Day 1 at GigaOm’s Mobilize Conference

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 John Gallagher, Sr. Public Relations Manager

This year Mobilize has been split into two days and more people are expected than last year – but it’s somewhat calmer than last year, which makes connecting with other people a little easier.

On Day One there has been a lot of conversation on the topic of 4G (and not enough on Wi-Fi in my mind.) We had both T-Mobile and Sprint talking about the power of their networks – not much on the AT&T proposed acquisition of T-Mobile though.

Cole Brodman, CMO of T-Mobile said that the demands on the T-Mobile network is doubling every six months currently – and half of that demand is video. Never has there been a more important time for offload requirements! He also added that 1 in 5 people who access social networks are doing so via smartphones. “Mobile and social networks are fueling each other,” said Brodman and added that 75 percent of the devices sold by T-Mobile are smartphones – with 90 percent of those sales being Android. Clearly, T-Mobile is betting on Android.

While T-Mobile has tiered plans on offer with no contracts, depending on your requirements, he did illustrate that T-Mobile’s 4G devices (that account for 20 percent of their devices) does account for 50 percent of their data traffic. Clearly 4G is fueling these devices but it also begs concern about bill shock and overages. It’s clearly much easier to consume increasing amounts of data with 4G great for the carriers, not so great for consumers.

Sprint appear to be taking a different tack with their customers offering unlimited plans – which drew the question: How long can you keep offering unlimited data? Stephen Bye, the CTO of Sprint did offer an interesting answer – one that he states analysts are missing. “Clearly there’s a cost [of unlimited data]… but what is often missed is the cost for care and support,” said Bye.

He talked about the costs of service credits and call centers. He also added that Sprint is looking at the cost structure of the network and as engineers, they are looking at network modernization. They want to design a network that is purposely built for data and not for voice, that also reduces the cost structure of Sprint’s network.

Day Two should provide more insight for the Enterprise, so stay tuned for a blog from my colleague.

Photo by Pinar Ozger

 

Tags: 4G network, carriers, wi-fi access