The focus is no longer simply on improving mobile coverage for voice services; mobile operators need to find new ways to improve wireless capacity where end users consume mobile broadband services.

There are currently a number of methods of achieving suitable in-building capacity and coverage for enterprise customers.

The E-RAN system is a controller based approach to providing small cell UMTS services to an enterprise by providing operators with the opportunity to rapidly and cost effectively deploy capacity and coverage.

When a building owner pays for the in building RF deployment, there is a motivation to either provide the end users with mobile/security services or as a differentiator against competitors.

So your boss’ new iPhone 4 doesn’t work everywhere in the office, neither does anybody else’s Smartphone or Blackberry.

At the half-way point in 2010, we can see some trends firming up for the next few years. From a business perspective, the trends can be best summarized as “cost reducing ways to improve profitability and productivity.”

When we were kids and watched Star Trek on TV the idea of the ‘communication screen’ was pretty amazing. “Put it on viewer,” Captain Picard (or Kirk, depending on how old you are) would say. It made for great TV.

Last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was well attended with over 49,000 people making the trek through the many halls and meeting rooms at La Fira. And yes, it was rainy and cold in Barcelona!

 As the industry prepares for the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 15-18, we are seeing an uptick in press announcements and articles with regard to the issues of network capacity crunch how to solve these challenges. As some industry insider are (accurately) predicting, “data offload” will be a hot topic at this event, CTIA, and other events later this year.

In recent weeks there’s been much publicity surrounding the impact that smartphones are having on operators’ networks, and subscribers’ frustration with coverage (“But, I have 5 bars– why isn’t my phone working?” or “Why can’t I access Facebook?”). The issue is less about coverage and more about network capacity. With the recently announced “unlimited” pricing bundles (US price wars), the issue of network capacity and data “offload” will continue to be hot topics throughout 2010 and beyond.