise that the overall Wi-Fi sector is slated for significant increases. Wi-Fi chipset shipments will total more 100 million just for smartphones this year, while Wi-Fi chipset vendors will ship 1 billion units in 2011, according to a market forecast issued yesterday from ABI Research.”

iPass has an analysis of the number of Wi-Fi hotspot sessions globally, by type of hotspot, country, Cities, and Airports; it is quite a thorough analysis that gives a good picture of the types of locations people will log onto WiFi at. They have a similar analysis of 3G mobile broadband by number of users, the amount of data they are downloading, etc. Read it here: http://www.ipass.com/pressroom/pressroom_wifi.html#regions

Sources:

[http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/3g-speed-test]

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html]

[http://www.freedom4wifi.com/be_best_connected.php]

[http://testmyiphone.com/stats]

MVNES

Aspider Solutions
Transatel
Effortel (Belgium)
Teleena (Netherlands)
Freedom 4Wifi (UK)
Qualution Systems (USA)
Elephant Talk (Netherlands)
ZStar
TMNG
Tyntec
Logicstar
MetraTech Corp
Convergys
Zer01
Telcordia
Martin Dawes Systems
Sonopia
Versentmobile
Visagemobile
Ontronics
Mvnoskynet
Inphonix
Oasi Systems
Telis
Bcgi
Msx Inc
Sacaya
Efulfillment Partners
Startek
Tti Mobile
Apertio
Netbromo
zero-sum
Commoditel
Virtel
Materna Communications
Vistream
LHS Group
Tieto
Telbase
CallKey

MVNOs

Transatel
Virgin Mobile

Data MVNOs/MVNEs

Jasper Wireless
M2M DataSmart
Aeris Wireless
KORE Telematics
Wyless

http://www.wirelessweek.com/Archives/2007/12/The-Internet-of-Machines/

M2M Module Market

The two largest M2M module providers, Siemens and Wavecom, have different software platforms. Siemens, which Lucero says has about a 26% market share, uses a Java-based platform. Wavecom, which grabbed a 24% market share after acquiring Sony Ericsson’s M2M business in 2006, uses a proprietary OpenAT software suite.

Anders Franzen, COO of Wavecom, says the company’s new StarService platform built around its WMP50 microprocessor, aims to solve service and maintenance costs faced by companies using M2M. Jasper Wireless has started offering StarService with Wavecom’s embedded SIM card, which it calls inSIM. Franzen says StarService provides services and upgradeability, cutting maintenance costs for a product that can be in service more than a dozen years.

“These systems are meant to be in the field for years at a time,” says CEO Ron Black. “The probability that you have to change something in the system over that time is high. If you have 2 million meters in the field and need to upgrade their software, the cost to upgrade can be much higher than the cost of the device. We’ve always offered the ability to change the operating system or application with over-the-air agents embedded in our processors.”

Aviad Gefen, business unit director for Motorola’s M2M Wireless Modules unit, sees continuing complexity in the market if for no other reason than the need to serve new air interfaces. Motorola offers M2M modules with GSM in all its forms, UMTS and CDMA (the latter will see a new module in 2008), as well as ZigBee, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The company plans WiMAX and LTE modules in the future.

Note: Article from December 2007.

There has been an incredible surge in the M2M industry, with all of America’s mobile service provider behemoths announcing separate partnerships with large M2M companies to enhance their offerings for this vertical sector. These partnerships include:

• Verizon-Qualcomm JV named nPhase
• T-Mobile Partnering w/ Sierra Wireless
• Sprint-Nextel announcing a partnership with M2M DataSmart
• AT&T’s early 2009 announcement of a partnership with Jasper Wireless

If there are ones I missed please add to the list. I will be talking more about what such JVs mean and how it will transform the industry in a couple of days. Also check out the ‘Data on Verticals’ post from July to see some specific data points on the M2M industry.

Source: http://www.ciol.com/Biz-Watch/News-Reports/Qualcomm-to-dominate-mobile-handset-baseband-chips/2309116638/0/

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Due to its recent agreement with Nokia, Qualcomm Inc. is likely to solidify its lead in the global market for mobile-handset baseband semiconductors, according to iSuppli Corp.

Based on iSuppli’s preliminary estimate, Qualcomm in the fourth quarter accounted for 40.6 percent of worldwide revenue from shipments of mobile handset baseband semiconductors, up from 36.3 percent in the third quarter.

Qualcomm expanded its lead over the No.-2 supplier, Texas Instruments Inc., to 20.9 percentage points, up from 14.1 points in the third quarter.

The table presents preliminary global revenue market share for the Top-6 suppliers of mobile handset baseband silicon in the third and fourth quarters of 2008.

iSuppli: Preliminary Ranking of Global Mobile Handset Baseband Market Share Revenue in Q4 of 2008

Source: iSuppli Corp. February 2009

Source: http://www.specialtypub.com/m2m/m2m100/listing.asp

The 2009 M2M 100 is a list of the most important and influential machine-to-machine technology providers as determined by the editors of M2M magazine and its editorial advisory board. It is designed to provide a snapshot of the market as it exists today and the companies with the greatest impact on its direction. The M2M 100 is published annually.

M2M 100