Wireless changes everything
The rapid development in the telecoms sector in the past 20 years has not only significantly changed the very fabric of how business is conducted, but also dramatically altered people's lives and behavior. Just look at the incredulous growth of mainland China's mobile subscriptions - from 20,000 in 1990 to a whopping 747 million as of the end of 2009. The mobile broadband evolution has further expanded opportunities beyond what we could have possibly imagined 20 years ago, and this has helped push the technology envelope closer to realizing the vision of an all-communicating world.
The competition landscape has also changed tremendously - starting with 10 players back in the 1990s, There are all but five major players, two of which are China-based companies, left in the industry today.
- Mats Olsson, Head of China & North East Asia, Ericsson
Global, mobile and virtualized
The three major business trends are companies going global, going mobile and going virtual. Half of the sales of the companies on the S&P 500 come from operations outside the US. The number of mobile workers worldwide exceeds 400 million. Mobility creates many new opportunities, but also new challenges, such as the need to give employees on the go access to networks and applications, and to do that on a wide and growing range of wireless devices. Advanced communications networks allow companies to connect their computing capabilities anywhere in the world. When computing resources become virtual, companies can manage key business functions, regardless of location, in new ways.
- Bernard Yee, Vice President, AT&T Asia Pacific
MORE ARTICLES ON TELECOM ASIA 20TH ANNIVERSARY:
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- Where are they now?
- A lonely night in Singapore
- Telecom Asia: life begins at 20