Telepocalypse

One to watch

According to The Feature, Siemens are working with Flarion to deploy FLASH-OFDM technology in the 450Mhz range. I’ve written previously about Flarion and why it’s a significant technology.

This announcement is interesting because it very much follows a “disruptive innovation” trendline. The frequency band in question isn’t universally available around the world, so isn’t attractive to high-end business customers who travel internationally. But the lower frequency means much better in-building signal penetration, as well as lower cell site density (as the article notes). The spectrum is also pretty cheap. This means more attractive economics than traditional 3G services in achieving acceptable coverage. The average user couldn’t care less about megabit throughputs on a mobile handset, so the lower frequency and peak throughput isn’t a big deal. Plus Flarion’s FLASH-OFDM is highly spectrally efficient when measured by total system throughput (rather than peak throughput for any one handset).

Expect to see VoIP being deployed in this frequency, and innovative services that attract sub-prime market segments (such as teen users). If I was to launch a Skype phone, what Siemens are doing is exactly what I’d be doing to get there. Expect future surprises.