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O2: The future's WiMax?
The operator searches for a killer app and a consumer launch date

By Jo Best

Published: Wednesday 29 September 2004

While O2 announced the launch of its 3G business service this week and while it may be able to differentiate itself with Wi-Fi, its 3G data services notch up precisely the same speed as all its rivals.

Is there a high speed future on the cards when 3G just isn’t fast enough any more?

It’s possible. Grahame Riddell, O2’s head of mobile data marketing, said that if there wasn’t sufficient demand, 3G may never spread that far – but the company is examinign some new technologies to put high speeds in the hands of the masses.

Both HSDPA and WiMax are being put under the spotlight but neither has the official green light for the future. "Whether WiMax comes into play, we’ll have to wait and see," Ridell said. "They’re still in their infancy, we can’t say if these technologies will be successful."

Although WiMax would be a nice addition for the businesspeople on the move, consumers are still yet to see any 3G offerings from O2 for them, while rival Vodafone has already announced it hopes to snap up the Christmas trade with a plethora of third generation handsets.

02 won’t divulge when it intends to launch its 3G consumer service – it has an internal target but isn’t sharing the information – with a range of handsets being the key to weaning the average consumer onto 3G, according to Ridell.

"For consumer to walk into a shop and be genuinely interested, [they] need at least that range [10 or more] of devices. Moving forward, range is important – the device is still king," he said, adding he expected 3G to really take off around Christmas 2005.

With the UK’s first third generation consumer service having clocked up around 18 months in existence, the 3G data services and video calling boom is yet to become a reality – and Hutchison Whampoa-parented 3 is still selling itself as a cheap voice provider.

Is there a killer app for 3G? Video calling has issues to overcome before it can edge into the mainstream, Ridell said: "Video calling won’t take off until the interoperability is [guaranteed]. It might be a killer app."