Mobile phones are well known for their ease of moving around and roaming from one cellular network to another, hence the name “mobile”. Different telecommunication companies have been competing on who will acquire the largest market share in this industry. They do this by developing products that will attract as many mobile users as possible in terms of internet access and ease of navigation through the gadget or handset. Early, mobile handsets could only make some calls and no any other services were available. The technology advanced to sending short messages and further advancements are currently available that support complex services such as live video streaming. A good example of this is where a mobile user can watch a live football match from a mobile phone or a remote worker viewing a board meeting proceedings on his/her handset only to mention but a few. Later, mobile users could share different files and documents using a wireless technology commonly known as Bluetooth. Different features have continued to be added to mobile phones giving every person a reason to own one.
In this perspective, the telecommunication industry has completely changed the way we conduct businesses. It has even affected financial institution in a positive way where a person with a mobile phone can perform financial transactions such as cash withdrawal or depositing. This kind of services are widely used in Asia and is being offered by various telecom companies in the region. Such companies have acquired a larger percentage of the market share due to their reliable and affordable services. These kinds of services have resulted to many business opportunities and also the ease of bill payments etc. Many businesses today rely on telecommunication services, which mean, they are much reliable and cheaper. Another good example of transformation by telecommunication industry is the mode of learning. Students can attend classes online and access their reading materials from their mobile phones. Another exciting example is where a person can monitor his/her house or home and control the electronic equipment using a mobile phone. The owner of the house can see what is happening around his/her home by viewing the live video streams that are sent from the cctv cameras to the mobile phone. Various exciting features are being added on a daily basis to the new mobile phones. Some of these features are light-weight gadgets, high screen resolution, longer battery life and larger memory space.
Accordingly, fixed networks commonly known as wired networks are largely being replaced by wireless networks. The advancement of wired networks to wireless networks is what that has contributed to the emergence of wireless mobile phones. Mobile phones are relatively cheaper hence a large number of the world’s population can afford at least one. In United Kingdom, about 75% of the total population and 90% of young boys and girls own a mobile phone and even some people own more than one mobile phone. The ease to afford a mobile phone has resulted to installation of base transceiver stations (telecommunication equipment that provide wireless network in a particular area) in the rural areas making it possible to access mobile services regardless of the location.
Many mobile phone technologies are rapidly emerging based on the wireless networks and mobile phones themselves. Complex networks are rapidly being implemented that support high speed data transfer rates to provide undisrupted services when bulky data such as pictures, videos etc. are being transferred over the network. Emergence of the internet has resulted to so many business opportunities hence the need to advance and maintain it in order to create room for more users without interrupting the normal flow of operations.
Many telecommunication companies like Bharti Airtel, France Telecom, China Unicom etc. have taken advantage of majority mobile phone users in their respective areas to be among the best and successful telecommunication companies in the world. Such companies do this by offering best services at a relatively cheaper price. Their services must be reliable and of high quality in order to sustain their customers. Majority of these companies offer technical services, such as installation and maintenance of network equipment, and also concentrate on business services. They have realized that outsourcing the later services i.e. technical services are much cheaper and more manageable. This has led to telecommunication industry being divided into various categories. Many of them known to mobile users only offer services such as calls, short messages, internet access, video call etc. while provision of network i.e. a medium through which communication takes place is the responsibility of another company that is unknown to mobile users.
In Canada, growth of the market in the wireless industry is rapid. In 2006, Canada reported over 90% of households to be landlines and over 66% to be owning at least a mobile phone. The highest usage of cell phone was reported within Alberta at 80% rate. The penetration of wireless rate in Canada is 54%. Canadian mobile revenue grew by over 100% yearly. Over 80% of Canadians have subscribed to mobile phones and over 40% use smartphones. Mobile customers in Canada increased rapidly because four companies were licenced due to increased innovations. Technology has advanced rapidly and now more than one frequency can share a single channel in a technology known as multiplexing. Data services and messaging are key factors of rapid growth and are resulting to reforming of mobile markets. Many mobile companies focus on the Data and messaging services when marketing. This is because many customers spend their time on the internet compared to making calls. Data consumption has become the most crucial part of every business hence mobile companies keep working on advancing the data rate speed and providing high quality offers to its customers. A report says that ARPU resulting from Canadian mobile companies was estimated to be $48 in Canada. This rate is relatively lower compared to that of United States which are estimated to be $48.40. This is because United States has more than seven mobile operators were competing with landline service operators. This proofs that the higher the completion among Telecom companies in a region, the higher the ARPU.
In conclusion, mobile phone technology has completely transformed the world in terms of economic development and business operations. Telecommunication industry has greatly contributed to economic development by rapidly increasing the GDP growth rate hence leading to a stable economy. If we support this industry, emergence of newer, more advanced and economic friendly services will be available in the market which will in turn result to growth in domestic GDP and economic stability.
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