Over committed vendor financing, serious questions concerning the viability of the technology, the need for 3G, and Sept. 11, made 2001 an unforgettable year for the cellular industry, according to In-Stat/MDR (www.instat.com).
The high-tech research firm's 2001 wireless awards summary reports that even though fourth quarter performance gives cause for concern, wireless award values have almost doubled over the past five years and deployment of new, higher speed hardware with CDMA 1x, GPRS and EDGE is proceeding at a record pace.
According to Ray Jodoin, a principal analyst at In-Stat/MDR, "The industry has arrived at a crucial position following a year of unrealistically high spectrum licensing fees and an exacerbation of deployment expectations by a lack of handsets for W-CDMA."
It has become mandatory to meet consumer expectations and ensure that the content is available at a reasonable cost. In the Americas, multiple standards, a lack of new spectrum and lack of calling-party-pays leadership all pose significant threats to progress.
"While handset issues should not interfere with infrastructure procurement and deployment, they have, nevertheless, proven to be a convenient excuse to delay deployments," said Jodoin.
W-CDMA deployment delays will be especially problematical for Ericsson and Nokia, since such a large part of their growth is tied to this particular air link. The short-term postponements will be partially mitigated by carriers extending the capabilities of existing 2G systems by provisioning them with GPRS and even possibly EDGE upgrades.
In-Stat/MDR also found that in 2001:

-- ROW was the largest region in contract awards, with China representing 49.9% of that regional total, representing 21.8% of total worldwide awards for the year.
-- Lucent had the largest share of the CDMA market, while Nokia reigned supreme in the GSM and W-CDMA markets.
-- GSM accounted for 44.9% of the market share, followed by CDMA 1x and W-CDMA.

The report, 2001 Wireless Awards Summary (#IN020319GW) provides 2001 Wireless contract awards, sorted by date, manufacturer, air link and geographic region. To purchase this report, or for more information, please visit: http://www.instat.com/catalog/cat-cw.htm or contact Erin McKeighan; emckeighan@instat.com at 480/609-4551. The report price is $2,995.
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The mobile industry is one of the most acronym loaded industries with new terms appearing on a daily basis, and older terms being reused in various ways. Many of us often find the need to refer to Internet-based dictionaries. These dictionaries often only contain high-tech industry terms, and are not specific to the wireless industry.
In-Stat/MDR's wireless group has created the following mobile glossary focused on the wireless industry by compiling terms from our reports. In-Stat/MDR (http://www.instat.com) offers a broad range of information resources and analytical assets to technology vendors, service providers, technology professionals, and market specialists worldwide.
The company stands alone in its ability to integrate both supply-side and demand-side research methodologies into a single comprehensive view of technology markets and products. This capability relies on a unique ability to cover the entire value chain from engineering-level technology, through equipment, infrastructure, services and end-users.
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