On the move - Industry Trend or Event

CommunicationsWeek International, May 8, 2000 by Joanne Taaffe

But not everyone is so sure.

Software companies, systems integrators and would-be virtual mobile operators are all edging in for a piece of the pie. As a result, the role that mobile operators, used to controlling access to voice, will play in the delivery of applications and services to businesses is still being defined.

"In a way we're still establishing that role--how much we want to do and how much of the value chain we [can have]," says Nicky Hodgson, marketing executive of value added data and services at Vodafone AirTouch plc, which already offers simple location-based mobile text message and security services to vertical industries. Such applications, however, take a long time to develop. What is missing is what Hodgson calls 'horizontal or off-the-shelf data applications," such as e-mail.

Some early horizontal applications will become available with the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) over GSM, but Vodafone does not expect mobile data applications really to take off before the introduction of GPRS. The sticking points are the current limited access speeds, and the fact that interfaces between different operators' networks remain closed.

"WAP is very much a learning curve[ldots]With GPRS we'll have open interfaces, [but] at the moment the interface depends very much on the [individual] phone," says Hodgson.

Like Vodafone, mobile operator Orange plc, of Bristol, England, which last month paid [pound]4.1 billion for a U.K. 3G license, wants to avoid becoming a mere conduit for data. "It's important to have a relationship with the corporate customer," said a company spokesman. Orange is still testing the waters and is currently trialing data services over high-speed circuit switched data networks, an interim step between GSM and GPRS. The company, which says it is still in the process of evaluating software applications, intends to give corporate users mobile access to their company intranets through an Orange portal.

But mobile operators may have a hard task convincing corporate customers they have the skills to provide the services corporate users demand. "Mobile operators don't have the best reputation to target corporate customers. They need to team up with systems integators to off0er solutions," says Lehtoranta of Nokia.

Recognizing this, Vodafone AirTouch is in the early stages of working with systems integrators and large soft ware companies to develop enterprise services, which it plans to offer on an international basis. Businesses that want to access their intranets via WAP can choose to host their own WAP gateways, which will link to their own application servers and firewalls. Other, smaller companies may prefer to hand the task of running the WAP gateway over to the operator or a service provider.

And when it comes to offering business services such as hosting and systems integration, operators with fixed and mobile interests and a portfolio of large fixed enterprise clients are likely to be better placed than pure mobile operators. France Telecom, for example, will deliver its corporate mobile services not through its mobile subsidiary, Itineris, but through its France Telecom Enterprise division.