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Huawei announces inter-band LTE-A base station – and so does ZTE

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ZTE Debuts LTE-A Inter-Band Dual-Carrier Commercial Base Station at MWC…

ZTE Corporation debuted its LTE-A Inter-band Dual-Carrier commercial base station at Mobile World Congress 2012 (MWC 2012) in Barcelona, Spain.

The new LTE-A commercial base station is based on the company’s leading SDR hardware platform. It introduces inter-band carrier aggregation and MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) technologies. These technologies can double peak rate for individual users, enabling high-speed downloads of up to 270Mbps in the downlink and meeting growing data service demands. During the congress, ZTE also demonstrated the base station’s inter-band carrier aggregation capabilities on two bands: 20M 2.6G and 20M 1.8G.

As frequency resources are becoming increasingly valuable, carrier aggregation technology will help assist operators with separate and discontinuous frequency resources because it can aggregate multiple carriers and increase frequency utilisation rate. This technology also enables greater bandwidth, higher user throughput. In addition, it can solve the problem of rapid throughput decrease in the cell edge.    

ZTE’s LTE products are recognised as industry leading by high-end operators in Europe, North America and Japan. As of the end of 2011, ZTE had won 30 LTE commercial contracts across the globe, including with CSL, H3G, Vodafone, Softbank, Zain and others. The company has also deployed test networks in cooperation with more than 100 operators all around the world, including in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East.

… as Huawei Announces “World’s First LTE-A Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation Solution”

Huawei today announced the launch of the world’s first LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) inter-band carrier aggregation (CA) solution at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. This solution will significantly improve the utilization of discontinued spectrum resources and increase user peak rate and network throughput.

In an era of mobile broadband (MBB), diversified MBB services and increasing data traffic used by individual subscribers have a huge impact on mobile networks. Scarcity of spectrum resources, however, prevents proportional increases in network capacity. In recent years there has been considerable discussion about how operators can effectively utilize spectrum assets for greater capacity.

At the Mobile World Congress 2012, demonstrations of Huawei’s LTE-A inter-band CA solution showed inter-band carrier aggregation at 800MHz and 2.6GHz with peak throughput of over 225Mb/s. The solution is expected to revolutionize user experience by allowing networks to meet bandwidth requirements of data-heavy applications, marking an industry milestone and demonstrating Huawei’s leadership in field of LTE-A innovation.

Inter-band CA is the most difficult to realize of the three forms of LTE-A CA (continuous CA within the band, non-continuous CA within the band, and non-continuous CA outside of the band). Given existing spectrum allocation policies, inter-band CA not only dramatically increases spectrum resource utilization, but also helps operators flexibly combine bandwidth and solve spectrum discontinuity to increase user peak rates and experience. With this solution, operators enjoy greater returns and spectrum assets will appreciate in value.

“Through customer-centric innovation and strong partnerships, we are dedicated to creating maximum value for our customers by providing competitive solutions,” said Ying Weimin, President of Huawei GSM&UMTS&LTE Wireless Network Business Unit. “Huawei has long partnered with leading global operators in the fields of LTE/LTE-A. Huawei’s leading end-to-end advantages help operators build efficient, sustainable, and profitable mobile broadband networks, as well as bring people a wonderful service experience.”

According to recent reports from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Huawei has contributed more than 260 approved LTE/LTE-A core specifications since 2010, comprising an industry-leading 20% of all approved contributions. Huawei’s dedication to sharing its technological innovations continues to play a fundamental role in the development of the global LTE industry.

MWC in Pictures – Joyn, chips, food injections and polari

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MWC in Pictures – Joyn, chips, food injections and polari

What’s that in the distance? Why, it looks like Joyn, the RCS-e brandmark officially announced today, but leaked in the Spanish press last month.

I wish I could catch up with it. Nope, looks like it’s receding again. Oh well, perhaps we’ll meet again at the end of June.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Cavium’s OCTEON Fusion, a multi-core “Base Station-on-a-Chip” integrating up to six MIPS64(R) cores with 8 LTE/3G Baseband Digital Signal Processing (DSP) core, and featuring Radisys’ Trillium software. It’s very, very small. (Also pictured, some truly, really, execrable shorthand)

 

 

 

 


In the GSMA’s Connected House on the Central Courtyard, they hope you will be alive in the future. AT&T’s Glenn Lurie went one better (or one worse?) and told us that for AT&T the connected home is already here, so it’s a living present. Thank goodness for that.

 

 

 

 

There was some interesting, but very welcome food and drink available at the Connected House press event. They are literally injecting food into other food in the connected home of the future. There’s an expo on in Barcelona in honour of El Bulli’s Adria Ferran at the moment. Perhaps this is a small homage to the great man.

Meanwhile the water was for Polari speakers only, or not, depending on your preference.

 

 

 

Ericsson announces mcommerce deals, picocell and in-building products

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Ericsson announces mcommerce deals, picocell and in-building products

Speaking at Ericsson’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, President and CEO Hans Vestberg opened the show with announcements of new products and partnerships that are set to further the company’s efforts in creating a networked society.

Vestberg began by admitted Ericsson had experienced a mixed year over 2011, however he added that the company had also had the best year in its history, with turnover of US$35 billion and growth of 19%.Ericsson market share in the  mobile equipment market grew from 32% to 38% during 2011, stated Vestberg, a 6% growth margin.

He commented: “In the fourth quarter 2010 we communicated our intention to regain  Europe, which we did so. We increased our market share considerably in 2011. We will try to keep this gain, and move it forward over 2012. We are well positioned to capture it.”

He added that Ericsson estimates the networked society is set to boom by 2016. He quoted Ericsson consumer research that shows that already, 76% of the time an end user interacts with their phone it is not for a voice call; it is for browzing the web, checking mail and doing transactions.

Vestburg added: “There will be five billion mobile broadband users by 2016. That’s huge. For a lot of those users it will be the first time they will have mobility. We also estimate that mobile traffic will be 10% higher, and that there will be five times as many smartphones in 2016.”

Driving that traffic are services such as mobile money. Vertburg made two announcements in the m-commerce sector, an example of the convergence of mobility, broadband and cloud. Vestberg stated that African operator MTN is the first to deploy the Ericsson Converged Wallet platform, providing integrated pre-paid charging and mobile financial services for MTN consumers in Africa and the Middle East.

Ericsson has also got into bed with Western Union, Vestburg announced, to enable the ecosystem to do transactions. Diane Scott, executive vice president and chief marketing officer and president, Western Union Ventures, went onstage, and said: “M-commerce has the ability to bring transaction services to people around the world. There are 1.6 billion subscribers today who have access to pre-pay and post-pay accounts through Ericsson; the next stage is to transfer those into mobile wallets.

“One of the biggest challenges in wallets is to get people to convert to and fund those wallets, but that is something we can do,” continued Scott. “Our goal at Western Union in partnering with Ericsson is connecting our customers wherever they might be, and on mobile phones, because that is where this market is going.”

On the networks that will support these services, Vestberg noted that of the 350 LTE networks currently deployed globally, Ericsson supports 215 of those with its equipment and services.

Vestberg stated Ericsson was launching a new pico cell using Wi-Fi as part of its hetrogenous networks (hetnets) strategy. He showed the latest addition to the RBS6000 family, the Pico RBS, the industry’s first Wi-Fi integrated pico radio base station.”We see it as important that we come with the full story to micro netowrks. Last week we announced we will acquire BelAir, provider of carrier-grade Wi-Fi. Today, this pico cell is part of our hetnet strategy; we can enhance the macro network using the micro network.”

The hetnet approach for densely populated metropolitain areas provided by Ericsson is a plan that boosts the macro network, then adds micro, pico, and Wi-Fi solutions. Vestberg claimed the solution delivers the same services with half the spectrum and with throughput gains of two to 10 times, versus using separate vendors for the macro and the small cell layer.

In next generation IP networking, Ericsson announced a new application on the Smart Services Router (SSR) which is launching commercially in operator Telstra’s network in Australia. The Evolved Packet Gateway, when coupled with the SSR 8020, lifts capacity boundaries for 2G, 3G and 4G networks to meet the rapidly growing demand for mobile broadband services.

Also, Vertberg said that with these in-office solutions, design and attractiveness now comes to the fore. He displayed a prototype product in microwave technology, the MINI-LINK ball-shaped microwave antenna.

Vodafone and Visa team for worlds largest m-payment deal

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Vodafone and Visa team for worlds largest m-payment deal

By Heather McLean

Visa and Vodafone annnounced today the world’s largest mobile payment deal, in which the two will work together to enable all Vodafone customers to have access to mobile money.

The companies will work together to develop a Vodafone-branded proposition to be offered  to Vodafone’s 398 million-strong customer base. The new Vodafone mobile payment service will be based on the Visa prepaid account and offered to consumers in partnership with Visa Issuers.

As part of the deal, Visa is providing Vodafone with mobile pre-pay cards, and it will also enable all its partner banks using Visa credit and debit cards access to the Vodafone-branded scheme.

The deal sets a good precedent for all mobile operators, claimed Pedro Sousa, head of Contactless & Mobile Payment, Visa, speaking to Mobile Europe. “This means mobile operators can look to Visa to provide them with the entire payment experience, the security and the convenience, which really allows them to create better products for their customers,” he said.

“Mobile operators can make money through customer loyalty, data usage and pre-pay cards,” continued Sousa. However, he added, “We are working with mobile operators to allow them to have pre-pay cards, but mainly we are working to enable our partner banks to use mobile operator technology.”

In addition to the Vodafone-branded stored value account inside the mobile wallet, Vodafone and Visa will work together to enable Visa Issuers for mobile payments globally. The platform will be available to all partners of all relevant industries, from financial institutions to retailers, all of whom can host their services within a new Vodafone mobile wallet.

In countries across Europe, the US and Australia, with a mature infrastructure for electronic payments, users of the Vodafone stored value account will be able to make purchases at point of sale using near field communications (NFC) enabled smartphones equipped with Visa payWave for mobile. Consumers will also be able to make high value purchases securely using a passcode.

The agreement forms part of Vodafone’s mobile commerce strategy, to provide consumers with a mobile-based alternative to the cash and cards. Vodafone stated it is in discussions with a large number of service providers – including banks, retailers, transport and utility companies, event organisers, smartphone application developers and advertisers – to host a broad range of services within the Vodafone mobile wallet.

The service will initially be launched in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the UK from the beginning of the next financial year. Other countries will follow.

 

Operators offered rays of messaging hope

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Operators offered rays of messaging hope

Acision ponders change of direction, Mavenir follows with Cloud Platform, Synchronica goes cross-platform

Messaging equipment providers are lining up at Mobile World Congress with tools aimed at enabling operators to expand their range of messaging services, and fight back against the perceived threat of so-called over the top providers.

Historically, one of the key money makers for operators has been SMS, but there is evidence to show that not only are volumes levelling off, but that revenues are too. Often this is put down to OTT competition, but some say it’s just as much a factor of legislation and operators giving bundles away is it is a direct fact of users quitting in droves for WhatsApp, iMessaging or BBM.

In any case, the issue of what to do about SMS, and messaging as a whole, is one that the messaging community is wrestling with.

Messaging company Acision is keen to stave off the doom mongers, and often reminds the industry that SMS is thriving, not dying. Its principal refrain is that SMS offers unparalleled reach – and although consumers may like certain community-focussed offerings for their low cost of use and easy UI, they are no use to enterprises or brands that want to reach as wide a market as possible.

 

Indeed, Acision CEO Jorgen Nilsson told Mobile Europe that the company is repositioning itself as a company that not only provides messaging platforms to operators but one that will look to monetise those platforms itself.

Acision is considering a model where it pays the operator for access to the SMS network, and then sells on, on a revenue share basis, that network capability to large brands and enterprises. Because Acision may operate and manage the platform, it can apply intelligence, priority, full analytics and assurance to the brand or enterprise it is selling access to, Nilsson said, unlike SMS aggregators. It’s a change of business model both for the operator, who usually sells bundles of messages to aggregators and service providers, and for Acision, whose revenue line traditionally stopped when it had sold its kit or managed service deal to the operator.

Nilsson admitted that the specifics of the change of direction were still unclear — who will “own” the brand account for instance — but said that it recognised the primacy of the ubiquity and reliability of SMS. Then, as operators move to IP messaging infrastructure, Acision will deliver “SMS natively over IP”, he said, through its IP messaging platform – the Acision Broadband Messaging Service Centre.

Acision said in research, conducted by Vanson Bourne and released at Mobile World Congress, that SMS still dominates the mobile messaging market when compared to other messaging services such as ‘Over the Top’ (OTT) Instant Messaging (IM) services.  95% of all respondents questioned stated they actively use texting, significantly more than Smartphone owners actively using OTT/IM services such as Facebook Chat (37%), Skype (20%), Twitter (17%), Blackberry Messenger (17%) and WhatsApp (16%) – the five most popular OTT/IM services today.

Based on interviews with 1000 mobile device users in the UK across smartphone (63%) and feature phone (37%) owners, the research revealed that SMS proves most popular with smartphone owners – 93% of this demographic reported using SMS. In fact, smartphone owners appear to appreciate SMS the most, with 3 out of 4 stating a clear need for SMS (74%) – 51% of which say they would be lost without it, despite the ability to access different OTT/IM messaging services on a Smartphone. This highlights the immense value and dependence of text messaging in consumers’ lives today.

When asked about their preference to SMS or OTT/IM mobile messaging services, smartphone owners cited they preferred SMS because of its reach (42%); reliability (42%); price (38%), speed of delivery (37%) and the ability to send to groups (28%). Only 4% of smartphone users said that IM is more reliable and faster than SMS, with 35% saying that they find SMS to be more reliable and faster

In order to test the appetite for Rich Communication Suite (RCS and RCS-e) type services, respondents were asked to rate a service offered by their operator that would include IM, file transfer, group chat and video sharing, and allow them to exchange messages with all SMS and MMS users. Only 5% of UK Smartphone users said they would not use such a service and 68% said they would be happy to pay for such services, highlighting the revenue-generating potential messaging still has to offer, Acision said.

Nilsson concluded, “Mobile IM does have its advantages but the market is currently fragmented as services cannot communicate with each other, and relies on a smartphone or tablet device with a mobile broadband connection. As experts in delivering both SMS and IP messaging services, we are excited about the new opportunities in IP messaging services but believe SMS will still play a leading role in our messaging backbone, not only as a connectivity tool but particularly for brands wanting to reach the 5 billion consumers using SMS today.”

Another messaging company launching a core network solution and white label mobile app for operators to launch rich messaging services and compete against OTT players is Mavenir.

Mavenir Systems today announced the launch of a new Mobile Cloud Messaging (MCM) solution for mobile and converged operators – echoing Acision’s own Cloud Messaging launch of January 2012.

Mavenir’s core network solution is bundled with a white label user client for multiple smart phone ecosystems. With Mavenir’s MCM solution operators could be able to offer rich chat, multimedia sharing, group conversation, and network storage functionality across smart phones, tablets and web devices.

The idea of the MCM is that operators can maintain their reach by taking advantage of inter-working between MCM based services and the global SMS network. Mavenir sees the MCM approach as giving operators the opportunity to add value to operator service bundles, increase data penetration, target mobile advertisements and up-sell value added services, such as cloud storage and business packages.

“We are responding to our customer’s needs to deliver innovative messaging services, which can preserve and grow messaging revenues,” said Pardeep Kohli, president and chief executive officer, Mavenir Systems.  “Due to the rapid change in consumer behaviour, we’re trying to help operators combat the OTT creep head-on. Our MCM solution is a risk-free investment that allows operators to launch today and migrate to Rich Communication Services when ready as part of an overall network transformation strategy.”

Another company offering cross-platform messaging, although in a slightly different manner, is Synchronica. Synchronica has ended up as the receptacle for pretty much all the operator-IM focussed busineses of the recent past, including Nokia Messaging (formerly Oz), Neustar (Followap) and Colibria. All of those businesses, representing tens, if not hundreds of millions in sunk investment, now reside in a company which is resisting a sale to rival Myriad Group for just £20 million.

So, Synchronica has now launched Unity, which it is describing delivering cross-platform unified messaging, allowing users to see and send all types of messages from a single view
With clients for Apple, WP, ANdroid, Blackberry and other platforms, Unity is “designed to help operators and device manufacturers combat predatory moves from ‘Over the Top’ (OTT) players” (sound familiar?).

“Unity’s uMail, uChat and uSocial services provide white-labelled connectivity to the most widely used email, instant messaging (IM) and social networking services, thereby enriching their value added service portfolio and reducing churn with a bouquet of ‘sticky’ messaging services,” Synchronica’s release stated.

 

Sychronica also recently announced RCS-e like functionality, through partnership with NewPace Technology. RCS-e is also, of course, designed to offer a cross-platform (in terms of devices and OS) messaging service to users, amongst other things.

NSN ready for upwardly mobile future, Suri claims

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NSN ready for upwardly mobile future, Suri claims

First live active antenna deployment will be in London for 2012 Olympics

Operators must design networks that can profitably support traffic demand of a gigabyte per user per day by 2020, CEO Rajeev Suri told media and analysts on the eve of Mobile World Congress.

Suri, who recently presided over a radical realignment of the company’s operating structure by sending several business units and a targeted 17,000 staff heading for the exit, said that the company was now well-placed to meet the changing needs of mobile operators. Those needs include meeting a demand for wireless data that NSN believes will reach one gigabyte per user per day – across WiFi and cellular networks.

 

“We’re fully funded to execute our business plan,” he added, obliquely addressing persistent rumours that the company is eventually headed for a sale. He did state that he thought that five NEPs was “one too many”, but was keen to give the impression that NSN’s new focus meant it was now ahead of its competition in aligning to new market conditions. The company wants to position itself as the industry’s dedicated mobile broadband specialist.

That said, the company now makes half of its money from managed services, Suri confirmed, with contracts to manage 180 networks, 170 of which are multi-vendor networks. Half of the elements that Nokia Siemens manages are not NSN elements, he said.

Not that the company has stopped innovating in networks. The run-up to MWC saw it make announcements in HSPA+, enabling cell sharing, in core SON, and in a host of small cell solutions, including baseband pooling for clusters of small cells, and a managed “soup-to-nuts” in-building service.

Operators liked the new focus of the company, he said, and NSN is now confident of reaching a firm second place status in LTE by revenue share. NSN was winning the bulk of its LTE business in developed markets, he said, giving good margin and high revenues. The company is approaching a “clean sweep” in Japan for LTE, he added.

Indeed, Mobile Europe has seen documents that suggest that the next operator to announce an FDD LTE launch in Japan will be SoftBank, with NSN as its vendor partner. Look out for that announcement this week, or very soon after.

As well as its turning away from the “End to end solutions provider” approach, the company’s Liquid Net vision, its core network intelligence and lead in customer analytics and intelligence differentiate it from other competitors, he said.

It is that integrated broadband management vision that meant the company recently over-turned an Ericsson 3G contract with one un-named operator in the UK, he said. The new contract means that the Olympics in London 2012 will see the first live deployment of NSN’s active antenna technology, Suri added.

Orange Head of Devices in feisty mood after first Intel phone launch

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Orange Head of Devices in feisty mood after first Intel phone launch

Challenges ARM, questions openness of certain open OS, thinks Nokia WP getting better day on day

Orange has announced that it will launch the first smartphone in Europe powered by Intel chips and software. The phone will be targeted at the mass market, priced at a point that makes it an affordable, high end smartphone option, Orange said.

The launch of the phone, built by Taiwan ODM Gigabyte, is continuing evidence of Orange’s commitment to branding 25% of its phones in its own name, and to widening the range of suppliers it brings into the industry. But it is also a power play by Orange to “challenge the ARM architecture” and other players into the device ecosystem to up their game in terms of performance and price.

Yves Maitre, Senior Vice President of Group Devices at Orange, told Mobile Europe that Orange worked with Intel because the established phone hierarchy told him that his vision of more powerful phone for less cost was not feasible within his timeframe of Summer 2012.

Maitre said that Orange is not working with ODMs for the good of its own health, but in response to consumer demands, and to keep moving the industry forward.

We are not making money with ODMs, OK?
“The target of ODM is first to answer to consumer demands —the day consumers stop asking for ODMs we will stop with ODMs. We are not making money with ODMs, OK?

“The second is to challenge big brands. In 2010, I was asking for a phone to address the mass market with increased performance, and the answer was it is not feasible, so I go Intel and to Taiwan and speak to Gigabyte and we have done it. I wanted more power, for less price, and people were telling me we had to wait…quadruple core for ARM…it would not be now and would be more expensive. And then we decided to go with Intel and say that’s the delivery plan: it’s summer 2012, towards a price that is mass market, affordable, and that’s what we are going to deliver and it has been a beautiful journey.

“We are working closely together and we can say that the customer now has the benefit of the power of a computer in their hands, and most importantly it’s opening the way to changing the industry and challenging the ARM architecture.”

No bullshit or powerpoint
So what does Intel bring that Orange could not have found with the ARM-based chip providers?

“In terms of processing you have a significant difference that consumers will see because it’s really something you can feel, look at and see the big difference. My chairman, I told him, look Stephane [Richard, Orange CEO and Chair] with this device you have a camera with the power of a computer: 10 pictures every second at 8 megapixel. We’re bringing a computer in the pocket at a price which is much below the price of a computer. That’s what we are doing. And believe me when you use the device you realise that’s not bullshit or powerpoint, you can really see the difference.”

More Q&A with Yves Maitre:

Is this the so-called “Orange London” device that was apparently leaked within a survey on coolsmartphone?

Yes. Yes, the name is wrong, OK, but OK, it was not supposed to be released but it has been released and we have to acknowledge that. The final name will be released by the marketing team in each country when they go commercial

And the decision to build on Gingerbread, not Ice Cream Sandwich?
The key reason was that we started the project 18 months ago and when we start we were not not in the race to have ICS. Samsung has it and after that we decided to wait to do it as soon as we can.

How do you think Nokia is doing with Microsoft? Are there any sales details you can share?
We are supporting Nokia and Microsoft and we are very optimistic. The first results are improving day after day. We want  more diversity in Orange and if Microsoft can help us to bring this enlargement of choice we will continue to support them.

Is support of competing OS important for you?
Today unfortunately…unfortunately…I have a feeling that some companies who had a very open philosophy have started to question their philosophy for financial reasons. One of the reasons we are working with Intel is that Intel lead the Linux Foundation for years, and the spirit of Intel towards freedom and openess matches with the values of Orange. We will continue to work with the Linux Foundation, and you know that Tizen is coming, and you will see more and more coming of Tizen https://www.tizen.org/. Linux mobile is Tizen, everyone can use it and we are very pleased to be part of this journey with Intel and with Samsung.

Phone details:

Code-named Orange Santa Clara, it’s an Android smartphone due for launch in Europe this summer. At launch, the phone will run Android’s Gingerbread platform with a planned upgrade to Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich platform shortly thereafter. The new Orange smartphone is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design and is powered by the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 and supports HSPA+ with the Intel® XMM™ 6260 Platform. The phone has a 4.03” display, slender dimensions at 123mm x 63 x 9.99, 16 Gb of memory and weighs in at 117g.

Also: high-definition (HD) video, a camera that can take 10 pictures in under a second with 8-megapixel quality. And pre-loaded: a number of services unique to Orange, including Orange TV, Daily Motion, Deezer (France only), Orange Wednesdays Your Orange and Orange Gestures.

Accuris hails single roaming, offload WiFi platform

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Accuris Networks has announced that three North American top tier mobile operators have selected its AccuROAM plaform for Wi-Fi offload and also to enable International-roaming subscribers to automatically roam onto partner Wi-Fi networks when abroad. Accuris Networks is the only company to offer both Wi-Fi offload and Wi-Fi roaming on one platform.

AccuROAM is the first solution that lets carriers provide their smartphone and tablet customers with seamless connections to Wi-Fi hotspots both in country and also when traveling abroad without having to enter cumbersome usernames and passwords, verify account details or regularly interact with a client app.

The AccuROAM platform enables subscribers to automatically and securely access operators Wi-Fi hotspots by using the subscriber’s SIM credentials for authentication. This provides the security demanded by all cellular carriers, delivering a much improved user experience compared to the typically current awkward methods associated with Wi-Fi access.  It also gives operators the ability to control service access, manage Wi-Fi offload connections and bill subscribers for Wi-Fi usage when roaming. With AccuROAM, three North American operators can now provide an enhanced and extended data offload experience for their subscribers on current and future Wi-Fi networks.

“Carriers worldwide are faced with huge challenges of network congestion and with roaming challenges as their customers travel abroad.  Integrating Wi-Fi with mobile networks is essential for carrier success, not just for authentication and data but for all the services that users’ currently receive on cellular such as billing, voice, messaging and roaming,” said Aidan Dillon, CTO, Accuris.  “Rather than having to turn data roaming off when traveling, Accuris’ AccuROAM solution means that smartphone users can expect the same seamless roaming experience when they are traveling as they do when they are at home.”

The AccuRoam platform offers comprehensive integration with the core network that provides operators the ability to deliver their existing services onto Wi-Fi, including voice and messaging as well as data services.

How many users does one cell need, before it splits?

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Don’t split a cell for less than 200 users. For 50 or less, use Wifi: Arieso

Network optimisation company Arieso has claimed that operators need to consider five key variables before they make decisions on whether to optimise their networks to deal with “extreme” users.

Arieso has previously said that 1% of users – termed extreme users – currently generate 50% of network data. Its studies have also shown that half of the data traffic generated in a typical mobile network is carried by the busiest 10% of cells. Arieso added that one-in-five of these busy cells have fewer than 200 unique data users. 2% of these busy cells have fewer than 50 data users.

“It’s clear that many busy cells have few users,” continued Flanagan. “This is critical intelligence for operators planning networks – heterogeneous or not. The practice of ‘cell splitting’ – the adding of a new cell to provide capacity relief – is at risk of being unjustified when there are too few users.”

Effectively planning hetnets demands that operators understand the complex interplay between previously known and five new variables:
1.    The unique users per cell
2.    The data they are consuming
3.    The types and capabilities of devices they are using
4.    Spatial distribution of the users within the cell
5.    Temporal variations in demand

In a hetnet world, it’s impossible to provide hard and fast ‘rules’. Even allowing for some high ARPU subscribers, it is estimated that an operator would struggle to justify a macro cell split for less than 200 unique users. Below 50 unique users per cell, WiFi may well be the only cost effective solution – assuming the traffic is suitable for WiFi offload.

“Heterogeneous networks offer hope, but bring problems of their own,” said Dr. Michael Flanagan, CTO, Arieso. “Operators are not only faced with a dozen offload options, but also with complex subscriber behaviours, myriad charging models and extreme users. The result is a fiercely complicated business case with some brand new variables. The risk of getting it wrong, wasting money and still not solving the problem is significant.

“In a worst case scenario, where operators try and satisfy the demands of extreme users solely with macro sites, they will waste millions of dollars – $400m across the industry this year alone,” concluded Flanagan. “Further, a haphazard hetnet of differing offload solutions implemented without a deep knowledge of the variables in that location will cost inestimable billions in customer churn, regulator intervention and reputational damage.”

Sample justification for a macro cell having no business case if less than 200 subscribers (from Arieso):

  • A macro has a capital cost of between US$100K and US$150K
  • A high ARPU subscriber delivers US$20 of MARGIN to an operator
  • 200 subscribers therefore deliver only US$48K per annum return to the operator giving a two-to-three year payback for a macro
  • 50 subscribers deliver US$12K of returns, which should give a one-to-two year payback for a WiFi hotspot

 

Ericsson: smartphone optimisation and packet gateway upgrade

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Ericsson launches Smartphone Network Optimisation

  • Rising smartphone uptake is driving new demands for network quality and a better end-user experience
  • Ericsson’s Smartphone Network Optimization addresses the challenge faced by operators
  • The offering helps operators remain competitive by ensuring the best possible network performance

Growing consumer demand for constant mobile connectivity is presenting operators with excellent revenue opportunities, but operators also face the challenge of ensuring their networks can handle the high level of data traffic while maintaining service quality and an outstanding end-user experience. People want to be able to access social media, news, games, apps and other content all the time, no matter where they are. Ericsson’s Smartphone Network Optimization offering, which is being launched at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, helps operators to meet these challenges.

“With Smartphone Network Optimization, we work with the operator to proactively plan for smartphone introduction and network expansion to achieve a network design and evolution that provides the best possible network performance – while maintaining cost efficiency,” says Eva Elmstedt, Vice President and Head of Product Related Services at Ericsson. “High-quality network performance is essential for operators to attract and retain smartphone subscribers.”

Working with leading operators in smartphone-centric markets, Ericsson has established substantial experience, capabilities and tools including the following services: smartphone and mobile broadband audits, border optimization, capacity planning, and radio and transport optimization.
A new Ericsson ConsumerLab report shows that faster connection speed is the main factor that would cause advanced mobile broadband users in the US to increase their use of data services. Overall, 46 percent of such users cited this reason, saying they wanted shorter waiting times while browsing. The second and third most important factors named were longer battery life and better network coverage – and an optimized network would address all three of these top factors.

Ericsson’s new Gateway Lifts capacity boundaries

  • Ericsson Evolved Packet Gateway (EPG) application has higher capacity than any other mobile packet gateway on the market
  • Introduces network intelligence to effectively manage mobile data traffic growth, while allowing operators to offer diverse applications and choice in devices.
  • Combines the latest technology of the SSR 8020 platform with software used in the market-leading GGSN-MPG packet gateway

Ericsson is today launching an application to run on its IP networking Smart Services Router (SSR) 8000 family offering that can handle more mobile data traffic than any other mobile packet gateway on the market.

The Evolved Packet Gateway application, designed to be used with the SSR 8020, offers an order of magnitude higher capacity than the nearest competitor. The SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers is the next generation platform from Ericsson.

Over the top (OTT) cloud-based services will continue to drive mobile broadband traffic in networks. This leaves operators looking for smart and cost-effective solutions to meet the challenges of rapid growth in data traffic and to create new business opportunities.

With the Evolved Packet Gateway on SSR 8020, operators can attract and efficiently serve active mobile subscribers who drive traffic growth with their smartphones and tablets. It introduces network intelligence that enables operators to offer an unparalleled diversity of applications and choice in devices.

Ericsson’s new Evolved Packet Gateway employs the application software that has successfully been used in the GGSN-MPG, operating in 240 networks in 130 countries, serving billions of subscribers. Working on the SSR 8020, capacity increases more than ten-fold and brings the same intelligence, without risk of teething problems.

Jan Häglund, head of IP and Broadband, Ericsson says: “By deploying the Evolved Packet Gateway on the SSR 8020, we effectively lift the capacity boundaries for throughput, signaling and applications that are so often a topic of discussion in the industry. With this innovative solution, we leapfrog anything the competition can offer and warrant our market leadership.”
With 40% of market share, Ericsson currently holds the leading position in the packet core network domain.

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