Global Wireless Trends ..by Sandy Sehgal, Learning Orbit

By the end of 2010, the number of wireless connections worldwide is estimated at over 5 billion. Countries like China, India and Russia now lead the global growth. New devices such as the iPhones and iPads are catalysts for growth in more mature markets such as Europe and USA.

In most markets today, heightened competition among existing carriers has led to price reductions and aggressive targeting of pre-pay customers, all of which has impacted ARPUs (average revenue per unit). The rising wave of new data services and applications that ride next generation networks and the growing roll out of video services over mobile platforms points to the huge opportunity that lies ahead.

Recipe for Survival ..by Lokesh Sehgal, Learning Orbit

I sincerely believe that in these demanding times, there is only one recipe for survival: Profitable Growth. In order to deliver profitable growth, companies will require a variety of resources - people with contemporary skills, competitive mindset, innovation, customer commitment, integration, superior systems and processes, and even acquisitions and alliances. These are some means to the eventual goal of profitable growth.

The Future for Sprint ..by Sandy Sehgal, Learning Orbit

Sprint's decision to combine with Nextel and divest the local operations was based on the optimism that the deal would build a larger company with exclusive focus on the growth-oriented wireless business.

Even after more than five years after the merger, the company is struggling to retain customers while its larger rivals, AT&T and Verizon continue to add girth. A change in top leadership and even a WiMAX rollout has so far failed to arrest the problem.

Unless the company quickly turns around its wireless business, it may find it hard to resist suitors like Verizon or Comcast or Century Link that may come calling soon!

Delivering "Solutions" in the Communications Industry ..by Lokesh Sehgal

In the business segment especially, high-tech companies tend to assemble a cluster of technologies and then grind them into a communications solution that delivers exceptional technical performance. High gigabit speeds, five nines in reliability, and other similar metrics are used to claim superiority. In most organizations, however, CIOs seek business solutions, not communications solutions. Marketers and engineers in communications companies must deliver applications that enhance the business performance of their customers.