The failing of WCDMA to deliver the true 3G experience has forced the industry to push ahead earlier than expected with the implementation of HSDPA and HSUPA. The knock-on effect is that this has left a void between 3.5G(HSDPA/HSUPA) and what will become 4G and the need to plug that gap is now apparent. �There is concern within the leading wireless operators and manufacturers that the mass market take-up of mobile triple play could cause havoc on existing infrastructure if they do not act today,� said report author, Nick Lane. �WCDMA has been nothing short of a disappointment. Though HSDPA will deliver true 3G applications, if these high-speed services are adopted by consumers in significant numbers, HSDPA networks will become congested. The need to progress the wireless networks is here today.� As HSDPA implementation commences in during 2005 and throughout 2006, followed by HSUPA in late-2006 to 2007, the world�s leading mobile operators and manufacturers are already casting doubts on WCDMA�s mid-term effectiveness.
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...