As wireless and mobile technologies become more and more prevalent in businesses and our daily lives, organizations are starting to heavily invest in developing infrastructure and applications for mobile commerce. Wireless technologies allow users to overcome spatial and temporal constraints when communicating, computing, and conducting business transactions. Mobile Commerce Application Development provides in-depth coverage of the various tools and techniques for developing wireless and mobile applications. The coverage offers readers a working knowledge of the technologies that can be readily applied in their work. Mobile Commerce Application Development serves as an excellent instructional or self-teaching resource by providing clear learning objectives, step-by-step instructions, illustrations, real-world cases, and end-of-chapter exercises and projects

This book is the first to offer a global perspective on the unique contemporary media phenomenon of transnational television channels. It is also the first to compare their impact in different regions of the globe. Revealing great richness and diversity across seven key broadcasting regions, North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South and East Asia, the book examines the place of these channels in the process of globalization, their impact on the nation-state, and many more elements central to the study of international media and communications.

"This book is a valuable contribution to increasing the understanding of the development of mobile communications. It will be a useful reference for policy makers, industry players, academics and anyone interested in the economic underpinnings of the pervasive mobile phenomenon."
Dr Sam Paltridge, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, OECD

"Technological changes in the telecommunications sector have made feasible a transition from a policy of regulating monopoly to one of regulating competition, through allocation of property rights in the spectrum, as a policy to obtain good market performance. Mobile telecommunications is on the frontier of this transition, and The Economics of Mobile Telecommunications documents and analyzes the technological and institutional factors that determine performance in this industry. It will be an invaluable contribution to the literature."
Stephen Martin, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University

The mobile telecommunications industry is one of the most rapidly growing sectors around the world. This book offers a comprehensive economic analysis of the main determinants of growth in the industry. Harald Gruber demonstrates the importance of competitive entry and the setting of technological standards, both of which play a central role in their contribution to the fast diffusion of technology. Detailed country studies provide empirical evidence for the development of the main themes: the diffusion of mobile telecommunications services, the pricing policies in network industries, the role of entry barriers such as radio spectrum and spectrum allocation procedures. This research-based survey will appeal to a wide range of applied industrial economists within universities, government and the industry itself.

Access to the Internet is an increasing problem in many areas of the world. As the popularity and usefulness of the Internet increases on a daily basis, lack of access to the technology is putting many groups at a disadvantage in terms of better education, better jobs and even in terms of higher levels of civic participation. However, creating a network infrastructure to serve outlying communities and sectors of the population is not straight-forward.

This book brings together all the aspects of the problem – technical, regulatory and economic – into one volume to provide a comprehensive resource. It describes the latest technological advances that allow cost-effective network infrastructures to be built, and places them in the context of the applications and services that the infrastructure will deliver. A section on business models and case studies from North American and Europe demonstrate that the solutions are economically and practically viable.

This book is essential for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the issues and technology surrounding the access debate. It will be of particular relevance to network engineers/designers/planners at the incumbent operator companies charged with delivering broadband access to as yet unconnected regions.  Governments and regulatory bodies will also find this a useful guide to the problems that they may face.

Recently, the emergence of wireless and mobile networks has made possible the admission of electronic commerce to a new application and research subject: mobile commerce, defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities, services, or information on the Internet through the use of mobile handheld devices. In just a few years, mobile commerce has emerged from nowhere to become the hottest new trend in business transactions. However, the prosperity and popularity of mobile commerce will be brought to a higher level only if information is securely and safely exchanged among end systems (mobile users and content providers).

Advances in Security and Payment Methods for Mobile Commerce includes high-quality research papers and industrial and practice articles in the areas of mobile commerce security and payment from academics and industrialists. It covers research and development results of lasting significance in the theory, design, implementation, analysis, and application of mobile commerce security and payment.

The liberalization of the telecommunications markets in Sub-Saharan Africa led to increased competition on the provision and pricing of communication services. But, due to the lack of appropriate regulatory tools, newly established regulators are poorly equipped to arbitrate increasing interconnection disputes between competing operators. This guidebook and its associated CD-ROM, including the cost model, were prepared to provide Sub-Saharan Africa regulators and operators with a sound regulatory tool allowing the determination of accurate interconnection costs, thus facilitating the settlement of lengthy and costly interconnection disputes between fixed and mobile operators.

The cost model belongs to the family of ‘Bottom-Up” models, which calculate interconnection cost incurred by an efficient operator using the Long Run Incremental Cost (LRIC) methodology. The proposed cost model takes into account most features characterizing the development stage of telecommunications networks in Sub-Saharan Africa (small size of fixed network, importance of rural telephony, excessive reliance on microwave technology, explosive demand for mobile service, and weak regulatory capacity). A Model for Calculating Interconnection Costs in Telecommunications offers telecom regulators and operators not only a decision support tool but also a stimulant to enhance an understanding of the logic of regulating a sector open to competition.

“…a good introduction to GPRS…” (IEE Communications Engineer, February 2004)

“…target audience should find Daniel Ralph and Paul Graham’s book a useful addition to their office…” (M2 Best Books, 2004)

“…a very comprehensive guide…can be strongly recommended…” (EBU Technical Review, 20 July 2004)

MMS has evolved from the huge popularity of the SMS text service for GSM networks. It is a departure from the transport mechanism used for SMS (which is based on the GSM signalling channels) to the use of IP to transport messages within the MMS network. To this end MMS has similarities with Internet email and standard IETF protocols. As with any new technology it is difficult to accurately predict the position within the next 5 years, although based on previous experience with WAP and SMS it would be fair to say that these protocols will increase in usage over the next 5 years and become legacy for a further 5 years following which, users will migrate onto the next wave of messaging. Significant revenue growth and data usage is expected to be driven by consumer usage of MMS.

But MMS technology offers more than just a broadening of message content. With MMS, it is not only possible to send your multimedia messages from one phone to another, but also from phone to email, and vice versa. This feature dramatically increases the possibilities of mobile communication, both for private and corporate use.

Multimedia messaging will reshape the landscape of mobile communication, making it more personal, more versatile, and more expressive than ever before.

MMS:

• Is the first book to address how MMS (and the use of IP to transport messages) will affect existing infrastructure and business models
• Covers the fundamental changes to mail and billing systems
• Includes future recommendations, such as interoperability and evolution
• Presents an overview of the MMS technology components

Drawing on the authors hands-on experience in the implementation of MMS technology (developing, billing and delivering services) at BT, this innovative book will appeal to engineering managers, network operators, market analysts, business decision makers, content providers and operator organizations.

• Thoroughly understand the radiocommunications spectrum resource, how it is allocated, and the regulatory regime governing it

• Formulate efficient, cost-effective plans for obtaining access and approval to operate in frequency

• Master the lobbying, technical, regulatory, legal, and political skills needed for success

• Comprehend the growing variety of difficult policy challenges in the spectrum arena, including the use of secondary spectrum markets

• Gain valuable insight into how telecom’s financial meltdown is impacting the battle for spectrum

Radiocommunications spectrum is a limited resource and there will always be a struggle over how it is allocated and utilized. Spectrum Wars: The Policy and Technology Debate is insurance, helping you and your company succeed in this struggle.