That’s the prediction of Mark Curtis-Wood from Nimans, as the distributor announces its 4G wholesale tariffs from O2 – designed to bring the possibilities of high capacity, high speed mobile connectivity to life.
“Future generations will view 4G as a watershed moment,” Mark explained. “O2 has announced services will be live in 13 cities by the end of the year with London, Leeds and Bradford the first to be up and running at the end of August. O2’s ambitious rollout plan means they are aiming for their 2G, 3G and 4G network to reach 98% of the UK population both indoor and outdoor up to two years earlier than the 2017 regulatory requirement.”
By the end of the year, O2’s 4G network will also be live in Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Mark added: “Over the last few months our Channel team has been busy preparing to enable us to bill the 4G tariffs and provide the tools and support to help our customers drive new margin opportunities.
“I’ve been in the industry long enough to remember the launch of 2G and 3G and the changes made to the way we worked and the additional margin opportunity they created. However the launch of 4G is going to be a 'game changer' for our industry and the technology which will underpin our digital future. It will support our move into new mobility solutions such as cloud services, digital storage and real time security but also as people’s general behaviour changes towards increased flexible working, social media and streaming of real time events and news.
“Mobile Internet is growing and this offers us huge opportunity across British business – from m-commerce to increased collaboration and helping businesses get closer to their customers. 4G will act as an enabler for more digital business. It’s the connectivity that will improve and transform these experiences.”
Mark says there are a number of ways in which 4G will help businesses to get closer to their customers and drive growth. “It could be used for mobile workers having their office in their pocket, saving costs from flexible working or digital signage within the retail sector – 4G technologies will help them to connect more. We’ll be working with resellers and their customers over the coming months to bring these possibilities of 4G to life. It’s a very exciting time and the dawning of a new era.”