Looking back on the MAC

My takeout from the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong last week:

TD-LTE is coming

FDD-LTE will be the dominant LTE technology by far. But TD will be central to 4G in a way that its 3G predecessor never was. The GSMA is pushing heavily for all devices to support both flavours. With around 16 chip firms joining the game, including the big guys players, that looks possible. Tommi Uitto, head of Nokia Siemens’ global LTE radio group, estimates TD-LTE will take about 25%-30% of the market.

Data overflow

Both NTT DoCoMo and KDDI are rolling out LTE networks. But they’re building out massive Wi-Fi overflow networks as well. DoCoMo is adding another 20-25k+ hotspots, and may take that to 100k. KDDI is already plotting 100k hotspots and has earmarked its FTTH and Wimax networks for overflow duty. Operators believe the arrival of LTE is going to make networks more, not less, congested.

Mobile data paradox

That’s how NTT DoCoMo’s Ryuji Yamada phrased it, meaning data on the network is skyrocketing while revenue is proportionally shrinking. It’s not new, but it’s now top of the agenda. Every CEO at MAC last week voiced concern about it. Either they’re lost for talking points or they really don’t see a solution.

Stat of the week

548GB. The monthly download of a P1 user in Malaysia. The company checked him out: he was selling pirated videos.