| Mobile Broadband Pioneer, Dr Martin Cooper, Speaking at the 6 th iBurst International Forum. | |
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Technology conferences, particularly those focused on mobile broadband, often generate a lot of passion and heated headlines. These events may illustrate tribal tendencies amongst technologists.They may provide some refresher courses for beginners incredo-coaching. But they rarely deliver very much additional wisdom. |
| The nearest that anyone got to being unkind to other technologies was an observation that the iBurst (HC-SDMA) product development priorities had changed very slightly to accommodate predicted post-WiMAX/WiBro migrants in 2009. And although there were some calls for greater global publicity, the general opinion of successful iBurst operators was that there was no pressing need emulate the hype of the hapless. Headlines (and particularly headline download speeds) make little positive contribution towards the management of customer expectations. | |
| So it was a delight to hear, from the iBurst operator in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that although he got zero media attention in the US Sprint-obsessed technology press, more than 50% of his new customers last month came from customer referrals. From zero to 2000 customers in under 9 months in a small town - not bad for a mobile broadband technology that no-one has heard of but does what it says on the box. | |
| Understatement rarely comes more understated than the passing reference by the founder of Mobi in Beirut to a few recent difficulties' - three of his roof-top base stations took direct hits. His strategies for managing resellers were delivering both growth and profitability - and had much impressed his mentors and colleagues at Harvard during a recent study trip. He also shared with delegates his approach to de-risking network expansion. When ISP's clamour for additional base stations across the less populated parts of The Lebanon his deployment decisions are based on their pre-commitments to service sales. This demand-led approach is not dissimilar to the strategies adopted by Scandinavian communities to fast track the deployment of FTTH networks but it's a million miles away from the traditional ?build it and let them come' approach that demands deep pockets and an arrogance of Telco proportions. | |
| Talking of incumbents, the global market view presented by Arthur D Little's analyst, Dr Karim Taga, was instructive. The mobile broadband technology choices of established mobile phone companies are hugely influenced by the need to upgrade their kit for the shift way from voice towards data but they are still constrained by their design decisions of a previous decade and their fortunes rest on a further longer-term evolution. It is a common tactic, when out of stock, for the shopkeeper to promise that fresh supplies are expected to be arriving next week. iBurst operators were also pleased to note that their Open Interoperability was very beneficial in enabling easy commercial collaboration and as one delegate remarked, 'there's no real global shortage of good spectrum, only a shortage of technologies that can use it very efficiently'. | |
| Over two days, with delegates from far and wide, it became abundantly clear that one size, or one business model, does not fit all. The customer requirements and perceived markets of ' elcell ' in Azerbaijan are a world away from iZZi in Malaysia and different yet again to the multitude of new ventures from iBurst Africa and Africa Online or the potential in Indonesia with more than 220million people,17,000 islands and nearly 5000 villages where basic telephony has yet to arrive. The upcoming launch of iBurst in Slovenia will reflect a very different market context to that of Northern Ireland , or Norway , or the Netherlands, or the plans for Moscow and Egypt. | |
| What was common to all, however, was the business of getting on with doing business ? most notably exemplified by iBurst in South Africa. With disdain for paralysis by analysis', iBurst operators of all shapes and sizes reaffirmed that interesting and unexpected things happen when you provide customers with a service that lives up to expectations: their customers crack on with using iBurst for things that no amount of expensive market research would ever have revealed. | |
| Perhaps the most interesting sign of serious success was signaled by the speakers who were not operators? the service experts and ancillary kit manufacturers who are busy building iBurst into their own products. Moovera incorporating broadband connectivity into their rugged kit for coaches and ferries, and iSheriff giving iBurst ISP's differentiation opportunities in both the corporate and family consumer markets? these were just two examples of a growing and sustainable eco-system that is building business amongst the iBurst community. | |
| And there was quiet (but not complacent) satisfaction at the progress within international standards committees and at the ITU. The design attributes and clear success of iBurst may surprise other technology tribes but remains undeniable. | |
| If there was just one conclusion to draw from this gathering of well-established operators who were happy to share their experience amongst those from the 33 countries where spectrum licences now enable iBurst to be deployed, it was simply this - bottom lines are more important than headlines. If you have a product that works there is no need for hype, and certainly no need to encourage a belief in the defiance of science. | |
| Courtesy from iBurst Forum
Speaker Mr David J Brunnen, Managing Director, ABFL Groupe Intellex, UK |
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