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News 2008-11-24 Global mobile broadband: Here, now and tomorrow November 24, 2008 By William Dudley Mobile data services are now clearly becoming mainstream, whether it is through the use of wireless, high-speed data-only cards or full-featured mobile handsets. The trend is clearly moving to more IP data services. Take, for example, Verizon Wireless’s first-quarter 2008 results. Its nationwide, high-speed EV-DO Rev A network was available to more than 240 million Americans, with more than 58 percent of its retail customers - 38 million – using broadband-capable devices such as the BlackBerry Curve, MotoQ9c and the XV 6900. These devices, along with countless others on the AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile 3G and 3.5G networks in the United States, and virtually all of the Tier 1 networks in Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions, are now moving the global subscriber base to a more IP-friendly, open-broadband environment. In markets where our good friend the iPhone has been launched, we are already seeing significant usage of Internet and browser-based services. Since then, companies such as Opera Software (Opera Mini 4.0) and Microsoft (Windows Mobile 6.1) have rolled out new iPhone-like capabilities on their mobile browsers to better compete with the iPhone experience. Additionally, new person-to-person (P2P) type services such as video sharing (the ability to add live video to a standard voice call), push-to-talk (now on both CDMA and GSM-based networks) and even Skype (such as available via 3 in Britain) are now launched. Of course, on mobile networks with strong broadband support and usage, mobile messaging such as MMS shows expanded usage. In the last year, operators and network services vendors along with various standards organizations have heavily promoted next-generation (some say 4G) technologies such as WiMAX and 3GPP LTE. Also, back in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission recently completed a key 700MHz frequency band auction. With the new frequency bands mostly allocated to AT&T and Verizon, the technology can certainly resolve some of the last-mile issues, especially in more rural areas where broadband access is certainly hard to come by. The WiMAX Forum even has a position paper on the new 700MHz spectrum and WiMAX. The forum suggests that by 2009, WiMAX will be 700MHz-band-ready. Right now, WiMAX is available for frequency bands between 2300MHz and 3800MHz. The bottom line is that a 700MHz deployment of WiMAX in areas with lesser subscriber density can result in more broadband coverage and options, with fewer towers and larger cell sizes. While WiMAX hype certainly dominated the presumed 4G technology bandwagon at the CTIA conference last spring in Las Vegas, they were not alone. An almost equal number of companies were demonstrating and promoting 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) equipment and services. LTE is seen as the 4G technology for most GSM -and CDMA-based networks, although I am not sure how it would be in advancing fixed broadband around the world. LTE certainly has more nomadic capabilities currently than WiMAX - that is, the ability to keep a data connection while actually moving. Today, WiMAX is more of a fixed-broadband solution. As the industry slowly advances towards a more open IP-based mobile ecosystem, I do believe that we will finally start to see various services that will require more than just unfettered or unmanaged Internet access. Of course, if the current 800 or 900 operators worldwide have it their way, they will never become just simple Internet service providers or dump pipes, as they are sometimes called. Instead, there will even be more services that require some level of “management” - of things such as dedicated bandwidth, latency thresholds and, of course, presence. The presence concept (or availability of a subscriber to accept one or more types of communications) will slowly expand from the instant messaging world of today to virtually all types of communications tomorrow. For example, AT&T nationwide provides a presence service for its IP-based push-to-talk service. When most of the world is running 3G, 3.5G, and 4G data networks, I think you will start to see IMS style infrastructures begin to manage these capabilities. According to Informa Telecoms & Media, approximately 225 operators worldwide are now operating what some have called 3.5G, which includes HSDPA, HSUPA and EVDO Rev A. These include the Tier 1 operators nationwide and in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific. An example is Swisscom Mobile (Switzerland). The carrier now operates GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA and HSUPA data networks, although the HSUPA is for PC data cards only. Vodafone UK operates GPRS, HSDPA and HSUPA. It is expected that these types of operators might be some of the first to adopt the so-called 4G networks based on the 3GPP LTE standard. This predominance of new high-speed networks will further enable even more services to be launched as well as taking mobile broadband into the next decade. One of the key elements that secure the mobile operators position in the overall value chain is the IPX or IP Exchange. The IPX was envisioned by carrier trade association GSMA several years ago as a hub-based IP interconnect service for mobile operators as well as fixed, offering 3G or greater broadband. When mobile operators offer such high-value services such as push-to-talk, the existing IP-based GRX interconnection network often times does not offer the appropriate level of service, especially when extending these types of services across the local network boundary to other participating operators. The IPX is a highly managed network separate from the public Internet. Contrast that to an all-IP mobile broadband network, where it is essentially an unmanaged network with the revenue coming from the content providers that sit on the edge of the network. The providers of this IP – the operators, whether 3G, 3.5G or beyond; fixed or mobile – have very little opportunity to recoup the huge investment in building and maintaining these networks. Additionally, high-value and high-QoS based services would be difficult to control without some level of management of the service levels, and would also be difficult to monetize without this level. Enter the IPX. An IPX service can provide various service levels based on the type of service a mobile provider wants to offer such as voice over IP (VoIP), video sharing, video messaging, streaming and cross-operator presence. An IPX service provider will offer different classes of service, based on the type of service to be provided. Note that lots of these services are managed P2P services, with much of the A2P being provided over the open Internet in a generally unmanaged manner. Still, there is ample room for numerous managed A2P services. With each service level provided by the IPX provider offering differentiated levels of service, the IPX provider can separate specific services with low latency requirements such as VoIP or push-to-talk from those with lesser service requirements such as content delivery or IM. And since the IPX provider and the operators can guarantee these services levels, they will be able to charge differently for these services. Therefore, they now become more than just the dumb ISP. Ultimately, we will see the IPX providers connecting all types of broadband networks, from WiMAX to 3GPP LTE to fiber-based networks – both fixed and mobile. Users will be able to originate calls on their mobile with the mobile-operator-provided VoIP and terminate to a different type of VoIP services such as Skype. Operators will offer their own in-network IPX, with cross network IPX capabilities being managed by companies with a strong, high-quality, underlying GRX capability. The GRX or GPRS Roaming Exchange is a hub-based service that connects together each mobile operator’s mobile broadband networks, thus enabling subscribers to roam to other networks, but retain their IP connections back to their home networks. The next decade will almost certainly change the way we communicate and further blur the distinction between fixed and mobile networks. The IPX over GRX as well as a dedicated IPX, independent of the GRX infrastructure, will also become the central clearinghouses for managing high-quality IP connections, new and innovative services, and new network architectures. Every type of communications – whether instant push-to-talk, VoIP, video and messaging (both real-time IM and deferred SMS/MMS) – will be supported by presence. Users will be able see the availability of the other party, prior to initiating a communications with numerous levels of backup (e.g. if real-time-video is not available, send a deferred voice mail via MMS). We are seeing these types of movements towards this communications utopia now. While it won’t be revolutionary changes, it points to the incremental expansion towards an all-IP ecosystem. William Dudley is group director of product management at Sybase 365. Reach him at william.dudley @ sybase .com. |
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