11.26.2009

Before the 4G - changes among leaders

Generation Mobile" - a new era in telecommunications. The data rates offered by the 4G systems will allow
to transmit HD television to mobile devices.



The year 2010 promises to be a breakthrough in wireless communications. Everything seems to indicate that the 4G standard will be adopted and practically implemented by the first commercial networks using this technology. The promise of huge investment gives rise to increasing speculation which of the industry tycoons is best prepared to become a world leader in wireless communications. Last year, the leader was Ericsson (36% market share), the second place took Nokia (20%), and the third - Huawei (11%). However, this year brings some significant change to that ranking. According to forecasts, by the end of the year the annual turnover of Ericsson will come to US$ 26 billion, of Huawei - 18.4 billion, and of Nokia - 15.7 billion. The Chinese giant will probably increase sales by 21%, just opposite to Nokia with about 22% drop in the figure.

Is there a chance that the trend of rapid growth of Huawei's market position will continue in the next year?

Huawei is a world leader of TD - LTE technology which has been selected by China Mobile as the basis for the construction of Chinese 4G network. Installation of the infrastructure will start as early in the beginning of 2010. Huawei will be the primary equipment supplier. Already in May, at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, a pilot 4G network will start operation in China. The potential of the Chinese market may be crucial, but equally important is the winning of the prestigious tender for 4G in Norway. Huawei beat Ericsson in the Nordic market, which was quite a sensation. Advanced talks between Vodafone and Huawei on 4G in the German market may indicate that it will be another success of the Chinese supplier. Similar negotiations are conducted in Spain. Great potential of Huawei allows for rapid growth, so in 2010 it may become a global leader in wireless technologies.

The 4G system should guarantee mobile data transfer rates of 100 Mbps, and in the case of fixed equipment - 1 Gbps. Development of mobile technology in the direction of 4G is currently achieved mainly in two ways: WiMAX and LTE.
In November this year, ITU (International Telecommunication Union) approved 6 solutions as the basis for the final decision on the adoption of international standard, among them LTE (including Chinese TD-LTE) and WiMAX 2.0 (802.16m). Final adoption of the standard is to be announced on next year's October. Specialists estimate that China may own more than 40% of patents concerning leading telecommunications technologies.

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