3G Feeds

Thanks to 3G technologies being accepted and rolled out in the United States and in Europe, wireless revenues are expected to rise in 2006. Wireline revenues are expected to fall off ~5 to 6% in 2006 due to cable system operator telephony offerings making further inroads as well as market saturation for products like DSL.

On the other hand, wireless revenues should increase in the high single digit rate, according to Fitch Ratings. They happen to like wireless operators such as Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless, giving Sprint Nextel a favorable rating outlook for 2006. Due in no small part to their improved network quality and 3G network upgrades (EV-DO). Good news.

Struggling to keep up with the likes of Sprint / Nextel and Verizon Wireless, the boys and girls over at Cingular have launched the GSM answer to EV-DO, HSDPA (high speed data packet access) in three manjor US cities. Dallas, Phoenix and Seattle, three of the countries biggest consumers of high speed and broadband internet services, have had their Cingular wireless network upgraded to utilize HSDPA technology. Cingular used equipment provided by Ericsson to upgrade their Dallas/Fort Worth network and is relying on Lucent’s recently upgraded networks in Seattle in Phoenix to provide service to Cingular 3G users. Both say that the HSDPA upgrades should provide average data speeds of between 400Kbps and 700Kbps. Good news for Cingular customers, but will it be in time?