Wireless Broadband Conflict and Convergence [Hardcover]

Wireless Broadband utilizes a reader-friendly approach to clearly explain the business, regulatory, and technology issues of the future market for wireless services. It covers broadband and the information society; drivers of broadband consumption; global wireless market analysis; broadband IP core networks; convergence; and contention and conflict. Complemented with more than eighty illustrations, this book provides unparalleled insight into the emerging technologies, service delivery options, applications, and digital content that will influence and shape the next phase of the wireless revolution.

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

List of Figures xxi

INTRODUCTION 1

1 WHERE WE ARE—WIRELESS MEETS THE BROADBAND INTERNET 5

Where We Are 5

How We Got Here: Reintegration of the Telecom Oligopoly and Cracks in the Walled Gardens 6

Flexibility Comes to Wireless Spectrum 22

The Wireless Technology Diaspora 23

Cellular Carriers: Stuck on Stickiness 26

Managed Network Services: The Outsourced Network 30

Enhanced Broadband Voice 31

Fixed Mobile Convergence 33

Boundary Blurring 34

References 35

2 BROADBAND AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 37

Impact of Telecommunications on the Economy 39

Wireless Versus Wired Network Economics 40

Broadband Matters 42

So What of Broadband Wireless in All This? 42

How Does the United States Rank Against the Rest of the World? 44

Expansion of the DOI 47

References 49

3 GLOBAL WIRELESS MARKET ANALYSIS 51

Macro TrlÓ^