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- History (see http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone4.htm)
- 2G, 3G (GSM, CDMA), WiMAX, LTE,
- How cell phones work (see presentation)
- Towers: cost $120-500K, 9mos to 3 years (incl permits & construction), 80’-400’, 20 people
- Sectors, frequencies (why low is good: potentially 2-3 times more cell towers for same coverage), channels, initial connection, hand-offs, tower radius <=10m in flat areas, often want less (e.g. by reducing power) in cities.
- Importance, growth
- Mobile telecommunications connections worldwide reached five billion in the first week of July on growth in India and China, and could triple by 2016, PRTM Management Consultants said. Revenue will “probably grow 20 percent to 30 percent in the same time,” Ameet Shah, a consultant for PRTM, said from London in a telephone interview. The current revenue figure is about US$900 billion, according to researcher The Mobile World.
Operators must change their operating models and may need to merge to survive, Shah said. Instead of concentrating on “high value, high price and low volume” they must focus on “immense scale, low value and low prices,” he said. Some markets have grown to 150%-200% penetration relative to their populations. More penetration than Internet.
- Mobile telecommunications connections worldwide reached five billion in the first week of July on growth in India and China, and could triple by 2016, PRTM Management Consultants said. Revenue will “probably grow 20 percent to 30 percent in the same time,” Ameet Shah, a consultant for PRTM, said from London in a telephone interview. The current revenue figure is about US$900 billion, according to researcher The Mobile World.
- Power:
- many manufactures have agreed on standard (micro-USB) for charging phones. So do not need a charger with each phone.
- severaal manuifacturers agreed on star rating for power consumption
- Big demand for increased bandwidth for newer services (see below) however 4G upgrade is very expensive only by companies like Verizon and AT&T can afford and could drain money for wireless build-out from standard services (e.g. wired). In US this could lead to a duopoly since T-Mobile and Sprint may not be able to compete.
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