TRaC to facilitate second Femto Forum plugfest
Following the Femto Forum’s announcement earlier this week to hold a second plugfest, TRaC Telecoms & Radio has today confirmed it will once again be facilitating the interoperability testing event and ongoing interoperability program.
The agreement comes after TRaC facilitated the world’s first femtocell plugfest event earlier this year, which received widespread vendor support and was attended by more than 20 companies. TRaC and the Femto Forum are now making plans for the second plugfest and looking to build on their already successful partnership.
To be held towards the end of 2010, this second plugfest will focus on the Broadband Forum’s femtocell management standard, building on the work of the Forum’s first plugfest on the Iuh interface.
Karim Sharf, chief operating officer at TRaC, commented: “Femtocells and their deployment is undoubtedly becoming a significant focus for many telecommunications operators.
“By holding a second plugfest we can really drive forward the development of femtocell technology, providing valuable feedback to standards organizations and ensuring consistent interoperability between vendors’ equipment.”
TRaC and the Femto Forum both see interoperability as integral to the successful uptake of femtocells. In order to address this need, the Forum created an interoperability testing special interest group (IOT SIG) and asked Karim Sharf, the vice chair of the SIG, to act as editor for the interoperability test specifications document, being used as the basis for the plugfest program.
“Open and effective standards are central to the success of femtocells. They provide operators and users with a real choice of devices while also driving economies of scale to bring down the cost of the technology,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum. “TRaC was instrumental in the success of our first plugfest and we look forward to continuing our partnership in the future.”
TRaC, which opened a flagship independent DSL testing facility at its UK headquarters following re-location from North America just six months ago, provides comprehensive regulatory and interoperability testing of femtocell products to help drive forward their deployment in a diverse range of communications infrastructure applications.
Karim added: “Whilst our reputation for operating testing programs holds high esteem in the telecommunications industry, to be facilitating the Femto Forum’s femtocell plugfests is a real testament to what we have created.”
Users would pay for better broadband experience, quality
Rows break out within operators on how to combat broadband profit gap
Operators need to open up their “behind closed doors” information, sharing with users usage and quality information. This would allow them to differentiate themselves in an open manner on quality and reliability, according to Acision’s Steven van Zanen, rather than just on unattainable speed promises, or cost.
Reacting to research Acision has commissioned from YouGov, which showed that 54% of mobile broadband users think that speed is the most frequent QoS issue, van Zanen said that operators have the opportunity to address such concerns head on, fronting up about actual service performance.
Van Zenan described a typical arc for data services, in which as uptake grows, the operator faces QoS issues. Then, as penetration reaches above 60%, operators see increased calls on profitability, as opex costs increase. Then, finally, in a mature service, ARPU itself declines. The problem for mobile operators is that in mobile broadband, operators are having to deal with all these issues simultaneously, he claimed.
This means they are experiencing huge growth, with the QoS issues and increase in capex and opex that brings. But they are also seeing competition reduce ARPUs. The answer is to change the way operators market and sell services, Acision claims.
But how? To deal with the data usage/ profit gap, operators have taken to the blunt tools of data caps, and Fair Usage Policies (FUP). Although this has generated some poor press, it hasn’t really hurt them yet in turns of overall consumer perception, according to YouGov. YouGov’s panel survey of around 2,000 users showed that allowances (FUP) rate very low down the scale of consumer concerns. Price and reliability are far higher concerns.
So there is an opportunity for operators to take a policy and rules-led approach to differentiating themselves – without necessarily exposing themselves to a massive outburst of consumer wrath.
Marek Vaygelt, Head of Consumer, Technology and Telecoms Consulting at YouGov, said that when the concept of fair usage was explained to customers in terms of ensuring that all users get fair access, rather than 80% of bandwidth being taken up by 5% of users, then they wer receptive to the concept. Indeed, YouGov’s polling showed that 75% of users would welcome far usage allowances, understood in those terms.
Acision markets its Broadband Mobility Suite, a dashboard that builds on network, customer and application information to present to operators a view of the customer experience, and then also uses that information to allow the operator to communicate with that customer.
The dashboard is not a policy engine in itself, instead it uses policy and control information, as well as charging and rating data, and content optimisation tools to present a view of the user experience to the operator and then allow the operator to take approriate action.
The tool doesn’t mean Acision is making a big move for the policy space. Van Zanen said the likes of Camiant and Cisco are partners, and “would love” to work with Acision.
The tool would compete more with the providers of customer experience tools, such as Arantech. But van Zanen said that it only did so in one regard, building that view.
“The single view only useful if you know what to apply it to,” he added.
Van Zanen described the integration of such a dashboard as “huge”, and added that winning the ROI case for the integration effort is the big battle.
Extra investment in such tools may be a bitter pill for operators to swallow, given that they have already invested unbudgeted millions in extra network capacity, and know that they will also have to make the LTE investment leap at some point.
“I’ve been in front of executive teams that are having a bust up amongst themselves in front of me, with the CFO saying that he thought all this was taken are of,” van Zanen said.
The question is, with mobile broadband booming, and at the very least a customer perception of under-performing networks, can operators afford not to act?
“The debate is not that operators need to do this, the debate is how they will do it, and who owns the stakeholder,” van Zanen added. He described a triangle of responsibility between the operator, the content or application provider, and the user.
For example, users cite that nearly all video sessions come with some sort of QoS issue. But many would also be willing to pay for a service that guaranteed an uninterrupted stream, either at lower video size or with a longer wait to load. This information would give the operator the ability to offer access based on quality and useability, rather than just a top end speed limit, or monthly capacity allowance.
EXTRA Van Zanen quote:
“I spoke to one T1 operator, and he said he didn’t want to compress video, because his users are paying per megabit”
OMTP announces final documents prior to transition into Wholesale Application Community
In advance of its transition into the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), the OMTP today announced its three final document releases.
During its final year, the OMTP community has continued to deliver recommendations and will conclude its deliveries with three updated documents including to one of its first documents produced back in 2005. The three new update documents are:
– Camera Maintenance – providing updated recommendations for camera quality on mobile devices including performance, focal distance, zoom multipliers and horizontal field of view.
– Visual Voicemail Maintenance – providing several protocol improvements and enhanced security
– Common Charger and Local Data Connectivity Maintenance – providing additional safety requirements and updates through industry feedback on moving to a Common Charging capability based on USB-IF specifications.
Tim Raby, MD OMTP commented, “Since its inception in 2004 the OMTP has risen to many challenges and by listening to the industry it has provided the mobile industry with many documents which have reduced fragmentation and improved the quality of the features and services on modern mobile devices. I am proud to have led OMTP for the last four years and made a real difference to the devices which are now on the market.” Raby is currently holding the position of interim CEO of WAC.
David Gannon, VP, Strategic industry relations at Deutsche Telekom and Chair of the OMTP Board of Directors said: “OMTP has proven itself as an important and effective forum for operators and vendors to drive future terminal requirements to the ultimate benefit of users. For Deutsche Telekom, our customers and the whole mobile industry the OMTP and its deliverables have been of significant value. We are delighted to build on this success within the Wholesale Applications Community, which will bring a significantly larger supporting community, will drive the alignment of BONDI and JIL for consistent terminal implementations and setup a commercial ecosystem. In parallel, work will continue within GSMA and OMA to continue the alignment of terminal requirements beyond OMTP.”
E112 and lawful intercept will drive LBS platforms market in Europe, says report
According to a new report from telecoms research firm, Berg Insight, the market for LBS platforms and middleware in Europe will return to growth in the coming years, with demand driven by E112 and lawful intercept requirements as well as increasing adoption of A-GPS. Annual revenues in Europe for mobile location platforms, including A-GPS servers and middleware platforms, are projected to grow from about € 18 million in 2009 to € 35 million in 2015.
“Location-based services are finally on the verge of mainstream acceptance, enabled by broader adoption of GPS-enabled smartphones”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “Mobile operators are now gradually responding by investing in location platforms and new technologies. Especially A-GPS servers and hybrid technologies will become very important as the installed base of GPS-enabled handsets is projected to surpass 400 million devices in 2014.”
In addition to supporting commercial services, mobile operators also face increasingly stricter requirements for emergency call location and lawful intercept. Improved emergency call and lawful intercept capabilities typically entail accurate location of any handset deployed and therefore require installation of network-based location technologies, says Berg.
Vodafone Roaming Services selects Roamware for network-based traffic steering
Vodafone Roaming Services has selected Roamware, a provider of mobile roaming solutions, to provide its Network Traffic Redirection (NTR) service as part of a wider managed traffic solution on Vodafone’s roaming hub. NTR, also known as ‘traffic steering’, is said to be a solution that enables mobile operators to proactively influence their outbound roamers’ choice of mobile network based on signalling information.
NTR is said to enable operators to steer international traffic to partners with higher quality of service and lower inter-operator tariffs (IOT) resulting in optimum customer experience, lower costs for end-users and increased margins and revenues for mobile carriers.
“Customers are expecting the same quality of service at home and abroad. Previously, operators had little or no control over which network their customers connect to. With traffic redirection, operators are able to steer traffic to a network that provides voice and data services at a quality and price their customers demand,” said Richard Grohol, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations at Roamware.
Roamware’s NTR will form the basis of Vodafone Roaming Services’ modular steering solution. Vodafone’s roaming hub members will be able to deploy network-based steering, SIM based steering, or a fully integrated combination of both methods.
Opera and MegaFon sign agreement
Opera Software and the Russian federal mobile operator MegaFon signed an agreement under which MegaFon’s special package “Unlimited Internet with Opera Mini” will be distributed to all Russian territories. It means that more than 53 million Russian mobile subscribers will have access to the mobile web without traffic counting.
MegaFon is said to be the leader of mobile Internet in Russia, serving 39 percent of mobile web traffic, according to ComNews Research. In September 2009, MegaFon chose Opera Mini as the means to provide unlimited mobile web access in the Moscow region for just 7 roubles (0.18 EUR) per day. The dramatic user growth seen as the result of the “Unlimited Internet with Opera Mini” plan persuaded MegaFon to provide this package in all Russian regions in their coverage area. Ural and Siberia were the next areas to gain access to fast and cost-effective mobile web via Opera Mini after Moscow. The remaining regions will gain access from June 2010.
“According to our statistics, the traffic amount generated by an Opera Mini subscriber is twice more than any other MegaFon user generates,” said Aleksey Ivlev, Head of new products and services, OJSC MegaFon. “This package got great interest, and the number of Opera Mini package unique users increase by 10-15 percent monthly”.
“Opera Mini helps mobile operators to build an active mobile web user community and to make them loyal,” said Mikhail Ilin, Sales Director of Opera Software, Russia and CIS. “Keeping in mind the popularity of Opera Mini browser in the Russian-speaking Internet segment, we expect a significant growth in user numbers.”
Opera Mini is claimed to be the most popular browser for mobile phones in Russia, with the highest market share. Opera Mini compresses data up to 90 percent, resulting in cost savings and increased speed, even while surfing with low-end mobile handsets, it says.
Mi-Pay extends top-up and billing platform
Mi-Pay has extended its mobile top-up and billing platform to offer enhanced multi-channel integration, easily-configurable settings and broader applications. Fully PCI Level 1 Certified, the platform facilitates mobile, online and ATM top ups as well as SIM purchase and post-paid billing solutions.
Supporting payments from over 150 countries, Mi-Pay Version 2.00 can process card, cash and direct payments in multiple languages from multiple hardware and transaction channels, enabling channel portfolios to be custom-built to meet operators’ exact market requirements. Smarter payment services can be tailored to suit specific country, cultural or system constraints without lengthy timescales, complex processes or heavy investment, claims the company.
Supporting Domestic and International Airtime Transfer, product payments and mobile agent based services, Mi-Pay Version 2.0 can deliver unified multi-channel services as either a managed outsourced or white label solution. It also has an extensive business intelligence and reporting capability, enabling financial service partners, retailers and agents to become proactively involved in building new prepaid mobile revenue streams.
Norman Frankel, CEO of Mi-Pay explained, “We have provided ‘platform as a service’ payments to mobile operators and MVNOs for over five years. The demand for bespoke and risk-free credit management solutions, has accelerated as players seek mobile content, applications and services to facilitate the booming pre-paid market.”
“Ensuring convenient and flexible access to airtime top-up or bill payments is now crucial to prevent customer churn, boost usage and lock consumers in. Solving the issue of anonymous customer relationships is also vital; as is generating returns from mobile advertising, and harnessing the operators own direct internet and mobile channels. With our Version 2.0 platform, we offer a wide range of easily integrated and configurable solutions that enable service providers to build an intelligent multichannel capability – providing more routes to market, increased access points for their customers and greater return on their prepaid investment.”
In addition to domestic and international prepaid top-up and payment, Mi-Pay Version 2.0 also provides a direct billing platform for operators looking to expand or outsource billing systems for phone-based fixed and mobile services.
More than 55 million smartphone shipments in 1Q 2010, says research
The world’s smartphone markets continued to build on their strong 4Q-2009 performance in the first three months of 2010, according to the latest ABI Research data, which says that a little more than 55 million smartphones were shipped during the quarter.
While this represents a drop of about one million compared to 4Q-2009, seasonal sales cycles always produce lower results in the first quarter of any year compared to the previous quarter, according to senior analyst Michael Morgan, “Normally we would see a much greater decline in shipments in the first quarter; the fact that the drop was so relatively small highlights the continuing dynamic growth of the smartphone market.”
Much of the fastest growth is being seen in markets previously little penetrated by expensive, cutting-edge smartphones, says ABI. With new less expensive models becoming available, the global market is becoming much more diverse.
An example is provided by Nokia. Its shipments rose QoQ from 20.8 million to 21.5 million despite the usual quarterly decline, building on an explosive last quarter of 2009 which saw the firm’s smartphone shipments expand 25%, largely on the strength of its new models such as the “C” and “X” lines which are really experience-focused, lower-cost smartphones that directly address those newer markets. Nokia has a history of success in lower-cost feature phone markets, but until recently their smartphone lineup was exclusively high-end, says ABI.
“These are not ‘iPhone-killers’,” notes Morgan. “They’re simpler, lower-end devices, not bleeding-edge top-of-the-line technologies, but they can still deliver satisfying social networking and other basic smartphone experiences.”
iPhone shipments also rose slightly, from 8.7 to 8.8 million, partly on the back of strong performance in markets such as Japan and China. Morgan believes that “The smartphone market as a whole was probably buoyed by improving first quarter holiday season demand from the Asia-Pacific region.”
