Perceived lack of value puts businesses off 3G

The telecoms industry still has much work to do to meet the basic telephony requirements of businesses before companies consider investing in third-generation (3G) mobile technology, say experts.

Telecoms providers are seeking ways to increase sales from their large investment in 3G infrastructure, but corporate users will be slow to adopt new mobility services because of a perceived lack of value from current voice offerings, the 3GSM World Congress conference heard last week.

'3G will compound the problems we have with voice today,' said Daniel Taylor, managing director of user group the Mobile Enterprise Alliance. 'It will only get worse with data.'

Investor research suggests that companies spent $16bn (£8.4bn) worldwide on mobility technology last year, excluding ongoing monthly expenditure on data and voice services, says Taylor.

This shows a lack of understanding of business needs by telecoms providers, he says, with companies unlikely to make use of current 3G services such as music downloads or video-calling.

Jessica Figueras, wireless software research director for analyst Ovum, says the industry has set expectations too high to deliver proper value to business users.

'3G is a great illustration of enterprises preferring the basics such as lower cost and better bandwidth, as well as better customer care and billing options,' she said.

Business products should include a generic corporate telephony offering, including components for serving mobile and remote workers, says Taylor.

This would need to comprise electronic billing and payment facilities direct to the operator, as well as online ordering systems to manage spending and procurement more efficiently.

A good helpdesk facility to save companies from having to create their own; clear service level agreements for data services, bandwidth, latency and helpdesk response times; and a network-level capability for managing applications accessed remotely are also requirements for business users, he says.

Network coverage, geographical roaming and professional integration services are also areas of weakness.

'We also need devices without digital cameras,' said Taylor. 'You'd think it a simple request, but this is a hot enterprise topic. Most firms won't let cameras anywhere near their business.'

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