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GSA confirms LTE as ‘the fastest developing system in the history of mobile telecommunications’

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The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has published an update to its Evolution to LTE report which confirms that 180 operators in 70 countries are currently investing in LTE. 128 firm operator commitments to deploy commercial LTE systems in 52 countries, and a further 52 “pre-commitment” trials or pilots in an additional 18 countries.

The report covers both LTE FDD and LTE TDD modes.

Seventeen operators have commercially launched LTE networks, in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden, USA, and Uzbekistan.

The number of operators investing in LTE in deployments or trials has increased by more than 140% over the past 12 months. The number of countries where LTE systems are deployed or planned has increased by 85% in the same period.

At least 64 LTE networks are anticipated will be in commercial service by end 2012, according to the report.

LTE operator commitments are developing faster than they did for HSPA, which until now had been the fastest developing mobile communications system. By comparing the number of operator commitments 6 months and 12 months after first commercial system launches for HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+ and LTE respectively, LTE proves to be the fastest developing mobile communications system technology ever.

Alan Hadden, President of the GSA, said: “LTE made excellent progress in 2010 to become the fastest developing mobile system technology ever. We expect that the introduction of LTE systems and user devices will significantly quicken in 2011.”

Many operators invest in both HSPA+ and LTE. The success of HSPA/HSPA+ in delivering mobile broadband has fuelled demand to support more customers and provide even higher data throughputs, as well as support for new applications. The rapid increase in data traffic over the past 3 years, which is currently supported by HSPA and HSPA+ systems, is driving the interest in deploying LTE as quickly as possible.

The LTE eco-system is rapidly developing. User devices are now coming into the market in increasing numbers and addressing all product segments including USB modems/dongles, PC cards, routers, personal WiFi hotspots, smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, and more.

GSA also today announced plans to launch a new report “LTE User Devices” which will track and report on LTE product announcements. The first issue of this report will be published by GSA later this month.

Business mobile VoIP gateway revenues to soar past $6 billion in 2015, says In-Stat

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With Voice-over-IP (VoIP) spreading from the fixed-line world to the mobile world,  usage is on the rise creating significant opportunity for mobile VoIP gateway equipment suppliers as expenditures in this space are expected to soar beyond the $6 billion mark in 2015, according to new research from In-Stat.
 

“Mobile VoIP has only recently begun being implemented in the business environment,” says Amy Cravens, Market Analyst.  “One of the key benefits of mobile VoIP for enterprises is extending desk phone functionality to mobile devices.  Business-oriented solutions will essentially enable the users’ cellphones to become an extension of their desk phones and will deliver, in addition to voice, a unified communications experience, including email, IM, and collaboration.”

Some of the research findings are said to include:

Business mobile VoIP users will increase tenfold over the next five years.

Mobile operators are currently a barrier to adoption but could become a significant driver of adoption over the next several years.

Business mobile VoIP is based on IP PBX and hosted PBX solutions.

Growth in IP PBX mobile VoIP usage will largely be driven by mid-sized and enterprise businesses.

Mobile broadband subscriptions to hit one billion mark in 2011, says Ericsson

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During the course of 2010, a significant milestone in terms of mobile broadband subscriptions was reached as their number surpassed the half-a-billion mark globally. Ericsson estimates that this number will double before 2011 ends, and the greatest number of subscriptions, around 400 million, is expected to be concentrated in the Asia Pacific region, followed by North America and Western Europe with more than 200 million subscriptions each, it says.

Mobile broadband adoption has accelerated with strong growth of smartphones, connected laptops and tablets, supported by the introduction of high-performance networks. Smartphones’ users are increasingly using applications and internet services on the go. Global mobile data traffic continues to grow rapidly, with Ericsson announcing in August 2010 that it had tripled in just one year.

Last year was also a good one for Long-Term Evolution (LTE). To date, Ericsson has signed commercial LTE (core and/or access) contracts with 11 operators worldwide. Almost half of a total of 16 networks Ericsson delivered have been commercially launched, and operators and consumers are starting to benefit from high-speed access enabled by LTE.

Users’ consumption of the internet and other media is changing as a result of the introduction of fast networks and the availability of various types of devices, including smartphones. According to TeliaSonera’s survey of its LTE users, about 23 percent of them now watch more online TV, and in excess of 46 percent surf the web more frequently when away from home.

Ericsson says that, due to increased speed and reduced latency, LTE networks enable video streaming which also attracts new professional users, for example TV broadcasters and public safety organizations.

By 2015, Ericsson believes mobile broadband subscriptions will top 3.8 billion, with 95 percent driven by HSPA, CDMA and LTE networks*.

Ericsson says it has been a supplier for the majority of HSPA Evolution networks operating at speeds of 21Mbps or higher.

Rapid take-off sees 1 in 5 mobile users register for mobile money services in some developing regions by 2013 – report

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According to a new report from Juniper Research, the array of financial services possible via mobile phones are proving so attractive that some developing countries are seeing unprecedented penetration levels of up to one in two mobile subscribers within two to three years from launch.

Regionally, the report identifies that some developing regions will achieve a rate of 1 in 5 money service users over the next 2 years which is a remarkable level of adoption for such new services, it says.

“Our research found that, money transfers, bill payments and airtime top-ups constitute the typical top three mobile money services in an operator’s portfolio. Increasingly though merchant payments are being offered and operators can, via partnerships with supermarkets for example, enable people to pay for their shopping this way,” according to report author Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst.

However, Juniper’s new report – ‘Mobile Money Transfers  Remittances: Markets, Forecasts  Vendor Strategies 2011-2015 – also warns that prospective users can be discouraged to join such services if the KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements are too onerous, or simply not achievable.

Further findings from the new report include:
·         Domestic transfers, airtime top-ups and bill payments account for at least 60% of all applications

·         Following the recession international mobile money transfer users will more than double by 2013, driven by migrant workers, with services launched by MNOs and remittance hubs for country specific migration corridors

ZTE holds 235 LTE essential patents

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ZTE, a global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has announced that it is now one of the world’s leading vendors of essential patents (EP) for LTE standards, securing 235 patents, it says. 
 

As of 30 November 2010, ZTE says it had a 7% share of the total LTE essential patents declared on the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) online database of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
 
The company’s share of LTE essential patents is a result of ZTE’s continuous R&D investment into LTE-related key technologies since 2004. As of the end of 2010, ZTE had submitted more than 6800 proposals to 3GPP, of which more than 3900 proposals involved LTE/SAE technologies, and had made more than 2900 LTE-related patent applications.
 
Looking ahead, ZTE aims to increase its current share of LTE essential patents from 7% to 10% by 2012, according to Mr. Hu Jian, Vice President of ZTE. The company will also commit more R&D resources to accumulate essential patents and adopt a pro-active approach in improving 4G and developing 4G+ standards.
 
“With LTE essential patents being evenly distributed among different vendors, we believe that it will be helpful to provide a comparatively healthy and balanced IPR licensing environment for the development of the 4G industry,” said Mr. Hu.
 
Mr. Hu also emphasised that ZTE had been committed to following the FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) principle for any company wanting to achieve a patent license from ZTE Corporation. “As 3GPP standards continue to migrate, there is no doubt that ZTE will contribute more essential solutions to LTE and its evolved standards”.

CSR and Broadcom settle litigation

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CSR today announced that the company and Broadcom Corporation have agreed to settle all litigation and legal proceedings between the parties and their affiliates, including Broadcom’s subsidiary Global Locate, Inc. and CSR’s subsidiary SiRF Technology, Inc.

Terms of the agreement are confidential.

The parties will seek to dismiss their various pending actions in U.S. District Court, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), based in Washington, D.C., and have agreed not to pursue further infringement actions against each other, or against third parties based on use of each others’ products, for a period of five years.

The parties will seek to dismiss their various pending actions in U.S. District Court, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), based in Washington, D.C., and have agreed not to pursue further infringement actions against each other, or against third parties based on use of each others’ products, for a period of five years.

Huawei selected as provider to expand TeliaSonera’s 2G/3G/4G network in Norway

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Huawei has been selected by TeliaSonera to expand and upgrade its GSM/HSPA+/LTE network throughout southern Norway. The enhanced network coverage will include Norway’s largest cities and areas of high population, including expansion of the existing 4G/LTE network in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger.

TeliaSonera will implement Huawei’s SingleRAN@ Broad solution offering theoretical data speeds of 150 Mb/s. In addition, the 42 Mb/s HSPA+ network will be deployed and prepared for 84 Mb/s HSPA+. The project will start immediately and be finalized by the end of 2012. Once completed, the improved network will provide end users with improved quality of service and higher data speeds across the significantly increased coverage area, says Huawei.

“We are building a new world class mobile network in Norway with 2G, 3G and 4G access to offer our customers an enormous coverage and speed improvement. We have selected Huawei to deliver the southern part of the Norwegian network based on their high quality technology and competitive total solution,” said Claes Nycander, CTO and SVP of Mobility Services at TeliaSonera.

“Our expanded successful partnership with TeliaSonera on 4G/LTE demonstrates the flexibility of our SingleRAN@Broad solution as one of the best ways for operators to address the key mobile broadband challenges of bandwidth, capacity and cost,” said Ying Weimin, President of LTE Product Line, Huawei. “Huawei is committed to be the optimal MBB business partner for operators worldwide.”

With Huawei’s SingleRAN@Broad solution, TeliaSonera will converge 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE into a single network, simplifying structure, reducing costs and human resource requirements, realizing exceptional improvements in O&M efficiency. A new feature within Huawei’s SingleRAN@Broad solution is the 5-band and 3-mode technology supporting 5 frequency bands and 3 standards in one cabinet. Using Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology, spectrum can be dynamically assigned to any wireless standard, optimizing the use of available frequencies.

DNA proposes LTE in major cities during 2011

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Commits to nationwide HSPA+

Finnish network operator DNA has said that it will launch a commercial LTE network in 2011, following the signing of a three year network upgrade deal with Ericsson.

A DNA press statement said that Ericsson would take DNA’s HSPA+ service nationwide, with LTE being rolled out in the “major cities”. The deal will run over three years and includes GSM/HSPA/LTE radio access, Evolved Packet Core (EPC), IP-based mobile backhaul solutions as well as network management solutions. Services to DNA will cover support, network rollout, systems integration as well as consultancy and educational services

DNA’s LTE launch will follow that of Telia Sonera, which launched in late 2010 in Turku, and Elisa, which is also planning a wider commercial launch following trials and pilots in Espoo in 2010. DNA has slightly less spectrum in the 2.6GHz band – 2x20MHz compared to Telia Sonera and Elisa’s 2x25MHz.

Of as much interest as a city-limited LTE launch is the proposed nationwide HSPA+ rollout. Even though the 900 and 1800MHz bands have been liberalised and could be used for LTE, with Finland being a country with a particularly low population density HSPA+ could take operators a long way down the road to providing mobile broadband to rural areas, without the need for investment in the new radio technology or to wait for dual-mode LTE devices.

Tommy Olenius, Vice President, Technology, DNA, says: “By continuing our strategic partnership with Ericsson, DNA will be able to further improve the mobile broadband end-user experience and quality of service. The flexible new technology also allows remarkable growth in data-traffic volumes, caused by the great success of DNA’s mobile broadband products. Modernizing the network with Ericsson’s multi-standard radio solution also provides lower network energy consumption, therefore decreasing both the carbon footprint as well as the operational costs of DNA’s mobile operations.”

Robert Puskaric, Head Region Northern Europe Central Asia at Ericsson says: “With this agreement, we will continue to support DNA in developing their network in line with their mobile broadband strategies and ensure a seamless transfer to 4G. This includes effective handling of data traffic to avoid capacity bottlenecks in the mobile backhaul, providing the tools needed for a differentiated service offering and a smooth network rollout.”

Femto research gives business model pointers

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Femto research gives business model pointers

If the lack of a business model for residential femtocells has been something worrying some operators, then research from Park Associates, commissioned by the Femto Forum, may give them some pointers.

To download the full set of slides, which go into more than I highlight in this note, you can gain access here. But I thought I’d pull a couple of points out that interested me – to do with business models and the business case.

Churn and retention
First off, 12% of UK and German customer, and 22% of Spanish customers whose current operator could not provide a femtocell, said they would be very likely to switch to a new provider if they had a femtocell offering.

But more interestingly, amongst those who said they were likely to churn within the next 12 months, there was a much higher indication that they would avoid churning if their operator were to offer them a femtocell “at a price that you like”. Around 30% of the European consumers said that they would be very likely to stay with their operator if that happened. That looks like quite a powerful customer retention tool – and potentially a much cheaper one to an operator in terms of subsidy than a free handset upgrade.

Parks also found that the level of interest in femtocells grew as consumers’ propensity to churn grew. Those who were extremely unlikely to churn were also unlikely to find femtocells appealing. Whereas 40% of those who were very likely to churn were interested in a femtocell. You have to add to this the fact that Parks also found that it is the highest ARPU customers who are most likely to churn.

In other words, femtocells do seem to provide an attractive option for those thinking of churning and that customer retention (especially) as well as customer acquisition should be built into the business model.

Which services might they pay for?
The other aspect of building a business model is in seeing the potential for using femtos to deliver Value Added Services. Parks asked its respondents about a number of services, giving them a high, medium and low price point for each service. The good news for operators is that there was substantial interest in most of the services, at all price points  albeit amongst those already termed “femtocell fans”. For example, 65% of those polled expressed interest in the virtual home number, even at the high price point. And 98% expressed interest when the price was at its lowest. Services such as cellphone remote control, family alerts, virtual home number scored best. But even more unlikely products such as music sync and photo sync attracted some sort of interest – with 15% of the sample finding that feature appealing even at the highest price point.

NOTE: The Femto Forum commissioned Parks Associates to conduct this research in six nations: the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Spain, China, and Japan. The US research in fact dates back to April 2010 but the five other countries were surveyed in October 2010.

 

Global survey finds 60% of broadband households interested in femtocells

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The Femto Forum and international research firm Parks Associates today announced that femtocells, small wireless base stations designed to provide five bars of local wireless signal strength, are climbing up global consumers’ “want” lists as determined by the most comprehensive survey to date of consumer attitudes toward femtocells in developed markets.

The survey, which included 6,100 consumers across six countries (China, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States), found that nearly 60% of broadband households with mobile phones are interested in femtocells, with improved indoor voice coverage serving as the leading driver for interest. Further findings show that femtocells could prevent large numbers of consumers from changing carriers due to poor voice coverage, while also strongly appealing to heavy mobile data customers.

The survey revealed that not only is the quality of in-building voice services the chief driver for femtocells, it is also the single most important criteria by which consumers rate their mobile operator. The improvement that femtocells bring to voice services could prevent up to 42% of consumers currently considering leaving their operator from doing so. Furthermore, 18% of consumers are willing to switch to an operator offering femtocells and 36% of consumers in multicarrier households might switch carriers in order to consolidate with a single provider offering the service.

The findings are also said to show that heavy mobile Wi-Fi users are among the most interested in femtocells, with approximately 83% finding them appealing. This finding contradicts the notion that Wi-Fi alone resolves all indoor coverage issues, and can be attributed to femtocells’ abilities to improve voice coverage and preserve battery life. In fact, heavy mobile data users of all descriptions were so interested in the technology that they were willing to pay the most for femtocell services among all surveyed.

Among those who wanted femtocells, 68% found at least one advanced femtocell service either very or extremely appealing. Such services include Virtual Home Number, which rings every cell phone in the home, or Family Alerts, which warn when a subscriber such as a child or elderly relative has left or returned home.

“Despite the survey covering mature mobile markets, the results show that consumers’ biggest concern remains the most basic one – voice coverage. This is not only driving significant interest in femtocells, it is also the central reason why most consumers switch wireless operators,” said Harry Wang, director of mobile product research, Parks Associates. “However, the appeal of femtocells clearly extends beyond improved coverage. A significant number of users are very excited by the advanced services enabled by femtocells, indicating that the appeal extends widely. Beyond this, heavy users of mobile data are both the most interested in femtocells and the most likely to pay for the service.”

“This research underscores the importance that femtocells will have on a global scale, and is a clear indicator of the widespread adoption that we can expect in the coming year as consumers become more aware of them,” said Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femto Forum. “Already in the US, femtocells outnumber outdoor cell towers, with subscribers installing these plug-and-play access points to greatly improve wireless coverage in their homes and offices. And, while coverage is a key benefit, there are a variety of other advantages that femtocells enable including improved battery life and faster data speeds that will allow for advanced consumer applications and services.”

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