Dawn of 4G WiMAX and the 5 Giants

Nokia joins Intel, Samsung and Motorola in creating advance infrastructure for 4G WiMAX. It also announced it signed a pact with Sprint Nextel to be the key infrastructure and consumer electronic device provider. Full story at Nokia Press Release.

With barely a year after Globe and Smart started offering 3G access in the Philippines, what will the dawn of 4G WiMAX bring to the local mobile industry. Obviously the telcos haven't recovered yet from their initial investments thus its most probable we will be again one of the last country to enjoy 4G experience while its ironic more and more countries look up to the Philippines as the number one innovator in value added mobile services.

But there is one player in the telco industry that might pull 4G first, introducing CURE, the 4th telco in the Philippines. I got acquainted CURE last August 2004 when they scouted for local VAS providers, CURE is very young as pointed by its President Eric Recto during an interview by PhilippineBusiness. However, unknown to many there is a 5th telco preparing its entry into the local mobile industry but its unlikely it's head will surface on the first half of this year (2007). I know the details on the 5th telco, compared to the 4 telcos, it won't be a GSM/WCDMA network and like CURE is in better position to enter Mobile 2.0 -- there are a lot of things where I must keep my mouth shut so that's all you'll get about it :P

What ever happens, its the consumer who will eventually be the winner having to choose between 5 Giants depending on their lifestyle and it means a brighter future for Philippine's mobile industry.