Wireless Adoption
Posted By Clod on July 11, 2011
At a recent seminar in Helsinki, Finland, for New Economy professionals, a presenter asked the attendees how many of them had, at some point in their careers, signed a confidentiality agreement with Finnish wireless giant Nokia. More than half the attendees raised their arms. “Finland is a team,” said one attendee. “The coach is Nokia.”
It’s a pretty talented team, well-suited for global leadership in the wireless market. Wireless communication is an accepted way of life for most tech-savvy Fins, reflected — among other ways — in the mobile phone penetration rate: 65 percent of Finnish residents own a mobile phone, compared to 30 percent in the United States.
Aside from Nokia’s presence, how did Finland become such a leader in wireless communications? In a word: standardization. Finland’s dominant cell phone standard, GSM (global system for mobile communication), has given the country — and by large extension — Europe, a tremendous advantage over the United States, which is still grappling with multiple cellular standards, leading to consumer confusion and subsequent purchase hesitation. “In the United States, users of mobile networks cannot communicate with people using other standards. That has slowed down the development of the voice- and data-services market,” says Juha Varelius, executive vice president of Sonera, Finland’s largest mobile operator.
Though Sonera is Finland’s largest mobile operator, there’s no question who is the largest wireless presence in the country: Nokia. Almost 60 percent of the Helsinki Exchange’s market cap comes from Nokia. The company’s products account for 20 percent of all Finnish exports, and Nokia’s share of the annual growth of the Finnish GNP is almost one third. MORE POWER CENTERS
That kind of economic clout begets influence in other areas as well, including politics. Legislators don’t want to make the giant angry or poor, and as such, the opening of telecommunications laws has never been questioned.
A stroll down Helsinki’s streets finds cell phones second only to shoes as fashion/lifestyle accessory. Ask a couple of Finnish wireless leaders about the future of wireless communications, and the smiles are instantaneous. “In 2003 there will be more than 1 billion mobile phone users in the world,” predicts Tapio Hedman, vice president of communications for Nokia Mobile Phones. Adds Pekka Palin, founder and director of WapIT: “And those people will all be connected to an IP-network [through a phone].”
People buy long distance phone cards to connect with their colleagues, friends, loved ones, in the most available manner achievable.
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