ITU 03: Vodafone's Sarin touts all-in-one wireless card and 'decade of change'

We have every reason to believe the wireless industry is "on the verge of a decade of change", according to Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new boss of the world's largest cellular operator places his company at the vanguard, announcing a new card for laptops that will seek out 'best possible' wireless connections.

Addressing a packed session at the ITU Telecom World event in Geneva, Sarin sketched out the Vodafone Mobile Connect card offering – a PC card that will seek out wireless LAN, GPRS and eventually 3G connections, choosing the most suitable type of network available.

He spoke about the "alphabet soup" of flavours of wireless LAN right now and added that most "customers don't care – they just want connectivity".

One of the hot topics in telecoms is seamless hand-off between different networks without users having to manage changes from a device. The Vodafone offering would be a move in that direction, though question marks remain over how pricing and billing would work.

Sarin, who has been in the top job at Vodafone less than three months, also promised 3G phones "in volume" by this time next year.

"We are investing to get 3G right," he said.

The four established UK operators have been watching newcomer 3 and how it is doing in the nascent market for 3G services such as video calls and downloadable songs and clips. They are also through various alliances all investing in WLAN services, especially public Wi-Fi hotspots, despite fears the technology will dent their returns on sunk 3G infrastructure and licence costs.

Sarin also said Vodafone will concentrate on three areas – telecoms, IT and infotainment – the latter exemplified in the Vodafone live! service that is now used by around two million consumers worldwide.

And while the giant mobile operator isn't known for doing integration work in enterprises, he predicted a future where it will have a roll to play where broadband access via DSL or cable meets homes and businesses, almost certainly still concentrating on wireless.

Sarin formally took over at Vodafone at the start of August after a career best known for his work with the mobile operator that became AirTouch in the US.