Small-Medium Business Mobile Broadband Adoption is Higher than in Large Enterprises

Companies larger than 1000 employees have highly mobile workforces driven by the global reach of their operations. They also have extensive IT support, which offers globetrotting employees assistance with mobile services. These characteristics bode well for adoption of mobile broadband services. However a new study from ABI Research based on survey analysis of United States mobile business customers shows that enterprises are not the highest adopters of cellular modems and mobile broadband access.

According to principal analyst Dan Shey, “The survey data demonstrate that mobile broadband reaches across all sizes of company with greater adoption in small and medium businesses. Our research identifies two key drivers: first, all businesses are familiar with data access from a PC, and laptops and mobile broadband simply make this access portable. Second, there is no distribution favoritism towards business customers. Mobile broadband can be purchased from big box electronics and operator retail stores.”
[Read more]

Mobile broadband mushrooms in Europe, but users increasingly dissatisfied

According to an editorial by Rethink Wireless, mobile operators’ claims over their laptop-based broadband services are increasingly coming under fire, and research by UK carrier O2 finds that over one in 10 users feel they have been misled by adverts or other sales messages.

Operators in western Europe are relying heavily on luring fixed line voice and broadband subscribers to the wireless connection, and eking additional euros out of existing and new customers by selling attractive data plans based on embedded or dongle-based HSPA links.

However, in their eagerness, several carriers in Europe have already fallen foul of advertising standards authorities for implying HSPA can deliver the same performance as wireline services.

Despite user complaints, the uptake of mobile broadband in western Europe, spurred on by ‘free laptop’ offers and ‘unlimited’ data tariffs, has grown between twofold and eightfold, depending on region.

Source: Rethink Wireless

LG Electronics picks Ericsson for HSPA modules

by Jeff Orr, Editor
Mobile Broadband News

Ericsson announced today that it has been selected by LG Electronics to provide mobile broadband modules based on high speed packet access (HSPA). LG Electronics notebooks and netbooks will include the modules starting in Q3 2008.

Ericsson developed its own HSPA chipset technology, based on a collection of mobile telephony protocols that extend and improve the performance of existing UMTS protocols. Two standards, HSDPA and HSUPA, have been established by ETSI and a further standard, HSPA+, is soon to be released.
[Read more]

HP to Embed Sprint Mobile Broadband EV-DO Service in Business Notebook PCs

HP announced that it will integrate Sprint mobile broadband capabilities into several HP business notebook PCs, giving mobile professionals convenient access to the fastest and largest U.S. mobile broadband network.

The companies will jointly market HP business notebooks that can take advantage of the dynamic features of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, such as the faster data speeds provided by 3G EV-DO Rev. A technology.
[Read more]