Mobil Europe 1.2

Ready for data roaming?
p29
Mathias Prssing on how Comfone has developed its integrated roaming service
What it means for mobile p7

Reaction to Apples latest publicity success
Service innovation p16

IMImobiles Anu Shah on how to enable creativity within the operator
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EUROPES WIRELESS MAGAZINE | ISSUE NO. 208 | FEB / MAR 2010
EUROPE
MOBILE
Also inside:
LTE Development Offloading your data Spectrum plans for backhaul Is your network intelligent?
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MOBILE EUROPE CONTENTS

EDITORIAL 4
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MOBILE
EUROPE
Keith Dyer looks ahead to Mobile World Congress, and wonders what it means to have Google at the show.
NEWS 6 14
Operators warned on iPad data impact, Orange builds on Blyk intake; Roaming revenues falling; Vodafone hails success of DRM-free music; HSUPA on the increase, Smartphone sales the silver lining; IMImobile launches social service; TeliaSoneras LTE comes under test; Advertising news from Amobee, Velti, Opera; and much more...
FEATURES
AN INNOVATIVE SERVICES STRATEGY 16
IMImobiles Anu Shah marks the launch of a new service, and an increasing presence in Europe, by telling Keith Dyer how operators can meet the strategic challenges they face. PAGE 20: Back in Barcelona...we mark your card with some of the predicted highlights.
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW 20

An interview with the GSMAs Michael OHara, plus a round up of which companies and events have taken our eye prior to the industrys biggest event.
GOOD SIGNALS FOR LTE 33

As operators face the challenge of supporting services across 2G, 3G and 4G networks and devices, the problems of interoperability and complexity will only increase. Tekelecs Vince Lesch offers Keith Dyer a path through this tricky landscape.
LTE DEVELOPMENT 23
Developing devices fit for LTE networks will require a change to the way they are tested, as well as an appreciation of the applications they will be required to support.
OFFLOAD YOUR DATA 36

Network planners cannot simply keep hitting the dealer for another card. Sooner or later, they will need to stick - and consider another way to play their hand.
SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY IN THE BACKHAUL 26

Designing efficient backhaul networks will require an understanding of the spectrum availability and pricing otherwise cost of ownership calculations will misfire.
NETWORK INTELLIGENCE 40
To stay competitive, operators need to know which network intelligence strategy to select.
INTEGRATED ROAMING SERVICES 29

With data roaming set to growth, and traditional revenues under threat - operators need a roaming strategy that delivers business benefits, as well as fostering creativity.
BROADBAND ASSURANCE 44
Some operators are seeing the effects of poor customer experience on their reputations - so how can you ensure customer experience in a mobile broadband world?
DATA OPTIMISATION 50
Bandwidth alone will not be enough to meet the growth of mobile data. Smart techniques and optimisation strategies are required.
DEVICE MANAGEMENT 55
Enterprises and operators are moving away from old device management techniques to a desktop support model. PAGE 36: Network planning is not a game of chance, but operators need to stack the odds in their favour.
3 | Mobile Europe
DIARY 58
The events and conferences coming up in the weeks ahead.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
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MOBILE
editor: keith dyer
s we considered this issue, we reflected on what the Mobile World Congress now means to the industry. It seems that it has become a disproportionately large event in terms of the product cycles in the industry. The coming together of so many genuine big hitters from the operators - and we mean not just the CEOs grabbing the headlines, but the marketing and planning teams, the strategists, the technical divisions - is undoubtedly an attractive proposition for those on the supply side of the industry. But that proposition leads to a temptation to make a splash, to launch the product, to save all the marketing effort for the one event. And then what? Silence? Certainly, the issues discussed at the event shape how things will go for the rest of the year. More accurately, the conference programme reects what the planners, looking ahead at some point in mid-2009, thought would be the key issues at the show. And they are often right. But just as importantly, it is the questions the operators are asking in the meeting rooms, in the coffee shops and on the exhibition oor that will stick with us through the year. That is why it is worth getting out and about onto the event oors - with the marketing and product cycle so massively skewed to this one week it is really the best and only chance to get such a comprehensive idea of what is on peoples minds. Of course, the ofcial and formal proceedings have their impact too. The addition of the App Planet shows that the industry now sees the need to put its wares before the operators. Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Google have all invested in this new area at the event. What they are after is exposure - the trust of the operators and the application developers that they offer the best chance of making money through applications. And that leads us on, nally, to Google. For a while now, Google has often been cited as a threat to operators. This has mainly been because of its perceived threat to mobile internet-based advertising revenues. But with the growth of the iPhone and the strong potential of in-application advertising, Android and Google are viewed as much more of a partner for operators. That is what we are really seeing when Eric Schmidt stands up at the event. Its about Google and the mobile operators getting to grips with each other as partners.
4 | Mobile Europe
EUROPE
Editor: Keith Dyer keith.dyer@stjohnpatrick.com Direct tel: +44 (0) 203 007 0020 Web editor: Robert Riggs robert.riggs@stjohnpatrick.com Production Manager: Tania King Publisher: John Owen john.owen@stjohnpatrick.com Direct tel: +44 (0) 20 7933 8972 Publishing director: Chris Cooke
ISSN: 1350 7362

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MOBILE NEWS
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ORANGE HAS A SHOT AT MOBILE ADVERTISING

Orange has announced Orange Shots, an advertising service that will launching from 1st of February 2010. Orange Shots will initially be available to brands who want to interact with an audience of 100,000 customers from part of Oranges Pay As You Go Monkey customer base. New profiles and customer segments will quickly follow, matching Oranges ambition to significantly grow this audience. The advertising launch builds on the customers and assets Orange gained by taking MVNO Blyk in-house las year. The operator is keen to stress the level of customer engagement, and interaction, brands will be able to buy The interactive Orange Shots service works across SMS and MMS mobile platforms. Marc Overton, VP of Wholesale, Business Development and Partnerships, Orange UK: Orange Shots will transform mobile advertising as we know it. Its a win-win for brands, as well as our customers, with advertisers continually seeking new and innovative ways to engage with consumers, and our customers getting rewarded with access to exclusive, interactive content and offers, knowing that theyre tailored specifically to them and their interests. Commenting on the announcement, Alex Rahaman, Director of Mobile, Unanimis UK, said, Unanimis is excited to be selling such a dynamic, high response product that will open the way for brands to interact and build enduring relationships with an engaged audience. Agencies will also benefit from the experience of Blyk, whose innovative technology has built a reputable name for them within the industry. Orange plans to make Orange Shots, powered by Blyk Media, available to its entire mobile customer base over time, giving brands the opportunity to engage with a variety of specific demographic segments. By working with Blyk, Orange said it is able to offer consumers propositions unseen before in the UK market place.
into. It highlighted the ability to access real time conversations with customes: a highly targeted audience base with no wastage; high response rates, strong returns on investment and great viral potential. Orange claimed it has 100,000 customers who have opted in to receive contact from advertisers
European roaming revenues fall 50% since 2007

Voice and SMS roaming rates in Europe have halved since 2007, with very few prices applied below the EUs pricing cap, accroding to a report from Tariff Consultancy LTD. EU mobile roaming data rates are on average 5.4 euro, five times the 1 Euro per MB wholesale rate, though individual operator data roaming rates vary from below the wholesale cap to more than 10 times the cap rate, says TCL. A main constraint on roaming usage is the lack of
6 | Mobile Europe
awareness by users, comments Margrit Sessions, MD of TCL. In our survey over the three-year period since 2007, it is striking how little unregulated roaming services pricing has declined, Sessions said. The user can end up paying ten times more for communication when outside the EU. TCL says some 90% of European mobile operators have chosen to position their EU voice roaming tariff close to the cap, which is acting as the de facto price standard. A characteristic of the
introduction of the EU roaming cap has been the change in roaming pricing to other regions outside of the European Union, it says. Operators have sought to offset the revenue limiting effects of the EU roaming cap by rebalancing roaming tariffs outside the EU. Some operators have altered the geographical zones which has resulted in higher prices for roamers in countries in particular countries such as Norway, Switzerland, the USA and Asia Pacific that were before in the EU zone.
Increasingly though, says TCL, mobile operators push a series of separate "opt in" roaming bundles for consumers that bypass the EU roaming cap which offer roaming discounts in return for a weekly or monthly fee to selected holiday destinations but can attract higher rates to EU countries than the EC rate cap. The net effect of the rebalancing of mobile roaming tariffs outside of the EU has been to make roaming services to the US or other countries relatively expensive.
MOBILE NEWS
THE iPHONE LED TO A TENFOLD INCREASE IN USER DEMAND FOR BANDWIDTH ON MOBILE NETWORKS AND THERES NO REASON WHY THE iPAD WONT EMULATE THIS SUCCESS
iPAD COULD GIVE OPERATORS A HEADACHE

Apples iPad could give operators a major mobile data network headache, according to several industry suppliers. That is, if it sells. Most of those contacting us pointed to the problems encountered by AT&T,m which has seen data traffic grow 5000% since the introduction of the iPhone. Typical among them was John Spindler, VP product management at ADC. Complaints of coverage blackspots and insufficient service are already common, and with more and more 3Genabled consumer electronics devices coming on to the market, the mobile industry needs to make steps to ensure their networks can keep pace, he said. The iPhone led to a tenfold increase in user demand for bandwidth on mobile networks, and theres no reason why Apples new iPad wont emulate this success. Spindler said that to deal iPhone did. A survey of 2,108 people was carried out by the UK site MyVoucherCodes.co.uk found that just 9% said theyd be buying one, whilst the majority, 64%, said that it was unnecessary and that they were unimpressed. Issues such as a lack of a keyboard, a single processor chip, and value for money were all raised. And what of its impact on the wide value chain? Paul Berney, European MD, the Mobile Marketing Association, said that although the product will have a significant and positive impact on mobile marketing, more devices are still required. This is a high end device. For devices to really impact on wider consumer uptake of mobile marketing, we need to see better consumer experiences being replicated across a broader range of handsets and tablets at all price points, he said.
If it sells, it could have a further impact on carriers data networks
with these problems, it is essential to continue to move away from the macro tower method of delivering signal, instead focusing on reducing cell sizes significantly and providing signal exactly where it is needed. To overcome these challenges and meet rising levels of mobile broadband traffic, operators need to act now. First, they will need to reduce the size of coverage cells, so that more bandwidth in each given cell is available
to a group of users. Secondly, since most mobile browsing happens indoors, they will need to focus on bringing coverage inside since broadband wireless data signals cant penetrate buildings very effectively. And finally, operators will need to significantly increase the backhaul capacity of their networks, continued Spindler. Yet there is evidence that the iPad may not have the immediate effect that the
Nuance acquires stricken voice-to-text SpinVox

After much speculation in recent months, Nuance Communications has announced that it has acquired SpinVox, a provider of voice-to-text services to telecommunications companies across five continents. By integrating SpinVox's carrier services with Nuance's speech recognition platform, Nuance says it will further accelerate the growth of its voice-to-text business and scale to meet the needs of a growing, global customer base. The two companies' solutions use speech recognition and transcription workflow solutions (human intervention) to convert voicemails into text that can be sent to users as SMS or email messages. Around the world, the voice-to-text market has experienced tremendous growth over the last year, with a variety of innovative services being delivered by carriers and unified communications providers, said John Pollard, vice president, Nuance Voice-toText Services. The transaction is approximately $102.5 million, comprising $66 million in cash and $36.5 million, or approximately 2.3 million shares, in Nuance common stock.
Mobile Europe | 7
MOBILE NEWS
THESE ENCOURAGING FIGURES DEMONSTRATE THE OPPORTUNITES WHEN MOBILE COMPANIES AND MUSIC LABELS ARE ALIGNED
VODAFONE MUSIC SHOWS DRM-FREE GROWTH

Vodafone has announced that nearly 450,000 Vodafone customers have signed up to its music subscription services since it signed DRM-free deals with all four major labels in 2009. Vodafone says that, in the month of December 2009, over 100,000 customers signed up to one of a range of music services offered across the eight largest Vodafone markets in Europe. Growth in customer subscription numbers is said to be being driven both by monthly 10track MP3 bundles, as well as from all you can eat' (AYCE) unlimited access subscription services. MP3 files bought in bundles can be played on a wide range of computers and digital music players including iTunes and - most importantly for Vodafone's customers - on both mobile and PC. Customers will typically get 10 tracks per month for around 5. AYCE services are offered Keeling, VP Digital at Universal Music Group International. Sony Music is pleased to be partnering with Vodafone, Europe's largest mobile carrier, to provide its customers with a compelling premium digital music solution for their handsets and the PC. Vodafone's users across the region are demonstrating that a growing number of consumers want innovative music offers that allow them to easily listen to their favourite songs by conveniently combining services and devices, said Michael Paull, Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business at Sony Music Entertainment. Eric Daugan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy, Warner Music Europe, said, These encouraging figures demonstrate the opportunities created when mobile companies and music labels are aligned.
both as a stand-alone product as well as bundled with data tariffs. When bundled with data, customers can access the entire catalogue of over 2 million tracks for as little as 3 a month. Lee Epting, Director of Content at Vodafone Internet Services said, We are really excited by our customers' reaction to these great music offers. We expect to see continued growth in our music service subscriptions driven by the increase in smartphone use, with their worry-free data tariffs and great value add-ons such as music
bundles. We will carry on working hard with our partners in the music industry to develop new and innovative music services for our customers. Vodafone is starting to prove the significance of its place in the music industry. Universal Music believes strongly in the future of music subscription services, and Vodafone is demonstrating leadership in this field. This year will put such offers to the test as never before, as consumers recognise their value, diversity and convenience, said Francis
Centile to show PBX-killer at World Congress

Centile, the European specialist and provider of Hosted PBX and Unified Communications Platforms, is launching its latest platform named ISTRA Mobile' at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. ISTRA Mobile is a mobile carrier driven PBX Services Platform which allows mobile
8 | Mobile Europe
operators and MVNEs/MVNOs to provide business subscribers with advanced PBX features of the office telephone system delivered directly to mobile handsets from the network. Additionally, a carrier branded provisioning and end-user management portal and a set of blended mobile
phone and desktop applications are all part of the carrier's PBX service package. A Mobile Carrier's launch of the service is made easy with a low up-front investment and a Pay-As-You-Grow' business model based on user activations. Nadahl Shocair, Executive Director Strategy & Business Development at
Centile said, "The ISTRA Mobile platform allows operators to reduce churn and quickly add valuable business subscribers with increases in ARPU driven by this PBX addon service' to the business tariffs while delivering increases in cumulative mobile minutes, local and international call traffic.
FRING ON THE IPHONE

fring, the mobile application that lets users communicate and share web-based content from mobile devices, has announced that fring on iPhone is now available over 3G networks. The announcement immediately followed iPhone's long awaited decision to allow third party VoIP applications running over 3G networks onto its iPhone App Store. fring has been available over WiFi internet connection since launching on the iPhone App Store back in April 2008. The announcement means iPhone fring users can now make free voice and video calls over 3G or Wi-Fi internet access, and, depending on their access and preferences at any given time, switch between the two to stay connected any time, anywhere. "fring users and our team alike are very excited that Apple have allowed independent iPhone VoIP applications over 3G networks, letting users make voice and video calls over whichever internet access suits their needs at any given place and time, Avi Shechter, Co-Founder & CEO of fring said. This decision reflects the trend we have enjoyed over the past four years, as fring lets our users communicate and share social internet experiences over their preferred internet access points wherever they are." In addition to the iPhone/iPod touch, fring supports many other devices on multiple OS.
Altobridge buys ADC unit

Altobridge has acquired ADC's portfolio of GSM base station and switching products. The ADC GSM base station and switching product portfolio supports applications such as remote wireless and small national networks, as well as government, emergency and private network communications. As part of the transaction, Altobridge is acquiring ADC's existing GSM base station and switching product customer base and retaining all of the employees necessary to support the business. In addition, Altobridge is acquiring certain assets and intellectual property related to the product portfolio. The sale of our GSM base station and switching technology to Altobridge is a positive development, said Dick Parran, president of Network Solutions business unit for ADC. Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of Altobridge, said, This acquisition will enable Altobridge to broaden our portfolio and grow our Fully Managed Service business.
RESEARCH NEWS
SMARTPHONE SALES GROWTH IS SILVER LINING

Shipments of smartphones grew 15% year over year in 2009, marking one of the few positive trends in what was otherwise a difficult year for the mobile handset industry, according to a new study from IMS Research. The growth in the smartphone segment stands in stark contrast to an estimated contraction of 7.9% in total handset shipments for the year. That disparity highlights an evolving trend in consumer preference, according to IMS Research analyst, Chris Schreck. Last year validated the idea that the target market for smartphones is expanding rapidly. Increasingly, consumers who purchase a new handset are choosing a smartphone. The notion that smartphones are exclusively luxury purchases particularly in the smartphone space, continued Schreck. Between Android's increased market presence, faster processor speeds, more advanced displays, and increasingly sophisticated user interfaces, the gap between many of 2009's devices and those released in the previous year was noticeably vast. There were a number of devices in 2009 that proved difficult for consumers to pass up. And for their part, mobile network operators helped fuel smartphone growth with competitive subsidies and aggressively priced data plans. Smartphone shipment growth is expected to accelerate in the future, with IMS Research projecting a CAGR of 24.5% between 2010 and 2015.
2009 devices were often far superior to devices released in 2008
or enterprise tools is rapidly giving way to a perception of smartphones as a device with mass market appeal. This phenomenon proved especially true in North America and Western Europe, where smartphone shipment growth was strong despite grim expectations reported at the outset of 2009.
There are a number of market dynamics that contributed to the resilience of the smartphone segment. The effort from handset OEMs to broaden the appeal of their smartphone portfolio and expanded offerings from mobile content suppliers resulted in an incredible level of innovation in 2009,
Cloud applications set for high growth - Juniper

Annual revenues from cloudbased mobile applications may reach nearly $9.5 billion by 2014, fuelled by the need for converged, collaborative services, the widespread adoption of mobile broadband services and the deployment of key technological enablers such as HTML5 and the Open Mobile Alliance's Smart Card Web Server (SCWS). A Juniper Research report found that enterprise
10 | Mobile Europe
applications will account for the majority of revenues over the next five years, with businesses increasingly seeking to capitalise on the ability of Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers to offer scalable, flexible data storage solutions allied to device agnostic, synchronised office services. However, consumeroriented apps will comprise an ever-larger proportion of total revenues, derived both from time-based subscriptions to
services such as mobile online gaming and advertising from cloud-based social networks. However, the mobile cloud applications & services report warned that many enterprise customers still remained wary of entrusting their personal data to remote third-parties, and that recent high-profile data losses amongst corporate mobile users in the USA would only exacerbate these concerns. According to report author Dr Windsor
Holden, "Not only is it imperative for cloud providers to ensure that access to and storage of customer data is secure, but that the procedures that they put in place in this regard are transparent to the customer." Juniper also said that while a cloud-based ecosystem may erode the strength of the operator/customer relationship, cloud offers operators the opportunity to develop new revenues.
RESEARCH NEWS
OUR FINDINGS SHOW THE VAST POTENTIAL OF THE APPLICATIONS MARKET
GSA SEES SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HSUPA

The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has calculated that 2,137 HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) user devices have been launched in the market by 214 manufacturers. According to the latest HSPA Devices survey published today by GSA, 861 new devices were launched on the market in the past year alone, representing growth of over 67% year on year (YoY). The number of suppliers grew in the same period by more than 30%, from 164 to 214 companies. There are 897 HSPAenabled mobile phones including smartphones, with 382 new products launched since January 2009, representing 74.1% YoY growth. The number of HSPAenabled notebooks grew by almost 52% in the same 7.2 Mbps or higher. With 22% of HSPA network operators committed to HSPA Evolution (HSPA+), GSA confirmed that 32 HSPA+ devices have been launched by 11 suppliers for peak data speeds up to 21, 28 and 42 Mbps. Support for higher uplink speeds has significantly increased, with 493 HSUPA devices now launched, an increase of 156% YoY. 219 HSUPA devices (over 44%) support or are upgradeable for, 5.76 Mbps peak operation, compared to 64 devices in January 2009. Excluding notebooks and Ebook readers, 529 HSPA devices incorporate WiFi, which is over 83% growth YoY. 491 HSPA devices incorporate GPS or A-GPS, an increase of more than 112% YoY, and 188 HSPA devices support mobile TV.
Nokias ex-CFO, Rick Simonson
HSPA devices like the X10 are increasingly being equipped with GPS and WiFi.
period. Twenty two HSPA femtocell products and 8 HSPA-enabled Ebook readers have been launched. According to related GSA surveys, more than 96% of WCDMA networks have
deployed HSPA, with the majority (over 52%) supporting a peak downlink data capability of 7.2 Mbps or higher. The majority of HSPA devices (51%) also support a peak downlink data speed of
42% of feature phone users would pay for apps

Samsung has unveiled the results of a new survey into consumers' mobile software demands, with the headline finding being that 42% of current feature phone users surveyed would pay to download applications if they could. The surevy also found that 54% of those people would be prepared to pay up to 5 for each application they download, illustrating the scale of the potential revenues available for developers by extending application-downloadable smartphone markets. The research also highlighted the types of applications which are particularly sought after by those consumers who have no previous experience of downloading them - and therefore the people who present the biggest potential revenue opportunity for developers at the moment. The study shows that among users of mainstream handsets who have not downloaded an application before, travel and navigation applications were most in demand with 34% of people surveyed eager to use them, followed by photography (12%), work (11%) and shopping (9%). Our findings show the vast potential of the applications market and the huge untapped revenues, driven by high levels of consumer demand, said Dr Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of the Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics. But the findings also raised the issue of the longevity of apps among smartphone users. 43% of app users said that once they have downloaded an app they quickly lose interest and cease using it, leaving almost half of apps redundant within a relatively short space of time.
Mobile Europe | 11
MOBILE NEWS
go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest information on mobiles
DAVINCI SOCIAL PLACES AN OPERATOR AT THE HEART OF A CONSUMERS DAILY ACTIVITIES
IMIMOBILE LAUNCHES SOCIAL MOBILE SERVICE

IMImobile (profiled on page 16 of this issue) has announced the launch of DaVinci Social, a white-label connected address book service. The service will give users access to all of their communications, social networks and communities and ensure their content and contacts are safe, all from one place on their mobile. IMImobile says DaVinci Social will enable operators to offer a competitive social service, and rapidly launch their own service without the associated high operational costs. Operators will also benefit from DaVinci Social's flexible architecture to innovate and differentiate their service by extending it into other third party services and applications. The service provides a seamless experience across the handset, WAP and Web multiple social networks, update their status information, send pictures and videos and receive IM and email notifications, all managed from a single interface. Contact information, photos, video and messages can be backed up and synced onto the cloud from the mobile and PC, ensuring the consumer's contacts are always up to date and their content is safe. Anu Shah, head of IMImobile Europe said, "DaVinci Social fulfills some of the most fundamental needs of consumers today; to be able to easily stay in touch with everyone they want to and protect personal contacts and valuable digital content in the event they loose or change their handset. DaVinci Social places the operator at the heart of a consumer's daily activities. Combined with an intuitive user experience built on IMImobile's open technology, it is a spring-board to launch other consumer services such as music, content and advertising. The service incorporates an award winning user experience and can be offered as a fully managed service. DaVinci Social is powered by IMImobile's unique flexible and modular open API DaVinci technology that works as a catalyst for innovation by bringing together multiple services and third party applications enabling operators to respond rapidly to the latest market trends. DaVinci Social is part of the DaVinci services and products portfolio that brings together music, social networking, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, voice and messaging services.
enabling consumers to remain in full control of their digital social-lives. Users can keep connected with friends from
TeliaSoneras LTE network shows strong performance

SwissQual has carried out drive testing on the TeliaSoneras LTE network in Stockholm. The measurements were made using the Samsung Kalmia LTE 4G modem mounted in the SwissQual Diversity Optimizer platform. The drive test is said to have collected downlink data throughputs up to 47 Mbps and TCP latency as low as 20 ms were recorded. This is approximately five times
12 | Mobile Europe
better than the performance typically seen in 3G HSPA+ networks, says SwissQual. Magnus Hylen, SwissQual Product Manager commented, Naturally LTE is in its infancy. This meant that we saw regular disconnects and modem restarts. However, this is something we have experienced with all new mobile technologies during the early phases of the rollout. Apart from these issues, the performance that
we have recorded is really impressive and sets a new baseline for mobile high speed data services. SwissQual already provides a Voice over IP testing solution. Together with the Samsung LTE modem this allows SwissQual to provide a complete solution for LTE 4G, testing both data and voice services. John May, SwissQual's CEO said, SwissQual offers the perfect solution for
determining VoIP quality over LTE networks. The SQuad algorithm was designed from the very beginning to provide a true measure of quality in VoIP applications. With LTE we expect the emergence of VoIP implementations using a much wider range of smart coding and processing capabilities including wide band. We are offering a solution that is already well proven for this new technology.
PLUG FOR PLUG N PLAY

ip.access has upgraded the capabilities of its nanoGSM product range with a system release that supports plug and play customer self installation and a range of other features said to extend the performance and capabilities of the system. The company claimed that enabling enterprise customers to directly install the nanoGSM BTS on their own premises, can save mobile operators up to half the total cost of a picocell deployment. This in turn expands the range of sites and businesses where nanoGSM can be deployed economically. To support plug and play installation, the nanoGSM system includes automated BTS pre-configuration prior to delivery to the customer, and templated site creation within the BSC. Once the customer has installed the picocell, it connects automatically with the chosen BSC and can then either come directly into service, or send a notification to the network management system for the site to be finalised with automated handover configuration. Other enhancements to the product include a newl;y introduced capability to hand over a call directly from a nanoGSM BTS to the operator's 3G network for better network capacity management, and a fully dynamic AMR capability which enables much greater call density per base station. CEO Stephen Mallinson said, ip.access continues to innovate and expand the capabilities of our nanoGSM system by improving the value it delivers for our many mobile operator customers. It's a misconception that picocells are hard to deploy; in fact installing picocells is easy. Our plug'n'play capabilities make it possible for the installation to be carried out by the endcustomer, saving substantial costs.
RAD opens 3G gateway

RAD Data Communications has unveiled the Vmux-2120, a voice trunking and 3G media gateway for DCME applications that provides compressed voice transmission over TDM and IP networks. The product is designed to significantly reduce satellite and microwave bandwidth consumption and lower leased line expenses. RAD said that the the Vmux-2120 uses DCME voice compression algorithms as well as RAD's patented TDMoIP pseudowire technology to compress up to 16 full E1/T1 circuits over a single E1/T1 or IP uplink. All legacy services and signaling are maintained.
ADVERTISING NEWS
MOBILE ADVERTISING REPRESENTS AN INTERESTING LONG-TERM REVENUE OPPORTUNITY
MOBIXELL ADDS 724 SOLUTIONS

Mobixell Networks has bought 724 Solutions, creating a global organisation with a customer base of over 350 mobile operators worldwide. According to Mobixell, the expanded company will focus on delivering media mobile internet and messaging solutions for mobile operators. The rationale for the acquisition is said to have been driven by a joint vision of the two management teams, also shared by the combined company's customers and channel partners, as well as compelling synergies in the core competencies and technologies. 724 Solutions' Seamless Access and Seamless Messaging products provide mobile internet, mobile broadband and messaging infrastructure that enable operators to meet the explosion of mobile data traffic. Mobixels expertise is in adapting and manipulating rich-media content, particularly for mobile messaging and video, and in providing mobile web and mobile advertising solutions. The objective in combining the two technologies is to deliver a next generation intelligent mobile internet platform capable of taking a leadership position in the rapidly changing mobile Internet market. Both Mobixell and 724 Solutions count hundreds of mobile operators amongst their customers, including many tier-1 mobile operators in Europe, North America and APAC, including Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Orange, Swisscom, Turkcell, AIS and others. The combined company intends to continue to partner with its strong OEM channels and system integrators. According to Amir Aharoni, CEO of Mobixell, The recent explosion in mobile data offers a challenge and an opportunity for mobile operators. he combination of expertise and technology between Mobixell and 724 Solutions uniquely positions us to tackle this issue and allow mobile operators to improve the return on their infrastructure investment in the burgeoning mobile internet traffic
OPERA JOINS THE SPENDING SPREE

Opera Software has acquired AdMarvel. According to Opera, the acquisition will enable it to expand its portfolio of products and services to include ad monetisation services for Opera branded mobile products and services offered by mobile operators and content partners. AdMarvel, based in San Mateo, California, is said to work with a broad set of constituents in the advertising ecosystem to improve the performance of mobile advertising. The company was founded in 2006 by a team of mobile veterans led by Mahi de Silva and has a broad customer base across the globe. Mobile advertising represents an interesting longterm revenue opportunity. Together with AdMarvel, we think we can play an important role in the evolution of mobile advertising, Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive Officer, Opera Software, said. "We are very excited about joining forces with Opera. Combining our monetization and analytics platform with the Opera browser and widget platform will create a new intelligent platform," Ad Marvels de Silva, saids.
Velti says 2009 a good vintage for ads

Mobile advertising company Velti has said that its acquisition of Ad Infuse, and strengthening customer demand, led to a growth in revenues of 25% in 2009. The AIM-listed company said that it lifted its revenues to $65 million for the calendar year, running 2,000 campaigns for a total of 450 brands, agencies and operators. The company said that by extending its work with mobile operators, it is able to provide ongoing revenue without having to pitch for
14 | Mobile Europe
each new campaign. In 2009 the company provided adserving services for Orange in France, UK, Spain, Poland, Romania and Moldova. The company also extended its reach in the Orascom/WIND group by providing services in Italy, Egypt, Algeria and Greece. Other operators in hte European region that continue to work with Velti include Vodafone, MTS, Telecom Austria, Telefonica, Avea, and Cosmote. CEO Alexandros Moukas said that the company was
well-positioned to benefit from a shift in advertising spend to online and mobile. He added that the consolidation in the market, including Google's acquisition of AdMob and Apple's of Quattro Wireless, is further evidence that the market is set for expansion. Velti's stock price has risen from a low of 109p in April 2009 to 12 month high of 261p that was reached on 11 January 2010 the same day the company fully launched its mGage product.
MOBILE NEWS
AMOBEE RINGS CHANGES WITH BUY

Amobee Media Systems has agreed to acquire mobile advertising agency, RingRing Media. Amobee said that the purchase will bring it a step closer to fulfilling its longterm vision aimed at creating the industry's largest mobile advertising exchange. With the strategic move, Amobee is said to be complementing its operatorcentric inventory and portfolio of services and technology with RingRing Media's mobile advertising exchange. This acquisition solves an industry issue. By leveraging the RingRing Exchange we are able to streamline the process and connect supply and demand using the best technology on the market, said Zohar Levkovitz, cofounder and CEO of Amobee. In doing so, we will be able to reduce the friction associated with today's mobile media buying and offer a more integrated mobile advertising experience to our customers. As a result of the acquisition, Amobee says it will make it easier for mobile advertisers and mobile publishers to co-exist, helping sellers monetise mobile display inventory and giving buyers advanced targeting tools to access the broadest possible reach at the best possible price through one single buy. Both RingRings founders have a proven track record of building highly effective global mobile advertising businesses, and now Amobee will benefit from the skill and passion they bring. We are thrilled that they will continue to lead RingRing Media and help us to deliver even more intelligent advertising solutions in the future," added Levkovitz. Amobee saw value in our people, technology and a deep understanding of the market," explained cofounder Ben Tatton-Brown. "Amobee and RingRing Media make an excellent match creating a mobile advertising solution that enables brands, advertising agencies and publishers to achieve the greatest return from mobile." Amobee's acquisition of RingRing Media continues a recent burst of consolidation in the mobile advertising market, lead most notably by Google and Apples acquisitions of Admob and Quattro. We will continue to acquire adjacent companies, to build the world's largest mobile advertising player. Our acquisition strategy helps expand our global footprint and is just one example of how we plan to continue our rapid growth," said Levkovitz.
NEWS IN BRIEF
G Airvana has entered into a definitive agreement with a newly formed company to be taken private. The company will be owned by affiliates of S.A.C. Private Capital Group, LLC, GSO Capital Partners LP, Sankaty Advisors LLC and ZelnickMedia, in a transaction valued at approximately $530 million. G Mobile security specialist, Accumulate, will get a new shareholder when PayEx, a Nordic specialist in payments, invests in the mobile technology provider. Together with the existing owners' contribution, the company will get over $2 million in new venture capital. G Network optimization specialist Actix has announced the establishment of a SelfOptimizing Networks (SON) Centre of Excellence in Dresden, Germany. Actix' Dresden unit, already a centre for radio optimisation development, has been designing and building multi-technology SON systems for some time.
HARRIS STRATEX CHANGES TO AVIAT

Marking the third anniversary of the merger between the Microwave Communications Division of Harris Corporation and Stratex Networks, Inc., Harris Stratex Networks has changed its name to Aviat Networks. The new brand is said to represent a culmination of the company's transformation over the last three years from that of a specialized microwave backhaul equipment supplier into a provider of advanced IP wireless network solutions, with a comprehensive portfolio of migration solutions and lifecycle services. Aviat Networks says it is ideally positioned to help operators successfully evolve their existing networks toward an all-IP broadband future, expand into untapped rural and remote markets, and capitalize on the explosive growth of mobile data traffic around the globe. Today's unveiling of Aviat Networks marks a significant milestone in the evolution of our Company. The Aviat brand embodies our commitment to quality and innovative products, highly individualized services, operational excellence and industry leadership," said Harald Braun, CEO.Networks.
Mobile Europe | 15
COVER FEATURE
ENABLING SMARTER
Anu Shah
AN OPEN, FLEXIBLE SERVICE ENVIRONMENT WILL HELP OPERATORS CREATE AND PROVIDE BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES, ANU SHAH, HEAD OF IMIMOBILE EUROPE, TELLS KEITH DYER.
in-house trusted partner, or on a managed service basis. Our view is that as operators face up to the challenges of creativity, innovation, and maintaining high quality customer experiences, they need to be able to create combinations of services across their portfolio. At the moment, very often they cant do that. Or they can only do it with a great deal of integration expenditure and resource. This then means that the resulting service cannot afford to fail, as it has had too much invested in it. Our vision is that operators need to be able to move flexibly and quickly to create new combinations of services. They may choose to launch a music service, integrate this with social media and then add advertising and be able to test these propositions with consumers quickly. these have been intended to enable operators to act more creatively and be more agile. Why do you think IMImobiles approach meets the demands you have outlined? We also make it simple for them to achieve a cross-service view of their subscriber and network data. Operators are faced with a world where they are accused of being dumb pipes. Actually I think thats an unfair accusation and very far from the truth. But it is difficult for them to collect and analyse their data in one place. So thats where our subscriber modules, combined with our open API approach, helps, because it can collect data centrally from all services. This approach, opening up and integrating core elements to a central subscriber module, means that operators can move faster and innovate in time with their customer demands, rather than always be reacting. They can move from being network-centric entities to customer-centric businesses.
Keith Dyer:
Anu, many readers might not be aware of IMImobiles capabilities, as you have not been visibly active in the European market for all that long. Yet you have been helping operators across the world build and expand their service offerings for years. How would you position the company within the European market?
Anu Shah:
In a sense we have been lucky because we originally set out with that flexibility in our approach and we have been able to evolve with that. Its really something that is in our technical and cultural DNA. In terms of technology our products have all been built with an open architecture, but really we are trying to sell a solution or a service, rather than focus on technology. Operators come aboard with us because they see how we make a great effort to integrate with their existing services and billing systems and help them build new services.
Anu Shah:
We are Service Creation partners for mobile operators, to help them create, launch and then grow the penetration, usage and scale of their service portfolio. We have a modular series of services, from music and messaging to advertising and social media, all built within our open-API approach. This means we can we can integrate our own, commercial services to interoperate with each other, and with third party service environments. Added to that is the important fact that we can offer these either as an
16 | Mobile Europe
Keith Dyer:
Its certainly a view that operators have heard before. Of course, we have seen investment in service delivery platforms, in opening up OSS architectures in a number of different ways, and the move to cloud-based applications. All of
COVER FEATURE
SERVICE CREATION
Keith Dyer:
And its an approach you have demonstrated real-world success with, rather than just as a vision?
Anu Shah
We have. Although Europe is a new opportunity for us, we are now proceeding to grow organically and inorganically in this market, and have a strong pedigree globally. We have put together a proposition thats proven to be scaleable and innovative in India, Latin America and through Asia. Last year, for example, we signed with the MTN Group for 21 territories, providing their entire CMS infrastructure and we went from scratch to a live service in South Africa in just a few months, driven by the immovable deadline of the Football World Cup! Thats the reason why Sequoia Capital, a recent major investor in our business, sees us as one of a few companies with the proven global deployments and core technology backbone that prove we are able to work as a service creation partner for Tier One operators.
Social helps operators to build an enhanced phone book for their users, bringing together contacts, events, social interactions and updates all within a rich phone book environment. The aim is to enable operators to offer a competitive social service without the associated high operational costs of designing a service from the ground up. Of course, it will also bring integration with our other services such as music and advertising, and offer extensions into other third party elements to ensure the service can keep evolving at
integrated fashion from an end user point of view. With V360, Vodafone is one that has made the right move in saying, We want to use this connected address book as the hub for all our other activities. It means you can always be embedded in the daily activity of a consumer. That lends itself to developing an advertising proposition around certain events, say. It means operators can start offering a service beyond just mobile services to become a full digital service provider. I am positive about this opportunity for operators because they have three or four key assets they need to fully exploit phone book, consumer data, billing relationships and their brand. So far they have struggled to do this from a consumer perspective but providing a good service around the phonebook could enable them to utilise all of their assets. There are of course question marks over whether Vodafone have executed their strategy correctly but the objective is clear. With solutions like ours that are designed to create a more connected user experience, collecting and analysing consumer data becomes an integral part of designing, testing and launching new services quickly. Historically this data while available, has been difficult to discover and even more difficult to use for service creation.
Mobile Europe | 17
Operators face the challenge of creating new combinations of services in an innovative fashion.
pace.
Keith Dyer:
And you see the phone book as being a critical point of contact, and differentiation, for operators?
Anu Shah:
I think it really is the spring board not just to the communications experience, such as messaging and voice, but to other services that we and others bring, such as music, entertainment, and advertising.
DaVinci Social is the latest addition to IMImobiles modular service portfolio.
Keith Dyer:
And in line with this theme of enabling operator innovation, you have recently launched another service module to your portfolio.
Anu Shah:
We have recently launched our DaVinci Social service. DaVinci
Operators have found it challenging to make their services hold together in an
COVER FEATURE
A provider like us - that has experience growing up in aggressive markets, that has a business model that is based on sharing the upside and growth as a partner, and has the technical flexibility to power a range of services - is ideally placed to help operators meet that challenge.
Really, the connected address book should just be part of a service providers core offer. Its still early days but these are important first steps into the market. India. Sometimes working in that environment drives operators to achieve higher levels of innovation and marketing skills. new services can be developed and tested at speed and rolled out across networks.
Keith Dyer:
As we can see from the focus on application stores and social mobile platforms, such as V360, it seems operators are aware that they dont have long to put all this together.
Keith Dyer: Keith Dyer:

So far from providing point solutions heres a music platform, heres an ad server youre talking about helping operators utilise their core assets more effectively based on actual subscriber usage data from the services you and others provide. So you think that operators do have the tools they need to fight back against the loyalty consumers may feel to other providers.
Anu Shah: Anu Shah:

Yes. Sure, they need to be innovative, focus quickly, and provide a great customer experience. And lets be honest, how many operator services can you hold up and say that its a fantastic customer experience? But if the customer experience is great then customers will follow that. And operators have the added advantage of being trusted far more with customers data than many other providers. So that is where partners like us come into play. For example, one area where we can help with this focus on innovation is that we are working with operators, developers and other third parties to create a fully managed environment in which Certainly they dont have that much time. They have to make their choice today. It could be that in five years time there may only be one or two operators per territory that own their own network: everyone else is on a shared network and focusing on delivering consumer services. In which case they need to be quick about leveraging the nonnetwork centric assets that they do have. A provider like us that has experience growing up in aggressive markets, that has a business model that is based on sharing the upside and growth as a partner, and has the technical flexibility to power a range of services is ideally placed to help operators meet that challenge.
Anu Shah:
Yes. Our objective is to provide specific solutions that are flexible enough to be part of any existing or evolving service environment. Operators have to be thinking about innovation and how they can build that into their business processes. Our solution is stronger than any point solution. As I said, the advantage is we can integrate easily, providing a high level of tehnology reuse. Even within just one service, say music, an operator may have a provider for his real tones service, one for ring back tones, and a full track download service as well. Yet its all music- and theres a high chance that a user would respond well to a combined offer, or be prompted to use one service whilst engaging with another. We offer all of these services or provide just one of them as part of a solution to weave together all
18 | Mobile Europe
The connected address book can act as a springboard to other services.
of the components and data so that an operator can add real value to the consumer experience. Our whole aim is to increase revenues and consumer uptake of existing and new services. Even a slight tweak to the CRM around a service may lift that service penetration from 2 to 2.2%. But thats a 10% rise in itself. Thats what I meant when I talked about us regarding ourselves as an insourced partner focused on revenue generation, rather than just an outsourced services provider. Its also an advantage we have gained from working in some of the worlds most competitive markets such as
IMIMOBILE: SERVICE CREATION PARTNERS

j Over 40 operator partners j Over 50 VAS service platforms worldwide j Over 350 content provider partnerships j Over 450 employees globally j Global offices and datacentres
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW
HOW TO HARNESS THE APP

WITH GOOGLES ERIC SCHMIDT BEING BROADCAST LIVE, AND THE NEW APP PLANET ATTRACTING A HOST OF BIG NAME PLAYERS, THE PUBLIC FACE OF THE SHOW LOOKS SET TO BE AROUND APPLICATION AND SERVICE INNOVATION. BUT THERE WILL BE OTHER TOPICS UP FOR GRABS, TOO, REPORTS KEITH DYER.
20 | Mobile Europe
here was little doubt that the GSMA would make a big deal about having Googles Eric Schmidt to speak at the show. And they have. They have taken the step of streaming his speech live from their site the first time they have streamed live content from the conference out to the wider audience. Of course, to many, it will be presented as something strange, that Google should be stepping into the operators world. And not only is Schmidt speaking, but Google has a large presence at the newly-minted Application Planet area within the event. But the truth is that Google is increasingly being regarded as a friend of the operator. Its strategy has changed over the years, and it now perhaps has a newfound respect for what the mobile operator can bring to the table, instead of assuming that it held all the trump cards. Of course, the success of Apple in leading the application market, and potentially the in-app ad revenues that go with it, has led to a re-appraisal. Not only that, but Android phones have proved perhaps susprisingly popular with a public that knew the qualities and the faults of the iPhone, and was hungry for an option. So we have Eric Schmidt appearing as a key note speaker at the Congress, and being
streamed live as he does so to the wider world. Its also worth noting the time at which hes going to speak - arranged as much for the US market as for the European one. That gives another indication that the GSMA sees itself as being a body that now speaks globally, as CDMA operators in the States head for LTE. Certainly Michael OHara, CMO of the GSMA, agrees that the Schmidt event is significant But he also points to the development of the App Planet event at the show as evidence that the vendors themselves are in need of the showcase. So what is happening at the App Planet? Well the GSMA has announced that there will be six application developer conferences within teh event, with participation from Google and Motorola, as well as Sony Ericsson, Vodafone, RIM and WIP. The GSMA also announced that it is partnering with Berkeley Mobile International Collaborative to launch the global "University Mobile Challenge", a competition designed to spur mobile application development and innovation at the university level. Additionally, the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) announced finalists for the 6th edition of the gaming awards and will name the eight award
winners at the IMGA ceremony on Monday, 15 February at App Planet. OHara said that the industry reaction to the launch had been pleasing. Application development is one of the most vibrant, innovative areas within mobile today, and were thrilled with the early response to App Planet. Of course, one of the things that having six separate application developer conferences draws attention to is the fact that this space is currently very fragmented. The GSMA, OHara says, is committed to reducing that fragmentation, and that will be a topic at the event. Elsewhere, OHara said that he thinks the main thrusts of the event will be around the development of mobile broadband. There will be 200 million HSPA users by the time of the event, OHara says, and with the transition to LTE the industry is seeing connectivity go to the next level. The topic for those at the event, he says, is how to enable that to happen. As for GSMA-led initiatives, there was less to say. Normally we see a boost given to initiatives such as PayByMobile, or the Rich Communications Suite, or the oneAPI scheme. But either there isnt much to be said on these, or the GSMA is keeping

Eric Schmidt: going live at MWC.
Predictions are the event will have sold four per cent more floor space, and visitor numbers will be up a tiny bit on 2009 to around 47,000. As for Nokia...
its powder dry, because OHara would only say he expected there would be advances to announce in all these areas. But what about the early news story about this show? That Nokia is not attending and that other vendors are considering their commitments. Well, OHara said that predictions are that the event will have 4% more floor space sold than last year, and also that visitor numbers will be slightly up at a total of 47,000. As for Nokia, well it still thinks enough of the event to send its networks division, and also to spend money off-site on hospitality and meeting presence. LG too has moved to a hospitality-only model. Overall I still see the strength in the show, he says. LG are the platinum sponsor this year, after all, its just that we are seeing different approaches to the event from different companies. they have to hand, to bring together data sources from different places and then to use that to inform their marketing, or offers to consumers. To help operators ensure successful business, Orga Systems is claiming to offer the worlds first system providing seamless subscriber notification through processing of different event sources. The solution informs subscribers in real-time about relevant account information, thus giving them full control. By using rule-based filter mechanisms the aim is to help operator create a closer customer relationship through continuous communication. This is one solution within Orga Systems real-time based suite of solutions for customer billing and administration. Orga Systems will be present Hall 8, Booth 8B130. Openwave says that it thinks the the current hot issues facing the industry will be: j The impact consumer demand is having on the industry, the growth in the use of mobile devices, and the development of mobile applications j How operators can manage and monetise their traffic with smart services such as contextaware traffic mediation, analytics, location information and voice solutions j The latest traffic and data mediation solutions which can help operators maximise bandwidth and help bridge the gap between developers and operators as we go move into a 4G marketplace Of course, the company is positioning itself being a player in the mobilising of the internet with predictive solutions fueled by real-time analytics that mediate among all the different ecosystem elements, enhancing every mode of IP traffic Openwaves messaging will be that the recent explosion in demand for mobile content and data services signifies the end of a distinctly mobile web and the beginning of one web, universally available across all devices. If service providers want to compete in this new untethered, all-IP-based information age, they need more control over what's happening in their networks. Growth of the mobile Internet is putting enormous pressure on traditional systems and networks, as well as the operators themselves. Not only is more data travelling through networks, but the type and size of the data is adding to the problem. This surge is causing a mobile data tsunami, which, if not addressed soon, will cause irreparable damage. Openwave says that it has been leading the debate on the data demand challenge, as well as the opportunity it affords. stations and handsets. On the network side, it claims it has created the worlds most efficient broadband basestation transmitter in partnership with one of the worlds leading RF PAvendors. On the handset front, it will be showing the first working silicon of the test chip to help handset PA and baseband vendors accelerate the integration of Coolteq technology into their devices. Of couse, many will travel to the show for a steer on the device side - specifically how services and capabilities are being integrated into devices, and which offer the best opportunity for operators to grow revenues and service penetration. INQ Mobile - winner of last years Best Mobile Handset or Device at the GSMA awards will be back. Since then INQ has launched the follow-on INQ Mini 3G, and the INQ Chat, a fullQwerty social mobile that integrates Facebook, Twitter, chat, Doubletwist media synching, and free push email. This year, execs will discuss their commitment to the Android platform, a move away from the get it built strategy that saw INQ build out its first phones on BREW. Of course, the Android focus mirrors work as Sony Ericsson, and a greater theme at the event - the increasing presence of Google. There is also lots of disruption is happening on the navigation/GPS front and waze is just one of many companies in the app space. waze features a free, crowdsourced, real time traffic
Mobile Europe | 21
Companies to watch
Its hard to judge who will be of most interest, but of those companies who have publicly stated what they will be focussing on, heres a few that we think are at the least relevant. There will of course be plenty of others in the fields we mention, but we pick these as much to illustrate the themes and topics they represent, as to recommend them as some sore of exemplar. One topic that is going to be doing the rounds in the OSS/BSS space is the move to subscribercentric systems. Its about how operators can manage the data
Turning down the power

We choose this company to illustrate a continuing theme around green networking and efficient use of power supplies and resources. Nujira is to mark MWC by announcing significant progress with its power-saving technologies for the cellular base

It is impossible to adequately preview this event - we have touched on just one company from networks, OSS/BSS, devices, application development, green networking, data optimisation. Its time for you to get out there and see for yourself
Excellent shirt, dude. Speakers (some of them a bit famous) at MWC in 2008. Your glamour this year = Duran Duran. app that is available on most smartphones today. Location services should be one of the key topics at the show, as the pieces of the market have come together, and have been given a further boost by consumer adoption of the app model. All this, of course, and Nokia has given the space a kick up hte backside with its announcement of free Nokia Maps. As we mentioned in our preview, one of the issues of concern for the GSMA is the fragmentation of the applications environment, but there are companies out there making a business from ensuring that developers can address the fragmentation issue. Although there are some sceptics about the idea that developers can develop once and deploy everywhere, (Develop once, fail everywhere it has been termed) IdeaWorks 3Dwill be profiling its AirPlay SDKwhich allows developers to compile the
22 | Mobile Europe
code of their apps so that the app can be deployed with a single click to all iPhone, Android, Symbian, WinMo and BREW devices.Their technology removes development costs and widens the market for apps for more than just iPhone. Finally - the networks themselves. With Vodafone halving the cost of its femto product, and rebranding the product to boot, there is sure to be aneven closer focus on femto. If you have questions about this sector, or wonder what the latest developments are in terms of technology integration or price points, The Femto Forum will be hosting the femtozone. The idea is that the femtozone will serve as a one-stop-shop for all visitors interested in learning about the latest developments in the femtocell industry. The event takes place as the femtocell market experiences growth around the world with 10 operators now offering services
Hello? Security? Id like to report a man not wearing a grey suit across three continents and further deployments expected shortly. The zone will feature a daily schedule of public presentations from operators, vendors, analysts and other industry bodies on the major opportunities and challenges facing the femtocell market. This will include an exclusive presentation from independent analysts, Signals Research Group, which has conducted extensive research into the operator business case using real world statistics from the Femto Forums operator members. Its impossible to adequately preview this event - merely to illustrate the potential weve touched on networks, devices, OSS, data optimisation, green networking and application development. Good luck in finding your own Congress.
LTE DEVELOPMENT
PRESSING THE ACCELERATOR FOR LTE

OPERATORS NEED TO BE ABLE TO ENSURE LTE TERMINALS CAN MEET THEIR OWN NETWORK REQUIREMENTS, BUT IN THE MOST EFFICIENT MANNER POSSIBLE. CAN FLOW CHARTS REALLY HELP?
lthough LTE terminals need to pass tests prescribed by GCF (Global Certification Forum) and PTCRB (PCS Type Certification Review Board), there is a growing requirement to simulate scenarios required by Network Operators to prove their own real world requirements. TTCN is mandated for the conformance tests by ETSI. However, for laboratory simulation of network scenarios, there are a growing number of terminal developers that are looking for more flexible tools to develop and prove their products. While TTCN and Cbased languages dominate the majority of 2G / 3G development, some graphical
interpretations of these low level languages have attempted to simplify programming. They still require the programmer to have a detailed knowledge of the 3GPP protocols and still use a script based language. Anritsu took a bold step when it introduced a unique graphical flow chart tool (The RTD Rapid Test Designer) for GERAN and UTRAN scenario development. This became popular with Network Operators for acceptance testing of terminals as it provided an easily understood method to simulate the behaviour of terminals more closely replicating the requirements of the network as opposed to just meeting 3GPP specifications. With LTE there
are signs that graphical flow chart tools may be used by many developers to accelerate their developments and especially to make the maintenance and iteration of the tests easier.
every different platform. This requires significant effort (in developing and checking) to ensure that the UE configuration provided through RRC signalling matches exactly with the SS configuration.
TTCN FOR AND AGAINST

TTCN was chosen as a scripting language by ETSI for use in conformance testing and is now internationally used for modern communication systems. TTCN allows separation of the Abstract Test Suites and the Adapter Layer which allows portability of the tests to make them platform independent. However this does mean that individual adapters need to be maintained to translate the tests to work with
TTCN-3
TTCN-3 has been developed by ETSI as a successor to TTCN-2. Despite sharing the same fundamental concepts, TTCN-2 and TTCN-3 are essentially two different languages even the TTCN acronym has changed from Tree and Tabular Combined Notation to Test and Test Control Notation. TTCN-3 has a look and feel of Java/C++ which should discourage the resistance from some developers. It also
Mobile Europe | 23
LTE DEVELOPMENT
created and proven; test coverage may be expanded by using less skilled programmers. A number of standard RABs (radio bearers) are provided within the RTD which satisfy the majority of users. Radio bearers can be created by the user to generate specific conditions that may be needed to replicate live Networks. This can be done manually or by Log Import Tools that allow transfer of information gathered in the field to create catalogs and network models for use with existing test cases.
provide a good trade-off between flexibility of TTCN object re-use and complexity. If this is not properly done (which is generally the case), the number of 'duplicated' TTCN objects will grow linearly (if not exponentially) with your test cases. This creates test suite maintenance nightmares. The RTD provides an option to allow the compound procedure to be changed once and replicated across all the tests that use it automatically.
NETWORK MODELS AND CATALOGS

Any laboratory network simulator will be constrained by the number of cells that can be simulated. In general scenarios need up to three for serving cells, neighbour cell and a cell to handover to. In order to make configuration and control of the simulator easier, network models can be created that allow the cells to be populated with specific parameters and save complex programming of parameter in each step of the test.
Core cell configuration

provides a more graphical look which will improve and enhance its usability. specification releases. As well as providing a test that is visually appealing, it allows test variants to be easily created and tests to be updated automatically, saving considerable time and possible errors.
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE OR DO THEY?

There are some scenarios that may rarely change: for example a registration process. Once a process has been developed to allow all types of registration to be covered, it may be used in virtually every subsequent test. Traditionally a call to a subroutine would have been used with a large amount of associated code. With graphical test flow the process can be turned into a single procedural block (or compound) and simply placed in each test. The compound appears in the picker area for future users. Inevitably the process will need to be changed to meet a new specification change or to add a feature and this would normally require the iteration of every test using the subroutine. Using TTCN would require significant effort to evaluate the necessary parameterization of a TTCN object (test step/constraint), in order to
PROCEDURAL BLOCKS THE HEART OF ANY PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT TOOL

The concept of using a graphical tool is not unique in other areas of development: using building blocks that are added to a blank canvas to produce a logical test progression with branching and looping has been available commercially for many years. Visually showing the path of different outcomes to a scenario benefits not only the originator but also engineers that may want to further develop the test. The Anritsu RTD uses procedural blocks, derived from the ASN.1 that is created for every 3GPP release and maintained along with any further 3GPP
24 | Mobile Europe
KISS KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID

By simplifying any complex problem there is a danger that flexibility and detail is sacrificed. The trick is to hide the complexity from those that do not need it and allow the more experienced to be able to drill down into the details. The RTD procedures can be opened up to show the IE (information elements) within them and then edited using drop down menus or entering data in fields that are then checked. This makes test variants straightforward to create so once a complex test is
FUTURE FOR GRAPHICAL FLOW

The RTD has now evolved to include LTE and it is being used in terminal design to simplify and accelerate development with a LTE lower layer procedure library as well as LTE Layer 3 procedures. Although Layer 3 procedures are well suited to integration of terminals and overall behaviour, lower layer procedures are needed for development of the terminals. RTD now provides
LTE DEVELOPMENT
If this is not properly done, the number of duplicated objects will grow linearly with your test cases. This creates test suite maintenance nightmares.
procedure libraries for Layer 3 LTE and Lower layer LTE procedure libraries. Engineers can now create their own scenarios for the development of lower layers and then create their own compound procedures that can be used in L3 tests for further development and integration of devices. The RTDs graphical flow can show real-time test progress and can be used to debug terminals using functions defined by the user. Figure 1 (right) shows how during test execution information is available for changing parameters and debug.
TEST OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

The RTD produces a comprehensive set of results and because these Logs contain, the Message sequences between the network simulator and the terminal as well as a copy of the test in a self contained environment, debugging is much simpler. For other RTD users the results can be examined in detail with full linking and expansion of all messages. They may also be exported to HTML after any prefiltering of detail, where anyone with a web browser can view the messages. RTD provides a collection of unique tools to speed up development and integration of modern wireless terminals. It also provides a common path to network operators requirements and will be the way to get LTE terminals into the market in time.
Figure 1: A graphical representation can allow real time test progress
THE TESTING CASE FOR CHANGE

David Gehringer, vp marketing, Fanfare Software, says that recent publicity highlights the need for the industry to take a different approach to how it tests device and application performance. The media is becoming increasingly interested in poorly performing mobiles - Nokia N97, Blackberry Storm, Sony Ericsson Satio. Coupled with Teliasoneras recent underwhelming LTE trial where promised speeds of 50Mbps materialised to just 12Mbps it is clear that the pressure is on mobile manufacturers and network providers to provide better and faster products and services. Interestingly, it also stresses the need for a shift in testing towards interoperability that is required to ensure that quality doesnt fall by the wayside. As we head towards 4G and an ever more feature rich mobile environment, where interoperability is an elementary requirement, the bottom line is that handsets must be tested in conjunction with the specific service provider market to ensure that converged applications work. Users want applications that rely on the network to function as flawlessly as calls and SMS, regardless of how much more demanding they may be. This will require a change in testing. Today, with few exceptions, carriers simply do not test handsets. Instead, manufacturers test handsets and applications against a set of standards. A carrier will validate that its network works for a set of standards by testing applications and calls, but this testing process rarely extends to specific phones. In theory, if the standards are the same, this approach will work and it has in the past but, as is verified by recent failures, this way of testing is not rigorous or reliable enough to fully evaluate todays more advanced devices and networks.
Mobile Europe | 25
LTE BACKHAUL STRATEGIES
SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY IN THE BACKHAUL NETWORK

OPERATORS NEED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP OF THEIR NEXT GENERATION BACKHAUL STRATEGY, AND THAT INCLUDES SPECTRUM COSTS. BUT WITH MICROWAVE SPECTRUM COSTS SET TO RISE, IT WILL TAKE CAREFUL PLANNING TO ENSURE OPERATORS HAVE THE BEST SOLUTION, SAYS ALAN SOLHEIM
T W
he promise of new services and new revenue streams is driving the adoption of next generation radio access technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE. These technologies promise a mobile internet experience that is virtually the same as broadband access at work or at home,. creating an entirely new profile for the traffic coming from the base station and, in turn, the backhaul network. HSPA+ networks require 50 to 100 Mbps per base station and LTE networks require 100 to 200 Mbps per base station - an order of magnitude more than
traditional 2G or 3G networks. In addition, this traffic is predominantly IP based. Traditional TDM radio systems can not handle this backhaul traffic, and leased E1 circuits are not cost effective. The viable backhaul solutions going forward are owned or leased services based on fibre or packet microwave radio. While fibre provides almost unlimited bandwidth, the majority of the base stations do not have fibre connections. In addition, depending on the amount of radio access spectrum that is available to the mobile operator, additional base
Annual Microwave Spectrum Licensing Costs (UK)
Figure 1: Annual spectrum licensing cost per link

26 | Mobile Europe
stations will have to be deployed in order to deliver the expected bandwidth per user. It has been estimated that operators with 50 MHz of radio access spectrum will have to double their base station density in order to deploy advanced 3G services. These new base stations must be placed where they can provide the most effective re-use of the radio access spectrum, and only by chance will they have fibre connections at the most desirable locations. The net result is that in order to use fibre as the backhaul medium, lateral runs from the nearest fibre point of presence must be installed in the vast majority of cases. The cost of these lateral fibre runs are proportional to the distance, and the cost per meter is proportional to the population density highest in the city centers where demand for 3G+ and 4G services is greatest. The business case for packet microwave, on the other hand, is almost distance insensitive. The cost to purchase and install a packet microwave link is relatively constant up to a distance of several kilometers; longer than the typical base station spacing. The
combination of these two facts means that a significant portion (majority) of the backhaul network will be implemented using packet microwave. This, coupled with the already heavy use of microwave for the GSM network and other private networks, will result in congestion, especially in the city centres, for the RF channels required to support the new packet microwave deployments. In response to these concerns, many of the worlds telecommunications regulators have implemented new measures to more carefully manage the available microwave spectrum. Several European countries
A majority of the backhaul will be implemented using packet microwave. This will result in congestion for the RF channels required to support new deployments.

Spectrum cost has a much greater impact on the operator business case when compared to items such as equipment and installation costs
including France and Russia have essentially eliminated larger channel bandwidths (56 MHz and above) in order to encourage greater efficiency in smaller channels . The Office of Communications, the independent regulator in the UK, is addressing spectrum congestion with a pricing strategy that favors higher frequencies and smaller channel sizes, which is shown in Figure 1.. With most regulators adopting similar pricing strategies, it is clear that larger channels and lower frequencies are cost prohibitive for most operators. While all other cost elements will remain relatively fixed, spectrum cost is proportional to the size of the channel. If the operator has to double the channel size of the backhaul link the cost of spectrum - already one of the dominant cost contributors - will grow linearly. Looking at future capacity requirements, where hundreds of megabits or more will be needed, careful spectrum utilization planning will be essential in order to ensure the ongoing economic viability of these backhaul networks. Despite the significant impact to the total cost of ownership (TCO), spectral efficiency is often a secondary consideration when evaluating microwave backhaul solutions. The following chart (Figure 2) represents the backhaul business case sensitivity to various cost elements. These costs are varied according to ranges found in existing
backhaul deployments, illustrating the potential impact that each can have (positive or negative) to the operators total cost of ownership. As shown, spectrum cost has a much greater impact on the operator business case when compared to items such as equipment and installation costs. The wide range of potential impact is due to a combination of pricing variation and the degree of efficiency in existing deployments. Equipment cost, while important, is often overemphasized in the buying decision as it represents a small fraction of the TCO. This highlights the importance of selecting a microwave solution that minimizes key operating expenses such as spectrum licensing. While all other cost elements will remain relatively fixed, spectrum cost is set to rise dramatically, becoming the dominant ongoing expense for operators (Figure 3) deploying broadband mobile networks. This is due to the fact that many existing microwave backhaul solutions will not scale sufficiently within existing spectrum allocations, resulting in additional spectrum investment for operators. Fortunately, next generation packet microwave systems address many of these elements with capabilities such as all-outdoor deployment, reduced antenna sizes, and most importantly a
Business Case Sensitivity: Impact to 10-Year Total Cost of Ownership
Figure 2: Backhaul business case variables and their potential range of impact to TCO
suite of technologies which deliver a dramatic improvement in spectral efficiency relative to previous microwave systems. As shown in the figure below the introduction of higher order modulation, adaptive modulation, Cross Polarization Cancellation (XPIC) and now baseband bandwidth optimization techniques has increased the spectral efficiency by almost a factor of 10 over the past decade. These techniques provide the capability for mobile operators to deliver bandwidth suitable for LTE base stations within their existing 7 or 14 MHz backhaul channel allocations. This avoids the need to spend the time and money on reengineering the RF portion of the backhaul network, eliminates the concern over
Backhaul Total Cost of Ownership: Traditional Microwave Solutions
Figure 3: 10-Year TCO for European backhaul networks

Mobile Europe | 27
Microwave Spectral Efficiency Advancements
Figure 4: Spectral efficiency improvement through each generation of microwave. The spectral efficiency represented in the next generation system is based on a typical traffic mix and may be higher or lower depending on the actual deployment.
backhaul spectrum availability for base station upgrades, and reduces the total cost of ownership by up to 40%, resulting in cost savings that are much higher than the cost of the new equipment. The demand for mobile broadband services is seemingly insatiable, driving the rapid adoption of 3G and 4G networks. Packet microwave is a preferred technology to provide the backhaul for these networks due to speed of deployment, simplicity and cost. The backhaul technology decision
will be much more than about the box cost, but will have to include the total cost of ownership including spectrum lease costs. While the availability of spectrum for the backhaul network of next generation mobile networks is a concern, advancements in the spectral efficiency of packet radios are providing the answer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE:

Alan Solheim is VP, Product Management, DragonWave
28 | Mobile Europe
FEATURE INTERVIEW
MEETING THE FUTURE ROAMING CHALLENGE

Mathias Prssing
Keith Dyer:
Mathias, readers may know Comfone as a roaming service provider but they may not appreciate the scope of your activities.
Mathias Prssing:
Comfone has achieved its aim of becoming a full service provider in the roaming market, offering a complete portfolio of roaming management services. It ranges from roaming enablement through our hub solutions, including our WeRoam wireless IP and Key2roam hubs, to our Advanced Signalling network and our inhouse Clearing capabilities. We also offer 2G and 3G data roaming management through our GRX service with connections to over 500 networks worldwide. Our goal is to harness the synergy of all these elements by providing a one-stop-shop approach to customers. We are in a very strong position, as a full service provider with extensive hubbing expertise, to meet the evolving roaming requirements of our customers.
WITH DATA ROAMING SET TO INCREASE THROUGH 2010, BUT WITH TRADITIONAL ROAMING REVENUES UNDER THREAT, OPERATORS NEED ROAMING SOLUTIONS THAT MATCH THEIR BUSINESS NEEDS. COMFONE CEO MATHIAS PRSSING TELLS KEITH DYER HOW AN INTEGRATED ROAMING SERVICE CAN DO JUST THAT.
Operators need to be able to address a highly mobile customer base with roaming offers that meet their needs.
they require help with. Therefore the move to data roaming motivates us, as a service provider, to be even more innovative in finding further simple and robust solutions for the upcoming data roaming challenges. We already provide roaming solutions for GPRS and 3G data traffic with our GRX service which is handling increasing traffic. However, in response to operator feedback, we have also designed a roadmap to focus our energy on the demands this growth in IP traffic will bring. We have enormously simplified data roaming by adding data to our hub model. Now our customers will not only be able to centralise their voice and messaging businesses on our hub, but also their IP data traffic. Since we began integrating our data business onto our Key2roam hub, different operators have confirmed their data roaming needs and have entered into trials with us. We pioneered the hub concept and because we are also in control of a centralised signalling platform, we are able to provide full service guarantees indeed we already meet the full requirements of 133 live operators on our Key2roam hub, supporting over 2,800 live relations and approximately 100 live GPRS relations.
Mobile Europe | 29
Keith Dyer:
One aspect facing operators in 2010 will be the increase in data roaming. Do you think that traditional roaming relationships will be able to handle the more complex nature of data roaming?
Mathias Prssing:
We know from mobile network operators that data roaming traffic is presenting them with a complex set of hurdles which
FEATURE INTERVIEW
operators will need to optimise their traffic and meet marketing requirements for stable, reliable connections and SLAs with fast implementation times. Added to this, operators want access to value-added services such as business optimisation tools so that the roaming manager is able to steer roaming traffic, to reduce costs and increase roaming revenues. This is why it is so important to be an integrated service provider rather than just providing access and connectivity. We applied our extensive signalling knowledge in order to provide reporting tools for operators to access their data and better control whats going on in their networks. For instance, with our reporting tools they can react to seasonal peaks, perhaps by providing special offers to end-users. We also offer technical tools that run rating simulations to illustrate how a rating change might impact ongoing revenues for an operator. Additionally, we offer roaming marketing tools which make it easier for our customers to flexibly steer their roaming business and ensure revenues by providing increased transparency of the impact of their marketing activities.
Increasing WiFi usage has seen Comfones WeRoam traffic grow up to 40% over the past year.
Keith Dyer:
What advantages will adding this data capability to the hub have?
them with powerful networks and enables them to focus on the end-customer instead of interoperator relationships. Added to that, data roaming relations often do not exist yet. Most carriers see their current relations and think there is no reason to change to a hub. However, operators are attempting to find new value propositions for their customers, whether it is through guaranteed SLAs or providing high quality services to different types of customers. We can provide the technology expertise to assist them with this, all in one integrated offer. At the moment, business customers are most attractive for operators, someone who is travelling a lot and wants a high quality data roaming solution but also needs to be able to manage
Mathias Prssing:
There are several. The main advantage is that operators will be able to centralise their data businesses on our hub. In their traditional voice businesses, an operator may have bilateral relations with 400 other players and those relations can be managed to provide ongoing revenue streams. On the other hand the set up and management of data roaming is generally more complex. Data roaming traffic is email, internet messenger, browsing on the internet and entertainment and requires extensive bandwidth. Our hub data roaming solution allows operators to reduce the overall complexity, provides
30 | Mobile Europe
the expense of that. As well as this market, I believe that the consumer roaming business will also grow, as more and more people want to take their home data environment, such as messaging, social networks and favourite services, with them when they travel. Anytime, anywhere data roaming access is becoming the standard of service expected by consumers today.
Keith Dyer:
How does this change in usage translate into the services you can offer?
Mathias Prssing:
Well, this change will drive the need for the basic roaming service enablers; the connections that hub access brings, as well as control of signalling and clearing. What is of more importance however and where we can differentiate ourselves is that
Keith Dyer:
Added to these changes in data roaming, operators are looking at increasing data offload strategies, such as WiFi. How will this affect your business?
Mathias Prssing:
FEATURE INTERVIEW
Operators are attempting to find new value propositions for their customers... We can provide the technology expertise to assist them with this, all in one integrated offer.
We have our Wireless IP hub solution, WeRoam, so WiFi is also part of our data story. We have over 63,000 aggregated hotspots, making it possible for customers to have consistent access to that environment. We are also supporting the facilitation of WiMax-to-WiFi roaming. Although traditionally operators tend to think in terms of GSM/3G/HSPA technology, they will consider WiFi and WiMax as they face future demands for bandwidth. We have seen our WeRoam traffic increase 30-40% over the last year, so we think this is a real opportunity for the future. In my opinion there is 2G/3G/ HSPA on the one hand and at the same time theres WiFi. I think we will see them become complementary, rather than competitive. That makes our integrated offering all the more attractive. deriving the benefit of economies of scale, to compensate or over-compensate for price erosion. As a leading hub provider, it is important for Comfone to take the current market situation into account in its strategy and ensure our customers achieve ecomonies of scale in their roaming businesses. For this reason, Comfones value added services play a key role they allow operators to offer bundles, flat fees, and other solutions which will enable them to derive increasing roaming value from their customers. It is also important for operators to take control of all elements of their roaming business; such as revenue assurance and financial management. Thats why we have taken our clearing capability in house again. We can do clearing ourselves and not just buy it in from another competitor. impressed with what we can do in hubbing, signalling and clearing. They appreciate that we can cover every element of roaming and also bring a lot additional capabilities and value to their products on top of that. Operators have asked us to help them take control of their revenues, to help them manage the growth in data roaming. As a full service provider offering all roaming elements in our portfolio, we have the added advantage of being able to act flexibly and independently. All of our operations are in Bern and nothing is outsourced. We have full control over the quality of our services and solutions and we can go the extra mile for the customer that others cannot, providing our customers with the integrated solutions they need.
Keith Dyer:
Mathias, thank you.
Keith Dyer:
And it seems no discussion of roaming can be complete without reference to the legislative environment within Europe
Keith Dyer:
So you are confident that current operator needs around roaming, from pressure on voice revenues, to increasing data traffic, to complementary WiFi or WiMax strategies, all point to your vision of an integrated, full service provider?
Mathias Prssing:
In a way, yes. Its a fact that all mobile network operators are experiencing price erosion and restrictions resulting from EU legislation, so thats something that we just have to face. Thats why analysts see 10-15% growth in roaming volume but no equivalence in revenues. This limited revenue growth is driving the view that roaming is all about
Mathias Prssing:
It is important that Comfone is recognised as an integrated solution provider and not seen only as a signalling or hubbing provider. Customers tell us that they are surprised by our capabilities and are very
Bern: Comfones base, offering Swiss quality assurance

Mobile Europe | 31
COVER INTERVIEW
MANAGING NETWORK AND SERVICE COMPLEXITY IN LTE

Vince Lesch
MOBILE OPERATORS ARE RESPONDING TO RISING DATA VOLUMES BY PLANNING THE DEPLOYMENT OF LTE NETWORKS. BUT THIS BRINGS WITH IT THE NEED FOR SERVICE INTERWORKING BETWEEN 2G/3G AND LTE NETWORKS. VINCE LESCH, VP OF PRODUCT MARKETING AT TEKELEC, TELLS KEITH DYER HOW OPERATORS CAN MEET THESE CHALLENGES EFFECTIVELY .
KEITH DYER:
Vince, as we talk now at the start of 2010, we now have a small number of live LTE deployments. And we can be sure that we are in a year that will see a number of further LTE network rollouts. Operators are being driven to consider solutions to the increase in data volumes they are undergoing, and to the number of services that are now being used across their networks. But that brings with it an associated increase in service and network complexity. Can you describe that?
VINCE LESCH:
From the perspective of complexity what we are seeing is the introduction of more new technology into the networks. From increases in bandwidth on the access network, with the move to LTE, to the introduction of technology platforms to provide new data services, our customers have a number of exciting plans. The challenge that brings is that it grows the need for interoperability between different networks modes, and between the signaling layers controlling the network.
Operators now have complex hybrid networks composed of elements from many vendors across their 2G, 3G, and now LTE networks. They are also introducing a range of new services, and service capabilities, to enable them to take advantage of the new business models that are emerging - for example around application stores. But they have to make all these services work seamlessly to the end user, no matter what domain the user is in, the device he has, or what service he is accessing. Thats where Tekelec adds a
Mobile Europe | 33
COVER INTERVIEW
state of operators investment priorities. Are we in a brighter economic climate last year?
VINCE LESCH:
I think that were pleased with where we are from a company perspective. We are certainly excited by the opportunities out there with reference to LTE. We are also optimistic that, at least from a global economic perspective, we have reached a levelling off period in the wider economy. In terms of operators investment priorities. At Mobile World Congress a year ago we met customers who have since gone public about the priorities they have around capacity planning. The network planners told us that when they have discussions on capacity planning they are used to going to the marketing department. Marketing gives them a forecast and then the planners routinely divide that by four. And thats all been OK until last year when marketing was right! So really that is a significant growth in mobile data, and that is driving us forward in terms of servicing these needs.
As service layers, networks, and devices stack up, signalling control becomes ever more crucial
lot of value. Our systems and solutions offer a way to do this more cost effectively, allowing our customers to solve their interoperability problems. And we have experience of this. For instance, in the past we have had customers that have integrated their GSM and CDMA networks and had deep interoperability requirements at a subscriber management level, to ensure they were offering continuity of service. And we see similar types of things happening as customers evolve to LTE. They will have the same
34 | Mobile Europe
type of demands for accessing real-time service and network databases, to determine customer call set-up requirements across multiple domains.
KEITH DYER:
How swiftly are you seeing your customers move to LTE? And what do you think the scale of those deployments will be?
the USA move very quickly to LTE, and in fact some European operators as well. They are moving quickly and looking at that right now. Others are in the stage of having forward looking discussions planning their migration and evolution. It is impacted by a number of factors, such as the depth and coverage of the current 3G and HSPA networks, as well as financial priorities of course.
KEITH DYER:
You say that you can help operators deal with this transition more costeffectively, what are some of the things that you can do, and in which areas?
VINCE LESCH:
It really depends on the country and the carrier. I think we are seeing some carriers in
VINCE LESCH: KEITH DYER:

With that in mind, how do you characterise the current Yes, there are a lot of clever things that we can do with signaling and service control
COVER INTERVIEW
Tekelec adds a lot of value by allowing our customers to drive their network migrations more cost-effectively
that can help. Our EAGLE XG next-generation SIP signaling platform allows us to provide a view of that interoperability for the carriers, across their SIP and SS7 signaling domains. It can host multiple application platforms and technologies to help control the signaling across the hybrid networks that operators have to operate. This is important because one of the key areas for operators to address will be how they manage services that cross the border between 2G/3G and LTE networks. You have got to remember that as well as interworking demands within one operators network, this is a global mobile world and operators need to be able to provide seamless services to users from different networks so that someone sending a message from a 3G device, controlled within the SS7 environment, can send a message and have it read by a user within an LTE/IMS environment. operators will have to deal with service interworking issues. As I said, they will have users who have not migrated to the latest devices, but they will also have the requirement to deal with incoming call flows from users of other networks that have not been upgraded to LTE. So operators will have customers sending a message from one mode to another, and we need to provide the protocol translation and signaling support in scenarios that are fairly complex. Messaging services are very interesting because if you look at revenues by various services then clearly SMS is very important, even though we are seeing some erosion in the margins there. So there is a dual demand to protect SMS revenues as operators move to LTE, but also to make their SMS network support more efficient. An efficient messaging system requires a mechanism to deliver SMS in the LTE/IMS domain, and in the pre-IMS SIP domain, as well as in the SS7 domain. Our IP Short Message Gateway (IPSMG) supports SMS and MMS in all-IP networks, and that allows operators to interwork their LTE networks with 2G/3G networks, by using a single system. And because the IPSMG uses the existing SMSCs and the MMSCs for forwarding and storing, no new application servers are required in the IP network. cost-effectiveness across the domains, you are also able to protect revenues? piece. Really its about managing data analysis in an intelligent manner so that as data volumes increase, mobile operators do not have to scale their monitoring and management tools in a linear fashion. LTE is designed to deliver a lower cost per bit on the access network, but if demands on all the other supporting items increase in-line with traffic growth then the benefits will be cancelled. We have the capability to look at the control plane data, and go down to the protocol level to probe into whats going on. We can look at the payload and see what type of service is being used. This means that operators can focus their intensive analysis on the customers and services that are most profitable for them collecting the data they need based on their specific requirements. For example, they may use the capability to assure SLAs for important enterprise customers, or for a high value service such as TV. By monitoring only the data they need to, operators can scale their monitoring systems gracefully. Operators could control 80% of the revenue flow by concentrating at a deep level only on a small percentage of the data. They still collect all the user data, of course, but its about how they manage that intelligently. This is a great example of the new requirements that LTE will generate, and also of how we can help operators address them.
Mobile Europe | 35
VINCE LESCH:
Yes, we are also looking at utilising our expertise to enable operators to layer some additional types of service on top of their SMS service layer. The GSMA initiative around the Rich Communications Suite combines aspects of text, MMS, and video with the address book and presence. There are several trials across the world, with carriers really looking at how they can add value for their customers, and not just to have their users access these services in an over the top fashion. Layering services in that manner requires the advanced signaling and protocol translation systems that we have. We are also able to provide advertising insertion in mobile messaging, allowing carriers to insert adverts into texts, using LBS or user-profile information if they want to. Its really all a part of our focus on the evolution of mobile messaging.
KEITH DYER:
You mentioned messaging there, and indeed I think how SMS and voice services will interoperate between LTE and 2G/3G networks is a current hot topic.
KEITH DYER:
As well as focussing on a service-specific area, you mentioned that you can help operators deal with the increased data volumes they face more effectively...
VINCE LESCH:
Yes, I think the early thinking that LTE would be all about IP data-only services, and so the demand for interworking with legacy services would be reduced, has for some time now given way to the realisation that
VINCE LESCH:
This increase in data volumes means that we have identified a requirement to get involved in the performance management
KEITH DYER:
And as well as driving that
NETWORK STRATEGIES
GAMBLING WITH MOBILE DATA

nyone whos ever been to a casino or even on a camping holiday in the rain - knows how to play pontoon; its a simple game of chance where players stake on how long they can keep adding to their hand before they go bust. Its a game that seems to have found its way into mobile data as MNOs start to gamble on how long they can hold out on their existing networks before the amount of traffic overloads the individual cells. With many MNOs planning to implement LTE in the next three to five years, the goal is to string out the lifespan of existing infrastructure until 2014. At the same time, carriers want to secure their share of the rapidly-growing community of smartphone users today. All the time, the MNOs are continuing to up the ante. Twist: an exclusive deal with a smartphone manufacturer. Twist: a tie in with a popular social networking site. Twist: a new app store. But how long can the carriers say twist before the infrastructure busts?
MOBILE OPERATORS ARE GAMBLING ON HOW OFTEN THEY CAN KEEP LOADING THE INFRASTRUCTURE BEFORE IT GOES BUST. PERHAPS HELP CAN COME FROM AN UNLIKELY QUARTER, SAYS STEPHEN RAYMENT.
publicity battle ensued on an international basis along the lines of my networks better than your network. When you dig beneath this, however, there lies a bigger issue as to whats actually causing this downtime. Have some networks already hit bust in some locations? Certainly there can be other explanations for a network outage, besides capacity constraints, such as damage to a fibre cable. However, in the absence of any other wirebased explanation, it might be fair to assume that outages can represent early sign of cracks in an overloaded area of the network. But, with reliability and availability featuring high on the tick list of mobile shoppers, the MNOs are likely to keep pokerfaced about how close to capacity their networks might be.
Full house
In the history of 3G networks, overload is a relatively new concept. From the spectrum auctions at the turn of the Millennium until the launch of the iPhone, high levels of mobile data traffic were largely the stuff of optimistic carrier and vendor predictions made at trade shows. The impact that Blackberry had in securing a steady stream
Poker face
2009 was not a great year for the public perception of MNOs with half a dozen highly publicized network outages in Europe alone. With the press seizing on the outages, a
36 | Mobile Europe
of email traffic across networks cannot be underestimated but nothing seems to have launched as many new users into the world of constant data connectivity as the iPhone. And iPhone users tend to be much more data hungry than those carrying Blackberries. Few business users choose to download PowerPoint presentations to their handhelds as theyre hard to interact with, so a device thats email centric doesnt typically use a lot of bandwidth. Orange, for example, states that 100
emails downloaded without attachments will use about 1MB of data. Similarly, people with feature phones, rather than smartphones, will, according to Strategy Analytics, use only around 5 to 10MB of data a month. Smartphone users, on the other hand, who are more likely to engage with whizzy applications and media streaming services, will consume 10 to 20 times that amount of data, which might be one reason that O2, with its exclusivity on iPhone sales in
NETWORK STRATEGIES
Stephen Rayment
the UK, commented last year that it saw an 18-fold increase in the amount of data going across its network. All of this still pales when we look at dongle use. According to Phil Kendall at Strategy Analytics, dongles are overwhelmingly responsible for mobile data traffic load, pulling, on average, 1.5GB of data across the networks every month. Thats still around ten times the amount that a smartphone user consumes. No wonder then, that in the 12 months to May 2009, Orange reported a 4,125 per cent increase in the amount of data traffic on its network caused by dongle use. So, over the past ten years, weve seen data use dawdle for the first half of the decade, gradually rise in the third quarter and then take off like a rocket in the fourth. It comes as no surprise that this might have impacted some mobile networks. marketing. New music-sharing services and applications stores were launched and all of the carriers fell on the handset manufacturers to secure deals on the next new iPhone killer. As a result, more of us than ever are carrying smartphones. Vodafone now has 18.7 million users, of which, more than a quarter have web-enabled handsets. horizon and is the focus for investment for the majority of carriers in the coming years. Many are already hugely committed to the task of building their LTE networks with some, expecting to cover their current 3G footprints as soon as 2012. The GSMA has predicted that there will be 87 million LTE subscribers by 2014 a figure bumped up to 100 million by analyst firm Juniper Research. New networks will make way for more bandwidth, as well as the opportunity to review pricing models. take account of overloading at the individual cell level, which is a much more pressing concern. Most people have experienced the difficulty of getting a good signal at a conference or concert where large numbers of phone users are all crowded together in a relatively small space. This is because were all sharing the capacity of a single cell. Now, multiply that use by 20 to account for the data traffic and you can understand the pressure on that single cell to support its users. And, as areas where high data users converge tend to be places like city centres, business parks and financial districts, its the highvalue customers who feel the pain first.
High rollers, low returns

Competition has taken its toll on profitability though. Consumers have become used to an all you can eat pricing structure for buying data capacity. The 56% of UK households (ONS) that have a broadband connection have become used to paying a monthly fee to upload and download as much content as they want. This mentality crossed over to mobile data consumption and it is now normal for a mobile data user to get 3 10GB of data as part of their package. So, for a 2,000 per cent increase in data traffic, a user will usually pay around 25% more on their bill.
But what happens until then?

And, in reality, what happens at the same time? Whilst the GSMA is suggesting wide scale uptake of LTE, its also predicting continued growth in HSPA users 1.5 billion by 2014. This isnt an issue thats instantly going to go away when LTE arrives.
Split your bets

Rather than embarking on the time-consuming and costly effort of establishing a new cell site, an operator can choose to split the traffic to get some of it off of the cell. Peter Cochrane, BTs chief scientist and futurologist, recently suggested the solution is for carriers to split some traffic onto other MNOs networks, that is, to share cells. Its not unheard of: O2 and Vodafone do this in some places. It does, however, raise issues of control, ownership and differentiation for the networks. Femtocells represent another alternative to split traffic off. A common femtocell business model is to have customers pay for their own hardware, which
Mobile Europe | 37
Hit me dealer!
In spite of this, competition to gain new data customers is fierce. While we cant know how many customers the other networks may have lost to O2 when they won the exclusive deal on the iPhone, its clear that they accepted the impact the phone could have on customer retention. Attractive new data services plans became a top priority for all the major networks. This involved some smart thinking and innovative
Aces high
There are a number of ways to optimise current networks. At least one operator invested heavily last year to upgrade the speed of its backbone and, by doing so, increased capacity by 30 to 50 per cent. Similarly, load balancing across the network can help to allocate bandwidth where its needed most, minimising the impact of usage spikes. However, these approaches answer the problem at the backhaul level only. They dont
Stick
Its for these reasons that many carriers are looking for ways to optimise their networks to increase capacity. But its simply not economically viable to be pouring too much money into an infrastructure that wont deliver a return in the short term. LTE is looming large on the
NETWORK STRATEGIES
And, because its only the data thats handed off to Wi-Fi, there is no danger of diminishing the quality of voice services that still lie at the heart of the carriers business.
WiFi can be used to take large amounts of data off the network in areas like busy train stations they also pay to power. They also pay for connectivity as the femtocell accesses the network over the users home broadband line. In return they can register a number of SIMs to connect to the device and achieve uninterrupted service in areas that may have previously experienced coverage issues. From the operators point of view, the benefits are obvious as consumers carry the cost of the network upgrade. However, it remains to be seen how many will be willing to do this. It also fails to address the issues of the millions of roaming users passing through all those locations where people congregate who wont benefit
38 | Mobile Europe
from this and may continue to experience service challenges in areas of high user concentration. The other solution is for carriers to add functionality to their networks that allows them to respond in a more costeffective way. Rather than adding cellular capacity or urging users to create private wireless networks, MNOs can deploy carrier-class Wi-Fi networks that allow them to hand off data traffic from the cell.
also allows MNOs to add capacity on a targeted basis, building coverage in highdensity usage areas today, whilst allowing low-level areas to grow on the existing infrastructure until LTE arrives. And, because its only the data thats handed off to Wi-Fi, there is no danger of diminishing the quality of voice services that still lie at the heart of the carriers business. Essentially you can think of Wi-Fi as a giant offload point for wireless data traffic.
networks they have or twist and try something new? In reality, none of us can afford to stick. We dont know whats in competitors hands, as they play them close to their chests, but we know that its probably good. So, if the carriers dont want to be aced, I think well see a new twist on Wi-Fi in 2010, with carrier-grade expectations placed on the ubiquitous license-free technology once shunned by operators.
Trumps
This kind of network can add the same capacity as adding a new cell for what is typically less than a third of the cost. It
The winner takes it all

Which brings us back to the stick and twist scenario that we began with. Should the operators stick with the

Stephen Rayment is Chief Technology Officer at BelAir Networks
NETWORK INTELLIGENCE
THESE PIPES AINT SO DUMB

SELECTING THE BEST NETWORK INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY WILL HELP OPERATORS MEET THE NEEDS OF RAPIDLY CHANGING BUSINESS MODELS, WRITES KEITH COBLER.
N W
etwork operators today are faced with many challenges that are impacting their businesses, some of which include increased market competition, technology challenges and a more demanding customer base, to name a few. Many operators have been blind-sided by these and other industry challenges and are searching for viable solutions. Business models of the past no longer work in this new market environment. Operators today recognize the importance of running their businesses based on actual data that can be analysed and evaluated in realtime. To do this, network operators are relying on network intelligence solutions that
correlate high-level business objectives with what is actually occurring at the network level. Different from Business Intelligence solutions, Network Intelligence solutions start by capturing the raw data and events that take place at the network level and transform this data into actionable information. They rely on the collection of real-time, high-quality events that transverse multiple network technologies as the basis from which meaningful information can be obtained. To some degree, the old adage of garbage in garbage out applies since the quality of information at the output is very much dependent on the data-in and how that data is transformed into information.
In general, Network Intelligence solutions consist of three integrated components: (1) collection agents that collect data from network interfaces and elements, (2) a network correlation layer that ties together related network events and (3) analysis capabilities that empower multiple departments within a network operator with key information that allows them to manage better their individual departments and their business as a whole. In terms of solutions, there are many solutions on the market but few that cover all three components of collection, correlation and analysis. Based on this, operators who implement a Network
Intelligence strategy may decide to piece together the top-tobottom solution using different vendors, or will look to a single provider to supply all the necessary components.
From Data to Information

A Network Intelligence solution needs to collect events at the network level and then correlate or tie them back to specific business objectives or desired outcomes. Within the network, events and transactions are captured and stored as a call data record, or CDR, which is generally used as the primary data source for calculating key performance indicators (KPIs) by network, service or customer assurance or other OSS/BSS application. Todays Network Intelligence systems rely on signalling and media data as the primary data sources from which intelligence can be derived. Some Network Intelligence systems may also use data supplied from network elements or from other OSS/BSS systems. Different network technologies and topologies also play a factor in the types of data that can be collected and used. As networks continue to evolve, the trend has been towards combining elements and functionality into as few elements as possible in an effort to reduce costs. From a Network
Figure 1: The information obtained from network intelligence solutions are leveraged by multiple departments with the network operator and consist of collection agents, a correlation layer and analysis capabilities
40 | Mobile Europe
Many operators have been blind-sided by these and other industry challenges and are searching for viable solutions.
Intelligence perspective, this has created some new challenges in terms of getting access to the data; e.g., in LTE networks, a new network element called the E-NodeB (Enhanced Node-B), is a combination of the Node-B basestation and the RNC as a single element, thus physically eliminating the Iub interface. Data collection devices for Network Intelligence solutions consist of probes (passive or active), element feeds and software agents. The primary difference between passive and active probes is that passive probes are non-intrusive, meaning they do not interfere or insert themselves into the data path, but rather capture the data using a mirrored port. Active probes, on the other hand, inject a test signal into the network and then measure the response of the network to that input. Software-based collection agents are generally used when physical probe deployment is impractical due to size or cost constraints. The second key layer of a network intelligence system is the correlation/mediation layer. The purpose of this layer is to correlate all data sources end-toend across the network and then to write this data to a CDR for post-processing. Doing this is not as simple as it sounds since most networks today are not based on a single, homogenous technology but rather have evolved and consist of a patchwork of legacy and nextgeneration technologies. And to correlate a call or session end-to-
Figure 2: Linking business objectives to what occurs at the network level requires the development of validated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that model reality
end across multiple network technologies requires a sophisticated protocol correlation engine that can piece together the protocols across every leg of the connection, or in the case of IP, derive this correlation from the IP packets themselves. After the data has been collected and correlated, the last layer of a network intelligence system is the processing of the data into meaningful, accurate information that can be used by different individuals and organizations within the carrier. At the heart of information analysis is the KPI, or key performance indicator. In order to correlate accurately a desired business outcome with events that occur within the network, considerable attention must be paid to identify and define KPIs correctly that are meaningful and accurate and indeed drive desired business results. This is never an easy task given the underlying complexities at the
network level and the interdependence between events and variables that describe these events. For Network Intelligence solutions, it is the attention paid to modelling a desired outcome accurately and efficiently, which requires an in-depth understanding of what and when to measure, that defines the value of that system. Different from counter values that describe a given state, KPIs are formulae that give greater insight and are based on multiple inputs such as cumulative counter values, constant values, timer values and even other KPIs that have already been computed. It would be a mistake to compare one KPI to another just by name alone without knowing the exact definition of the KPI, the criteria used to select its inputs, and any other information that may impact the KPIs accuracy or manor in which it can be used. Linking your desired business outcome to events at the
network level is the basis of network intelligence. To do this, a model of the system needs to be developed that links the desired business outputs to the dependent variables at the network level. In most cases, model development is a science in itself with many considerations that are beyond the scope of this article, but in general, the process consists of three basic steps: (1) model the system, (2) compare modelled vs. actual and (3) optimize the model. Some network intelligence systems that are available today provide off-theshelf KPI packages, which others provide the capabilities for users to create and modify their own. In most network intelligence implementations, it is usually a combination of the two approaches that provides the most cost-efficiency and flexibility. Another key consideration at the analysis level is the ability to provide information in real-time
Mobile Europe | 41
Whatever Network Intelligence system you choose to go with, it must have the ability to drive positive business results based on accurate and real-time information
Figure 3: Classes of Network intelligence solutions
faced with tremendous challenges. In order to reduce the risk and better ensure that their business objectives and strategies can be achieved, network operators are moving towards Network Intelligence solutions as a means to achieve their business objectives based on what is actually happening at the network level. In short, network intelligence solutions consist of three components: (1) collection agents that collect data from the network, (2) correlation layer or engine that ties together relevant data from across the network and saves it in an accessible data file and (3) analysis packages that turn the data into meaningful information that can be used by multiple departments within the network operator. The two general classes of solutions available to the market today are vertically integrated solutions and point, or partial solutions. Determining which type of solution best meets your needs is not simple, and comes down to decisions related to budget, resources and what types of systems and technologies you currently have in place. But the bottom line is that for whatever Network Intelligence system you choose to go with, it must have the ability to drive positive business results based on accurate and real-time information.
to those individuals or departments who need it. In addition, the format and display of this information should be tailored to the individual groups or individuals that use it. For example, whereas network operation teams may receive their information in the form of real-time dashboards and alarms in the NOC, product planning teams may require a dashboard or report that looks at more historical or geographical trends. The point being that although a Network Intelligence system leverages a common data stream, different departments within the network operator require to see the information in a format that is most beneficial and meaningful to them.
What to consider
In general, there are two classes of network intelligence solutions available today. The first class of solution is the vertically integrated solution that contains all three functions
42 | Mobile Europe
of collection, correlation and analysis and is based on an open architecture. These vertically integrated solutions are usually provided by a single vendor, but at the same time are designed using open architectures with the required hooks required to support 3rd party hardware and software. The second general class of solutions is referred to as partial or point solutions because they tend to focus only on a single layer of a Network Intelligence solution and not the entire topto-bottom integration you find in vertically integrated solutions. Although it is a bit of an applesto-oranges comparison, vendors of point solutions will often sell their customers that their hardware or software components can be integrated with other 3rd party hardware and software. The chart above includes a summary of the two general classes of Network Intelligence solutions that are available today. For each of the three components
that make up a Network Intelligence solution, listed are some of the key attributes that define each of these. Depending on your specific circumstances, this list may be expanded or modified considerably and is only intended to be a rough guide for comparison. Ultimately, the important points to keep in mind when selecting any type of Network Intelligence solution are: 1 Does the solution accurately and effectively correlate my desired business outcomes to what is occurring at the network level? 2 Does the solution provide an actionable path for different groups or individuals within the company to identify an issue and take action that has a positive business impact? 3 Does the solution have a justifiable Return-onInvestment (ROI)?

Keith Cobler is Senior Marketing Manager, Tektronix Communications
Summary
Network operators today are
MOBILE BROADBAND QUALITY
SORT IT OUT, OR LOSE CUSTOMERS

hroughout 2008 mobile broadband saw dramatic growth in subscription levels. In fact, at one point during that year UK telecoms operator 3 reported a 700 per cent increase in data traffic resulting from the launch of its mobile broadband packages. They were by no means alone in experiencing this growth. It appeared that a true alternative to WiFi had entered the marketplace and the future for mobile broadband seemed assured. Today however, as we enter 2010, the success of mobile broadband is coming into question. In October 2009 The Carphone Warehouse CEO Charles Dunstone noted that the company was seeing a decline in customer interest for mobile broadband and a corresponding rise in sales for fixed-line offerings. He attributed this to the slower speeds and lower quality end user experience provided by mobile broadband. A report by Thinkbroadband.com mirrored these results, showing that 76 per cent of mobile broadband users were unhappy with the speeds provided while 60 per cent thought the coverage was poor. Two years ago when the outlook for mobile broadband was much more optimistic than today, many had not taken into
44 | Mobile Europe
account just how successful touch-screen smartphones such as the iPhone would be. The iPhone has achieved a ubiquity not seen for a device in the mobile phone space since the 1990s. It has provided an easy method of accessing 3G mobile broadband services and has driven consumption of these services to new levels. Operators have frankly started to struggle under the weight of demand and the end-user experience has further suffered. The situation led to the CEO of O2, Ronan Dunne, apologising to customers for the poor performance of its mobile data network in the second half of 2009. Mobile broadband, it seems, needs to improve its user experience if it is to remain a revenue-generating proposition for carriers. But what exactly is the problem, and how can operators address it? A look at North America, where users of mobile broadband services enjoy a much higher quality of experience, is useful in understanding the challenges facing European operators. From the outset European operators focussed their efforts on marketing mobile broadband services. This led to an exceptionally rapid deployment and market penetration of 3G dongles and
datacards. It was essentially a hype-cycle that continued to be fuelled as more and more subscribers took up the services promoted so heavily by the major operators. In North America, however, operators approached the rollout quite differently. They concentrated first on ensuring that the backhaul they had in place was sufficient to cope with the rise in traffic at the cell that mobile broadband would generate. With hindsight this appears to have been the best approach to take, but at the time it was something of a chicken and egg question do you create a market and then upgrade the backhaul when you know the market is there, as in the European model, or do you upgrade the backhaul and hope the market will meet expectations as in the North American model? Neither is risk free, and it is primarily due to the fact that the marketing of mobile broadband was so successful in Europe that the networks are now struggling to cope. It is clear that European operators must now focus on improving backhaul if mobile data services are to deliver on their promise.
GET TO GRIPS WITH BACKHAUL

The first step is to replace
legacy TDM backhaul used for data, with Ethernet. One of the biggest issues operators face with mobile broadband Quality of Experience is ensuring there is enough bandwidth getting to the cell. Key to this is to have a platform that can dynamically manage the bandwidth to guarantee that there are no bottlenecks in the backhaul network, the primary cause of poor mobile broadband quality. Ethernet provides the best solution to this as it delivers both high-capacity connectivity at a low cost and has the intelligence to manage bandwidth effectively. Ethernet, however, presents its own challenges to operators. Ethernet backhaul for mobile data requires a large number of Ethernet Virtual Circuits (EVCs) to be configured at the cells. EVCs are highly complex to
OPERATORS NEED TO MEET THE HIGH LEVELS OF QOS DEMANDED BY USERS, OR THEY RISK LOSING BUSINESS. BUT WHAT STEPS DO THEY NEED TO TAKE TO ENSURE A QUALITY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?
configure correctly and require a completely different approach to testing than operators are used to in the TDM environment. Correctly configuring the EVCs and testing to ensure for optimal performance is vital in ensuring that there are no bottlenecks in the backhaul network. So how can operators do this? To ensure that the configuration, testing and management of the EVCs are conducted correctly, operators need to address three areas: circuit turnout, SLA monitoring and troubleshooting. Once these three core areas have been tackled, the quality of the overall mobile broadband experience will improve dramatically. Circuit turnout testing needs to be carried out to ensure the EVC configuration is correct and that the data bursts run effectively. There is greater complexity here than in circuit testing for voice which it transmitted in a steady and more predictable flow. For all mechanisms to be tested thoroughly, around six and a half hours need to be devoted to circuit turnout. as the service and infrastructure build. Each plays an essential role in allowing operators to provide high levels of service quality that can be measured against SLAs. Effective OAM is an integral part of delivering mobile broadband. Operators need to manage mobile backhaul solutions, both network elements and services, end to end in an integrated fashion. The right OAM solution is an essential tool for element and service provisioning, network maintenance, and fault management, with service visualisation to enable the identification of customers or services affected by network troubles. By managing network elements and tracking individual services across multiple products, operators will be able to manage broadband services more effectively and ensure their customers get the quality they require.
TROUBLESHOOT
Finally, trouble shooting is another core requirement. Operators need to be able to look into the network to ensure packet prioritisation is taking place. Without this ability, operators have no way of understanding why a data service does not run at the required speed and jitter-free. Forward looking operators across Europe are making the move to an all-Ethernet backhaul infrastructure, but the migration route must be planned carefully. Network timing and synchronisation will become increasingly important over the next few years. Timing and synchronisation is mission critical to stop handover and
Mobile Europe | 45
MONITOR THOSE SLAS

The second foundation stone of high-quality mobile broadband service delivery is SLA monitoring. For this to be effective monitoring needs to be conducted on the service layer as well as on the physical layer. As with TDM, multiple EVCs require highly granular service monitoring in order to be able to effectively calculate availability. Operators must be aware that the way in which the Operations Administration and Maintenance (OAM) mechanisms are architected is just as important

The challenge facing operators in the mobile space is how to reduce the total cost of running the network while increasing the bandwidth (capacity and speed) and offering superior quality of services
interference within cell sites, and new technologies, currently in development, will mean that this important area of mobile broadband delivery will function more effectively than ever before. With any telecoms service, there is always room for unforeseen disruptions to the network. With voice the damage was always limited to a dropped call and slight inconvenience to the end user. Mobile broadband is a different proposition altogether, however, and results in much greater disruptions for the end user loosing email, social networking tools, or video downloads can be a lot more stressful that a dropped call. Network resilience and protection are critical to applications based on Carrier Ethernet services, and a full feature suite is required for resilience and protection of wireless backhaul using 802.1ag, Y.1731, G.8031, and other emerging related standards. Combining resilience and protection methods with OTNbased performance monitoring and fault sectionalisation in the metro network optimises mobile backhaul availability and guarantees uninterrupted service for end users. However, the backhaul networks do not operate in isolation. To work efficiently and leverage Operational Expense (OPEX) advantages, the mobile core network also must evolve as the access network migrates to Ethernet. Building a Carrier Ethernet network infrastructure (using
46 | Mobile Europe
standards defined by the Metro Ethernet Forum) provides operators with a long-term, lowcost strategy to replace their existing SDH infrastructure while maintaining carrier-class reliability. As operators have invested heavily in their current mobile networks, they cannot afford to simply tear out and replace current legacy equipment. Its crucial that their mobile backhaul and core network strategy still supports legacy traffic and services while allowing them to gradually transition to next-gen infrastructures that are more scalable and economical. By combining a hybrid electrical/optical Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) with Ethernet aggregation and switching in a single chassis, operators can enjoy more cost-effective metro packet/optical transport. The resulting platform enables the convergence of mobile backhaul with residential and business services traffic on a unified metro network, allowing operators to deliver high quality mobile broadband services while gaining huge savings in OPEX. Fixed telecom operators are already benefiting from the migration from TDM-centric to next generation Ethernet centric networks. Mobile operators must now also manage the transition to next-generation Ethernet to maximise the investment in existing mobile and network infrastructures while maintaining a quality of service that minimises subscriber churn. In summary, demand for
HOW THE FINANCIAL TIMES REPORTED O2S APOLOGY

The head of O2 has apologised to customers who could not make phone calls because the mobile operators London network was overwhelmed by bandwidth-hungry smartphones. Ronan Dunne told the Financial Times he was disappointed with O2s network performance in London since the summer. But the UKs largest mobile phone operator was making good progress towards fixing the problems, he said. O2 ran into significant network difficulties in the capital during the second half of 2009 as customers with smartphones such as Apples iPhone ramped up their use of applications that repeatedly pull data off the internet at short intervals. Vodafone, the second-largest operator, is seizing on O2s problems and claiming that its network will cope far better with the fast-growing number of smartphones. Mr Dunne said O2s network difficulties had been caused by an explosion of demand for data services on smartphones but insisted the problems were largely confined to London. Some O2 customers have periodically been unable to make or receive phone calls, or download material to their handsets, because the network was clogged up by smartphones. Where we havent met our own high standards then theres no question, we apologise to customers for that fact, said Mr Dunne. But it would be wrong to say that O2 has failed its customers en masse. mobile broadband is growing, with consumers requiring support for rich multimedia and higher bandwidth. Yet consumers remain price sensitive and are not willing to pay more for higher speeds. At the same time, consumers view current speed and quality as the main disadvantages of mobile broadband compared to fixed broadband solutions. The challenge facing operators in the mobile space is how to reduce the total cost of running the network while increasing the bandwidth (capacity and speed) and offering superior quality of service. This highlights the need for operators to focus their investments in specific areas of next-generation network infrastructure to improve existing offerings, accommodate increasing bandwidth demand while offering more competitive services and maintaining profitability. This article was co-authored by: Vinay Rathore, senior marketing director, Ciena, Reza Vaez-Ghaemi, Americas Market Management and Technology Research Manager, and Jay Stewart, Director Ethernet Service Assurance, both JDSU.
Introducing
TELECOMSHOTHOUSE
BRANDED EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITIES

True thought leadership: take your rst steps THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: the lofty goal of hundreds of marketing campaigns launched every year in the global wireless
industry. Sound familiar? In reality, true thought leadership is almost impossible to achieve especially using tried and tested tools. The sterile, corporately-approved materials of old rarely hit home. Target audiences dont retain the information. Because they dont engender interest. Because they dont court controversy. Because they dont incite debate. Real debate is an essential step in achieving thought leadership and industry buzz around an important issue. Its no panacea, but it is an essential step. Sadly, few organisations can create real debate. They dont have the insight into the topics that will drive discussion. They dont have the contacts to get the right people around the table. They dont have the wherewithal to get that debate into the marketplace. THATS ABOUT TO CHANGE. Mobile Europe and European Communications has joined forces with TelecomsHotHouse, an independent initiative designed to create debate and discussion about the future of the telecoms industry. The team will publish the rst in a series of exclusive roundtables that will incite debate, court controversy and engender the interest of the European telecoms community. Each TelecomsHotHouse debate will be sponsored by a single company. The sponsor works with the TelecomsHotHouse team to set the topic for debate. Uniquely, both the sponsor and the TelecomsHotHouse team leverage their contacts to secure the participation of a range of industry executives and inuencers ensuring lively debate. Every month a debate will publish in Mobile Europe and European Communications magazines, with multimedia content publishing on www.eurocomms.com and www.mobileeurope.co.uk. As well as reaching a combined audience of more than 50,000 unique visitors, the debates will create a wealth of marketing collateral for use by the sponsor. To nd out more about TELECOMSHOTHOUSE and how to get involved, call John Owen on +44 (0) 20 7933 8999 or email john.owen@mobileeurope.co.uk
ADVERTORIAL E-PUBLISHING
NDS HELPS PUBLISHERS

BY NICOLAS CHOQUART, DIRECTOR OF MOBILE AND NEW BUSINESS, NDS
mazon's announcement that it had sold more electronic books than the print variety during the pre-Christmas shopping season was firm evidence, if any was needed, that the era of the e-book has finally arrived. For those who still remained unconvinced, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January brought a slew of new ereaders and tablets, with HP, Dell, Lenovo and many lesserknown companies all unveiling new products. So far, most of the e-reader excitement has been generated by the hardware vendors, particularly by the Kindle device from Amazon. But NDS is cementing its position as a technological innovator, as the first software vendor to launch an end-to-end solution for the epublishing industry. Building on its experience as the world's leading provider of security and middleware systems for pay-TV, NDS has created a rich, multi-level solution for the e-reader which addresses the needs of all players in the e-publishing ecosystem, from device manufacturers and publishers right through to the end user. The role of publishers is key to the success of any epublishing solution, as ultimately, e-readers need content to display on their screens; which in turn provides publishers of books, newspapers and magazines the opportunity to regain at least some of the ground they lost during a decade of ineffective dabbling on the Internet. The digital revolution has not been kind to print publishers, who have seen sales plummet in recent years, along with an even more precipitous decline in advertising across all print media. Publishers have good reason to be wary of the Internet and the devices that display the electronic versions of their products more often than not without regard for copyright.
Alongside the threat, however, the digitization of print media also holds out the promise of desperately-needed new revenue streams a facet made possible by the NDS solution. Crucially, the NDS system supports advanced advertising techniques, including targeted and contextual advertising, telescopic and click-through ads, and advanced purchasing models such as the ability to rent, gift or lend content. The inadequacy of Internet advertising as a replacement for lost subscription revenue was the key lesson the publishers took from their Internet experience. The NDS epublishing solution will enable them to return to a twopronged revenue strategy, while utilizing the full advertising potential of the electronic platform. Publishers are determined not to repeat the mistakes they made in giving away their content for free on the Internet. Thus, their move into e-publishing creates a requirement for robust and effective e-publishing technology solutions, above all for Digital Rights Management (DRM,) the technology that enables publishers to realize revenue from the content published on an e-reader or similar device. To fully address those needs, the NDS solution includes protection of the service, to allow controlled access to content based on user rights, protection of the device, to prevent modification, and protection and authentication of the content itself. Proving true to the end-to-end solution, NDS is also able
Alongside the threat, however, the digitization of print media also holds out the promise of desperately-needed new revenue streams - a facet made possible by the NDS solution
48 | Mobile Europe
Content protection alone is not enough to safeguard e-Publishing revenues
ADVERTORIAL E-PUBLISHING
EMBRACE THE E-READER
Enabling advanced functionality...
...including the ability to gift and lend content
to provide the e-reader user interface, which can be based on the look-and-feel of the print product, and a variety of advanced capabilities. These include proven measurement and analytical technologies, which enable service providers to better understand their users' reading habits and thus to tailor their services to their customers. And to complete the package, NDS also provides consulting services for publishers who would like to better understand the technical issues in the value chain. Indeed, before defining an e-Publishing strategy, a lot of issues need to be addressed, such as content aggregation and reformatting, security and control of the content on the end device in a retail market etc. NDS expertise is this domain is well recognized and NDS consultancy services are well positioned to support Publishers in making the right decisions. For now, many publishers seem to be content working with the established e-reader hardware vendors. But such cooperation is, in all likelihood, a holding tactic. Many publishers are said to be dissatisfied with the deals they are getting from the hardware vendors (typically 30% for the hardware vendor, according to published reports) and they dislike the vertical nature of the business, they would prefer that their content be available across multiple ereaders and other mobile devices. Eventually, the publishing industry is likely to follow the lead of the Hearst Group, which launched its own e-reader at CES. "We are going to create an entity by publishers, for
publishers," group president Kenneth Bronfin told the Wall Street Journal, adding that the company would also establish a portal with its content available for paid download to a variety of electronic devices. Other companies that are reported to be planning to head in the same direction include Time Inc., Conde Nast and News Corp. Publishers have a long road ahead of them before the print revenue they have lost to the Internet can be recovered on the e-reader. But they seem to be determined to see it through, and they will need the support of strong and innovative technology partners if they are to succeed. NDS is just such a partner.
Transforming the world of e-publishing

Mobile Europe | 49
NETWORK TECHNOLOGY
BANDWIDTH IS NOT ENOUGH

AS WEB 2.0 FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES RAPIDLY MAKE THEIR WAY ONTO THE MOBILE PLATFORM, THE ARRIVAL OF 4G IS WELCOMED. BUT IT WONT SOLVE BANDWIDTH BOTHER FOREVER, SAYS RANDY CAVAIANI.
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he explosive growth of data usage on mobile devices has been one of the defining industry trends over the last year or so. While the trend towards increasing data ARPU is positive, it has not come without a cost; these data dependent applications are overloading operator networks to such an extent that their reliability and, more importantly, the services themselves are suffering. The situation is becoming so critical that operators are apologising to customers for the disruption to core services, and it is even beginning to affect their bottom line. There are two points to consider. The first is how consumers are using data. The second is the technology. These points are not mutually exclusive, as handsets and networks have become more capable consumer uptake of rich content has grown, however they do need to be considered separately. In addition, as operators migrate to all IP networks, a wider range of services that use more data will be competing with core mobile revenue streams, such as voice or text, for bandwidth. Operators must now put technologies in place to not only offer and monetise new data services but guarantee a quality consumer experience across all services that
use the network. There is an immediate need to satisfy bandwidth hungry consumer apps and services without crippling their networks. While many hold out hope that 4G technologies will largely solve this data congestion, it is an interim solution at best as operators learn to deal with the new mobile internet and applications reality. Below is an outline of the key factors that are affecting data-driven services now and into the future.
Networks are becoming overloaded
Growth of the mobile phone as a web terminal

Mobile social networking and micro-blogging are regularly cited as key drivers of web usage on mobile, with an estimated onethird of 16-35 year olds accessing Facebook and Twitter regularly via their phones (CSS Insight, Report on Mobile Internet Usage 2009). Novarras own research from last year showed that mobile traffic to twitter increased 3500% since the start of 2009 and mobile click-throughs of URL shortening services bit.ly and tinyurl.com, regularly used in social networking and Tweets, have grown by well-over 1000% in 2009. Consumers are increasingly transferring web habits to the mobile, whether it be online shopping, checking sports results or seeing who has been voted off X Factor.
While social networking explodes and consumers transfer daily web habits to mobile, this may not be the biggest burden network operators face. Cisco claims that mobile video will exhibit the highest growth rate of any application category accounting for over 64% of the worlds mobile traffic by 2013. Statistics like these suggest that the growing problem of network congestion already being experienced by operators will not abate, as bandwidth-intensive services become increasingly popular and intrinsic to the mobile web experience.
4G too little, too late?

The roll-out of 4G and the prospect of an infrastructure more capable of processing the increasingly sophisticated fabric of the internet holds promise for operators but will not be a panacea. The experience of 3G should be a lesson that data consumption will grow to fill the capacity of the pipe. 2G struggled to cope with consumer demand for basic search and email. When 3G arrived, demand for such services was replaced by a desire to access even richer ones, such as social networking and content-sharing
50 | Mobile Europe
NETWORK TECHNOLOGY
How will the infrastructure cope as application stores flood the market?
websites. Similarly, rising consumer expectations for rich services and the expanding user base suggests that 4G will alleviate the pressure of network congestion for a period of time, rather than serve as a definitive solution to the problem. The rise of application store offerings from both handset manufacturers and operators poses another challenge to network capacity. Apple recently announced that more than 2 billion applications have been downloaded from its store over the course of eighteen months almost 20 per user per quarter. This begs the question of how the infrastructure will be able to cope as application stores flood the market and it underscores how the technology of the internet will always outpace that of mobile networks and devices.
Growth in complexity.
The need for in-network intelligence to bridge the gap between handset capabilities and web content technologies is ever more important. Next generation approaches require an intelligent, broader array of processing which creates additional functionality and understands the way a user wants to interact with the web via mobile. Ajax, Silverlight, Flash and other as yet undeveloped technologies will enhance the user experience and create challenges for processing and delivery to mobile. Whether operators continue to offer unlimited data plans or move to tiered offerings, there will always be a need to improve network efficiencies proxies reduce over-the-air payload by up to 90%.
Cloud computing
Since the first browsers were installed on mobile phones, proxy servers have served to optimise and enhance the mobile web experience. Initially WAP gateways, they evolved to transformation and network acceleration servers, most recently migrating to distributed browsing and application solutions. The distributed architecture delivers a desktopequivalent experience with mobile context, increasing the speed of data transfer and reducing overthe-air payload. While 4G will relieve some of the pressure, there are three primary reasons the mobile internet proxy will become increasingly important.
services to follow them whereby they can seamlessly transition to and from the PC, TV and mobile with always on connectivity and real-time presence, status and alerts. A device-centric architecture will not suffice. Networks are the logical place to manage this integration of location data, profile and mobilecontext information and services. Over time, applications will migrate to the web and the browser will be the central access point for consumers favourite services.
Mobile devices capabilities will lag the PC.

Even todays best smartphones are unable to deliver all the richness of web or multimedia and commonly take close to a minute to load pages designed for a PC. Moreover, two-thirds of all mobile devices today are being sold in emerging markets where economic conditions require a very different class of device. While these devices will eventually take advantage of the wider 4G pipe,
In-network intelligence will be the norm.

The need for in-network proxy technology will be crucial for the successful provision of new services and cloud-based mobility. Consumers will expect
they will still require the assistance of a server or proxy browser to be able to access and run the hundreds of thousands of applications available via the plethora of app stores and service providers. Regardless of the cost and capability of these devices, consumers will expect access to the same level of services as those available on high-end devices. 4G networks will accelerate the migration of the full, rich internet to the mobile environment. However, the distributed mobile internet and applications architecture that offers in-network intelligence and device-side microapplications will enable service providers, internet brands, and handset OEMs to deliver compelling mobile internet services while leveraging the new infrastructure with maximum efficiency.

Randy Cavaiani is VP Marketing, Novarra.
Mobile Europe | 51
ADVERTORIAL MOBILE DATA GROWTH
CHAOS IN THE MOBILE ECO

STRATEGIES FOR PROFITING FROM MOBILE DATA GROWTH
he mobile data industry has evolved rapidly over the past two years, with the impact of growing 3G penetration, lower cost smartphones and USB laptop dongles, together with the popularity of mobile applications and flat-rate data plans. This has resulted in huge growth in data traversing operators networks. The market has now reached a chaotic and critical point with network congestion being felt by operators and consumers alike. In response, operators are introducing a toolkit of network congestion management strategies that will reduce costs and improve economies of scale by balancing traffic requirements across networks and implementing real time usage controls. Policy control, data traffic offload, evolution to 4G, and network optimisation will incrementally reduce data delivery costs by more than 60 per cent over the next three years. A holistic approach that takes into consideration traffic growth, subscriber behaviour, and application trends is vital to long term success. Policy control how, when and under which circumstances subscribers can access networks, applications and services will contribute cost savings of over 10 per cent, equating to over $15 billion in savings by 2013 in the US market alone.
Policy control provides real-time network, application, and subscriber policies that allow operators to manage mobile data growth and deliver personalised services on a far more refined level than was possible in the past. It helps operators prioritise traffic based on an individual users subscription. So effective is policy control in reducing traffic peaks that data throughput in the busiest times can be reduced by 15 to 20 per cent, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. Shifting data traffic off a congested mobile network and onto another access technology fundamentally changes the
Operators are implementing multiple strategies to manage mobile data costs such as policy control, data traffic offload, and migration to 3G and 4G. By coupling these strategies with personalized service plans based on operators knowledge of subscriber usage, they can benefit from a more profitable mobile data business model. David Sharpley, Senior Vice President, Bridgewater Systems
David Sharpley
52 | Mobile Europe
ADVERTORIAL MOBILE DATA GROWTH
SYSTEM? TAKE CONTROL!

economics of delivering that data. Offload is being implemented by operators globally to manage the total data throughput with, typically, two flavours: offload to Wi-Fi and offload to femtocells. In some regions, WiMAX deployments are also crucial to an offload strategy. Operators deploying a data traffic offload strategy, using service control to ensure transparent and secure subscriber access, can expect annual network cost savings of about 25 per cent per annum by 2013. Infrastructure evolution to 3.5G (HSPA) and 4G (LTE) lowers the cost-per-bit for data throughput on the network, thereby reducing overall costs. Network cost is lowered dramatically with each incremental technology deployment, with the evolution to HSPA and then LTE saving just under 20 per cent in costs, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. Cost reduction is only one side of the equation. Operators are now creating new service models that move away from unsustainable flat-rate plans towards tiered and usagebased pricing underpinned by subscriber, service, and policy control as shown in the table. Flexible, dynamic, and personalised pricing models that reflect subscribers preferences and context, bandwidth and application usage, and network conditions are the wave of the future. Comparative cost reduction strategies, when placed alongside the new service models now being introduced, aid the development of sustainable business models for the mobile industry. But pricing models will ultimately determine future success and growth in the sector. Unsustainable all-youcan-eat data plans will evolve to include flexible pricing models based on time-of-day, individual usage patterns, casual usage, application preferences, and location. It is ultimately the responsibility of mobile operators to introduce these models with quality of service guarantees that are based on users modifying their behaviour. With that will come order from the mobile data chaos.
INNOVATIVE SERVICE MODELS

Service models are evolving in a data-centric mobile world as a result of massive growth in data throughput. Flat-rate data plans are unsustainable for the heaviest users and innovation inevitable:
G Speed-rated: These plans offer operators the ability to increase

revenue from the heaviest users by placing these subscribers on the most expensive tariffs, implemented through effective policy control on the consumer side. G Time-based: Telecom Italia Mobile has successfully deployed timebased mobile data plans. The model implements tiered pricing based on the number of minutes a user spends on the data network. G Bandwidth usage and application specific: Next generation policy control solutions enable operators to implement controls and pricing based on bandwidth usage or specific traffic types. Operators can flexibly charge for heavy bandwidth services such as video or peer-topeer in real time. SmarTone-Vodafone, for example, is delivering tiered services in Hong Kong based on bandwidth usage and time, as well as applications on-demand using Bridgewaters policy control and subscriber data management capabilities. G Time of day: Operators in mature markets have seen a clear time-ofday usage pattern emerge for mobile data. Similar to other utilities, they can charge more at peak times according to network capacity , or conversely, offer consumers incentives to download during quiet
network times. Underpinned by policy control, dynamic and transparent pricing enables operators to effectively manage peak loads. G Location-based service models: Traffic patterns over the past two years demonstrate that the most congested cell sites are in urban centres. Implementing charging models based on congestion is commonplace Londons congestion charge zone for example. Could operators implement a similar model on their mobile networks if guaranteed quality of service is the outcome? G Quality of service models: Guaranteed QoS comes at a cost to operators, especially in mobile networks where bandwidth is necessarily a shared resource. But the emergence of bandwidth boost models whereby a user is offered a short-term increase in bandwidth for a set fee for example provide the opportunity to implement service level agreements. G Ad-funded solutions: Mobile advertising is beginning to emerge as a revenue source for operators. With subscriber data privacy concerns now being addressed, mobile advertising could create new revenue streams for the operator, personalized offers for the consumer, and more brand awareness for the advertiser . G Mobile commerce driven: Japan offers insight into a commerce-driven mobile data market, with an open ecosystem driving adoption and consumer spending on services. Leading mobile Internet players including Yahoo! Japan have developed a viable market for content, services and mobile advertising in partnership with mobile operators.
Mobile Europe | 53
MOBILE USER SUPPORT
THE FUTURE OF MOBILE MANAGEMENT

Tom Blackie
THE INCREASING NUMBER AND VARIETY OF MOBILE DEVICES IS PLACING DEMANDS UPON OPERATORS DEVICE MANAGEMENT TOOLS. TOM BLACKIE SUGGESTS AN ANSWER.
to over 180 million devices, out of a total of 1 billion mobile handset shipments. This year smartphone shipments are likely to overtake desktop and laptop PCs. By 2012, Gartner predicts smartphones will account for 37% of the total mobile handset sales, and as manufacturing costs drop, by 2015 its likely that the current 80/20 ratio will have shifted to 20/80 in favour of smartphones. In essence, todays smartphones are as powerful as desktops and are rapidly becoming the device of choice for highly mobile business executives. Organisations are spending a lot of money on new corporate devices and mobile business applications, but it is not only enterprise customers stimulating sales. Consumers are also driving change with their appetite for new mobile software applications. The balance of power is shifting from operators to customers. Locked-down feature phones are being replaced with highly customisable smartphones, where users can download, install, configure and personalize their favourite applications just as they have done on their desktop machines. Not only will handsets have their unique combination of differently configured applications; customers will also have wildly differing and dynamic content preferences delivered automatically to always-on applications, often based on fine-grain location and social context. Whilst this is good news for operators wishing to avoid becoming marginalized suppliers of commoditized data pipes, it will inevitably lead to complex end-user support issues presenting management headaches. It is not unusual to hear of operators struggling to deal with the number of handsets returned within the first two or three weeks of shipment. The exact numbers are a well guarded secret, but industry insiders say 10-15% is not uncommon, certainly for the high-end handsets. They are often returned as users cant configure settings, dont know how to use applications and become frustrated with lengthy calls to customer care centres. More often than not, these devices are re-tested and pass with no-fault-found. While some of these devices are re-sold, the costs of managing and operating this process are significant; not to mention the costs incurred trying to resolve issues through customer care centres. Whether it is with the operators, handset manufacturers, or outsourced fulfilment and distribution channels, someone is carrying this financial burden. Furthermore, customer frustration simply fuels increasing dissatisfaction and churn, as customers seek higher levels of service. Stratecast (a division of Frost & Sullivan) estimates that smartphones drive 3X the Average Handling Time (AHT), due to increased device complexity. This additional cost is just about tolerated with todays current volumes and resources; but with fierce competition, revenues are continually under pressure. The shift to smartphones, coupled with the growing complexity of applications, is creating a situation where operators simply wont have the financial resources to keep up with support calls and provide an adequate level of customer care. Traditional device management technology has gone some way to help users with functions such as automated SIM configuration, device and email settings, security and asset management as well as on-line user self-help systems. But this falls way short
Mobile Europe | 55
A W
s we enter a new decade, were poised for a transformational period in the mobile industry. Hardly a day passes without a new mobile device; be it a Netbook, eReader, Tablet, Media Pad, Smartbook or Smartphone. Were entering the era of the Mobile Internet Device (MID) with access from anywhere to any data. Network operators are also scrambling to rollout the latest infrastructure and system architectures; 4 and 5G, LTE, Picocells, Femtocells, hybrid mobile and WiFi support. All aim to provide highperformance, truly scalable mobile data networks, capable of supporting instant access to the burgeoning selection of rich media, bandwidth-hungry applications from the growing number of application stores. Looking at smartphones alone, according to Gartner 2009 saw a 29% growth in sales
go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest information on mobile
MOBILE USER SUPPORT
Those players who step up and deliver exemplary support and service will ultimately win the hearts, minds and wallets of customers.
of providing the same level of user support enjoyed, and expected, by desktop users. Some providers are starting to talk about the movement from Mobile Device Management (MDM) to Mobile Software Management (MSM). But the more enlightened are working to replace the traditional quantitative contact centre metrics of Average Call Handling Time (AHT) and First Time Call Resolution (FTR), with a mix of qualitative metrics based on Customer Satisfaction. This is driving KPIs such as reduced churn and increased Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) via, for example, sales of new applications and increased data usage. To effect such a change, innovators are looking to learn from traditional desktop vendors that embraced remote desktop technology. Major players such as HP, CA and Support.com built successful service businesses based on helpdesk solutions. Operating Systems providers also moved to include such capabilities within the OS, such as Microsofts Remote Desktop Protocol and Apples Remote Desktop and more recently Intel within its Active Management Technology (AMT), providing out-of-band system access. These and many more have provided the foundations for efficient end-user support and helpdesk capabilities across a wide range of communication channels. Underpinning many solutions is the open-source Remote Frame Buffer (RFB) protocol provided by RealVNC. The same has not been true for mobile handsets until recently. Using new mobile VNC technology, it is now possible to remotely control, test and manage any number of mobile devices or applications, anywhere in the world. A small, efficient and portable VNC Server application runs on the mobile device that allows a specialized VNC Viewer to access and take control of it remotely from a desktop. This means that customer care agents can immediately diagnose, test and manage the device functions and the applications running on multiple operating systems, from one common interface. This immediately reduces support call times as well as user frustration and the potential for simply returning the device. One solution reaping the benefits of this approach is Sicaps Device Management Centre (DMC), which already provides automated management and customer care/self-care systems on 80 mobile networks worldwide and manages some 800 million handsets. By using VNC Mobile Solution, customer care agents can now remotely access mobile devices to help customers with configuration, diagnose problems, and give advice on the installed applications. The solution supports multiple platforms including Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry, with development versions for iPhone, Android
OS providers have moved to provide customer satisfaction tools

and Linux Mobile available; Maemo and Palm Pre coming soon. VNC Mobile Solution provides us with a strategically significant and market-leading solution that was easily integrated into our existing systems, says Stphane Jayet, Head of SIM and Device management at Sicap. The combined device management solution creates significant savings by reducing customer care call times and the handling of returns of non-faulty devices while improving service availability and increasing levels of customer satisfaction. A tierone operator in Europe for example, has reduced the number of returned handsets by 10 percent. It is clear that mobile devices will only get more sophisticated and powerful. Remember when everyone first got PCs at home and signed up to the early internet providers. Hours were spent on the phone sorting out problems. Now most of these problems can be resolved quickly and remotely. The mobile industry needs to embrace remote control technologies and move on from device management and software management to user support. That way we can keep customers satisfied and save a lot of hassle and frustration. Those players who step up and deliver exemplary support and service will ultimately win the hearts, minds and wallets of customers. Improved service provision will increase retention, ARPU and reduce costs; leading to increased customer intimacy allowing operators to broaden services, applications and content delivery.

Tom Blackie is VP Mobile, RealVNC
Mobile Europe | 57
DIARY & NOTES

Directly to the dude, Dude.
Lagan Technologies is in talks with a number of local authorities in the UK about the launch of trials of its Citizens Connect iPhone application. Citizens Connect enables local residents to pinpoint nuisances on the move and report them direct to the desktop or mobile device of the council worker charged with resolving the problem. Potholes, broken lamps, missing signage and grafti are amongst the many things that the application enables residents to report. The camera in the phone takes an image of the problem and a GPS reference is attached to it before it is sent to the local council. Citizens Connect was launched recently in Boston, Massachusetts. Local residents fed back details of a spate of grafti incidents to the City of Boston. The team responsible for cleaning up grafti were alerted direct and despatched cleaners to remove it. Local law enforcement ofcials can also receive
GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
15-18 Fenruary, Barcelona The Congress provides the planet's best venue for mobile industry networking, new business opportunities and dealmaking. www.mobileworldcongress.com
data on incidents overlaid on a map using GIS, creating a guide from which to potentially determine where culprits are likely to strike next. As soon as the request is fullled residents receive a conrmation direct to their phone. One local resident commented: "My grafti picture is going to the dude who's going to x the grafti. Directly to the dude! And that feels good."
So then - an app that lets British people moan and ash their iPhone around? A winner, surely.
developments, determine strategies for compliance and www.iir-events.com uncover what is likely to happen next.
MOBILE INTERNET
23-24 March, Berlin Mobile Internet 2010 will enable you to network, learn and share information with colleagues. Whats more - Significant discount are available for Mobile Operators, Online/Mobile Communities, and Content providers! The event provides a dynamic networking and information-sharing business environment, bringing together key stakeholders within the mobile internet value chain to discuss current trends and revenue generation possibilities, successful business models and the future opportunities. www.iir-events.com
MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES

9-10 March, London Headliners will debate such crucial subjects as the effect of the current climate on the development and rollout of mobile financial services, the importance of mobile to the banking and retail sector and the role of payments in emerging markets. www.mobile-financialservices.com
TELECOMS FRAUD & REVENUE MANAGEMENT

22 - 24 March, London In 2010, IIR will be combining two of its flagship events Telecoms Fraud and Telecoms Revenue Management - into one, multi-streamed summit providing fixed and mobile operators from around the world with the opportunity to network with and learn from leading fraud and revenue assurance experts. www.iir-events.com
TELECOMS REGULATION FORUM

22-24 March, London In order to remain competitive and responsive a thorough understanding the regulatory landscape is essential. This event will bring mobile and fixed operators together with regulators and regulatory experts to debate the latest
58 | Mobile Europe

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Ready for data roaming?

What it means for mobile p7

Service innovation p16

EUROPES WIRELESS MAGAZINE | ISSUE NO. 208 | FEB / MAR 2010

TAKING OVER AT MWC 2010?

Comfone Data Roaming

puts the world in your customers hands

MOBILE EUROPE CONTENTS

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest industry news

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW 20

GOOD SIGNALS FOR LTE 33

OFFLOAD YOUR DATA 36

SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY IN THE BACKHAUL 26

INTEGRATED ROAMING SERVICES 29

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest industry news

ISSN: 1350 7362

Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd, Willenhall, UK.

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

ORANGE HAS A SHOT AT MOBILE ADVERTISING

European roaming revenues fall 50% since 2007

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

iPAD COULD GIVE OPERATORS A HEADACHE

If it sells, it could have a further impact on carriers data networks

Nuance acquires stricken voice-to-text SpinVox

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

VODAFONE MUSIC SHOWS DRM-FREE GROWTH

Centile to show PBX-killer at World Congress

FRING ON THE IPHONE

Altobridge buys ADC unit

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

SMARTPHONE SALES GROWTH IS SILVER LINING

2009 devices were often far superior to devices released in 2008

Cloud applications set for high growth - Juniper

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

OUR FINDINGS SHOW THE VAST POTENTIAL OF THE APPLICATIONS MARKET

GSA SEES SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN HSUPA

42% of feature phone users would pay for apps

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest information on mobiles

DAVINCI SOCIAL PLACES AN OPERATOR AT THE HEART OF A CONSUMERS DAILY ACTIVITIES

IMIMOBILE LAUNCHES SOCIAL MOBILE SERVICE

TeliaSoneras LTE network shows strong performance

PLUG FOR PLUG N PLAY

RAD opens 3G gateway

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

MOBILE ADVERTISING REPRESENTS AN INTERESTING LONG-TERM REVENUE OPPORTUNITY

MOBIXELL ADDS 724 SOLUTIONS

OPERA JOINS THE SPENDING SPREE

Velti says 2009 a good vintage for ads

go to www.mobileeurope.co.uk for the latest mobile news

AMOBEE RINGS CHANGES WITH BUY

HARRIS STRATEX CHANGES TO AVIAT

Operators have found it challenging to make their services hold together in an

Keith Dyer: Keith Dyer:

Anu Shah: Anu Shah:

The connected address book can act as a springboard to other services.

IMIMOBILE: SERVICE CREATION PARTNERS

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW

HOW TO HARNESS THE APP

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW

Turning down the power

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS PREVIEW

PRESSING THE ACCELERATOR FOR LTE

TTCN FOR AND AGAINST