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Leader: Faith in the next generation?
3G paying off as 4G arrives on the scene

By silicon.com

Published: Thursday 25 August 2005

In the early days of Hutchison Whampoa rolling out 3G networks in various countries - not all that long ago but at a pretty dire time for telecoms, if you remember - there were those who considered the ventures worthless.

And when we write worthless, we don't mean without merit but simply not worth a penny.

Granted, these types weren't necessarily working at other mobile operators or even within the telecoms industry. They tended to be financiers in the City and other financial centres.

Has that situation been reversed? Has 3 won critics over? Not all that many. Some might still consider the whole pureplay third-generation idea folly. Hutch's networks around the world have at times claimed pretty high Arpus (the all-important average revenue per user) but have had little significance for business customers.

That said, we could be at something of a turning point. The company's Italian network has hit break-even and the UK might follow. An IPO then looks like the next move, say those in the know - and that most definitely does involve having a value.

The long and short of this is it wasn't that long ago that there was a stigma around most things 3G. Now today we also hear that China and Japan are to sign an agreement for 4G technology. That's right, 4G. Know what that entails? Well, if you don't, you're not alone. Some people in the industry are talking about 4G meaning various things - meshing different types of mobile and wireless network together, even faster speeds, for sure - but there is no consensus.

Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has been at the vanguard of 3G, has been talking about 4G for some time. And companies in neighbouring South Korea have been no slouches in the mobile and wireless stakes. But China isn't a leader in this area, despite for some time boasting more individual mobile users than any other country.

The point is that both China and Japan see next-generation technologies as key and clearly see advantages in partnering.

Hutch's 'great leap' (not trying to paraphrase Mao) may just yet pay off. Our heart tells us that looking to more cutting-edge technologies must be the way forward, even if a couple of years back our head said it's better to play it safe.