from m/f...which i posted over a year ago........he appears to be right ...up till now.
Push for 3G mobiles is 'nuts' says guru
NICHOLAS Negroponte, the American digital guru, has described the technology which lies behind Hutchison 3G's decision to create 600 jobs in Glasgow as "totally nuts".
Negroponte, co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology media lab, which has developed world leading technology, argued on a visit to Scotland that the so-called third generation in mobile telecommunications technology should be abandoned.
He said: "3G is dead. Anybody who builds it is totally nuts. The nutty group that might build it is Hutchison."
Speaking on a visit to Inverness, Negroponte said the move in Europe to 3G technology was fatally flawed. The government has auctioned next-generation mobile phone licences for £22.5bn.
The professor's comments follow claims he made in London last summer that by the UK government running the auction, Britain was "screwing its children and grandchildren". Negroponte referred to the claims at last week's meeting in Inverness and said he stood by his view.
"The first thing you should do is give back the money," he told delegates from industry, local government and academia. "Nobody is going to do that. What they could do is let BT and others use the spectrum wherever they want. If it doesn't happen the country is in trouble."
The professor, who was author of the 1995 worldwide best-seller Being Digital, translated into 30 languages, claimed that Europe, which is a world leader in telecoms, is about to "completely blow it" and "make one of the biggest mistakes in the history of telecoms".
He said: "I remember being in London around the time 3G licences were granted and the reaction was that it was just absolutely fantastic. But what I said was, 'You have just screwed your grandchildren.'"
He argued that telecoms companies should skip a generation from the current 2G technology used in mobile phones and wait for a future generation of wireless technology. He said 3G offered consumers few advantages over enhanced 2G or 2.5G services.
"This isn't a small issue. Obviously I'm at one extreme of the debate but I think the writing is on the wall for 3G," Negroponte said.
But his comments were dismissed this weekend by Hutchison 3G, which last month announced plans to set up its Scottish HQ including a major customer care centre in Glasgow.
A spokesman said that 3G technology was already up and running in Japan, where it was being operated by Japanese telecoms company NTT DoCoMo - one of three shareholders in Hutchison 3G along with Hutchison Whampoa and KPN Mobile.
The spokesman said that consumers in Japan were already enjoying fast downloading of data and video streaming on the move in Japan. "We will be offering a third generation service in Britain in the second half of next year."
The spokesman for Hutchison, which does not operate a 2G mobile system, said: "We're the new entrant into this market. We believe we've got a real opportunity here. We wouldn't be here if we didn't."
Industry sources also pointed out that initial estimates for the 2G mobile phones had suggested there would be a million users in the UK, whereas there are actually 44 million.
The Department of Trade and Industry has defended the licence auction and said that in the past governments had been accused of letting licences go far too chea
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