China�s pending 3G license auction continues to hold the mobile community in suspense. The new Pyramid Research report assesses the potential outcomes of the auction and tracks the market opportunity. The new report stipulates that the infrastructure opportunity will be $9 billion for vendors in the 2006-2009 period with 2007 alone generating approximately $4 billion, based on data from Pyramid Research forecasts. Additionally, 3G subscribers are expected to account for 15 percent of China�s mobile market by 2010. Regarding the 3G auction, Pyramid Research expects three nationwide 3G licenses to be awarded with one going to a fixed operator. An interesting scenario discussed in the report assesses the possibility of China Telecom and China Netcom consolidating and offering a nationwide 3G solution. Another scenario examines the possibility of dissolving China Unicom and dispersing its GSM subscriber base to China Telecom and the CDMA network to China Netcom � making way for both a TD-SCDMA and CDMA2000 operator. Supporting these scenarios was transfer of two top executives from China Mobile and China Unicom to fixed line operator China Telecom signaling that mobile will become a key component in the latter�s strategy.
Every executive who has approved a connected product roadmap has made a quiet assumption: the network underneath it will still be there. That assumption is about to be tested at a scale the automotive industry has never faced. The global connected vehicle installed base is heading toward a billion units, and the cellular technology most of those vehicles depend on is scheduled to begin its retirement before the end of the decade. For automakers, fleet operators, insurers, and the telecom carriers that serve them, the question is whether the recurring revenue those services promise can survive a connectivity layer with a shorter life than the vehicle carrying it. How Scale Meets an Expiry Date Omdia research forecasts that the global connected vehicle installed base will surpass 1.05 billion units by 2035, up from 473.7 million in 2025. Few installed bases of any kind more than double in a decade, and this one signals that connectivity is moving from premium differentiator to baseline e...