EDGE Isn't So Temporary Any More
We've written before how many carriers had originally made the decision to ignore EDGE and jump straight to W-CDMA 3G services. However, as they realized that they were rushing in a little too fast (and the "early adopter" carriers found out that 3G wasn't their automated ticket to profits, profits and more profits). Now, many are even going further than using EDGE as a stepping stone, to the point where they expect to keep EDGE networks running in certain places for a very long time. It seems that many carriers are looking to adopt the "oceans of EDGE, islands of W-CDMA" plan, where they'll coat a country with EDGE and just use W-CDMA in more heavily used areas. The linked article is correct in this analysis, and in fact Techdirt originally made these conclusions last June.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
