WIRELESS INTERNET

How Technology, especially Wireless Internet, has changed the way we do business?

How Technology, especially Wireless Internet, has changed the way we do business?

Introduction

Telecommunication exists everywhere, - at home, at work, at school, and even in cars - so it would be extremely difficult for anyone to be unaware of the popular trends in existing and emerging telecommunications technologies. In realizing these trends, past and present telecommunications technologies must be examined along with the measures currently being taken to improve them so that future trends can be predicted and developed.

World Telecommunication Development Report

The International Telecommunications Union recently released a World Telecommunication Development Report (WDTR), which offers guidance on how to measure information and communication technology (ICT) access around the world. The report points out that there is a gap between digital and statistical data "within and between richer and poorer nations" (Minges et al., 2003). Michael Minges, the report's lead author, states in it that poor economies are ignored when Internet user surveys are conducted. He goes on to say that governments must become more actively involved in measuring access to ICTs in their respective nations in order to rise above the "data divide". The report listed twenty-three e-ITU indicators, assembled by the International Telecommunications Union, that are based on the results of existing data and new analyses and surveys. The list could be considered as a global standard for accumulating equivalent data to keep tabs on how the information society is developing globally.

Telecommunications in Transition

The largest movement in global telecommunications today is the beginning of the transition from wired to wireless. According to an industry report by Technology Futures Incorporated (TFI), the use of wire lines and access lines is being replaced by cable and wireless telephony technologies. The report also states that more than "ten percent of the access line market" has been captured by competitive-exchange telecommunications companies in North America (Robison, 2007). Phillip Sundquist, fund manager of Clariden Communications in Zurich, Switzerland, notes that many companies are investing in wireless, broadband, and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technologies since their central business - fixed-line voice service, is shrinking. Sundquist goes on to say that most European companies are not absolute telecoms but "fully integrated operators with wireless divisions." Therefore they still have to deal with the decline in revenues of fixed-line services (Reinhardt "Telecom Picks from a Pro, 2010).

Telecommunications and Revenue Issues

Though wireless is becoming more popular among consumers, profits for the telecommunications industry as a whole are falling even with wireless profits increasing (Rosenbush, 2003). The profit margins and revenues of traditional telephone companies have steadily decreased since 2001 and will continue to decline in the future (Rosenbush, 2003). Because the wireless communication industry has grown at such a rapid rate since 2000, it is set to overtake traditional telephony in as little as two years if growth continues at its current rate. The Deloitte Telco Index, which is a global overview of the telecommunications sector, reported recently that worldwide telecommunications companies had suffered large losses in market capitalization ...