Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Motorola Brings iDEN PTT To Jordan-

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 06:29:41 -0400

Adding PTT to GSM Cubersome??

Operators are adding PTT to their existing GSM Networks around the world. Motorola
is overlaying GPRS on the existing 900 Mhz GSM networks.

* Motorola has signed a deal with Jordan's Fastlink tupgrade to Motorola's
Push-To-Talk (PTT) solution. Fastlink has  successfully tested PTT at Fastlink's
facility in Amman. . Look for more overlays in the middle east and Africa.

Delays are transparent in secondary releases.

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Promising growth prospects for mobile telephony in Jordan

Jordan Times - 27/07/2003

By Henry T. Azzam

AMMAN — By the end of 2002, the mobile subscriber base in Jordan was around 1.2
million, with Fastlink at 874,000 subscribers or 73 per cent of the total, and
MobileCom at 326,000 subscribers accounting for around 27 per cent of market
share. The number of subscribers is estimated to reach 1.8 million by the end of
2005, growing at annual compound rate of 15 per cent.

With a total population of around 5.3 million, penetration rate of mobile
telephony in the country has reached a relatively high level of 22 per cent,
higher than that of Morocco (19 per cent), Palestine (7 per cent) and Egypt (6 per
cent), but lower than Lebanon (24 per cent), Saudi Arabia (25 per cent), Kuwait
(58 per cent) and United Arab Emirates (70 per cent). The high penetration rate
and the country's relatively low per capita income of $1,800 suggest that the
rapid expansion of mobile usage in Jordan is over.

Customer loyalty plans, discounts and promotions, creative offers, good service,
dependability of the network and the provision of content will be the main
determinants of growth in subscribers' base in the coming few years. The operators
who can provide innovative services, superior content, and high speed wireless
connection are the ones that will dominate the scene.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) awarded the radio trunking
licence to a Saudi-Jordanian consortium in early 2003. The company will deploy
Motorola's iDEN technology and will be allowed to interconnect with the other
mobile and fixed line operators after reaching a threshold number of subscribers.
The new licence will launch services commercially in April 2004. The technology
has a unique feature: A "walkie-talkie" mode that allows subscribers to talk to
each other instantly merely by pushing a button.

*The current two mobile operators should seriously consider the feasibility of
adding this feature in due course to the services they provide to their
subscribers after getting the approval of the TRC. However, adding the
"push-to-talk" feature to an existing GSM network could be cumbersome. Subscribers
will require new handsets, and operators must ensure they have sufficient data
capacity on their networks since push-to-talk calls are handled as packets of
data, not as traditional voice calls. Compared with iDEN technology, which
connects users almost instantly, it can take two to four seconds to establish a
push-to-talk connection over a GSM network.

Recently, we have witnessed a significant change in the approach of mobile
operators. As little as two years ago the tactics used to generate new business
were based around familiar variables such as free voicemail retrieval, signal
coverage and subsidised handsets. Now the focus has shifted to the provision of
services that exploit the mobile telephone's unique features, namely
personalisation, speed and mobility.

Location, time-specific services, good content that adds value or provides
entertainment to the user, the growing popularity of Short Messaging Services
(SMS), and Multimedia Messaging System (MMS), and the high speed internet access
are likely to give a big boost to the revenue stream of the two mobile operators
in Jordan.

The value chain is, therefore, changing from connectivity to application,
transaction, content and broad band connection.

While markets have been waiting for the "third generation" (3G) mobile networks to
be switched on, attention is shifting now to a newer technology called "fourth
generation" (4G). This technology that was not expected to appear before 2005 is
already here.

While "first generation" (1G) was analogue networks, and "second generation" (2G)
was digital network like today's GSM (Global System for Mobile), the "third
generation" (3G) is high speed digital networks that let your mobile phone do what
your personal computer can do today, including for example getting e-mail, sending
photos, watching video clips, playing games, video conferencing and reading web
pages at much higher speed.

An intermediate technology to the 3G is 2.5G commonly knows as GPRS (General
Packet Radio Service). GPRS is "always on" and one does not need to waste 20 to 30
seconds to establish a dial up connection to the Internet. The existing GSM
network could be upgraded at relatively low cost to provide GPRS services,
including text and multimedia messaging system (SMS and MMS).

Mobile operators in Europe have spent about $100 billion buying licenses to run 3G
networks, only to find that the technology that most had agreed to use was harder
to implement than expected. Even where 3G networks are up and running, demand for
the video and multimedia services they make possible is still uncertain and is
being partially met by the less expensive GPRS service. Expectations are being
scaled down and 3G may end up merely as a way for mobile operators to boost their
capacity for voice calls in overloaded parts of their networks, rather than a
goldmine of new revenues from multimedia services.

In the meantime, another wireless technology, called Wi-Fi was developed to
provide high-speed internet access to suitably equipped computers within 50 metres
or so of a small base-station. It is being widely used in homes, offices and
universities in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. Several firms offer fee-based
Wi-Fi access in airports, coffee-shops and other public places known as
"hotspots." But because of the short range of Wi-Fi technology, it is very
difficult to provide universal coverage.

The 4G technology attempts to provide both high speed wireless networks and a wide
area coverage. This is why it is nicknamed "nomadic broad band technology." It is
seen as a rival to Wi-Fi because it offers a wider coverage and is considered as a
wireless alternative to digital subscription line (DSL) that now provide broadband
access to homes and offices. Emphasising speed first and mobility later, 4G
networks may be built initially in regions where cable and DSL are unavailable.

The mobile operators in Jordan should consider skipping 3G and move directly to
4G. Unlike new entrants, they already own the key sites for base-stations, so they
are well-placed to build 4G networks fast once they get the approval of the TRC to
do so. 4G would make it possible for mobile operators to attack the broadband
market, as well as, neutralise the Wi-Fi threat.

Mobile phones and their text and multimedia messaging (SMS and MMS) have already
changed the habits of mobile users. Downloading ring tones and logos had prompted
the first tentative use of phone bills to pay for other small services. The next
step will be to pay in the same way for internet content and other goods and
services.

More than a third of mobile subscribers in Japan have used their phones to buy
such goods as CDs, concert tickets and karaoke songs with lyrics that bounce
across the screen and there is no reason why with time this trend will not take
hold in Jordan as well.

Mobile operators will succeed if they shift their strategy from being simply a
voice channel to becoming an entertainment, as well as, transaction and
distribution channel for goods and services. MMS and high speed wireless
connection covering a wide area will generate added revenues and give mobile
operators dominance over e-commerce.

Jordan needs companies to specialise in providing content to mobile subscribers
mainly the young, who constitute more than 50 per cent of the population. This
will allow operators to benefit also from sizeable advertising revenues as they
become the main channel of Internet access.

The growth in the number of mobile subscribers and the higher revenue per user
generated from the additional services provided should help boost profits of
Jordan's mobile operators in the coming few years.

Writer is the Chief Executive Officer of Jordinvest & Chairman of MobileCom.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=24719