The communications industry has been working to realize fully converged networks for nearly a decade.  The benefits are obvious:  instead of running separate networks for each application, a single network capable of running all the applications provides increased efficiency and flexibility.  Furthermore, new applications can be envisioned, created and deployed without the need for modifications to the network or worse, the deployment of entirely new networks. more…

Winner: Apple - Despite the economic downturn, slowing iPhone sales, and CEO Steve Jobs’ health problems, Apple turned in a record net profit of $1.61bn for its first fiscal quarter - up 6% from last year’s first quarter. The iPhone sold 4.4m units, which although represents a 36% drop in sales compared to the previous quarter, is still better than some had predicted. Apple saw a shift to international sales, which now account for 46% of the firm’s total across all products. The company sold 13.7m iPhones in 2008, exceeding its target of 10m. A year ago its quarterly revenue from the handset was $241m, compared to $1.25bn this time around. For the current quarter, Apple is predicting revenue of $7.6bn to $8bn and earnings per share of 90 cents to $1.

Loser: Unwired - Australian wireless service provider Unwired is struggling to meet cost projections for its national metropolitan WiMax network. The network was expected to rollout in major Australian cities for about $200m, but rising financing costs due to the global economic crisis have increased this amount by 10-15%. Unwired chief executive David Spence explained that "there are so many other projects that people can invest in and so many other cheap assets that we're competing against. We'd like to build the network for 10-15 per cent less than what we were proposing a year ago." Unwired is now looking to slash between $20m and $30m from the cost of the network. Unwired initially had trouble securing a technology supplier after the WiMax Forum had difficulties reaching agreement on specifications for network equipment. After several other delays, the project is already more than a year late. In 2005 Intel provided a $37m capital injection to Unwired. Yet although Intel has backed WiMax, it has thus far fallen far short of the chipmaker's expectation that it would become widely used in laptops. Meanwhile, 3G wireless broadband based on HSPA (backed by the GSM Association) has been gaining momentum.

Three WiMAX Licenses Awarded in Hong Kong

The auction of WiMAX licenses in Hong Kong is complete, with three winners: Genius Brand, CSL and China Mobile (Hong Kong). A total of 90 MHz of radio spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band was awarded.

"The successful bidders will be able to deploy the next generation Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technologies and offer a variety of advanced high-speed multimedia services. This should create a lot of opportunities for both network operators and providers of content and service applications," a spokesperson of the telecoms regulator, OFTA said. "With the participation of five bidders, we went through a total of 56 rounds of bidding over the past nine business days."

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