Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Light Touch Regulation AT T and Vodafone
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| AT&T Technology |
This year, WAC showed off its first commercial results, but the operator keynotes put another burning concern, spectrum regulation for 4G, top of the agenda. The cellco chiefs are calling for a far "lighter touch" in future spectrum policies, more suited to a world driven by fast, always-on connectivity and cloud services. "As 4G and the cloud proliferate, customer expectations for openness and seamless access to all services will increase," said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.
Given the huge amount of investment carriers must make in 4G networks and cloud services, they need "a predictable regulatory environment with a light touch. "Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao also called for regulatory approaches that would encourage openness, investment and competition, and predictably criticized over-burdensome or repetitive spectrum fees. Telcos are the biggest contributors to ICT investment, Alierta said.
In a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress here, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson today prodded carriers, manufacturers and regulators around the globe to create openness and interoperability in mobile devices, platforms and networks. His remarks even included some polite digs at Apple for requiring iTunes songs and App Store apps to run on Apple devices.
Speaking to a global audience, Stephenson said wireless smartphones and tablets need to be able to operate across countries and geographies in what is known as "spectrum harmony." He noted that a lack of international interoperability is currently a major obstacle for wireless telecommunications.
"If our object is to grow the [wireless] pie, interoperability is necessary," he said. Stephenson was joined in the crowded keynote session by several executives from carriers around the globe who also issued calls for openness. Wang Jianzhou, chairman of China Mobile, also touched on the theme of keeping networks and devices open, noting that his company has pursued interoperability with carriers in Japan and South Korea.
"An open and interoperable environment ... will drive mobile broadband, and mobile broadband with the cloud will drive the next wave." "The customer experience is agnostic," he noted. Noting that the songs people buy on iTunes are currently "Apple OS- and device-dependent," he said, "but well see [marketing and financial] models less dependent on the device" in the future.
Regarding video downloads, Stephenson said that half of tablets and laptops today are streaming video content in the U.S. but customers cant easily port those videos from one device to another, and they incur some expense if they do.
By. AT&T Technology
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