|
March 12, 2008
Orange France Launches 7.2 Mbps Mobile Access Service
By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor
Up to this point mobile broadband speeds have lagged significantly behind wired connection speeds. But Orange France has announced the launch of a 3.5 Generation (3.5G) mobile broadband service for customers in Lyon, France. The new service is said to double downlink connection speeds for users, from the current 3.6 Mbps up to a maximum of 7.2Mbps.
Orange says deployment of faster access in other major towns and cities across France should be underway by the summer, and hopes to reach 71 percent of the population with 3.5G coverage by the end of 2008. Orange also is launching with three mobile handsets and three “card” options to connect notebook computers.
Though in some cases users will be able to consider ditching a wired connection in favor of a mobile alternative, most enterprises will simply add mobile broadband services to what they already have, beginning a slow transition to a world where broadband becomes as un-tethered as voice services have become.
In all likelihood, that transition will occur faster than the adoption of mobile services, for a couple reasons. For starters, increasing numbers of people already have broadband-capable handsets and simply need to pay incrementally for broadband access. That’s a lower hurdle than for mobile voice, which required users to buy new handsets and entirely new plans.
Second, the habit of personal and mobile communications is well established, where it wasn’t when mobility first was adopted. Then there is the multi-function nature of what can be done with mobile broadband. When mobile phones first were available, all one could do was talk. Now a single device supports talk, text, video, music, Web surfing, location services, navigation and email. That’s much more value for an incremental payment, compared to the initial mobile voice value proposition, which was “one application for a significant investment.”
Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.(source: http://hosted-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-comm/articles/22773-orange-france-launches-72-mbps-mobile-access-service.htm)
|
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
