Wireless Multimedia Services

Telecommunication services are evolving toward “multimedia,” which basically consist of any combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation and video reaching us via computer or other electronic means. Wireless services in particular record the highest growth. Because of this, CITEL is offering fellowships for a course on this subject where we shall be studying, in a structured fashion, all wireless services being currently provided worldwide, those being planned for the future, and especially those being provided in Latin America, and the ones that are possible from the standpoint of the regulatory framework.

The course will:

• Review and evaluate all types of possible wireless services that are currently available, both fixed and mobile, narrowband and broadband, public and private, on licensed radio frequencies and free frequencies and on optical frequencies;

• Compare regulatory situations and the experiences of operators in various parts of the world;

• Show how wireless technologies eliminate bottlenecks to access and facilitate the full implementation of broadband services and examines their importance for the rapid introduction of competition on markets that are being liberalized.

• Examine the consequences of convergence between telecommunication services and radio broadcasting, the introduction of mobile interactive and broadband services, the need for new regulations and the various ways of allocating scarce radio spectrum resources.

To take the course, the student must read the contents of the weekly unit. It is recommended that the student listen to the audiovisual component pertaining to the unit, where a summary explanation by the instructor can be heard and a series of PowerPoint slides can be read at the same time. After reading the unit, the self-evaluation test can be taken to check what has been learned (no grades are given and it is not mandatory).

Queries, conclusions, and additional comments deemed important must be made in the discussion forum, for example, anything regarding your country and experience, contributing further information on the unit’s topic, recommending web sites or articles, etc.

The discussion forum shall try to foster dialogue among all participants, not merely with the instructor. In other words, the instructor shall be a facilitator of an interactive dialogue among the participants.

The first week of the course, the instructor shall set up working groups. Each working group shall be assigned a topic related to the weekly unit being studied. One single group project (not an individual project) on the topic assigned to the group shall be presented. This project must be placed in the folder aimed at group projects in the platform. The student must also do the weekly evaluation tests that are proposed.

The course is aimed at all telecommunication regulatory, technical and business, administrative, and operation staff who have basic knowledge of telecommunications and who wish to learn about the evolution toward wireless multimedia systems. The course is being given by CITEL as part of its career development program and shall be delivered on the distance education platform of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the Center of Excellence for the Americas Region.

Rubén Kustra
Technological Institute of Buenos Aires
(Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA))
[email protected]