Page 16 - Mobile World Daily - Day 4

CONNECTIVITY FIRST | DEVICESCAPE
Dave Fraser, CEO, Devicescape
Welcome to
Connectivity
World Congress…?
As the industry evolves to reflect the
growing awareness that wireless
connectivity is bigger than any one
technology, perhaps this event would
benefit from another name change.
Someone visiting this show for the first
time, with no preconceived ideas, might
well find themselves wondering why it’s
still called “Mobile World Congress”. Such a
variety of industries, applications and
activities are on display here in Barcelona
that the overarching theme is open to
interpretation.
MWC has had several identity changes as
it has evolved over the years. Back in the 90’s Wi-Fi is—and should remain—entirely
it was known as GSM World Congress,
reflecting a strict technology alignment. With
the arrival of UMTS it became 3GSM World
Congress in 2001. And six years later, as
mobile operators worldwide signalled their
intent to converge on a single cellular
standard for 4G, it was given the name we
still use.
These changes follow a narrative of
expansion and inclusivity. UMTS brought
with it brand new operators with no 2G
legacy, hence the subtle but important
addition of that ‘3’. The end of a far more
significant industry era was reflected in the
next change, as the sometimes bitterly
opposed GSM and CDMA camps laid down
their arms on the common ground of LTE.
With each new technology came more
options and more operators.
In 2015 it feels like the time is right for
another change. Clearly this is no longer an
event that deals exclusively in “mobile”, and
the gathering momentum behind quad-play
means mobile-only operators are actually
dwindling in number. What’s more, the
lifespan of previous rebrands suggests
another is due.
PAGE 16 Thursday 5th March
“Connectivity World Congress” might be
worth considering. It maintains a link to the
event’s roots, while continuing to address the
broader mix of underlying technologies that
can be harnessed to give smartphone users
the connectivity they seek. Specifically it
would create the right environment for the
meaningful integration of Wi-Fi into the
connectivity service that mobile operators
provide.
Despite its enormous popularity with end
users, and despite the enormous public and
private connectivity resource that it
represents, there are still some within the
traditional operator community who believe
separate from cellular.
Ironically, this view perpetuates rather
than neutralizes the threat that Wi-Fi
represents to the established operator
community. The emergence of Wi-Fi First
and Wi-Fi-only plays from disruptive start-
ups and larger cable operators—as well as
the arrival of Google’s integrated cellular and
Wi-Fi offer—will add a new dimension of
choice for end users who want connectivity
rather than one or other technology that
underlies it. And their emergence has been
greatly assisted by traditional mobile
operators’ reluctance to embrace the
fantastic wireless resource on which these
disruptive new services are being built.
Mobile operators need to look and learn.
We believe the most important trend of 2015
will be a shift in thinking away from isolated
technologies and towards what we’re calling a
Connectivity First approach. Some operators
may continue offering services at the fringes
of the industry, using only one technology or
another. But the majority will soon realize
that, as long as the quality of the connectivity do in response? Do what Legere did, and
experience is a good one, the end user will be
pleased, however it’s delivered.
The logical extension of this is that end users
will begin to choose their connectivity
provider—which may not necessarily be a
Network Operator—based on the total
connectivity package to which that provider
gives them access. Like for like comparisons of
cellular coverage are going to lose their currency
fast as end users realise services are available
that deploy a range of technologies to ensure the
best connectivity experience in the moment.
Remember, smartphone users spend 90 per
cent of their time indoors, where Wi-Fi
connectivity is increasingly available in an
abundance that cellular simply cannot match.
That is not a criticism of cellular, it’s simply
an observation that these two technologies
have evolved to do what they are best at.
Cellular is the clear winner for mobility, for
outdoor connectivity and clearly delivers
some indoor connectivity. But Wi-Fi rules the
in-building roost; which is why successful
mobile operators will be the ones that
dispense with technology-aligned thinking
and offer Connectivity First.
One could even argue that, in the shape of
T-Mobile USA, the industry already has its
prototype Connectivity First operator. CEO
John Legere’s observation last year around
the launch of Wi-Fi Un-leashed that it doesn’t
matter how he gives his users five bars of
service, so long as he gives them those five
bars, felt like a breakthrough moment.
His point was made in response to the
observation that an emphasis on Wi-Fi
reflected a weakness in his cellular network.
We can speculate about that, but the more
important question is: So what if it did? The
fact is, there are weaknesses in every cellular
network, mostly indoors where people need
connectivity most. So what’s the best thing to
address those weaknesses in the most
efficient way you can to maintain the quality
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS DAILY 2015 | www.mobileworldcongress.com
Successful mobile
operators will be the ones
that dispense with
technology-aligned
thinking and offer
Connectivity First.
and relevance of the service. Because
relevance is everything.
At the beginning of this article I was talking
about the evolution of this illustrious event.
I’m told that, one of its original purposes was
to facilitate the establishment of international
roaming agreements between operators so
that their customers could have the same
experience moving from one network to
another.
A lot has changed since then, the show’s
name included, but this challenge of
continuity remains. Mobile operators need to
take control of the entire connectivity
service, and that means an extension of the
same cellular service experience to all forms
of Wi-Fi. It means a managed service that
delivers quality, convenience, and security. It
means giving users what they need, where
they need it, when they need it.
It is our firm belief that, this time next year,
T-Mobile USA will be by no means the only
mobile operator taking a Connectivity First
approach. Whether or not we’ll be greeting
one another at the inaugural Connectivity
World Congress, is perhaps another matter.