By
Jane Wakefield
BBC News Online technology staff
Third-generation phones promise faster internet services, video clips
and colour photos but a growing number of experts are questioning whether
the data revolution will ever happen and whether users want it in the
first place.
For some, 3G will stand for girls, gambling and games - the only content
that will prove popular on the phones.
Mobile
expert and Managing Director of TDK Systems Nick Hunn said users of
a trial 3G network in the Isle of Man have been underwhelmed by their
experience. "The cynical view is that the phones are useful only
as hand-warmers because they are big and run hot," he said. 3G
phones will be able to play video clips
Third generation mobile services were conceived as a huge leap forward
in the way we use our phones. An enormous range of data-based services
such as video clips and faster internet services can in theory be offered
on the 3G mobile network.
As telecom firms struggle to come to terms with the albatross of debt due to the inflated prices many paid for licenses, critics have suggested that 3G will do more to stifle the development of mobile services than it will to revolutionise it. It may even result in a two-tiered pricing system with UK consumers losing out.
Higher prices
Mr Hunn is representative of many who think telecoms firms were too quick to believe their own hype and blind to the real consequences of their purchase.
"In effect by buying 3G networks at absurd prices, operators have mortgaged the future of mobile telephony. It was little more than vanity purchasing," he said.
UK
users could end up paying twice as much as someone in Scandinavia
Nick Hunn, TDK Systems
There are vast inequalities in the prices paid for 3G licenses across
Europe. In Scandinavia, operators paid relatively little up-front, opting
instead to give the government a share of profits once services were
up and running.
In other countries, including the UK, operators paid billions for the 3G networks.
As many of the big players have interests in a variety of countries, consumers could pay the real price, predicted Mr Hunn.
"It could be that a two-tier mobile infrastructure develops where consumers in countries that paid the higher license fee subsidising the others. UK users could end up paying twice as much as someone in Scandinavia," he said.
This autumn will see the 3G ball set in motion in the UK as Hutchison becomes the first of the five British operators to roll out a full network.
The rest have delayed their plans, saying it is too early for 3G services.
Developments in the rest of Europe suggest that not all operators are as brave as Hutchison. In July Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica decided to cut its losses and ditch its 3G mobile operations in all but the Spanish-speaking world.
Despite wiping 4.49bn euros off its value for the closure of 3G operations in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, shares immediately rose on the news suggesting share-holders at least were relieved to be free of the burden of 3G.
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