在 2012年移動(dòng)通訊世界大會(huì)(MWC)首日的專題演說(shuō)場(chǎng)次結(jié)束后，來(lái)自北京的知名風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資業(yè)者Peter Liu拉著我的袖子說(shuō)：“移動(dòng)上網(wǎng)市場(chǎng)將會(huì)變得非常龐大?！钡拇_會(huì)很龐大，我們剛剛才聽(tīng)到四大電信業(yè)者表示，他們估計(jì)光是歐洲市場(chǎng)，布建 LTE 網(wǎng)絡(luò)的費(fèi)用就高達(dá)300億美元；而他們才剛花了將近80億美元購(gòu)買(mǎi)頻譜，以支應(yīng)4G無(wú)線上網(wǎng)流量。
一切只是時(shí)間問(wèn)題。目前在全球26億蜂窩式網(wǎng)絡(luò)使用者中，LTE注冊(cè)用戶只有900萬(wàn)個(gè)；而全球4G用戶有四分之三集中在北美，大多數(shù)是采用 AT&T與Verizon委托Alcatel-Lucent、Ericsson在2010年開(kāi)始布建的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。其它LTE用戶集中地在韓國(guó)──據(jù)說(shuō) 每個(gè)月用戶增加25萬(wàn)人──與日本，這兩個(gè)區(qū)域的網(wǎng)絡(luò)是委托Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)布建；NSN表示，該公司在26個(gè)國(guó)家簽了52個(gè)LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)合約，不過(guò)目前只有22個(gè)正在運(yùn)行。
中國(guó)市場(chǎng)也不落人后；當(dāng)?shù)刈畲笠苿?dòng)通訊業(yè)者中國(guó)移動(dòng)(China Mobile)總經(jīng)理李躍(Li Yue)透露，今年將布建2萬(wàn)個(gè)FDD LTE基地臺(tái)，而2013年將至少有3座城市的LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)會(huì)開(kāi)始營(yíng)運(yùn)。NSN網(wǎng)絡(luò)系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)品主管Thorsten Robrecht表示：“第一波LTE浪潮現(xiàn)正掀起，我們應(yīng)該會(huì)在今年看到一些大動(dòng)作?！钡治鰩煹目捶ㄝ^不樂(lè)觀，一份野村證券(Nomura)研究指 出：“全球資本支出今年將會(huì)持平或是呈現(xiàn)些微下滑?！?確實(shí)，連一位來(lái)自MWC主辦單位GSMA的發(fā)言人都表示，全球經(jīng)濟(jì)景氣仍然不明、市場(chǎng)已逐漸走向成熟，相關(guān)法規(guī)門(mén)檻增高使得產(chǎn)業(yè)成長(zhǎng)率受限；更糟的是，歐洲電信業(yè)者發(fā)現(xiàn)，每用戶平均收益(average revenue per user)由2007年的26歐元，在2011年減少至20歐元，但用戶資料流量卻持續(xù)成長(zhǎng)。
Vodaphone 與Nokia Siemens Networks主管n9Iesmc
在這種拮據(jù)的情勢(shì)下，Vodaphone首席執(zhí)行官Vittorio Colao在一場(chǎng)專題演說(shuō)中，重申他們希望產(chǎn)業(yè)界能共同投資下一代網(wǎng)絡(luò)布建的呼吁，但是：“到目前為止，我們還沒(méi)有成功說(shuō)服任何人加入?！彪S著電信業(yè)者紛紛尋求分?jǐn)傹嫶筚Y本支出與營(yíng)運(yùn)成本的方法，這個(gè)議題應(yīng)該會(huì)持續(xù)受到關(guān)注，特別是當(dāng)那些費(fèi)用分?jǐn)偟娇Х瑞^、燈柱的小型基地臺(tái)時(shí)。為這類投資尋找適當(dāng)業(yè)務(wù)模式的過(guò)程，可能會(huì)拖累整體網(wǎng)絡(luò)布建速度，讓LTE技術(shù)真的變成“長(zhǎng)期演進(jìn)”。
本文下一頁(yè)：小型基地臺(tái)將有大商機(jī)？
編譯：Judith Cheng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
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• 中國(guó)移動(dòng)欲將服務(wù)器打造成基地臺(tái)n9Iesmc
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小型基地臺(tái)將有大商機(jī)？
到目前為止，第一代LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)都是使用傳統(tǒng)的大型基地臺(tái)(macro base stations)，但隨著電信業(yè)者需要更大的頻寬，預(yù)期小型基地臺(tái)的布建將會(huì)掀起另一波浪潮。西班牙電信業(yè)者Telefonica無(wú)線網(wǎng)絡(luò)業(yè)務(wù)總監(jiān) Ian Miller表示，預(yù)期在接下來(lái)五年，小型基地臺(tái)將協(xié)助電信業(yè)者處理增加30倍的資料流量。
Telefonica在MWC展場(chǎng)布建了十?dāng)?shù)個(gè)Alcatel-Lucent的小型基地臺(tái)，做為相關(guān)技術(shù)的首度現(xiàn)場(chǎng)實(shí)測(cè)；Miller指出：“這些小型基地臺(tái)是可行的，但單價(jià)需要從目前的2,000~5,000歐元，降低到1,000歐元以下?！?
Telefonica無(wú)線網(wǎng)絡(luò)業(yè)務(wù)總監(jiān)Ian Millern9Iesmc
Miller的愿望可能成真，因?yàn)槭袌?chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)會(huì)逐漸白熱化；傳統(tǒng)大型基地臺(tái)設(shè)備供貨商，以及針對(duì)住宅用戶專賣(mài)小型基地臺(tái)──俗稱毫微微蜂窩式基地臺(tái)(femto cell)──的新興業(yè)者，預(yù)期會(huì)在2013年因?yàn)橐环N新誕生的中等尺寸基地臺(tái)而開(kāi)始聚合；這種中等尺寸基地臺(tái)將通常會(huì)同時(shí)支持包括3G、LTE與Wi- Fi，供大型企業(yè)或是電信業(yè)者布署于大樓或是路燈柱。
這些中、小型基地臺(tái)的獨(dú)家秘方就是軟件，能讓電信業(yè)者輕松將之整合到主網(wǎng)絡(luò)中，并利用三種無(wú)線技術(shù)順暢管理資料流量。目前3GPP、IETF等蜂窩式技術(shù)與網(wǎng)絡(luò)產(chǎn)業(yè)團(tuán)體，正在針對(duì)相關(guān)的授權(quán)協(xié)議、安全性與管理功能訂定相關(guān)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
針對(duì)手機(jī)與網(wǎng)關(guān)器應(yīng)用，InterDigital在MWC展示了一種IP流可移動(dòng)性技術(shù)(IP Flow Mobility)；Ericsson則發(fā)表首款微型基地臺(tái)(下圖左)，這款可支持128個(gè)用戶的裝置預(yù)定明年出貨，結(jié)合了其蜂窩式技術(shù)與收購(gòu) BelAir Networks所取得的電信等級(jí)Wi-Fi技術(shù)。另一家網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)備業(yè)者NSN也打算在2013年推出一款微型基地臺(tái)(下圖中)，采用的是收購(gòu)自 Motorola的技術(shù)，號(hào)稱可擴(kuò)充為100個(gè)微型基地臺(tái)組成的網(wǎng)狀網(wǎng)絡(luò)，但管理起來(lái)就像傳統(tǒng)的單一大型基地臺(tái)。
Alcatel- Lucent在去年MWC就以一種小型化的立方體形狀天線模塊，展出一款Light Radio小型基地臺(tái)概念機(jī)；從那時(shí)候起，該公司最多曾與7家電信業(yè)者共同開(kāi)發(fā)相關(guān)產(chǎn)品，包括Telefonica 在今年MWC現(xiàn)場(chǎng)布署的那款小型基地臺(tái)。不過(guò)大多數(shù)產(chǎn)業(yè)觀察家認(rèn)為，小型基地臺(tái)的實(shí)際大量布署將在2014年以后才會(huì)展開(kāi)。
本文下一頁(yè)：今年MWC還有什么？
編譯：Judith Cheng
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• 中國(guó)移動(dòng)欲將服務(wù)器打造成基地臺(tái)n9Iesmc
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各種小型基地臺(tái)方案展示n9Iesmc
在新創(chuàng)公司方面，有兩家公司表示在毫微微蜂窩式基地臺(tái)市場(chǎng)有所斬獲；其中一家公司Ubiquisys透露將在2個(gè)月內(nèi)與某電信業(yè)者合作，展開(kāi)一款采用英特爾 (Intel) Sandy Bridge處理器、英特爾無(wú)線技術(shù)的小型基地臺(tái)新產(chǎn)品實(shí)測(cè)，該產(chǎn)品配備80GB固態(tài)硬盤(pán)，可支持網(wǎng)頁(yè)暫存(Web caching)等新興服務(wù)。Ubiquisys首席技術(shù)官Will Franks (上圖左)表示，這款新設(shè)備將填補(bǔ)大廠Ericsson相關(guān)產(chǎn)品線的缺口。
上述采用英特爾技術(shù)的小型基地臺(tái)，可讓Ubiquisys為客戶帶來(lái)具差異化的服務(wù)，而不只是賣(mài)低價(jià)小型基地臺(tái)設(shè)備。包括Ubiquisys等廠商，都在致力為這類系統(tǒng)添加電信等級(jí)的管理軟件，未來(lái)的產(chǎn)品機(jī)型必然會(huì)配備可支持3G、LTE與Wi-Fi三種網(wǎng)絡(luò)流量管理的功能。據(jù)了解，NEC與 NSN已經(jīng)同意在原廠方案中搭配銷售Ubiquisys的系統(tǒng)。
另一家毫微微蜂窩式基地臺(tái)供貨商IP.access則能為電信業(yè)者與企業(yè)，提供整套的軟硬件產(chǎn)品；該公司產(chǎn)品策略與行銷副總裁Andy Tiller展示一款支持3G、LTE與Wi-Fi的消費(fèi)性毫微微蜂窩式基地臺(tái)(下圖)，搭配管理軟件。IP.access的技術(shù)最近獲得Cisco采用，為現(xiàn)今布建最多數(shù)量該種設(shè)備的電信業(yè)者之一AT&T打造毫微微蜂窩式基地臺(tái)；如同Ubiquisys等同業(yè)，該公司打算進(jìn)軍大型企業(yè)、電信等 級(jí)市場(chǎng)，并提供更多具附加價(jià)值的軟件。
IP.access產(chǎn)品策略與行銷副總裁Andy Tiller n9Iesmc
本文下一頁(yè)：帶動(dòng)大資料流量的小設(shè)備
編譯：Judith Cheng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
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• Google：我們要讓大部分人先上起網(wǎng)來(lái)
• 中國(guó)移動(dòng)欲將服務(wù)器打造成基地臺(tái)n9Iesmc
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帶動(dòng)大資料流量的小設(shè)備
2012 年MWC上充斥著各種有助于帶動(dòng)資料流量成長(zhǎng)、帶動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)成長(zhǎng)的設(shè)備。Nvidia與華為(Huawei)都展示了最新的四核心處理器技術(shù)成果，可支持高畫(huà)質(zhì)視頻與低延遲的游戲畫(huà)面；其中華為發(fā)表的采用自家K3V2芯片的智能型手機(jī)與平板裝置，Nvidia則宣布取得HTC、Fujitsu、ZTE等廠牌智能手機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)案。
Nvidia與華為展示最新四核心處理器技術(shù)n9Iesmc
移動(dòng)支付也會(huì)是另一個(gè)成長(zhǎng)動(dòng)力；Telecom Italia總裁表示，這對(duì)電信業(yè)者來(lái)說(shuō)是僅次于建置LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)的優(yōu)先策略選項(xiàng)。他估計(jì)，到2015年，全球?qū)⒂?50萬(wàn)支手機(jī)利用NFC技術(shù)，進(jìn)行總金額達(dá)500億美元的金融交易。
國(guó)際性信用卡組織VISA在MWC期間，率先與Vodaphone簽署了網(wǎng)絡(luò)支付服務(wù)合作協(xié)議，預(yù)期在接下來(lái)幾年，這樣的搭配合作案例將會(huì)越來(lái)越多。一位 VISA的代表指出，要在保持移動(dòng)支付安全性的同時(shí)兼顧各方之利益，采取這種一對(duì)一的合作是最明智、最能妥善處理其中復(fù)雜性的方案。
舉 例來(lái)說(shuō)，在安全性方面，有些手機(jī)使用所謂的SIM卡上安全元素，有些則使用microSD卡安全方案，或是Trusted Computing Group的硬件安全技術(shù)。VISA所展示的移動(dòng)支付技術(shù)，可支持包括RIM、LG、Samsung等廠牌的手機(jī)，或是為Apple iPhone 4S打造的第三方設(shè)計(jì)之手機(jī)殼形式的解決方案。
移動(dòng)支付服務(wù)將帶動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)流量成長(zhǎng)n9Iesmc
本文下一頁(yè)：其它2012年MWC亮點(diǎn)
編譯：Judith Cheng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 帶你逛巴塞羅納2012移動(dòng)通訊世界大會(huì)
• Google：我們要讓大部分人先上起網(wǎng)來(lái)
• 中國(guó)移動(dòng)欲將服務(wù)器打造成基地臺(tái)n9Iesmc
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至于其它創(chuàng)新無(wú)線應(yīng)用，Ericsson展示一種僅占據(jù)60% 之LTE頻段的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)直播電視方案；NSN則以透過(guò)4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)發(fā)送的串流式指令，以機(jī)器人來(lái)展示LTE的低延遲性。
LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)直播電視n9Iesmc
透過(guò)LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)操控的機(jī)器人n9Iesmc
MWC 顯然是一場(chǎng)大生意，如Ericsson等設(shè)備大廠都從世界各地邀請(qǐng)電信服務(wù)業(yè)高層前來(lái)參觀展會(huì)，盛情招待(下圖左是Ericsson的攤位)；NSN與華 為也設(shè)置了類似的大型展館，并提供客戶豐富的食物與飲料，當(dāng)然是希望大訂單也跟著來(lái)。甚至連小廠商也把攤位打造成像pub一樣(下圖右)，以吸引參觀者駐 足。
MWC的特殊風(fēng)景n9Iesmc
在商機(jī)處處的氣氛下，我偶遇一位來(lái)自斯里蘭卡的電信業(yè)高階工程師，他打算在旅途中為2,000個(gè)3G與LTE基地臺(tái)需求簽下1.5億美元的訂單；這樣一張訂單將會(huì)讓該國(guó)的蜂窩式基地臺(tái)數(shù)量增加一倍。
展場(chǎng)上最受矚目的就是電信設(shè)備大廠華為，該公司的展館一直到最后一天都擠滿人潮；而不同于其它公司攤位的好客，華為展館甚至不開(kāi)放給未預(yù)先約定時(shí)間的參觀者。一位來(lái)自非洲的電信業(yè)代表告訴我，華為可提供價(jià)格相對(duì)較低的硬件，而且其服務(wù)也比傳統(tǒng)歐洲設(shè)備業(yè)者更具靈活度、更周到；簡(jiǎn)而言之，華為爭(zhēng)取客戶態(tài)度積極，因此他的公司有意將設(shè)備采購(gòu)合作對(duì)象由Ericsson換成華為。
還值得一提的是，新興移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)供貨商如提供免費(fèi) “冰淇淋三明治(ice cream sandwich)”點(diǎn)心的 Android 攤位，擠滿了大多穿T恤配牛仔褲的參觀人潮，跟傳統(tǒng)電信設(shè)備業(yè)者攤位(如Ericsson)上多是西裝筆挺的人士形成鮮明對(duì)比。展會(huì)最后一天，主辦單位開(kāi)放所有民眾參觀，因此可以看到形形色色的人們，例如像是上圖中精心打扮的參觀者──很令人印象深刻吧！
編譯：Judith Cheng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
參考英文原文：Updated: Parting shots from MWC 2012，by Rick Merritt
相關(guān)閱讀：
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Updated: Parting shots from MWC 2012
Rick Merritt
The outlook for cellular networks is mixed with slow growth expected for LTE roll outs taking diverse approaches to keep pace with a burgeoning set of devices. BARCELONA – “The mobile Internet will be huge,” said Peter Liu, a prominent Beijing venture capitalist, grabbing my sleeve as we spilled out of the keynotes the first day of the Mobile World Congress.
Huge, indeed. We had just heard four top carriers say they expect Europe alone to spend $30 billion building out Long Term Evolution networks. They have already spent nearly $8 billion buying spectrum to carry 4G wireless traffic.
The big question is when. Only nine million subscribers are on LTE today out of 3.6 billion cellular users worldwide. Three-quarters of the 4G users are in North America, most on AT&T and Verizon nets built mainly with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson systems, starting in 2010.
Most of the rest of the LTE action is in Korea—said to be adding a whopping 250,000 subs a month--and Japan, two countries where Nokia Siemens Networks is getting traction. NSN claims it has 52 LTE contracts in 26 countries, only 22 of them now live.
China’s no slouch either. Li Yue, president of the country’s largest carrier, China Mobile, pledged to install 20,000 base stations this year using the TDD flavor of the technology. The deployments set the stage for as many as three cities to launch services in 2013, he said.
“The first LTE wave is just starting, this should be the year we see big activity,” said Thorsten Robrecht, head of product management for network systems at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
Financial analysts are less bullish. A Nomura research note said it expects “global capex to be flat to down this year.”
Indeed, even a spokeswoman for the GSMA, the carrier trade group that hosts MWC, said the sluggish global economy, maturing markets and regulations are squeezing growth. Making matters worse Europe’s carriers saw average revenue per user decline from 26 euros in 2007 to 20 euros last year, even as data traffic went up.
In the tight climate, Vittorio Colao, chief executive of Vodaphone Group, renewed a call for stakeholders to jointly invest in building next-gen networks. “So far we have not succeeded in getting anyone to do it,” he said in a keynote.
The topic is likely to keep coming up as operators seek ways of sharing the big capital and operational costs of building out next-generation networks, especially as they fan out into small cells in cafes and on lamp posts.
The struggles finding business models for such investments could slow overall deployments, making the ramp of LTE a Long Term Evolution indeed.
Big bucks in small cells?
So far the first generation of LTE nets are all using traditional so-called macro base stations. A second wave of small cells is expected to go in behind them to help keep pace with carriers needs for capacity.
The small cells will help carriers handle an expected 30x increase in mobile data traffic over the next five years, said Ian Miller (below), director of radio networks at Spain’s Telefonica, The carrier deployed about a dozen Alca-Lu small cells around MWC’s giant Fira exhibition center as its first field trial of the technology.
“They work, but prices need to come down from about $2-5,000 euros to less than a thousand euros per small cell,” he said.
Miller may get his wish, because competition will be stiff. Traditional big base station providers and startups who have been mainly selling small so-called femto cells for residential users will converge with a new crop of medium-sized cell designs in 2013. They typically will include 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi and be geared for large businesses and carriers to deploy in building and on lamp posts.
The secret sauce for the so-called pico, micro and metro cells is software that lets carriers easily tie them into their main networks and manage traffic smoothly across all three radios. Standards for such authentication, security and management functions are still being hammered out in the main cellular (3GPP) and Web groups (IETF).
InterDigital showed at MWC an implementation of the so-called IP Flow Mobility technology for handsets and gateways.
On the product front, Ericsson announced at MWC its first pico base station (left), a 128-user device shipping next year that will combine its cellular technology with carrier-grade Wi-Fi from its acquisition of BelAir Networks.
Archrival NSN is planning a 2013 roll out a pico cell (right) using technology it acquired from Motorola that can scale up to meshes of 100 small cells that look to a carrier like one traditional base station.
Alca-Lu claims an advantage. It rolled out its Light Radio small cell concept based on a small cube-shaped antenna module at last year's MWC. Since then it has started work with as many as seven operators co-developing products, a handful of which actually got deployed by Telefonica here in a field trial. However, most observers believe real deployments of small cells won;t start until 2014, giving other players a more even shot at the market.
Among the startups, two companies are said to have the brunt of the femto cell market, One of them, Ubiquisys will start a carrier trial in two months for a new small cell it co-designed with Intel, using a Sandy Bridge processor and Intel Wi-Fi module and 80 Gbyte solid-state drive to handle novel services like Web caching. CTO Will Franks (left) says it fills a hole in giant Ericsson’s product line.
The Intel-based cell could be a break out opportunity for Ubiquisys, letting it sell the potential for differentiating services rather than just a low cost small cell. Indeed, some say the femto cells soured the market for small cells, setting up carrier expectations they were just $100 commodity boxes.
Companies such as Ubiquisys are working hard to add carrier-class management software to the systems, especially for the upcoming models that must manage traffic among 3G, LTE ad Wi-Fi nets. It got a big leg up in the business when NEC and Nokia Siemens Networks agreed to sell the Ubiquisys systems on an OEM basis.
Its close competitor IP.access is putting together a full suite of hardware and software products for carriers and businesses. They span the traveling 3G consumer femto cell shown by Andy Tiller, senior vice president of product strategy and marketing (bottom), to LTE/Wi-Fi access points, gateways and management software.
IP.access got its big break when Cisco purchased its technology to build femto cells for AT&T, in one of the largest carrier deployments of the boxes to date. Now like Ubiquisys and others it is trying to go up market to larger business and carrier cells and more value added software.
The company's gateway's, built by Radisys, current handle up to 20,000 small cells, but next-generation boxes will be expandable to manage up to 180,000 cells. It has a software team to create the complex management code they need that now outnumbers is hardware engineers by 20:1.
Little devices, big traffic
The MWC show was full of devices that will help drive the traffic to drive network growth.
Nvidia and Huawei both showed their latest quad-core application processors driving enough bits to fill big screen high def video displays for movies and low-latency gaming. Huawei rolled out its own smartphones a and tablets (at bottom) using its new K3V2 chip; Nvidia got design wins in smartphones with HTC, Fujitsu, ZTE and others
Mobile payments will be another growth driver, a priority second only to building out LTE nets, said Franco Bernabe, chairman of Telecom Italia. He estimated 1.5 million handsets will use near-field communications to process $50 billion in secure transactions by 2015.
Visa struck a deal at MWC to process secure transactions on Vodaphone’s network, the first of many such tie ups expected over the next few years. Such one-on-one deals are the most sane way of handling all the complexities of how to keep the mobile transactions secure and who gets what slice of the fee for completing them, said a Visa representative.
For example, just in terms of security, some handsets use so-called secure elements on SIM cards, others use microSD cards and some use the Trusted Computing Group's hardware root of trist technique. Visa showed handsets it will support from RIM, LG, Samsung and a third part sleeve for the Apple iPhone 4s.
Meanwhile handset makers from LG to ZTE competed for who had the most LTE capable devices. And of course no wireless show would be complete without a networked vending machine. MWC had at least two, the one (below) from NSN, another at the Visa booth.
New uses for LTE
Among other novel uses for wireless, Ericsson showed a capability to use up to 60 percent of an LTE band to broadcast live television (below). Meanwhile NSN demoed the low latency of LTE with a robot that took like streaming commands over 4G (bottom).
An appetite for business
MWC is clearly a big business. Telecom OEMs such as Ericsson fly carrier execs from around the world to the event, hosting them at its cavernous hospitality hall (left), complete with restaurant and café.
Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei had similar giant pavillions where food and drink flowed, along with big operator business deals, they hope. Even small players get into the act with booths that double as pubs (below right).
In a sign of the bucks flying around, I casually bumped into a chief engineer from Sri Lanka's main telecom carrier. He was planning to release a $150 million request for proposal for 2,000 3G and LTE base stations after his trip. The contract would effectively double the number of the small country's cell sites.
Much of the buzz among the big telecom OEMs surrounded Chian's Huawei. It's pavilion was crowded until the last day of MWC. Unlike its rivals hospitality suites, Huawei was so oversubscribed, it closed its area to anyone who did not have a prearranged appointment.
A representative of one African carrier I talked to said the company is offering substantially lower prices for its hardware and is generally more flexible and attentive in its support than the traditional European players. In short, the company is hungry. Thus the carrier is about to start a major shift from Ericsson to Huawei, he said.
Meanwhile the so-called “over the top” crowd of mobile Web service providers gave a jeans-and-T-shirts contrast to the black-suited telecom crowd. The rough and tumble Android pavilion with its freebie ice cream sandwiches was the polar opposite of the Ericsson suite.
Dramatic chance encounters
At the end of the day, it was amazing to recall the wide variety of people you could casually encounter at MWC. Some packed quite a punch. Pow!
責(zé)編：Quentin
