Mobility’s no buzzword

At the start of my journey into marketing in the mid 1990s, I worked for the fixed broadband and home communications department of Nokia in the UK. During this time we were developing the vision for a relatively new buzz word in the industry – mobility.The telecommunications world then was very different to what it is now. Looking back, an example of burgeoning personalisation could be seen in my first ever mobile, the Nokia 2110, which had eight pre-defined ring tones and a colour cover that could only be changed using a watchmaker’s screwdriver.The term short message service (SMS) was only just being recognised. I remember sending my first SMS or text to my manager during a sales conference and questioning how SMS would ever catch on. I couldn’t have been more wrong as the importance of personalisation we use in our daily lives is continuing to grow, not only in devices, but also in the social and business applications such as Facebook and Linkedin. Nowadays, mobility is not just a buzzword, it’s reality. The norm is for customers to have several devices with numerous applications installed on them. Almost all of us use these applications across a number of networks and platforms in the course of a day. Today’s myriad of devices and applications actually make this a relatively easy experience. Just sign on with your user name and password and everything is the same as on the last device – I can just start reading from where I left off on some ebook readers as I move between PC, iPad and iPhone. Very cool.Customer service providers, for example Vodafone, Telecom, Orcon and 2degrees, are still the main instigators of this mobility. The importance of network coverage is paramount to this success.Historically in New Zealand, coverage was about highways and colouring a map, but today the bar is being raised to ensure coverage is in our homes and where we work.So what is the simple truth about mobility? The reality is that without many of us realising it, we already have mobility in our daily lives. Even checking Facebook at work, on your mobile and when you get home is a simple example of how mobility is such an everyday and essential part of our lives. However there is still a long way to go when you consider more complex options like trying to book a flight, pay securely and then check in online using your mobile.In recent results from the 2010 Connectivity Scorecard (a global index for the telecommunications industry created by London Business School) New Zealand was ranked only 16th out of 25 innovation driven countries based on the measurement of “useful connectivity” (see Figure 1).The report highlights the need for consumer broadband infrastructure investment and it is encouraging to see that the government’s Ultra Fast Broadband programme, along with the rural broadband initiative, will greatly increase connectivity.The data reveals that New Zealanders are avid internet users possibly helped by the high 3G connectivity. Businesses seem to make good use of Broadband as a way of conducting business supported by a high quality workforce. Customer service providers can leverage new services that technology brings to improve the consumer’s experience of mobility.For customer service providers, the next evolutionary step in mobile broadband is LTE (Long Term Evolution) which is a next generation mobile technology enabling faster network speeds, improved connectivity, lower latency and enhanced mobile streaming – resulting in a superior user experience for mobile data applications.LTE supports mobile broadband access for many applications like browsing, email, video sharing, music downloads and more. As the name suggests, it is an evolution of the current networks rather than a swap out and therefore offers a cost effective way for customer service providers to offer the services and applications that matter to you.As the number of applications continues to grow at a dramatic pace it is important to recognise that LTE is primarily a data network that also provides voice, rather than the more traditional approach of historical networks that provided voice first and then data hitched a ride.Going back to my initial days at Nokia, at the time, we were experiencing mobile data speeds of 9.6 Kilo bits per second (Kbps). To download a PowerPoint presentation took so long that you would have to go and find something else to do for at least 30 minutes. In comparison, during a recent trial that Nokia Siemens Networks undertook with Telstra, the experience was very different. During the trial in rural Australia the two companies successfully achieved peak speeds of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 31 Mbps upload over a record breaking distance of 75 kilometres.In addition, during LTE trials within an urban environment in June, Nokia Siemens Networks and Optus demonstrated various applications including gaming and high definition video conferencing at download speeds of up to 45Mbps. Although the reality of a commercial roll out of LTE will provide a user experience of lower speeds than what is achieved in a trial environment, it is clear that technology capability is growing at an exponential rate.A tangible example for LTE is from recent announcements by Scandinavian customer service provider Telia Sonera, the first in the world to launch a commercial LTE network. In a recent demonstration, the time taken to download a song (5MB file) was two minutes 49 seconds using 3G but only 1.5 seconds over LTE.For customer service providers to be able to offer the best user experience of mobility it is also important the correct spectrum is available. With all mobile data, using the most efficient mobile spectrum will enhance the user experience. The 700MHz spectrum which is currently being used by the broadcasters for analogue TV is ideal for providing mobility over large areas.Once analogue TV is switched off (at a date yet to be confirmed by the government) then there is an opportunity to use this spectrum, also described as the Digital Dividend, for mobile broadband. Using this spectrum means that there will be an opportunity for an even more cost effective implementation of LTE as less base stations are required to cover the same area.So, in reality is anything simple? Well my opinion is that firstly we need to be thankful for what we have. If we pause to take a breath we will realise how far the telecommunications industry has come.Secondly, as technology continues to develop, mobility will continue to be less of a buzz word and more just the reality of every day life and we have difficulty remembering a time without it. The telecommunications industry has an excellent opportunity to support this beneficial change for society and it is important that it is seized with both hands.