Re: Mobile network costs -- was -- MW4D & Accessibility

Hi Mira,
> Given the recovery rates of the set-up costs of mobile networks in rural 
> areas, I was wondering how the group sees the potential for the use of 
> WiMAX in rural areas. Do you think that it might be a technology 
> relevant to our roadmap?

my view is that infrastructure is not the focus of this group. There are 
lots of organization focusing on moible broadband, lowering costs for 
network access and so on. Most of international organiztion like !itu 
are focusing only on infrastructure. At the origin of this work, i had 
th eidea that while infrastructure was attracting all the attention, 
nobody was really looking at the content aspect, and that's one of the 
major reason of this group.
Clearly the world is not separated in content and infrastructure, and 
there is an overlap, which i believe is investigated in the roadmap for 
now. but we should not go down further too much in that area.

Cheers
Steph
> Thanks,
> Mira
> 
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 10:29 AM, <Lauri.K.Hirvonen@nokia.com 
> <mailto:Lauri.K.Hirvonen@nokia.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Hello team
> 
>     I like to comment the cost (of operation of
>     the mobile network).
> 
>     In less populated areas, it is very expensive
>     to build mobile networks.
> 
>     In cities, big cities, it is much cheaper.
>     (= more users to share the cost of
>     building and operating mobile network.)
> 
>     This is also true in more developed countries
>     like Finland. It is always the highest populated
>     areas, that are built first. The less populated
>     areas are the last one to be built.
> 
>     The government of Finland has mandated the
>     mobile phone operator to offer services also
>     to less populated areas. Operator do it by
>     increasing the charges to everyone which
>     allows them to built mobile coverage to
>     less populated areas, where the pay-back
>     by it's use is low. So populated cities
>     are covering also the cost of running
>     rural areas.
> 
>     This allows that the voice call tariffs are
>     the same in big cities and in rural areas.
> 
>     I have heard, that in some "developing countries"
>     the first operator to build a mobile network
>     do make a contract with country government.
> 
>     Typically those contracts gives them "monopoly"
>     for certain period. That means, that the government
>     will not give license to an other mobile network
>     operator. So no competition.
> 
>     But also government want their share. In many
>     countries the mobile phone is listed in luxury
>     item category and the taxation is high. They
>     charge import custom tax for the product and
>     it can be very high. (So end user has to pay
>     higher price.) Also the mobile operator's
>     center equipment can have this high import
>     tax. It makes it for operator more
>     expensive to pay back, this means again
>     higher prices to users.
> 
>     This is often the situation to have the first
>     mobile network in the country. Later when the
>     "first operator is profitable and managed
>     to cover most of the building costs" the country
>     can allow new mobile operators to enter
>     the country mobile market. This then
>     increases competition and usually lower
>     the price for use of mobile phone.
> 
>     It would be nice if organization like "World Bank"
>     could offer loan for operator to built
>     mobile network. The loan could be negotiated
>     to cover longer period (to pay it back). This
>     means, operator can offer the mobile service
>     to users with lower prices.
> 
>     Br. Lauri
> 
>      >-----Original Message-----
>      >From: public-mw4d-request@w3.org <mailto:public-mw4d-request@w3.org>
>      >[mailto:public-mw4d-request@w3.org
>     <mailto:public-mw4d-request@w3.org>] On Behalf Of ext Stephane Boyera
>      >Sent: 06 August, 2009 13:10
>      >To: Yoshiko Kurisaki
>      >Cc: Judy Brewer; public-mw4d@w3.org <mailto:public-mw4d@w3.org>
>      >Subject: Re: MW4D & Accessibility
>      >
>      >Dear Yoshiko,
>      >
>      >thanks for your support.
>      >
>      >> Allow me to propose another point of accessibility, Network
>      >> accessibility
>      >
>      >This is indeed a very important point. This is not really
>      >accessibility in the sense it is described in the 6.1.1
>      >section, but the cost, due to monopoly is clearly an issue;
>      >This will be covered in section 6.1.5 around costs
>      >
>      >best
>      >Stephane
>      >
>      >--
>      >Stephane Boyera                stephane@w3.org
>     <mailto:stephane@w3.org>
>      >W3C                            +33 (0) 5 61 86 13 08
>      >BP 93                          fax: +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 22
>      >F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
>      >France
>      >
>      >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr Mira Slavova
> 
> ICT4D Consultant
> Mobile Market Design 4 Development
> mmd4d.org <http://mmd4d.org>
> ++44 (0)7734 408829

-- 
Stephane Boyera		stephane@w3.org
W3C				+33 (0) 5 61 86 13 08
BP 93				fax: +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 22
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,		
France

Received on Monday, 10 August 2009 12:05:36 UTC