Jun 28, 1999 12:00 PM,

Asia still leads 3G path

NANCY GOHRING

It was fitting that third generation was a hot topic among the wireless crowd last week at the CommunicAsia99 show in Singapore, considering that Asia will likely see the first 3G system. Most say NTT DoCoMo will be the first operator in the world to deploy because it may soon run out of capacity on its existing networks. That is not the primary reason, though, said Kohei Satoh, executive director of NTT DoCoMo's IMT-2000 group. NTT DoCoMo will implement 3G for multimedia services, especially high-speed data, he said.

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Operators in Asia have varying views on why to deploy 3G, and even if it should be implemented. MobileOne in Singapore believes 3G will provide increased capacity for services already being offered on current networks, said Neil Montefiore, CEO of MobileOne. NTT DoCoMo's competitor, DDI, is still only considering 3G and doesn't believe it will serve the average consumer because of unwieldy user terminals.

Operators deploying next generation systems clearly face a number of hurdles. One crucial piece of advice often repeated throughout the show was to own the customer relationship. Data and 3G services require content providers, which may overshadow the identity of operators, several speakers warned. Operators must partner with or acquire content providers or risk being reduced to serving as just the pipe, said Martin Venzky-Stalling, managing consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Thailand. Forging strong relationships with content providers will also ensure that operators earn a piece of the revenue for delivering those services.

"The future will integrate the network operator with the content providers," said Scott Erickson, vice president of Lucent Technologies' Asia-Pacific wireless networking group.

Many Asian operators are already forging relationships. NTT DoCoMo's unique i-MODE service allows users to order tickets, trade stocks, perform mobile banking and use e-mail. SingTel in Singapore will soon unveil a similar service. MobileOne currently offers headlines from CNN, among other data services.