Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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Concerns over debt management denting confidence in commercial success
of 3G
April 10, 2003
SECOR Consulting, an independent management consultancy providing advice
to the communications industry, this week released the results of its
survey, Global Communications Industry Credit and Debt Management Survey,
which confirmed the view that there are likely to be significant debt
problems as a result of 3G. A resounding 100% of the respondents from
wireless operators believe that debt is likely to rise with the introduction
of 3G.
The survey, conducted amongst finance directors and heads of credit management
from leading communications companies around the world, identified seven
key problem areas for debt management as a result of 3G services that
were ranked in order of significance as:
* Pricing complexities
* Billing errors
* Disagreements with service/content providers
* Billing delay
* High customer usage resulting in large bills
* Lack of real time data
* Network coverage problems.
3G will offer a multiplicity of tariffs and rates for services and a
much wider variety of products. As such it is no surprise that pricing
complexities and billing errors are cited by the survey as the two most
inevitable problems facing the success and profitability of 3G. Complex
discounting structures that will, in some cases, work retrospectively
as well as a multitude of third party information from Internet service
providers, retailers and subsidy/advertising revenue associates will complicate
the billing process with direct impact on revenue. "In short there is
real danger that when the cake of revenue is sliced up, the sum of the
parts may amount to more than the operator collects!" explains Richard
Brown, senior principal consultant at SECOR.
"The instantaneous nature of 3G technology and the services it enables
will almost certainly create an expectation amongst customers for real
time account information to be available. This in turn will mean that
billing systems must be much faster than they are currently, but operators
must ensure that the control and management of debt does not suffer as
a result. The room for error, with retrospective and multiple re-rating
of the same calls, will undoubtedly be an issue," continues Brown.
"Coverage problems will also prove a significant challenge for accurate
and effective billing and account management. For example, if networks
for 3G services open with coverage of major cities only, then customers
will lose the service as they travel beyond those areas of coverage. The
disputes with service/content providers over payment and the customer
service implications could be horrendous," concludes Brown.
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3G Motorola A920
