Mobile cellular market booms

The worldwide mobile cellular phone subscriber base is set to hit the four billion mark in the fourth quarter of 2008, states KBC.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that over 60% penetration is driven mainly by the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The ITU said at the turn of the century, the growth of mobile cellular subscribers has been impressive, with an average year-on-year growth of 24% between 2000 and 2008.

Baltimore residents will be the first in the US to be offered a version of WiMax that provides wireless Internet access to home users and allows laptop users with modems to stay connected around town at speeds comparable with wired broadband services, says the Baltimore Sun.

Sprint's Xohm network, which will blanket the city with wireless coverage, represents the next big step in the telecommunication industry's race to build more robust broadband services, as consumers increasingly navigate the Web with laptops and mobile devices.

Christopher C. King, a Baltimore-based senior telecommunications analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. said: "This is really the new frontier for wireless right now."

Google has filed a patent application with the US Patent Office describing its vision of an open wireless network where smartphones are not tied to any single cellphone network, reports ZDnet.

In Google's open wireless world, phones and other wireless devices would search for the strongest, fastest connection at the most competitive price.

The idea is that wireless users could be on any number of networks at any given time, depending on where they are. Users could surf the Web using free or low-cost networks, WiMax or WiFi.