4G World 2011

Curing Sprint's LTE spectrum headache

07 December 2011

How will Sprint move users onto LTE? What will it do with its WiMax service and spectrum? Are there any real differences between vendors of LTE technology?

As European operators grapple with their own plans for LTE, and whine about spectrum harmonisation and availability, spare a thought for this guy. He's got CDMA users, old iDen customers from Nextel kicking about, a WiMax network serving Clearwire customers, and two strong competitors piling forward with high profile "4G" campaigns.

So Keith Dyer spoke to Sprint's SVP Networks, Bob Azzi, to find out how the number three US operator is handling a change of direction in its LTE deployment, and how he sees its spectrum management working out. Does Azzi think he's delivering a network that gives Sprint the best chance to succeed?

Group data plans, and how to plan for them

16 November 2011

At the Broadband Traffic Management event in London, and at the Mobile Asia Congress, there is continued talk about how operators can be innovative in their data pricing and charging. As operators add intelligence to the network, and integrate real time charging capabilities with post-paid services of all types, increased possibilities for innovation on pricing and charging present themselves.

One, perhaps under-exploited, tool that operators could use is the group data tariff. This sees members of the same family, business, or groups of devices registered to the same subscriber, share an overall usage bucket.

Recent findings from Infonetics Research, contained in a report commissioned by Tekelec, showed that the number of mobile broadband devices sold globally on shared data plans is forecast to grow an average of 89 percent a year from 2011 to 2015, reaching nearly 187 million units. Smartphones, USB cards and tablets will comprise 89 percent of these devices.

CEM in a 4G World - what's the difference?

11 November 2011

Will the introduction of 4G networks make any difference to the way operators address Customer Experience Management? If so, how can operators best manage the user experience across 2G, 3G and LTE networks, as well as find new ways to interact and communicate with their customers?

Three experts in the area give their view on data analysis and correlation across networks, multi-channel interaction, and the move to on-device communication.

Can vendors differentiate on LTE and small cells? Vendor view

10 November 2011

"Their roadmaps are conceptually the same," says Bob Azzi, SVP Networks at Sprint, "but how they develop their unique intellectual property is how they compete."

Yesterday, we published one analyst's view on how vendors can differentiate themselves around LTE, small cell and other network strategies. Now it's the vendors' turn, as we ask three of them what they see as their points of differentiation in the development of LTE and next generation mobile networks...

(Note: We left a caption off — the Nokia Siemens Networks speaker is Paul Norkus, 4G Product Marketing Manager)

Can vendors differentiate on LTE and small cells? Analyst view

09 November 2011

With many of the major vendors sounding rather similar when it comes to their LTE marketing, Keith Dyer asks where can they achieve differentiation, and what approaches will be the best fit for operator needs?

Ken Rehbehn, principal analyst with Yankee Group's Network Research team, runs his eye over the main contenders. He also looks forward to how LTE networks are likely to be deployed, and at who may be first to come to market.