22nd ~24th May 2012

CCIB, Barcelona, Spain

Pradeep De Almeida
Group Chief Technology Officer Dialog Axiata PLC

Telecom Industry Landscape (As of now)

OTT service Providers

Smart devices & OTT services leveraging on Telco networks has changed industry dynamics

Increased demand on operator infrastructure in a high bandwidth data network

What is the role of Wi-Fi and femtocells in the present ecosystem? Are they conflicting or

The Mobile Operator

complementary?

Content
1 Overview of femtocells and Wi-Fi
From the perspective of current Telco landscape

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi

Conflict or Complement?

Prospects in emerging markets

Selecting the right technology

Trending.
Hotspot 2.0, Data off-loading, The connected home.

Overview of femtocells
Small cells (femto/pico/micro/metro) are low-power wireless access points that operate in
licensed spectrum, are operator-managed and feature edge-based intelligence. They provide improved cellular coverage, capacity and applications for homes and enterprises as well as metropolitan and rural public spaces.
Source: www.smallcellforum.org

Demand for data

Need for more base stations

Increase the number of small cells

Operator expenditure (intentions) on small cells (Research by small cell forum)

Overview of Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called 802.11 to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless
connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect electronic devices to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks which use Ethernet technology. Wi-Fi networks operate in the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, with some products that contain both bands (dual band).
Source: www.wi-fi.org

Can the current capacity gap be met by cellular technologies alone?

Spectrum & Capacity issues? Is there a cheaper alternative?

Deployment of Wi-Fi
Source: Agilent Technologies

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi A Technology Overview

Femtocells Wi-Fi
2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 5 GHz - IEEE 802.11 a/n/ac
2.1 GHz WCDMA/HSPA 700MHz,800 MHz, 1.8 GHz,2.6 GHz.- LTE / LTE-Advanced 2.3 GHz mobile WiMAX (WiBro) /LTE 3G 5 MHz per carrier 4G Up to 20 MHz per carrier

Frequency Band

System Bandwidth

5 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz 40 MHz (IEEE 802.11n) 80 MHz, 160 MHz (IEEE 802.11ac)

Data Rate

WCDMA 384 kbps, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps (DL) LTE 100 Mbps (DL, 2X2 MIMO) WiBro (802.16) 50 Mbps (DL, 2X2 MIMO) LTE-A & WIMAX 802.16m up to 1 Gbps

Up to 450 Mbps (IEEE 802.11n) Up to 7 Gbps (IEEE 802.11ac)

Communication Range

10 30 m

Up to 100 m

Content
1 Overview of femtocells and Wi-Fi
From the perspective of current Telco landscape

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi

Conflict or Complement?

Prospects in emerging markets

Selecting the right technology

Trending.
Hotspot 2.0, Data off-loading, The connected home.

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi

Key Aspects

Coverage

Capacity

Seamless Communication

Deployment Aspects

Spectrum Availability

Data Rates

Handoff support

Total Cost of Ownership

Indoor coverage

Data Offloading

Quality of Service

Interference issues

Device Support

Network Planning

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi Coverage & Capacity

Key Aspect Spectrum Availability Femtocells
Licensed band. Must re-use operators available spectrum allocation. Therefore mainly used for coverage extension (as well as capacity improvement) Up to 10-30 m (transmit power of 1mW to 100 mW). Power level will depend on the macro network to avoid/mitigate interference. Co-channel interference with macrocell. Interference avoidance and management techniques (Self Organized Networks - SON) will be necessary . Operator effort is needed for careful frequency planning and interference avoidance, which is also complicated by mobility of femtocells WCDMA 384 kbps, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps (DL) LTE 100 Mbps (DL, 2X2 MIMO) WiBro (802.16) 50 Mbps (DL, 2X2 MIMO) LTE-A & WIMAX 802.16m up to 1 Gbps

Wi-Fi
Un licensed band. Operator need not concern with spectrum related issues as with femtocells Up to 100m (transmit power of up to 1W) Power levels of most Wi-Fi APs are higher than femtocells. interference cancellation features in Wi-Fi (Cognitive Radio)(though interference from non Wi-Fi unlicensed band devices can be a problem) No special effort needed on network planning Up to 450 Mbps (IEEE 802.11n) Up to 7 Gbps (IEEE 802.11ac) Possibility to provide LTE like data services in a 3G environment

Coverage CapacIty

Indoor Coverage

Interference Issues

Network Planning

Data Rates

Data offloading is inherently supported, making it possible to uniform data plan throughout the network

Data Offloading

Data off loading is not inherently supported. However 3GPP is currently standardizing aspects such mobility management, policy control and charging seamless interworking with mobile networks

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi Other Considerations

Key Aspect Femtocells
Use the same technology as macro cells. Easy for hierarchical handoff.

Wi-Fi
Needs a user triggered mechanism. Aspects of seamless mobility (PS) are currently being standardized

Seamless CommunIcatIon Deployment Aspects

Handoff support

Quality of Service (QoS)

As the license band is managed by the operator QoS is carefully managed

Operator may not have control over QoS unless the Wi-Fi network is managed by the operator

Device Support

No special considerations on the device

Device needs to have Wi-Fi (which most smart phones do..)

Total Cost of Ownership

Deployed by the operator. And may be paid for by the consumer.

There is a possibility of partnering with third parties for Wi-Fi access. Numerous Wi-Fi deployments improve operator reach

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi Summary

Femtocells Mainly deployed to improve network coverage and at the same time improve on capacity as well. (closed femtos) There is considerable planning effort from the operator in deploying a femtocell network. However in the coming years it is predicted that there will be more small cell deployments compared macro cells (Open femtos)

Vodafone To improve on 3G coverage

Source: www.vodafone.co.uk

Sprint Airave To enhance CDMA coverage

Source: http://www.sprintenterprise.com/airave/tellMeMore.html

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi Summary

Wi-Fi Seen as a cheap alternative for data offloading Availability of Wi-Fi networks, High data rates and lower cost of ownership has made it attractive for catering to increasing data demand However seamless interworking of Wi-Fi and mobile networks are still under consideration with more developments planned in coming years

AT&T Wi-Fi hotzones

Source: http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=5949

SK Telecom Hybrid LTE + Wi-Fi femtocell

Source: http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/20048/skt-attracts-globaltelcos%E2%80%99-attention-innovative-lte-technology

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi Summary

Femtocells
Coverage Spectrum Availability Indoor Coverage Interference Issues Network Planning Capacity Data Rates Data Offloading Seamless Communication Handoff support Quality of Service (QoS) Device Support Deployment Aspects Total Cost of Ownership
Femtos can use outdoor Wi-Fi mesh networks as backhaul Hybrid femto + Wi-Fi devices (best of both) Small cells (outdoor femtos) can be deployed to improve on macro network coverage Wi-Fi can be deployed as a pure data offloading option and in situation where spectrum is limited Coverage Extension

Wi-Fi
Data Offloading

Content
1 Overview of femtocells and Wi-Fi
From the perspective of current Telco landscape

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi

Conflict or Complement?

Prospects in emerging markets

Selecting the right technology

Trending.
Hotspot 2.0, Data off-loading, The connected home.

Prospects in emerging markets

Femtocells have been difficult to deploy
Closed Subscriber Group (Home Zone) tariff plans are no longer applicable due to already low tariff Interference with macro cells has been challenging

Limited fixed broadband connections in the developing world

Operator deployed open subscriber group (OSG) femtos/small cells in outdoor / The New public areas that are used as coverage gap fillers as well as capacity enhancers Paradigm instead?of more and more macro cells..

Prospects in emerging markets

The case for Wi-Fi has been reinvigorated by smart phones

Offers an immediate solution to the data crunch experienced by operators More hotspots Operators can partner with third party Wi-Fi service providers to improve on reach In the immediate future Wi-Fi is more attractive Until Voice over LTE becomes a reality , data demand can be met by an expansive Wi-Fi network

Content
1 Overview of femtocells and Wi-Fi
From the perspective of current Telco landscape

Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi

Conflict or Complement?

Prospects in emerging markets

Selecting the right technology

Trending.
Hotspot 2.0, Data off-loading, The connected home.

Trending.
3G like end user experience to Wi-Fi authentication and roaming

Hotspot 2.0 and 3GPP standardization on integration of non-3GPP access networks

Hotspot 2.0 EEE 802.11u, Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)-Enterprise and standards-based Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) 3GPP Non 3GPP IP access to EPC, Mobility management mechanism s for IETF Networks

Connected home The digital revolution happening at home

The Future Home - The place of Wi-Fi and femtocells in home networking

Wi-Fi capable consumer electronics devices and technologies such as DLNA/UPnP has made Wi-Fi a prominent technology How can the operator be part of this? bundling of Wi-Fi and cellular services

Extending the footprint The operator strategy

Sharing of end user backhaul connectivity for Wi-Fi (e.g. BT FON) as well as femtos. Partnering with third party providers on Wi-Fi etc

Conclusion
Femtocells
Will serve as a strong solution for coverage extension (3G / 4G) Predicted there will be more small cells deployment by operators in future compared to macrocells (4G data networks) Can also become a strong data offloading solution But yet to materialize

Wi-Fi

Is becoming a strong solution for data offloading! With planned developments (Hotspot 2.0 etc) may evolve to become an integral part of operator network and solution offering

Combos
In the long run

Femtocells Wi-Fi