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Tag: 4g

  • Service Transparency Vital Between Legacy Networks and LTE

    INTERVIEW: Telecom carriers are beginning to deploy IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) technology in their networks instead of buying VoIP equipment.
    VoIP.biz-news spoke to Mavenir Systems, a provider of converged voice and messaging solutions, about the opportunities and challenges faced in delivering next generation communications.

    Research firm Infonetics recently forecast a 74 per cent increase in IMS equipment sales in 2009, while standalone VoIP purchases have dropped by a third in the past year.

    The analysts report seeing "a noticeable shift" away from stand-alone VoIP networks to IMS in the core network.

    Someone well placed to talk about this shift is Payam Maveddat, VP of marketing at Mavenir Systems.

    His company provides a converged voice solution that enables operators to make the transition to a single all-IP voice core network based on IMS for any mobile access, including 2G, 3G, WiMAX and LTE (Long Term Evolution).

    Most operators believe that IMS will be the core switching infrastructure – with the impending arrival of LTE and Rich Communication Suite (RCS) big drivers for IMS.

    Both require IMS at the core.

    Market Challenges

    Maveddat told voip.biz-news that the challenge for a small company like Mavenir is dealing with dominant equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent.

    "It’s unfortunate that when large equipment vendors go in and discuss this ‘grand vision’, they never talk about the changes that reside from having two separate domains on networks – IMS and legacy," he said.

    Maveddat said this is probably done deliberately since equipment vendors often have a vested interest in driving sales for the circuit side of their businesses.

    "There are enough challenges and technical difficulties with new technology, so the last thing that appears on the radar of trendsetters is ‘how can I connect with my old infrastructure?’" he said.

    But with IMS implementation in networks, operators need to look at the alternatives, according to Maveddat.

    "That’s where Mavenir walks in – and we are gaining traction," he said.

    Non-Standardised Products

    However, while many companies are used to buying standardised products that is not possible in the IP world.

    "The good news is: there are choices. The bad news is: there are choices," said Maveddat.

    "Since there are no standardised products, companies have to look at innovations. That’s been very challenging."

    Maveddat said Mavenir’s converged voice solution enables carriers to move their services from narrowband to IP-based access for broadband deployment as it is being rolled out.

    He said four carriers – including three Tier 1s – in Asia, Europe and the US are using its converged voice solution.

    "This tells us our strategy has been accepted and validated. Carriers want to use our services," he said.

    Voice and Messaging

    Maveddat said there is currently a great deal of discussion about voice and messaging on LTE.

    This centers around the fact there is 18-20 years worth of investment in mobile switching infrastructure with a very unique set of services, which are globally accessible.

    "With GSM, wherever you go, you pretty much get the same set of services," he said. "If you roam nationally or internationally, you have a seamless experience and can expect to get services exactly the way you want."

    So when it comes to the business case for deploying LTE, Maveddat said operators such as T-Mobile in Europe have a big problem with voice and messaging.

    He said unless there is service transparency between legacy environments and LTE, the adoption of the 4G mobile broadband standard will be seriously challenged.

    "So what we at Mavenir provide is the ability to anchor all your services in one core and enable the user to move between a broadband and narrowband environment," he said.

    "They do not see any service disparity."

    Mavenir has 150 employees spread between its headquarters in Texas, offices in China and Bangalore, India and regional support centers in Europe.

    Its IMS Centralized Services (ICS) allow mobile operators to connect and deliver IMS services to any device by connecting the IMS core to 2G, 3G, UMA Macro, Pico and Femto cells.

    This will enable carriers to transition the voice core to all-IP, eliminating the need for legacy MSCs.

    Maveddat said carriers that provide a purely mobile service, with no fixed infrastructure, are often interested in fixed mobile convergence services – without offering IMS.

    For them, the value of Mavenir’s solution is that they can offer incremental services – for example, providing a fixed line service in addition to mobile, with functions such as ring-back and, soon, text messaging.

    "The advantage they have here is that for a very low investment in infrastructure, they can get customers using a mobile service and provide unlimited calling from home," he said.

    "Subscribers will think twice before changing mobile operator, which helps with churn."

    Once operators have enough traction and consumers are adopting IP devices, Maveddat said the next stage is offering a complete stand-alone telephony service.

    Mavenir’s service enables the IMS core to be connected to GMS legacy networks.

    "It’s a changing game. Not only do we make it simple but we have a fast time to market and technology that works," he said. "The business case is improved for operators to launch the same set of services."

  • WiMAX MENA: Gulf Offers "Real Opportunity" For WiMAX


    Richard Jones has just overseen the largest WiMAX deployment in Europe, Africa and the Middle East for a telecom startup in Saudi Arabia.

    Yet the managing partner of Ventura Team said his biggest concern is whether WiMAX will make it as a technology.

    "LTE is coming. The difficulty is can WiMAX be in service before LTE arrives?"

    Jones told smartphone.biz-news that WiMAX is suffering from not having a "poster boy" to accelerate its adoption, perhaps a contributing factor to why it has failed to take off so far in India and the US.

    Another is cost.

    He said that despite there being plenty of WiMAX development around the world, prices for base stations are still high.

    "Volumes are needed to get down the production price because WiMAX is still expensive," he said.

    "The economies of scale that could normally bring equipment costs down will not occur. It’s a real challenge."

    Richard Jones, managing partner of Ventura Team

    Jones said WiMAX has to succeed and the key to increasing the number of subscribers is a successful deployment.

    "If that happens, other people will get confidence in it."

    He is part of an expert panel at the this week’s WiMAX MENA Forum in Dubai discussing how WiMAX can create profitable opportunities for new entrants in the Middle East and North Africa.

    His 16-month stint as Chief Commercial Officer for the Saudi Arabia company making the WiMAX deployment makes him well qualified to comment.

    Jones said the Gulf does offer a real opportunity since it is a market with relatively low broadband penetration.

    The area’s mix of villas and apartments often means it is not possible to put fibre in economically.

    In addition, there is the presence of an incumbent and the fact the industry has been slow to de-regulate means prices remain relatively high.

    "DSL is very poor in the region as a whole," he said. "There’s a long distance between people’s houses and exchanges, so no-one is getting a reasonably fast DSL service from the incumbent."

    Earlier this month, ZTE announced that it has partnered with Etihad Atheeb Telecom (Atheeb), the largest WiMAX operator in Saudi Arabia.

    They have agreed to build the Kingdom’s first nationwide WiMAX network.

    What WiMAX offers, according to Jones, is coverage which is so far lacking.

    "WiMAX provides an interesting opportunity for companies to provide broadband in areas that are uneconomical for fibre and places where people would not get a DSL service," he said.

    The existing gap in the market has led to a rise in 3G services but Jones said the opportunities for WiMAX are considerable.

    "WiMAX is still there. There is still the potential for services based on WiMAX to cover lots of subscribers not covered by fixed and around the 1-2 meg broadband service," he said.

    Jones said that WiMAX has become the fast roll-out technology of choice.

    But he said it is also being exploited by fixed licence operators in the Gulf who currently have a very good 3G service.

    In this situation the operators may have a WiMAX license – obtained at a fraction of the cost of a mobile licence – that doesn’t allow them to do anything mobile with the technology.

    But when licences are unified to pave the way for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) these carriers will be able to become good quality mobile providers.

    "What’s happening is that people are using WiMAX as part of a very innovative strategy," said Jones. "There are huge cost saving to be made."

  • WiMAX MENA: Roll-Out Strategy Key To WiMAX v LTE Debate


    Arguing that WiMAX is a better wireless 4G system than Long Term Evolution (LTE) – or vice versa – is a waste of time.

    That’s the view of Dr Hans-Peter Petry, head of radio access and transport at Detecon International, who is adamant that it’s pointless claiming either side in the 4G debate is superior to the other.

    "I would violently fight against those that say LTE is better than WiMAX," he said. "This is absolutely wrong.

    Even so, Petry, who is a speaker at this week’s WiMAX Forum Mena in Dubai, said that a key question in the WiMAX community is how it compares to other wireless technologies.

    He is addressing this in his presentation to the conference, which is entitled: Exploring The Capabilities Of Potential 4G Candidates And Understanding The Best Parameters For Benchmarking And A Successful Rollout.

    As part of this, Petry will "clarify the landscape" – essentially spelling out what makes a technology 2G, 3G or 4G.

    He told smartphone.biz-news this is necessary because many people are confused by what a technology has to offer before it can be classed as 4G.

    "There is a lot of confusion in the market," he said. "A lot of protagonists are confusing people with conflicting messages."

    "For 4G there are very clear pre-requisites and without them being implemented in the technology, you can not claim it is 4G."

    Dr Hans-Peter Petry, head of radio access and transport at Detecon International

    So WiMAX partly belongs to 3G – along with LTE and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) – and only in certain circumstances can they claim to be 4G, according to Petry.

    He said Detecon had defined a metric that enabled each of the technologies to be evaluated in a fair way.

    This included: marketing, geography, services, tariffs, and technology inputs.

    "All these parameters are important for an evaluation," he said. "We have mapped these into a single Service Production Cost (SPC)."

    So it is possible to show the SPC for individual technologies under similar conditions.

    Petry said this has produced some "astonishing results", the outcome of which shows that the decision on which 4G technology to implement is not a question of the technology.

    "Under the same boundary conditions, the difference in the technology is minor."

    Where there are differences, according to Petry, they lie in the roll-out strategies.

    He said this came down to whether an operator is looking for coverage first, then capacity or vice versa.

    "The recommendation is that before you talk about the technology, talk about other things such as roll-out strategy," he said.

    So factors such as the kind of customer, whether the area is green field, brown field, rural or densely populated, all have to be considered.

    Petry said boundary questions then had to be dealt with before, finally, talking about the appropriate technology.

    "Then you can choose the right technology," he said. "Do not choose WiMAX because you think it is better than LTE."

    As a footnote, Petry said he believed LTE would ultimately capture a larger market share than WiMAX.

    That may prove correct, but as the performance and capabilities of WiMAX and LTE get better over time, the competition between them will become less important than that between wireless and wired broadband.

  • Optimism For WiMAX Grows – As LTE Cranks Up Network Plans

    INTERVIEW: With the WiMAX Forum Global Congress about to kick off in Amsterdam, smartphone.biz-news spoke to Mike Roberts, principle analyst with Informa, about the state of the emerging wireless technology.

    While the appeal of WiMAX for users has always been clear it hasn’t made the 4G technology’s path to becoming a widely adopted wireless standard any smoother.

    However, despite setbacks and delays in networks being rolled out, WiMAX does appear to finally be gaining momentum.

    On Tuesday, thousands of delegates will be attending the opening of this year’s two-day WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam.

    Mike Roberts, principle analyst with Informa, is chairing sessions at the conference.

    He said he is "cautiously optimistic" about WiMAX, which is taking a small but increasingly respectable share of the mobile broadband market.

    "It’s a newcomer and is not going to take over the market overnight," he said. "Given its strengths we see it taking a very small market share, but that’s growing and will continue to do so."

    Roberts told smartphone.biz-news that one of the themes in Amsterdam will be that WiMAX should focus on its strengths.

    "While that may appear obvious, it still holds true," he said.

    What are those strengths? Well, these are principally fast data rates and low latency.

    Broadband Data

    As a result, Roberts said WiMAX should initially be concentrating on the broadband data segment since it offers users a better user experience than other technologies.

    "It is the latest and greatest technologies bundled together. That’s its great advantage," he said.

    There are also disadvantages to the technology, especially when compared to 3G-based systems such as HSPA and EVDO. But Roberts said these largely come down to coverage.

    "They (3G) are established traditional systems, so they are everywhere. WiMAX does not have that in any countries, but that is a function of maturity."

    Juniper Research recently issued a report noting that growth in WiMAX networks has been slower than anticipated.

    But it forecast that revenue from WiMAX 802.16e broadband subscribers will exceed USD $15 billion globally by 2014.

    To put that in perspective, Verizon reported wireless revenue of USD $15.1 billion for the first quarter of this year.

    The report notes that WiMAX will likely be a replacement technology for low-end DSL service and in developing countries where wired access doesn’t make economic sense.

    Developing Nations Take To WiMAX

    A driving force in these markets is Intel, which expects to make WiMAX accessible to 120 million people in 2010, with global rollouts planned or already happening in nations such as Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and India.

    Roberts said WiMAX had strong appeal in these countries because of their low broadband penetration.

    He said coverage is often not very good because of the cost of creating networks.

    "But everyone wants broadband these days, regardless of where they are, and the obvious way to roll it out is with wireless technology," he said.

    "WiMAX and other mobile broadband technologies have a great opportunity to meet that demand and are going after that opportunity."

    In the US, the WiMAX market is slowly growing, thanks chiefly to WiMAX service provider Clearwire.

    It is, finally, rolling out its WiMAX network – it added 25,000 new subscriptions in the first quarter of 2009, and users in Portland, Ore., where the service launched in January, are using twice the bandwidth than those in Clearwire’s Pre-WiMAX markets.

    The company has the aim of providing a pervasive mobile broadband service nationwide.

    But despite USD $3 billion in recent additional funding, the current economic climate has caused delays in the rollout.

    That said, as PC makers and others in the technology industry infiltrate the wireless market, the more open WiMAX technology is likely to gain more ground.

    Clearwire CEO William Morrow, recently spoke about the capacity and openness of the WiMAX network.

    He pointed out that it offered a way for customers to get streaming video or other applications that carriers are currently leery of.

    Roberts said Clearwire is one of the first really major WiMAX deployments and the faster it deployed, the better it was for the technology.

    "The rollout has been delayed but now its going ahead the take up in some markets is very good," he said. "That is very good for WiMAX."

    Clearwire is looking to target its ultra high-speed service at "road warriors" and others looking to get the most out of their netbooks, smartphones and laptops. It also appeals to heavy broadband users on a local level.

    Clearwire argues that eventually, the economies of scale and interest level will be convincing enough for consumer electronics makers to embed WiMAX into a range of smart devices.

    To improve the road warrior proposition in the absence of widespread deployment, Clearwire plans to introduce a dual-mode modem this summer that can connect to Sprint’s 3G network as well as to the Clear network.

    It says that, while there are no embedded devices on the market right now, it expects there to be nearly 100 by the end of the year.

    Roberts said that WiMAX is very strong in the portable segment – USB modems and notebooks – and is gaining momentum elsewhere.

    He said this is in part because Intel is one of the technology’s major backers and it held a lot of sway in the market.

    HTC T8290 – HTC’s First WiMAX Device

    "A lot of the 100 devices will be in that category," he said. "Where WiMAX still has a lot of work to do is in the mobile device category, although a lot of WiMAX people would say that’s less important to them."

    If WiMAX achieves its goal of having 100 devices by the end of 2009, then that is quite good progress for an emerging technology, according to Roberts.

    But he said it still paled in comparison to the 1000s of mobile devices available to the encumbent technologies, which were also able to offer them at very competitive price points.

    "But WiMAX offers a lightly better user experience for some applications and they will have to differentiate on that basis," he said.

    Play to Strength

    While WiMAX is strong in the portable segments, true, "full-blown" mobility will be harder and more expensive to achieve, according to Roberts.

    "You can argue the extent to which some WiMax networks need to go there," he said. "Most will be based on mobile WiMAX but do not need a full-blown mobile service.

    "It could be more for people on notebooks rather than talking on the phone – that’s WiMAX’s real core strength and the obvious place to start.

    "If it tries to go against straight mobility, then it will come up against very intense competition."

    Also in the US, Sprint rolled out a pilot WiMAX program in Baltimore last year. The network delivers average download speeds of two to four megabits per second, half the rate of cable Internet but several times faster than the 3G mobile service used by many of today’s smartphones, according to Sprint’s tests.

    The company plans to introduce WiMAX in 10 American cities this year and five more in 2010.

    Since few mobile devices have WiMAX chips in them, Sprint’s plan requires a proprietary antenna that plugs into laptops, similar to the early Wi-Fi cards that have since been built into computers.

    Growth Gets Noticed

    The flip side to WiMAX’s expanding network is that competing technologies take notice of the progress.

    So carriers like Verizon Wireless have speeded up their next generation network plans (in this case LTE).

    Ericsson and TeliaSonera have just flipped the switch on the world’s first commercial LTE cell site in Stockholm, Sweden.

    The site will be part of a full-scale deployment that’s scheduled for next year.

    AT&T has also just announced it is to accelerate the ramp up of LTE, a move which places it in a head-to-head competition with Verizon Wireless.

    The latter is already racing to install its LTE wireless infrastructure.

    "Success does not go unnoticed," said Roberts. "The LTE crowd has seen WiMAX coming to market and they have accelerated their plans in response.

    "I may be being a little cynical, but in Ericsson’s case they have turned on the base station although no-one can use it as there are no devices available.

    "But it is a step towards commercialising LTE."

    Despite this, he is optimistic about the future prospects for WiMAX: "If you look at WiMAX in isolation there are a lot of very positive signs.

    "If you look at it in broad terms, there are also positive signs. But there is competition and WiMAX will have to compete with the incumbents."

  • Clearwire and Cisco Team Up To Deliver WiMAX Network


    Clearwire Corp has agreed a deal with Cisco Systems that makes it the main supplier of new mobile business and WiMAX devices for the CLEAR 4G mobile WiMAX service.

    The high-speed wireless network is still being built – Clearwire currently only offers service in Baltimore and Portland.

    But nine further markets are due to be launched this year and up to 80 markets by the end of 2010.

    The companies said that as part of their multiyear agreement, Clearwire has selected Cisco as its supplier of Internet equipment on a national basis.

    Cisco is to build devices for Clearwire’s WiMax network targeted at consumers, small offices and home offices as well as small and medium-sized business and plans to introduce its first WiMax device later this year.

    Scott Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer at Clearwire, said the agreement with Cisco would result in a robust and cost-efficient next-generation network designed specifically for delivering rich broadband services.

    "In addition, Cisco plans to develop WiMAX technology for end-user devices, which will give consumers and businesses more compelling ways to stay connected through our CLEAR 4G service," he said.

  • Mobile VoIP Huge Challenge For Mobile Operators


    Traditional network-based mobile carriers face the real prospect of losing a major slice of their voice traffic and revenue to new non-infrastructure players that use VoIP.

    This could mean that within 10 years, more than 50 per cent of mobile voice traffic will be carried using end-to-end VoIP, according to Gartner.

    Its says that the threat posed by mobile portal VoIP is likely to have a huge and direct impact on the USD $692.6 billion global mobile voice market.

    If that all seems a little bleak for mobile operators, there are some bright spots.

    Gartner suggest that despite the significant potential for mobile VoIP, conditions for the rapid expansion in its use are not yet right.

    What’s more, the analysts reckon they aren’t likely to be so for at least five years – and perhaps not for as much as eight years.

    Tole Hart, research director at Gartner, said that mass-scale adoption of end-to-end mobile VoIP calling will not happen until fourth-generation (4G) networks are fully implemented in 2017.

    But he said that once the basic market conditions are in place, transition to mobile portal VoIP should be fairly rapid because of the inherent convenience and end-user cost savings.

    "In 10 years time we expect that 30 per cent of mobile voice traffic will be carried out through third-party mobile portals, such as Google, Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo, which will adopt wireless VoIP service as a voice option to their current communications hub," he said.

    A number of third parties, such as Skype, Truphone and fring, which carry VoIP traffic using a mobile phone, have cropped up in the past couple of years.

    These offer access to voice services via Wi-Fi and/or the carriers’ wireless voice networks.

    This has been the most efficient way to offer the service to date because of the inconsistencies of voice services over third-generation (3G) data networks.

    However, with the advent of 4G networks (WiMAX and Long Term Evolution [LTE]), and increased use of smartphones with open operating systems, Gartner says that it is conceivable, perhaps even inevitable, that wireless voice services will be run completely over VoIP.

    "Ten years from now, more than half of mobile voice traffic will be carried end-to-end using VoIP," said Akshay Sharma, research director at Gartner.

    "Carriers will adopt voice services because of the increased capacity and reduced cost of delivering voice over 4G networks.

    "Third parties will adopt a voice option for their communications hub."

    The Gartner analysts warn that there will also be a number of factors that will inhibit the adoption of third-party, end-to-end VoIP services.

    These include:

    • the delay in rolling out 4G networks because of current economic conditions
    • the general plan to put 4G only in the main cities and build out from there

    Nevertheless, they conclude that in five to 10 years time, as 4G networks become common, mobile VoIP services will have a strong impact on the communications market.

    Competing with mobile portal VoIP will be wireless carriers that offer circuit and VoIP voice and data services, and resellers and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that also offer services off the carrier networks.

    Gartner expects this opening of the VoIP channels to spawn a number of voice services from companies that offer voice services to communities using voice as a communications link.

    This means that the biggest competitors to mobile VoIP may be text messaging and e-mail, as people may prefer to use these types of communication because of their non-intrusive, less emotional and less time-consuming nature.

    Although the impact of the technology shift will be gradual as 4G networks roll out, Gartner advises carriers to start thinking now about how the transition will occur and how they might cooperate and partner with other types of service providers.

    It suggests that third-party providers, such as Google and Yahoo, should look to offer voice services today using the carriers’ networks and Wi-Fi to leverage their portfolio of services.
    Mobile social communities, such as Facebook and MySpace, which benefit from messaging traffic as it keeps eyeballs on their sites, should also have a voice option.

  • Telefónica Performs First LTE Tests – 10x Faster Than Current 3G


    Telefónica today conducted its first tests on a real 4th Generation network with LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, installed at its Demonstrations Centre in Madrid.

    The initial tests consisted of a VoIP call and a videocall using an LTE mini-network installed by Ericsson, Video conference, and data and images downloads at speeds in excess of 140 Mbps.

    These are around 10 times those possible with current 3G networks using HSPA technology.

    With LTE and in recent experiences from manufacturers with which Telefónica works on a regular basis, laboratory tests have been conducted showing download speeds in excess of 326 Mbps, while uploads have been possible at up to 86 Mbps.

    Telefónica says that before the 4th Generation or LTE arrives, it will continue to improve the capacity of the current 3rd Generation network.

    This currently gives both voice and data coverage to around 90 per cent of the Spanish population.

    Half way through this year, Telefónica is to start rolling out its HSPA + technology network, unveiled at the last Mobile World Congress with 21 Mbps download transmissions. This will mean it will also be able to offer the first commercial services and data devices this year.

    Information download speeds of up to 21 Mbps and 5 Mbps for sending information will be possible, as new functionalities and terminals become available, reaching 84 Mbps speeds until the arrival of LTE.

    Telefónica currently covers more than 81 per cent of the Spanish population with HSDPA – for downloading information, which it expects will surpass 85 per cent by the end of the year.

    With HSUPA – for sending information – this cover will reach 50 per cent by the end of 2009.

  • Cicero delivers Mobile Video over IP


    Cicero Networks has announced the release of CiceroPhone V2oIP (Voice and Video) for Nokia E series and N series handsets.

    In what it claims is the world’s first real-time, two-way IP video application for Nokia phones, the software enables high quality video telephony over Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networks.

    CiceroV2oIP provides video streaming using either the front or back camera on phones and simultaneously displays both the outgoing and incoming video streams to both parties on a call.

    The application also supports a range of half-duplex video applications, including “see-what-I-see” video sharing on any Series 60 Nokia device.

    Ross Brennan, CEO of Cicero Networks, said there was a demand from operators and service providers for services that made the most of both their fixed and mobile assets.

    CiceroPhone is SIP and 3GPP standards compliant, allowing it to be used in conjunction with an operator’s existing IP infrastructure.

    Cicero said that interoperability had already been proven with the IP and IMS communication platforms of the world’s leading network equipment providers.