Ericsson part of Pacific telecoms group

Ericsson Telecommunications Inc. recently became a member of the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA). 

The company took part in the 12th  PITA annual general membership meeting held in Koror, Palau.

PITA is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of small island nations in the Pacific region in the field of telecommunications.

In a presentation to government regulators, Ulf Jervinge, Ericsson business development head for the Pacific Islands, discussed how new trends and technologies are impacting regulatory and spectrum issues, as well as the importance of holistic regulation in a converged market place.

“Spectrum harmonization is actually good for competition and market growth. It means more subscribers, more competition, more suppliers, and more service innovation,” he said. 

“During the mid- to late-1980s, the US market experienced strong market growth when they focused on 1G-AMPS, while Europe market’s growth was slower with the introduction of several 1G technologies like NMT, TACS, and CNET,” he said. 

He added: “In the 1990s, however, the reverse was true with the US experiencing slower market growth than Europe, when the US opened up to several 2G technologies like CDMA, TDMA, and GSM, while Europe embraced only 2G-GSM.  This trend continued in the 2000s with the US having two 3G technologies — WCDMA and CDMA 2000 — while Europe focused only on 3G-WCDMA.”

Ericsson was also represented in the plenary session by Dan David, account director for the Pacific Islands. 

David gave an update on global telecom market trends and related how broadband technology affects economies, global businesses, people and the society as a whole. 

He also explained how technologies are shaping up to support this trend.

He also touched on the topic of Ericsson’s efforts towards energy efficiency. 

“Ericsson is also focusing on supplying energy-efficient BTS and RBS technologies which can run on solar, wind, or hybrid power solutions. These technologies are so energy-efficient that they do not need traditional diesel-powered generators that each cough out about 10,680 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually,” he said.

“Also, because up to 50 percent of a mobile operator’s OPEX is spent on energy and energy-related expenses, these technologies give operators savings, and savings in OPEX translate to more profits,” he added.