Monthly Archive for April, 2009

Beyond 3G

anycallMobile phone operators are turning to LTE as the fourth-generation technology to provide inexpensive wireless broadband access for cost-conscious consumers and businesses.

The attractions of the mobile phone–based Internet are many: surfing the Web from anywhere, e-mail on the move, location-based services, GPS, mobile e-commerce, portable software, videos on cell phones, and even a substitute for fixed-line connections. Anticipating added demand, many mobile carriers are eyeing a new network technology to supersede 3G. Termed LTE, or long-term evolution, this planned network is expected to be available in 2010 and will provide significantly more capacity at far less cost.

To explore why LTE is the best fourth-generation mobile solution — and a host of related questions — strategy+business turned to Peter Weichsel, a Booz & Company partner and technology expert. The full interview can be found here.

Globalisation of entrepreneurship

Globalisation of entrepreneurshipThe globalisation of entrepreneurship is raising the competitive stakes for everyone, particularly in the rich world. Entrepreneurs can now come from almost anywhere, including once-closed economies such as India and China. And many of them can reach global markets from the day they open their doors, thanks to the falling cost of communications.

The world’s greatest producer of entrepreneurs continues to be America. The lights may have gone out on Wall Street, but Silicon Valley continues to burn bright. Entrepreneurship also flourishes in clusters. A third of American venture capital flows into two places, Silicon Valley and Boston, and two-thirds into just six places, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego and Austin as well as the Valley and Boston.

The information age is making it ever easier for ordinary people to start businesses and harder for incumbents to defend their territory. Back in 1960 the composition of the Fortune 500 was so stable that it took 20 years for a third of the constituent companies to change. Now it takes only four years. Source