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Icera and Rohde & Schwarz team up on LTE

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Icera and Rohde & Schwarz today announced that they are working together on Rohde & Schwarz’s LTE protocol conformance test program to enable the wireless industry to certify and deploy LTE technology successfully and more quickly. Both Icera and Rohde & Schwarz are industry specialists in the development of multimode LTE products.

The Global Certification Forum (GCF) is currently working towards introducing LTE certification by the end of 2010. This will coincide with an expected wave of LTE service and device launches. Rohde & Schwarz says it already supports four different frequency bands and offers more than 100 test cases for FDD.

Steve Allpress, CTO and VP Modem Software of Icera Inc., said: “Our soft modem technology is proving a real game changer for LTE.  There is a great deal of talk in the industry about bolstering LTE roadmaps, but in reality there are only a handful of players with a commercially available LTE solution and Icera is one of those companies. Similarly, Rohde & Schwarz was the first supplier on the market with test solutions for LTE. We are delighted to be working with them on the ongoing development of their comprehensive LTE test case package which meets the industry’s need for thorough LTE device testing programs and which clearly demonstrates Icera’s LTE solution meets the industry’s rigorous certification requirements.”

Anton Messmer, Director of the Mobile Radio Testers Subdivision, states: “We are the only manufacturer on the market who supports the four standards, LTE, WCDMA, GSM and CDMA2000, for protocol conformance tests in a single device. With our flexible R&S CMW500 multistandard platform, we provide a compact, stable solution for our customers. We look forward to again demonstrating its value when we team up with Icera, the innovative, multimode chipset manufacturer.”

Icera maintains its roadmap for next generation air interfaces due to its ‘unique’ software-defined baseband technology, currently supporting multimode 4G (LTE), 3G (HSPA) and 2G (GSM) standards with its latest small form factor, multimode LTE platform, Espresso410.

Tough opposition from mobile operators in termination rate battle – report

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Ofcom faces tough opposition from mobile operators in the battle to reduce termination rates due to the negative impact on revenues, according to a new report from Ovum.

In the report,  the independent telecoms analyst states that Ofcom and other regulators will become embroiled in a ‘vigorously contested’ consultation with operators, as they seek to protect their bottom line.

The mobile termination rate (MTR) is the amount charged by one operator to another for terminating a call on their network. The rates for mobile are currently higher than fixed line charges and vary across different operators. However the European Commission wants standardisation across the continent and is putting pressure on regulators such as Ofcom to intervene. According to the report, this would result in MTRs falling by almost 90 per cent over the next five years, from an average of six euro cents to one.

Matthew Howett, an Ovum lead analyst and co-author of the report, said: “There is currently a revolution underway in Europe for how MTRs are calculated and we expect rates to fall considerably as a result. However, Ofcom’s intervention in the matter will be hotly contested by operators who will oppose a reduction in their rates due to the negative impact it will have on their revenues.

“Operators will definitely not accept any reduction in termination rates without a fight and Ofcom should be prepared for a fierce battle with operators, keen to protect their own interests. As a result, consumers may be waiting longer for the cheaper calls that lower termination rates could encourage.

“Currently the termination rate represents a price floor in terms of the retail price paid by consumers. Regulators will also be vigilant of operators increasing call prices for some consumers as a way to make up for lost revenues.”

Termination rates were reduced by 52 per cent on average between 2005 and 2010, with France leading the way with a cut of 76 per cent. In stark contrast, Ireland saw the smallest cut with a reduction of just 24 per cent.

Howett added: “According to the existing EU telecoms rules, Ofcom must take ‘utmost account’ of the EC’s recommendation and will have to bring termination rates down and ensure standardisation by 31 December 2012. However, given the opposition that mobile operators will put forward, this could be a tall order.”

Mobile adult paysite subscribers forecast to reach 35 million by 2015, says research

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The surge in consumer smartphone adoption, allied to low cost data bundles, has led to a sharp rise in the number of consumers surfing mobile adult sites, a new report from Juniper Research has found. This has translated into a marked increase in subscriptions to mobile adult paysites, with the number subscribing to such sites expected to exceed 35 million worldwide by 2015, says Juniper.

The Mobile Adult report observed that the consumer smartphone boom had indirectly resulted in the adult industry generating substantial revenues in the US for the first time. The market had previously been constrained by carrier reluctance to offer adult content on-portal, but that direct to consumer (D2C) adult sites were profiting as consumers were surfing the Internet via the mobile in ever increasing numbers.

Furthermore, the availability of a strong mobile revenue stream has come at a critical point for the adult industry. According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “The opportunity offered by mobile couldn’t be more timely, given that sales from DVDs have collapsed while online paysites have also lost customers and revenues as a result of the proliferation of tube sites.”

Conversely, the imposition of stringent regulations prohibiting access to remote adult content in a number of Asian markets will adversely impact revenue growth within that region, while many European markets have also experienced a fall in sales as traffic to on-portal adult content has diminished, says Juniper.

The report also cautioned that the widespread availability of free content on thumbnail gallery posts (TGPs) would mean that revenue generation from casual users would in future be extremely limited and that providers should focus on catering for customers seeking high-value niche content. It also stressed the importance of customer retention, highlighting the fact that many mobile providers have focused almost exclusively on traffic generation.

Handheld spectrum analyzers facilitate installation and servicing of both CDMA and LTE networks

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The R&S FSH4 and R&S FSH8 handheld spectrum analyzers from Rohde & Schwarz are said to offer many useful new functions for installing and servicing CDMA and LTE mobile radio networks. In their basic configuration, the analyzers can now perform measurements in the spectral range. They can, for example, detect spurious emissions and display the associated limit values. With their 20 MHz bandwidth, they are suitable for analyzing LTE signals and, using two new options, R&S FSH-K46 and -K46E, the analyzers are also capable of analyzing CDMA2000 signals.

The new R&S FSH-K46 and R&S FSH-K46E software options provide all the functions that service and installation technicians need to check the operationally relevant parameters of CDMA2000 base station signals. The R&S FSH-K46 option measures the power, determines the ratio of peak power to average power, and displays characteristic parameters such as the power in both the pilot channel (F-PICH) and the synchronization channel (F-SYNC), the carrier frequency offset, composite EVM (error vector) and Rho. The R&S FSH-K46E option has been designed for more in-depth analysis and can also perform code domain power measurements. These measurements provide the information needed for graphically displaying the power in all occupied and unoccupied channels, for example.

Additional new measurement functions have been incorporated into the base unit, including the ability to measure spurious emissions that might interfere with the adjacent transmit signal. Predefined masks for CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE allow the user to measure the spectrum emission mask quickly, with minimum operating effort. The gated sweep function makes it possible to display pulsed signals in the spectrum.

With their expanded demodulation bandwidth of 20 MHz, the R&S FSH4 and the R&S FSH8 analyzers are said to be safe investments for the installation and maintenance of LTE networks. Applications for LTE will soon become available, in addition to the applications for 1xEV-DO, 3GPP WCDMA and CDMA2000.

The R&S FSH-K46 and R&S FSH-K46E software options as well as new firmware are now available for the R&S FSH4 and R&S FSH8 spectrum analyzers from Rohde & Schwarz. The analyzers are now being delivered with a 20 MHz demodulation bandwidth at no extra charge.

GSMA considers Mobile World Congress date switch

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The GSMA is considering a date switch for Mobile World Congress, as part of ambitious plans to annoint the city that wins the contract to host MWC from 2013-2017 as Mobile World Capital.

In a FAQ page on its site dedicated to the launch of the Mobile World Capital the GSMA replies to the question, “Will Mobile World Congress still be held in February?” with the answer, “The Congress dates will vary depending on the cities, and we will be reviewing suggestions we receive as part of their responses. We will be looking at date availabilities in the best interest of our customers.”

The potential date switch is just one part of the GSMA’s re-think of the Congress and surrounding activities. The winning bidder for the Congress contract that runs from 2013 to 2017 will also be appointed as Mobile World Capital – and act as host to an expanded range of activities.

The GSMA wants the Capital to act as a centre for mobile innovation and services, with a more consumer-facing identity than the Congress. Congress would become just one part of a permanent (well, for four years, at any rate) mobile exposition/festival/showcase/etc

The GSMA said, “Working closely with a City partner, we will undertake a range of mobile initiatives, and create a cultural and economic centre which benefits not only the mobile industry, but most importantly, citizens of the city and people around the world.”

The GSMA’s vision of the Mobile World Capital includes:
The Mobile World Centre, which will be located in the heart of the city and will be the permanent flagship element of the Mobile World Capital. The Mobile World Centre will include technology exhibits, museum features, a retail area, a mobile café, office space and more.
The Mobile World Festival, a range of festivities that will be targeted to the general public and will take place separate from the Mobile World Congress.  Dispersed around the Mobile World Capital city, the Mobile World Festival will incorporate mobile-driven festivities including concerts, music and movie festivals, competitions and awards, and dialogues and debates, among others.
The Mobile World Congress, which is widely considered the industry’s “must-attend” event and is expected to draw more than 50,000 visitors at the 2011 Mobile World Congress. The four-day conference and exhibition attracts executives from the world’s largest and most influential companies across the mobile industry and adjacent sectors, as well as government delegations.

By the way, we at Mobile Europe are still backing Cologne for this, and now with the chance to bear witness to Cologne as Mobile World Capital, we’re even more convinced.

 

 

 

NSN introduces IP connectivity to high capacity Flexi BSC

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Nokia Siemens Networks has beefed up its base station controller (BSC) portfolio with a high capacity product that introduces IP networking capabilities between the base station and BSC, and the BSC and mobile switching centre (MSC).

Its new Flexi BSC (base station controller) introduces Packet Abis to give IP capability on the connection between the base station (BTS) and the BSC. IP networking between the BSC and the MSC is supported by the introduction of A over IP. (The A link is the link between the BSC and the MSC.)

The introduction of both technologies is intended to support operators as they move to all-IP radio networks, and to IP over Ethernet transport for backhaul.

The product has the capacity to support 4,200 transceivers and over 25,000 Erlangs in a compact and single cabinet. NSN said that could mean operators would be able replace up to 32 existing base station controllers in the field giving up to 80% reduction in energy consumption along with a 40% increase in capacity over existing base station controllers.

With the benefits of an optical interface, fewer connections are required, meaning reduced installation effort, faster rollout, and lower maintenance costs. The new Transcoder TCSM3i configuration also offers 40% more capacity while maintaining the compact size.

“Higher voice capacity with fewer base station controllers reduces energy consumption, a major cost for operators, along with simplifying operations and maintenance resulting in lower OPEX,” said Prashant Agnihotri, head of GSM/EDGE product management, Nokia Siemens Networks.

NSN added that Flexi BSC also provides an evolution path to its Multicontroller BSC, to extend the capacity of Flexi BSC. The latest software for Flexi BSC and Transcoder TCSM3i is based on 3GPP Release 8 and commercial deliveries are in progress, NSN said.

Why the GSMA vs SIMalliance “fight” is being misrepresented

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NOW UPDATED: The SIMalliance has not come out against the GSMA on embedded SIMs

A GSMA initiative to come up with remote activation standards for embedded SIMs has been reported in a couple of places as being strongly rebuffed by SIM manufacturers represented by the SIMalliance. But look again.

On Thursday 18 November, the GSMA announced that a group of operators had formed a “task force” to explore the development of an embedded SIM that can be remotely activated. The group is expected to complete the analysis of market requirements by January 2011 and devices featuring the new SIM activation capability are expected to appear in 2012, the GSMA said.

At issue here is the question of how SIMs in a range of devices, from smart meters to cameras and navigation devices, will be activated. Operators can’t pre-provision, all ready for activiation, all the billions of embedded SIMs that could be out there in the near future.

As a totally separate side issue, there have been rumours that Apple is working on a similar, non-removeable, but remotely activated SIM. This was first reported, to my knowledge, on 27 October by GigaOM and picked up by a number of other outlets, keen to run with the “Apple to cut out the operators” angle.

So had the SIMalliance caught wind of this and not in fact the GSMA statement? I think yes. For a start, the SIMalliance released its statement two days before the GSMA released its news. It could have been a pre-emptive strike, perhaps, if the SIM guys had picked up on what the operators were planning. Except that the SIMalliance’s statement said that it was responding to quite different rumours: “we have seen in the Press numerous articles mentioning a new way to distribute smart phones”.

Note that, “a new way to distribute smartphones.” Not “a new way to devise a SIM activation model for M2M and embedded SIMS”.

Yes, the SIMalliance wanted to point out that using a remote download on an embedded SIM would “dramatically change the business model” and it added that “(U)SIM Card removability and accessibility by the end user is mandatory for personal mobile communications usage.”

However, SIMalliance appeared to grasp the fact that when it comes to non-personal comms, ie M2M, then a different model will be required. “In the case of non personal mobile communications, such as Machine to Machine, such requirements could be adapted.”

So I don’t think there is a battle between the groups. It was a strike by the SIM manufacturers against the Apple rumours, first started by GigaOM with a slightly misleading headline and repeated by those who didn’t understand what they were reading.

SIMalliance is remarkably hard to track down as they could kill this GSMA vs the SIM manufacturers stuff at a stroke*(SEE UPDATE), but a GSMA response to Mobile Europe said, “The announcement by the SIMalliance extolled the virtues of the traditional SIM, and we concur with the benefits that the SIMalliance identified in its statement. We do believe that the evolution to the embedded SIM will continue to provide critical capabilities, such as security and portability, for customers, and will enable the delivery of a plethora of new services.”

So there are two issues at stake here. The first is what to do about the billions (the mobile industry hopes) of embedded SIMs that could be in the market over the next few years. The SIMalliance is in fact in broad agreement with the GSMA on this.

The second is the issue of non-removeable SIMs in smartphones – the Apple rumour, shall we call it- as first reported by gigaOm.

*UPDATE: 18.00hrs, Friday 19 November.
Hervé Pierre, SIMalliance General Secretary, has confirmed in person to me that SIMalliance did indeed have the “Apple SIM” reports as its target, and not the GSMA’s later announcement. SIMalliance has no issues with the GSMA’s embedded SIM release and regrets that the two releases were placed, erroneously, in opposition by some parties.

Self-Organizing Network solution tested in live LTE network

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TeliaSonera and Ericsson have recently provided Self-Organizing Network (SON) functionality in a live Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

According to Ericsson, managing neighbor cell relations to ensure optimal traffic handling to each device is one of the most labor-intensive areas for a mobile operator. The introduction of LTE multiplies the effort needed in this area for operators. The standardized Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR) feature is now being introduced as the first feature in the overall SON solution.

ANR automatically sets up necessary neighbor relationships based on actual network conditions, thereby preventing failed handovers due to missing neighbors. In this way, ANR continuously secures and improves network performance. It also reduces the operators’ need for manual planning and the creation of neighbor relations.

Last week, TeliaSonera and Ericsson are said to have successfully tested the ANR feature in a live 4G network in Sweden. The ANR feature has now been proved in a live network for the first time with full user-equipment support.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: “Our cooperation with TeliaSonera paves the way for a technology breakthrough. Thanks to this, operators will be able to handle handovers much more efficiently between neighboring cells in the LTE network. The network will automatically ensure that each user gets the best possible coverage and service performance.”

The tests in the 4G/LTE network were based on Ericsson LTE radio access and Ericsson Evolved Packet Core (EPC) packet core. The ANR feature primarily provides a function in the radio access network with policy planning and visualization in OSS and some functional interaction with the core network.

Gloves for the tech-savvy burglar

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Gloves for the tech-savvy burglar

Perhaps it’s coming towards the time of year when you want a twist on the traditional rubbish Christmas present. If so, I give you…conductive gloves for the chilled and chilly touchscreen user in your life.

 

First off these little beauties: Fivepoint Gloves.

They’ve got conductive fingertips, see, whereas normal gloves have not. For some reason I find this picture mildly disturbing. As if someone intent on a little light breaking and entering had decided to check his messages at the same time.

They’re not the only ones on the market. Here’s some more from Isotoner.

These look like the sort of gloves your father-in-law might go motoring in. Cosy, warm, and ideal for stabbing angrily at the satnav as he attempts to avoid the traffic on his journey home on Boxing Day.

Then there’s these Touchscreengloves available on Firebox. These are a chunky knit, sensible option for those suffering from frozen digital extremities, but still in need of a fix of the small screeen.

Finally, and definitely the most high tech of solutions…these little humdingers, also from Etre (the company behind the Fivepoint Glove), which would just look a bit, well, odd if you were doing anything other than browsing your iPad inside of a fridge.

 

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