Reallocating radio frequencies to allow high-speed mobile
broadbandcould open the way out of the
recession, delegates to theGSMA Mobile Broadband
Congressin Barcelona were told this
week.
The release of new spectrum for mobile broadband services in
2009 would add the equivalent of $211bn to China's GDP, and $95bn
to India's GDP in return for investments of $59bn and $20bn
respectively, said researchers for the GSMA, which represents the
global mobile industry.
At the GSMA's leadership summit, industry leaders called for
governments to support the roll-out of mobile broadband services to
drive economic growth.
Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile
network operator, said, "The rolling out and operation of 3G
networks in China will create 300,000 jobs directly and
indirectly." He said investments in so-called 3G networks would
directly boost the telecom manufacturing industry while advanced
handsets and applications would drive consumer spending.
The CEOs of Ericsson, VimpelCom, Telecom Italia, Telenor Group
and Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia
University, called on governments to harmonise their spectrum
allocations and to create a stable regulatory environment to
encourage investment.
They wanted 100MHz of the 400MHz of low-frequency spectrum freed
up by the switch from analogue to digital television to enable the
roll-out of cost-effective mobile broadband networks.
Deploying a mobile broadband network using 700MHz spectrum, for
example, could cost 30% of the cost of deploying the same network
using the 2100MHz spectrum that underpins most of today's 3G mobile
networks, they said. Access to the lower frequencies would make
rural areas and other "white spots" economically viable for mobile
operators, it said.
They quoted World Bank estimates that connecting an individual
to a mobile network could cost one-tenth of the cost of providing a
new fixed-line connection.
Franco Bernabe, CEO of Telecom Italia, said, "Bandwidth is the
necessary driver for direct investments such as radio access
infrastructure and demand for fibre-optic backhauling. It is also a
driver of indirect investment, through the emergence of new market
players and new services."
The Earth Institute's Sachs said, "Mobile technologies are the
most powerful tools we have for combating extreme poverty in the
most isolated parts of the world."
He said mobile phones were being deployed to expand
agro-business, e-governance, banking, and commerce throughout poor
countries as well as in health care and education.
"Digital technologies will play a core role in ending poverty
and in enabling the world to join together through markets, social
networks, and co-operative efforts to solve our common challenges,"
he said.