inCode, an independent advisor to telecommunications companies and leading enterprises in North America, announced its sixth annual Top 10 Telecom Predictions for 2009. The predictions identify emerging economic, technology, and marketing trends that affect consumers and business.

The report says that the tough economic conditions will reduce the number of wireless operators. In order to maintain service quality, operators limit bandwidth “hogs” and institute pricing resembling airline tiers. And Apple might also see some competition on the iPhone (News - Alert) front from a competitor device, but may still stay on top with a next-generation media offering.

Internet firms will likely take a larger role in funding technology innovation and to save money, even more consumers will substitute wireless voice and data for wire line. “We anticipate that economic pressures will accelerate convergence of telecom and the Internet, affecting telecom services in unexpected ways in 2009,” says Rob Prudhomme, inCode Vice President, Practice Development.

While companies like AT&T and Verizon (News - Alert) continue to grow by acquiring companies, while it might be those in the middle who will suffer.

With the current economic situation, many American families are substituting mobile voice for traditional wire line service.

Internet innovators might benefit in the current scenario as many large private equity and venture capital firms bypass high-tech investment opportunities.

Apple’s (News - Alert) product, the iPhone, launched in June 2007 might face some competition.

High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is quietly dominating the market, despite the hype about 4G.

3G networks are finally providing an acceptable Internet experience.

Networking outsourcing is back in vogue as operators are increasingly trying to differentiate themselves on “experience” rather than network coverage and quality.

A telecom industry outsider succeeds in the land of the converged operators. The trend toward time- and place-shifting for digital media increases.

In 2008 consumer awareness was raised for the benefits of personal location beacons. Advances in cellular-based location services such as Assisted GPS (A-GPS) and sophisticated Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA) are deployed for wearable personal safety.

Femtocells continue to climb the hype curve in tough economic conditions as subscribers reduce spending by discontinuing wire line services.

Finally, the bonus prediction is that in order to lower costs and take better care of the environment, many companies are adopting green technologies and reusable energy sources.

InCode provides comprehensive business strategy and technology consulting and its predictions are known to be accurate and insightful. Over the previous five years, inCode annual predictions have proved correct about 80 percent of the time.

 

Anita B (News - Alert). is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anita's articles, please visit her columnist page.