Here are my predictions based partly upon the acquisitions we have seen of Atheros by Qualcomm and now this latest play into Wifi by otherwise generally licensed zealots of the mobile world:
The large mobile carrier equipment companies will supply Wifi solutions to the national players who will then build Wifi micro-cell infrastructure out using this commodity priced platform. Then these same equipment makers will develop a "New and Improved" line of pico-base LTE boxes at a better margin than the Wifi-only APs but much less than their LTE macro-base equivalents. Cellcos, cablecos, etc. will then replace their Wifi-only micro-cell APs with dual mode Wifi and LTE pico-bases to enable the benefits of Wifi and cellular both while removing the disadvantages from either platform for their needs. I believe that this move will enable the melding of fixed and mobile wireless broadband enabling WISPs to finally get into this dual game. Those best positioned to take advantage of this will be fiber to the home operators who are also WISPs who will then build out "Fiber to the Access Point" and deliver the "Last 1000 feet" wirelessly to their customers. With an infrastructure model like this ISPs can deliver the capacity needed for customers to supply voice, video and data while eliminating one of the terribly expensive parts of the FTTH platform invoking the drops to the homes. I predict we'll see all this come to pass by 2017-18. We'll see how clear my crystal ball is in a few years. I hope you guys will remember this then and be sure to pull it up and make fun of me for being so far off....or not! :-) John Scrivner On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 11:00 AM, Jack Unger <[email protected]> wrote: > In a sure sign that the cellular industry is getting serious about Wi-Fi, > telecom networking giant Ericsson is buying BelAir Networks, adding its > high-performance outdoor hotspot technology to its portfolio, sources told > GigaOM. The deal could signal a big shift in the mindset of the big wireless > vendors, which have always favored their own specialized and expensive > cellular technologies to meet growing mobile data demand rather than more > generic but much cheaper Wi-Fi tech... > > <http://gigaom.com/broadband/ericsson-pursuing-wi-fi-with-belair-networks-buy/> > > -- > Jack Unger - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc. > Author (2003) - "Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks" > Serving the WISP Community since 1993 > www.ask-wi.com 818-227-4220 [email protected] > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
