7 facts about the upcoming #MWC13

In about a month Barcelona will host the biggest and most exciting event and show of the year, the Mobile World Congress 2013 (25-28 February 2013). It is the 8^th consistent year that the event takes place in Barcelona and will continue till 2018. But what are some facts you need to know about this year’s event?

1. The change of venue might cause some issues to the visitors that were used to the previous central and very convenient location but also knew very well their way through the Halls. You should be ready to dive into the unknown. However the new venue (Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via map) located close to the airport, although it will be hard to reach, no metro around just some buses, it is 30% larger than the previous one (94,000 sqm)
2. GSMA reports 10% more bookings than last year
3. 140 government representatives (for the first time) are expected to raise interest about spectrum issues and regulation, crucial for the smooth mobile market’s operation
4. Samsung  is expected to launch officially  the Galaxy Note 8 inch tablet, as Samsung’s mobile head JK Shin recently confirmed. It includes quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 1280x800 resolution and 5MP rear camera.
5. The Near Field Communication (NFC) setup and experience is expected to assist the visitors with new applications. NFC center and interactive zones will allow the visitors to collect information about the exhibition venues, locations, events, places of interest etc. Interesting and progressive feature, however NFC is not supported from all smartphones.
6. The GSMA Connected City is one of the event’s highlights. A real city’s street will show how advanced mobile services can promote innovation, economic growth and new business ideas. The solutions will be supplied from AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, GSMA, KT, Telenor and Vodafone.
7. Greece, for the first time, will participate with its own national kiosk, sending the message, “Technology born in Greece goes global”, where 25 Greek startups and businesses will present their products and services.

Source: ExelixisNet, http://exelixisnet.com/?p=437

An all built-in 2012 presented flat growth for the microwave industry

Mobile operators continue to invest heavily in LTE networks during 2012 and towards 2013 offering more capacity to their 3G subscribers, very often they face the difficult task of choosing solutions that will allow them to seamlessly maintain their businesses during the transition to pure packet networks. The several microwave solutions are a good and cost effective option. These solutions across different frequencies and architectures are able to maintain enough capacity to ensure superb Quality of Experience (QoE) for end users as the demand for data consumption continues to grow.

2012 has been a very dynamic year, with lots of competition among vendors, where operators are as always  in the driver’s seat evaluating and maintaining two or even more microwave suppliers in quiet aggressive agreements. Lots of reforming and new products anticipating either an aggressive small cells evolution or faster LTE networks deployment. Overall it’s been a flat year (2012) with a small increase in the basket of shipped links or contracts for most microwave suppliers when other especially the exclusive E-Band suppliers managed to sustain business.