Cellular Empire Strikes Back – With Marketing

In an epic broadband battle that could reach galactic proportions, the leading cellular industry body has hit back at WiFi and WiMax competitors and launched its own $1 billion mobile broadband marketing campaign.

The GSM Association (GSMA) kicked off the mobile broadband drive, rather suspiciously, on the same day that Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) launched its Xohm so-called 4G WiMax network in Baltimore yesterday. But GSMA project director Ton Brand assures Unstrung that the timing was "pure coincidence." (See Infoblox Unveils 'DNS Firewall', Hello XOHM, and A XOHM Timeline.)

The GSMA-led initiative is intended to promote laptops that have embedded 3G modules inside, which will ship with a new mobile broadband logo [ed note: two little birds that are meant to represent feelings of "freedom and mobility." Or, if you live in Texas, "dinner"]. (See picture below.)

Nifty new logo

Is it two birds or a cloud?

The first laptops to get the mobile broadband mark will support 3.6 Mbit/s high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) modules, which in practice gives users a downlink speed of about 1 Mbit/s. Future laptops with embedded 3G modules will support 7.2 Mbit/s and 14.4 Mbit/s.

Mobile Broadband Inside

"There is a lot of alphabet soup coming around the corner," says Brand. "Whether it's HSPA, evolved HSPA, or LTE, we wanted one single brand that would get consumers' attention."

Sixteen mobile operators, laptop makers, and chipset suppliers have joined the initiative, and collectively, they plan to spend $1 billion on advertising to promote the new mobile broadband logo. (See Dell, Vodafone Strike Deal.)

Participating industry players include 3 Group , AsusTek Computer Inc. , Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), Gemalto , Lenovo Group Ltd. , Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM), Telecom Italia Mobile SpA (Milan: TIM), TeliaSonera AB (Nasdaq: TLSN), T-Mobile International AG , Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502), and Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD).

There are 130 different notebook PCs that have embedded 3G modules, according to the GSMA.

A recent Unstrung Insider report, 4G Inside: Embedded Modules for Mobile WiMax & LTE, finds embedded modules will have a key role in future so-called 4G networks. (See 4G's Inside Story.)

The GSMA's initiative will be expanded to include "mobile broadband" branded USB dongles, and other devices with embedded 3G modules like cameras, MP3 players, and even, refrigerators.

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Unstrung