TMN Quarterly 2016 issue 13 by The Mobile Network

The Mobile Network // www.the-mobile-network.com

ALSO FEATURING Making sense of the world’s mobile networks

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B ACKHAUL S MALL CELLS T EST & MEASUREMENT M VNES

2016 // Issue 13

ISSUE S S E R CONG

s k r o w t e n e w h t o r r o m of to E MOBIL

WORL

P TACK U S S L A VERTIC E SE H T : 5G LICEN T U O H O: WIT R P A LTE IUSa:tor N E G DATveAn smarter oper the e

NS onnected Car O I T A S UALIs & The Network-C S I V N TM Requirement 5G

ISSUE

REGULARS

COUNTRY PROFILE: SPAIN // ANATOMY OF A MOBILE OPERATOR: NTT DOCOMO

#13

Empowering our customers to become

ISIONARIES

JDSU is now Viavi Solutionsâ&#x201E;˘ Viavi provides the actionable insights your business needs to become a forward-thinking organization ready to adapt, transform, and thrive. We work with you throughout the entire network lifecycle to understand your needs so we can deliver the right solutions to help your business succeed. We see things differently so that the people who power your business can, too. Learn more about our approach at viavisolutions.com/visionaries or +49 7121 86 2222.

JDSU Network and Service Enablement, Network Instruments, and Arieso are now Viavi Solutions.

MOBIL

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ONGR C D L R WO

ART II P///////////////////////// : E U S S DUAL I

5G Part II

A matter of architecture. If 5G is to succeed, it must serve diverse requirements from a common infrastructure. Not easy.

NFV Part II

The remaining barriers are technical, commercial and cultural. So not an easy run to commercialisation, then. By Guy Daniels.

CONGRESS SPECIALS

Smarter Operator Part II Can operators truly mash up network and customer data to become even smarter, or are they chasing a mirage.

LTE PROgress Part II Vendors and operators are already beginning to look at commercialising pre-standards versions of LTE-A PRO.

MORE48FEATURES ///////////////////////////////////// inter-cell interferenc e (eICIC), esigned to improve t the cell edge. network

SATELITE

multipoi nt (CoMP)

features also se synchronisa tion, such as ted

DATA TRAFFIC VOLTE LTE to the market There are many newcomers wireless technology that are pushing higher limits to produce for backhaul applications, capacity equipmentaimed at backhauling many of which arefibre is either too costly small cells where

Network Security 42

Backhaul

An often unconsidered

3441 MVNEs

MVNEs are providing another customer base for software vendors, but they need solutions that can keep them ahead of the MNOs.

part of the network is about to become part of the wider, programmable landscape. By Michelle Donegan.

will need 80 p ercent of sites But by 2020,20 p ercent of sites 270 Mbps a nd Gbps. That’s a stagge ring next few years. 1 will require r a te o f growth over the

Operators don’t have the 38 insight they need to understand and monitor threats to the network. That’s a worry. By Michelle Donegan

O P E RATOR BACKH AUL

poten ti ally g o we l l beyond

network management. Although it’s not yet clear what exactly the primary use cases would be for SDN i

VOLTE DATA TRAFFIC wireless for mobile backhaul is not about capacity

38 48

Small Cells

Counting the numbers can be confusing. Especially as the definition of what a small cell is gets more blurred.

DATA TRAFFIC VOLTE LTE SA

Certain LTE-Adva nced featur require phase synchronisa tion,

coordina ted multipoi nt

poise d netw ork seems for all, back haul and Indee d, the borin g stat us once mate d, ligen t, auto to shed its will help as an intel and emer ge cont rolle d link that softw arebette r to deliv er l costs . tiona opera tors redu ce opera servi ces and

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E-Advan ced

But by 2020, 80 percent 270 Mbps and 20 percent of sites will need will require 1 Gbps. That’s ofa sites staggering rate of growth over the next few years....

Test & Measurement The latest releases and news from the test vendors pushing the industry’s boundaries.

and enhanced inter-cell coordinati on (eICIC), interfere which are designed to improve n performance at the cell edge.

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Hi!

EDITOR The introduction of a new network generation takes a bit of understanding.

The Japanese operator is an undisputed tech leader, but can its insights be exported.

The operators have struggled, but there’s plenty of innovation in the sector.

New regular feature that looks at the network requirements of industry verticals.

SPONSORED FEATURE

The core will melt

This architectural shift will mean the EPC, backhaul and RAN will blend into a single, full mesh network with only logical centralisation. A distributed virtual EPC (vEPC) is required to provide control over the full mobile network footprint and to eliminate bottlenecks at today’s physical EPC, where all the traffic from the entire network is funneled through a single interface. As the core melts, its functions will flow like lava through the network. Backhaul and access networks will also blend, with access and backhaul connectivity provided in the same spectrum, by the same elements, using spatial multiplexing techniques. These trends will eliminate the tiered distinctions between core, backhaul and access networks.

QoE is the new money Network operators will develop new business models that see them compete on performance and differentiated user experience, as pervasive connectivity becomes fundamental to human behaviour. Industry verticals and large enterprises will be offered the opportunity to self-provision services, with guaranteed service levels. Cloud service providers and IoT applications will similarly be served the throughput, latency, and resilience required on a per-service basis. To enable this, networks need to adapt in real time, with virtual, dynamic network slices connecting subscribers to resources that immediately serve their needs.

Networks won’t be run by humans The GSMA predicts 100x more devices, 10x more apps, and 1000x more bandwidth used by 2020, which you could reasonably posit results in a 1,000,000x increase in management complexity. Network diversity, densification, demand and increasingly dynamic traffic patterns mean that networks are no longer static or implicitly stable, and constant micro-corrections will be required to ensure competing applications are afforded the priority, bandwidth and resources required to function as they coexist. That won’t be done by humans. Automation, machine learning and AI technologies will be utilised to create networks that are increasingly self-aware. Instrumentation must be built into this automated network, to both monitor and feed those automation engines.

The network is alive There are three main pillars to form the foundation of this self-optimising, autonomous mobile network: • ubiquitous QoS and QoE visibility (the nervous system and source of real-time feedback) • fast analytics fusing visibility with subscriber context and policies • SDN control that takes action at all layers, locations and for all services and subscribers - both prescriptively and reflectively as conditions change.

The 5G future redefines existence The killer app of the future is the network itself. Distributed compute, control, capacity allocation and a self-organising, intelligent network become a living, breathing fabric, a platform that will interconnect and support humans and devices like oxygen feeds life. Blended within this fabric will be instrumentation, sensing and reacting to information in the world around it. Around this fabric a new planet will emerge: a 5G planet.

As the network, analytics and control virtualise, so must visibility. Virtual instrumentation that sees all mobile traffic, every application, function and decision at every location - all the time or on demand - must be able to scale out cost-efficiently and be at the service of automated control committed to continuous QoE optimisation. It must be integral to the network, in all its newfound complexity and scale.

Accedian delivers network performance visibility from core to edge. Its latest solution, FlowBROKER, is making its debut at MWC 2016, introducing ubiquitous visibility into the customer experience.

www.accedian.com

TMNQUARTERLY 17

FEATURE: NFV UPDATE: PART II

Building the plane while it is flying

ur first feature (Issue 12) looked at some recent NFV Proofs of Concept that are designed to scope out how virtualisation may be applied to certain network functions. Part II of our series on NFV goes further and asks: what are the current barriers to telco implementation and commercialisation? By Guy Daniels Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) is going to change the mobile network as we know it. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard the sales pitches, we understand the technology,

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we may even have participated in proofs of concept work. But before we all get too carried away about how an NFV-led re-architecting of the network will transform an operatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fortunes, just how realistic is it to expect an easy transition, and what obstacles need to be overcome as we make the move from legacy networks? The prime benefit is that NFV will enable a reduced time to market for new services and save operating expenses by deploying disaggregated network functions. The subsequent Virtualised Network Functions (VNFs) can be run over low-cost servers, at any location within the network.

FEATURE: NFV UPDATE: PART II

Whilst much of the initial NFV sales pitch has been about saving OPEX and CAPEX, questions do remain about the other non-financial benefits. In particular, the business case for service agility is yet to be fully realised and appreciated. Much of the early focus on NFV by mobile operators has been on the evolution of the mobile edge, utilising NFV in cloud RAN, virtual LTE evolved packet core (EPC) and Gi-LAN virtual services (where the packet data network interconnects with the IP network infrastructure). Early NFV wins for mobile operators appear to be centred around virtual CPE equipment, the evolved packet core and virtualised base stations. The long-awaited move to deploy voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) on IMS has been an important driver for many telcos to look at NFV. However, most are adopting the least disruptive approach, which is to deploy VNFs on virtual machines that don’t require an extensive overhaul of their back office systems. The ideal future-proof solution would be to deploy a full NFV stack with MANO (management and network orchestration) functionality, but that’s not on the immediate horizon for most. Indeed, the OPNFV has only just expanded its scope to include MANO in future releases.

Barriers to adoption A survey last year by IHS showed that barriers are becoming more prominent as operators get closer to commercial deployment. These included products not being carrier grade and finding and training staff. Some barriers are technical, certainly, but of more importance are the organisational and cultural hurdles that service providers will need to clear to reap the full benefits of NFV. Whilst the entire telecoms community believes NFV to be “a good thing”, that doesn’t mean they are all rushing to re-architect their networks and spend money on aggressive deployment strategies. ETSI is still working on standards (at a commendably fast pace), partners are still working on proofs of concept, and only the most forward-thing and progressive telcos are engaged in real-world trials.

TMNQUARTERLY 19

FEATURE: NFV UPDATE: PART II

Maturity of the technology

Legacy infrastructure

There are plenty of mobile operators who don’t feel the need to be first to make the change. That may because they are smaller and don’t have the resources, or else their markets aren’t so competitive, or that they are content to wait until NFV technology matures. Or they may have every intention of investing in NFV, it’s just that they have plenty of other upgrades to finance and roll out first. The large multinational operator groups, especially those with fixed-line operations as well, are the ones most prepared for the evolution and have cleared internal obstacles to NFV. For example, AT&T is implementing a common infrastructure for all VNFs, with the first VNFs now in production. By 2020, AT&T plans to virtualise and control more than 75 per cent of its network.

For at least the next decade and possibly longer, carriers and operators will have to manage a hybrid network that is part physical and part virtual. This will be a major challenge. Few, if any, operators are going to deploy NFV in greenfield sites. Instead, they will roll-out the technology alongside existing legacy equipment, creating hybrid networks. “We have to build our plane whilst it is flying,” is the analogy used by Diego Lopez, Head of Technology Exploration, Global CTO Unit, Telefonica. “We can’t stop the network for a week, then it becomes fully virtual the next week. We have to find ways to reconcile our physical network with what will be our virtual network.”

People and Processes “The biggest barrier is people and processes in telcos,” said Vinay Saxena, Distinguished Technologist, Chief Architect NFV, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “It takes time. Carriers still have to run their old systems and keep the lights on. Any change of this magnitude is hard.” There is a cultural shift needed to adopt to this different model, and a lack of skills within many telcos – network engineers must align themselves and work closely with software engineers, and a substantial amount of training is required to help the operations team get comfortable with this new model. “We’ve seen some service providers invest heavily in this training process, and they can still lean on their vendors in terms of helping with consulting services,” said Chris Wright, Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat. “But inside the telcos, they need to really understand the cultural shift and the new skillsets at a fundamental level.” The pace is different from carrier to carrier, and between the tier ones and the tier two operators, although the requirement is the same. “The large telcos may be able to take on some systems integration roles themselves, but smaller ones will need to buy this in from vendors,” added John Zannos, VP of Cloud at Canonical.

Technical and operational complexity “The biggesNFV means an end to silos between equipment providers, and this means all vendors need to accept and adopt the new common interfaces and standard practices. This is going to take time. It will be important to adopt solutions that can interface with existing OSS and BSS systems, as well as supporting new MANO specifications. Carrier networks mean, by definition, carrier grade solutions. This level of performance cannot be sacrificed in the transition to NFV. However, moving away from reliance on a handful of traditional telecoms equipment manufacturers (TEMs) is not going to be that simple. “The majority of core Telco VNFs available today from the traditional TEMs consist of monolithic software with integrated, proprietary networking stacks created with mostly irrelevant requirements, stemming from the physical appliances they aim to replace,” explained Martin Halstead, Chief Technologist NFV, EMEA, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “These complex composite VNFs expect the virtual infrastructure on which they are deployed to be simple in terms of providing dumb network ‘pipes’ linking same vendor VNFs. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t help realize the full business benefits of NFV, of having a single, network feature rich NFV platform, capable of independently hosting VNFs from multiple TEMs.”

If the barriers to NFV are cultural, technical and commercial - isn’t that a worrying list? Join the conversation

20 TMNQUARTERLY

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

Development of NFV Proof of Concept work is now focusing on end-to-end scenarios, looking at where the friction points are going to be. “We still have a lot to learn,” said Trevor Cooper, Solutions Architect, Communications Infrastructure, Intel. “We’re at the point where we can integrate the various components and show what’s possible, now we have to contextualise this with the orchestration and management systems to be able to automate and provision in a commercial way.” Virtual packet gateways for M2M services are now being developed, and some progressive operators are on target to introduce virtual EPC into their main networks. But an overhaul of the mobile core network is a challenging and risky undertaking at the best of times, and will require many more successful proofs of concept and trials before operators take this big step. “Within about five years, around 70 per cent of the network infrastructure will be virtualised,” said Eyal Felstaine, Head of NG OSS at Amdocs. “Operators will change totally the way they work. The changes will be immense.”

FEATURE: SMART OPERATOR: PART II

The Even Smarter Operator Operators have intelligence but can they use it to become even smarter? Carrying terabits of customer data doesn’t make operators the know-it-alls of digital society because the data isn’t theirs. However, integration of their network and customer data and moves to aggregate insights from that with third parties could see the even smarter operator become an omniscient middleman, writes George Malim. Substantial focus has been devoted to the network data-related aspect of mobile operators’ intelligence as they prepare to use both network and customer data to enable the efficient operation of virtualised and hybrid networks. However, network intelligence is only part of the opportunity operators have to become even smarter. If they close the loop between network insights and the insights they can access within their customer data, they could find new ways to interact and serve customers and partners and, critically, monetise those - in addition to achieving efficient, automated network operation. Operator moves to personalisation, adaptive customer experience management, flexible service delivery, converged analytics and integrated and automated BSS-OSS decision making, if completed, could provide the foundation for the even smart operator but such completion remains years away. Nevertheless, Jérôme Gueydan, the

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Innovation CIO at Orange, thinks the even smarter operator will become a reality “because there is a lot of value that can be drawn when crossing customer data with network data.” Neil Lilley, a director of marketing at Ericsson, agrees and goes further: “Knowledge is power and companies realise that for relatively modest investments they can get better and better insights - especially once companies start to see projects succeed and go beyond their expectations,” he says. “For example, we’ve seen the ability to predict net promoter score (NPS) for a set of customers deliver significant value.” Not everyone’s convinced. “The even smarter operator probably won’t be a reality in my career lifetime,” says Jay Perrettt, the chief technology officer of Aria Networks. “There’s a lot of hype about big data but collecting data is one thing, using it to make an informed decision is something completely different. We’re an awfully long way away from being able to that effectively.” There is, therefore, a long road ahead

FEATURE: SMART OPERATOR: PART II

for operators to travel to integrate their disparate data before attempting to make it available to other organisations and monetise that. Gueydan foresees challenges for operators in bringing together network and user data. “Firstly operators must delete silos and integrate IT as in some cases this can still be separate,” he says. “Secondly, they must translate what the added value of crossing these two data streams is to the customer. This needs to move beyond internal operations.” Matt Roberts, the head of marketing for the big data and strategic innovation unit at Amdocs, concurs: “Finding the right data at the right time and fusing it with other sources is particularly challenging within telecoms because data is highly siloed and organisationally the corporate set up of operators prevents that fusion.” Chris King, the senior director of marketing at Oracle, adds to the list. “There are any number of technical challenges involved in blending the siloes together, especially with user data based around SIMs or IMEI numbers, but there are also internal politics within operators and some regulatory concerns

to consider,” he says. “I’d also emphasise that this type of sensitive user data has seen regulators take a dim view of the potential for it to be over-used.” For Perrett a clear business case must be present and today, for the most part, it isn’t. “Collating the information into a clear business objective that can be translated into something an operator can do is the challenge,” he confirms. “In our work at two tier one operators and a large over the top (OTT) provider the hurdle hasn’t been the technology or the integration into systems, it has been the business processes to make the project work.” Operators are still approaching integrating network and customer data from an internal perspective, partially because there are internal business cases that they can readily understand. “Having a true 360 degree view of our customers’ interactions with Orange, would allow us to predict their expectations and issues before they have even made us aware of these,” Guyedan says. “Combining customer data with network data – access and use – enables us to continue improving customer experience in two areas: the quality of access, at [specific] times and locations; and customised offers based on the types of content and services consumed.” For King it’s a question of operator priorities as well as familiarities.

“A lot of operators use data internally effectively so I think there will be a question of priorities as to when or if operators look to external opportunities,” he says. “A potential use of the data is to address network efficiencies so they may focus on enhancing network utilisation first.” Federico Pigni, an associate professor in the department of management and technology at Grenoble Ecole de Management who is researching digital data initiatives, points out that operators tend to be highly internally focused. “Operators could be the middlemen, aggregating all the possible data, not only from mobile phones,” he says. “That could be a good way to provide an added service to customers but operators tend to be internally focused even though there is no clear winner yet. The provision of customer premise equipment, such as set top boxes, could see operators play a role in smart home and other Internet of Things initiatives, for example.” Yet even for internal applications of integrated network and customer insights, the end game isn’t in sight.

“Operators could be the middlemen, aggregating all the possible data, not only from mobile phones,”

TMNQUARTERLY 23

FEATURE: SMART OPERATOR: PART II

I’m not saying they don’t have lots of data but the operators have become disintermediated “The end game is for the operator to deliver business value as its business needs change,” says Perrett. “That means bringing together these two data sets so the operator can make informed business decisions.” Those business decisions aren’t network operations-related. “This isn’t thinking about how to connect a firewall to a load balancer,” adds Perrett. “That happens automatically. This is about the network being an intelligent cable that the operator uses to generate value.” Will operators’ data and their analytics capabilities enable them to become a data hub that puts them at the centre of the data economy? “That’s a real aspiration and it’s likely,” says Lilley. “It’s still taking shape in terms of a business model and

what the most compelling use cases will be. The monetisation scenarios most likely to succeed will be to do with location such as localised advertising correlated with knowledge about the customer’s profile and interests.” King thinks operators are more familiar with providing third parties with insights than is widely thought. “As an industry telecoms has exposed data to third parties for ten years now,” he says. “Parlay and OneAPI exposed network capabilities to third parties and things like location information are already being utilised. It’s not an uncommon thing.” Yet, while scenarios in which companies exploit their data become more common, operators are not necessarily at the centre of the data economy. “The problem is there is a war of ecosystems going on,” says Pigni. “People say that data will be the 21st century equivalent of oil in the 20th century for industry. If you believe that, operators look like they’re in a good position because the cellphone has the data. However, they don’t own that data, the apps do.” Operators are in the right place to strike oil but they

don’t have the exploitation rights. “I’m not saying they don’t have lots of data but the operators have become disintermediated,” adds Pigni. “They have the device information, they have geolocation from the phone or towers – if they’re allowed to use it, and they are still in the loop for payments. They’re in an interesting position because they could provide the channel and be the aggregators of data but I’m not sure how interested they are.” Operators are working hard on becoming smarter but for now, at least, their focus is on deploying their new data driven abilities internally because there are clear ways – and importantly ways they understand – for them to generate revenue and create savings from doing so. Lack of familiarity with the requirements of other industries and privacy regulation concerns in some markets are making external application of data insights less of a priority but not necessarily something that won’t happen. After all, if it’s not operators that become the middlemen of mobile data, who will?

Is this feature outlining an impossible dream or an achievable goal? Join the conversation

24 TMNQUARTERLY

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

FEATURE: LTE-A PROGRESS: FEATURE PART II

LTE will continue for a long while yet, being developed in parallel with 5G specifications. We even have a new name for this process - LTE Advanced PRO. Part II of this investigation looks at vendor pre-releases so far. The story so far… The 3GPP has decided that future releases of LTE-Advanced standards specifications will officially be known as LTE Advanced PRO, following a decision at a recent meeting to adopt a new name for specifications from Release 13 onwards. Although the standards will not be frozen until March 2016, many vendors have already started to release pre-standards commercialisation of R13 features. These can be seen in some vendors with a distinct brand name, like Huawei’s 4.5G and ZTE’s. Others, such as Nokia Networks and Ericsson are announcing products as LTEAdvanced PRO features, as part of new product and software releases. TMN takes a look at some early commercialisation of what will be R13 technologies.

Many vendors have already started to release pre-standards commercialisation of R13 features.

TMNQUARTERLY 25

FEATURE: LTE-A PROGRESS: PART II

NOKIA’S RADIO ENHANCEMENTS Nokia Networks will showcase LTEAdvanced PRO innovations at Mobile World, including industry firsts with 3D Beamforming and 8 transmit by 4 receive Intelligent Beamforming, inter-site carrier aggregation capabilities, and carrier aggregation combined with advanced modulation to triple uplink data rates. The product upgrades are largely driven by software developments, which will work on current base stations as well as with advanced cloud-based configurations. Several of the upgrades fall within the scope of R13 specifications that will form the first tier of LTE-A PRO releases. A TD-LTE-Advanced Pro 3D Beamforming demonstration will show Nokia’s Intelligent Beamforming capability that maximises signal levels while also minimising intercell interference by combining vertical and horizontal beamforming. It promises 4-fold uplink and 3-fold downlink throughput gains, measured in outdoor field environments using a commercial base station and devices. Nokia’s Inter-Site Carrier Aggregation combines TDD and FDD carriers from different base stations located at different sites. This can provide high throughput at the cell edge using existing Release 10 devices.

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Nokia Intelligent Beamforming now includes 8x4 (8 transmit and 4 receive antennas) capability for TD-LTE that doubles cell edge rates and delivers 50% more average sector throughput. It also implements DL-CoMP (Coordinated MultiPoint) for a 50% increase in cell edge spectral efficiency. The Intelligent Beamforming capabilities are particularly applicable to high bands for greater coverage and capacity. Uplink Carrier Aggregation and 64QAM modulation are introduced via software and combined to increase peak data rates in FDD-LTE cells by up to 150 Mbps, three times the maximum uplink speed of typical LTE networks today. This rebalances users’ uplink and downlink experiences, following multiple downlink speed increases in LTE-Advanced in recent years.

ERICSSON’S 17A RELEASE Ericsson’s Networks Software 17A for Massive IoT was launched with a fair bit of fanfare from Ericsson, which was keen to announce operator support for low power cellular IoT features that will be standardised in R13. The vendor announced that both Verizon and AT&T are working with it to trial some of those elements to support their IoT services.

Verizon is already trialling existing cellular IoT tech from Ericsson, and said it will add the LPWA variant to the mix. AT&T also seems to be trialling the tech from Ericsson, with this release saying Ericsson’s 17A release had the “backing” of AT&T, and including a supportive quote from the operator. 17A will incorporate support for NBIoT which the 3GPP is rushing to finalise for its March freeze date, as well as LTE Machine-type Communication (LTE-M). As such it is a pre-standards release, as of now. Ericsson is making a pretty big play here, with a press release trumpeting millions of connections per cell site, and making the most of the operator tie-ups, although if you read between the lines there is not a great deal of actual commitment in there. There’s also a supporting white paper, in which the writer has clearly been tasked to come up with all possible reasons for cellular IoT’s superiority to non-3GPP alternatives (LoRa, Sigfox, Weightless, Wifi etc.) It addresses a comprehensive range of Internet of Things (IoT) applications by supporting millions of IoT device connections per cell site. The new network software introduces narrowband IoT (NBIoT) to existing LTE network infrastructure, enabling fast rollout of reliable, secure mobile connectivity with low total cost

of ownership. Additionally, the network software introduces power-saving functionality for NB-IoT and LTE-M, allowing for more than 10-year device battery lifetime. NB-IoT, LTE Machine-type Communication (LTE-M) and the previously launched Extended Coverage GSM (EC-GSM) are complementary and address the diversity of LPWA IoT use case requirements and deployment scenarios while making best use of existing networks. EC-GSM serves IoT applications for all GSM markets. LTE-M supports a broad range of rich IoT applications such as wearables, locationbased child-tracker services, and eHealth health care apps like continuous blood pressure monitoring. And the newly defined category NB-IoT covers ultra-lowend IoT applications such as metering and sensor monitoring with greater cost and coverage advantages than LTE-M. NB-IoT scales LTE to connect a much wider variety of use cases and has flexible deployment options, using a dedicated carrier (200 kHz) that can be deployed in-band of LTE, in a guard band or stand alone. Each NB-IoT carrier can support up to 200,000 connections, which can be easily scaled up by adding more carriers as capacity requires, for millions of IoT connections per cell site.

HUAWEI’S PRE-STANDARDS NB-IOT Meanwhile Vodafone Group, Huawei, and u-blox say they have completed the first successful commercial trial of pre-standard NB-IoT. Vodafone and Huawei integrated the technology into the operator’s existing mobile network in Spain and then sent the first pre-standard NB-IoT message to a u-blox module installed in a water meter. Matt Beal, Director of Innovation and Architecture, Vodafone Group, says,“Vodafone has led the development of NB-IoT, the LPWA technology in licensed spectrum that has gained huge industry support. The completion of this first commercial trial with our partners is further evidence of that. Once commercialised, NB-IoT will provide tangible benefits for our enterprise customers, principally making it feasible to connect more devices to IoT.” Nokia is also present in the R13 IoT game. With Korea Telecom it recently conducted a field trial of enhanced

Machine Type Communications (eMTC), also known as LTE-M. The trials were conducted on KT’s LTE network using Nokia’s Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, where eMTC utilized 1.4 MHz of the 20 MHz LTE system. The trial demonstrates the potential for eMTC to allow for coexistence with existing the LTE network, provide extended coverage and accommodate medium data-rate Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity use cases. Other vendors too are adapting to the R13 environment. Small cells specialist SpiderCloud will be showing LAA-capable cells at MWC, bringing its product in line with the Radio Dot and 6402 picocell from Ericsson, and small cells from Huawei and Nokia Networks’s Flexi Zone G2 small cell. Enhanced carrier aggregation, LAA and IoT will be the big three technologies that vendors push from R13. Along with those will be the antenna developments, with MIMO and 3D beam forming to the fore.

Keep an eye out for LTE-A PRO features being released this year as “pre-5G”. Join the conversation

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

TMNQUARTERLY 27

& R A C D E T C E N N O THE C K R O W T E N E L I B O M THE

through o move ls a t u b s. ht, own rig network riety of in their a s v e a d o y n b ered network All deliv s will be mation. r fo Our car in m in ed car. connect raps the w e t h t a r h t s fo a world enabler network e h t t a oks TMN lo

SMART TRAFFIC LIGHTS

communicate over LPWA to traffic information applications Deliver traffic information to apps and analytics engines, with the results fed back to the car.

FUTURE: WIFI ACCESS POINTS

802.11p (WAVE), data exchange between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure that operates in the 5.9 GHz band of the wireless spectrum.

5G. V2V communications, direct

vehicle to vehicle connectivity for automated driving.

ONBOARD CONNECTIVITY

to devices in-car via WiFi and 4G. Multi antenna, WiFi/Bluetooth combined chips for in-car connectivity.

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ONBOARD NAVIGATION with updated

traffic info, plus distance to charging and fuelling stations = display on dash

PictureFEATURE credit: BMW

MACRO CELL provides small

cell cluster coordination and aggregation

SENSORS provide feedback for collision avoidance

ENGINE DIAGNOSTICS

EMERGENCY CALL over cellular networks with location

5G FUTURE: small cells,

densely packed, provide edge intelligence that communicates in near real time with the car, meeting near real time latencies.

TMNQUARTERLY 29

FEATURE: NETWORKED WORLD

“ MEETING THE STADIUM RUSH

THE NETWORKED WORLD

About 90 percent of our time is spent indoors. However, results from an Ericsson

“

ConsumerLab survey reveal that only three in 10 smartphone users find indoor voice quality, coverage and reliability to be good. The challenge will be exacerbated by

the 11 times growth in smartphone traffic forecast from 2015 to 2021, with around 90 percent of mobile data traffic expected to come from smartphones by the end of 2021.

The above is a direct quote from an Ericsson statement that is publicising the 100th operator customer for its dedicated in-building super-DAS system, the Radio Dot System. From the Dot, to Huawei’s LampSite, to SpiderCloud’s E-RAN and Airvana’s OneCell, to the intelligent digital DAS products from the likes of CommScope and Cobham Wireless, there’s little doubt that meeting the coverage and capacity demands of large venues, from airports, shopping malls, major office campuses to arenas and stadiums is very much a priority for wireless vendors.

30 TMNQUARTERLY

ABI Research said in a report published in January 2016 that the in-building wireless market would more than double in revenue by 2020, with the market anticipated to top $9 billion by 2020 Nick Marshall, Research Director at ABI Research, says, “Sports venues, transportation and healthcare will continue to be the verticals that attract the most DAS investment, with shopping malls and hospitality coming in at a close second place.” Operators, too, know that this is an area in which they need to play catch up. Of Ericsson’s claimed 100 Radio Dot

customers, 39 are in the Asia Pacific region, and that reflects Marshall’s view that the region is set to lead in inbuilding. “While the Asia-Pacific region today accounts for just one fifth of the total market, we forecast it to be the fastest growing region and to represent almost one third of the market by 2020,” Marshall says. Consider the demands of a major stadium event. For the 2015 Super Bowl in Phoenix, Verizon customers alone used 4.1 terabytes of data. That was a major increase on the 1.9 terabytes at 2014’s event.

FEATURE: NETWORKED WORLD

traffic is typically around 1:10. At a music festival however, during peak hours the ratio of uplink to downlink traffic can be reversed to 3:1.

THE LIST OF NETWORK ROLLOUTS HAS INCLUDED:

RADIO DOT

DID YOU KNOW?

In a mobile network the ratio of uplink to downlink

This year, for Super Bowl 50, Verizon has designed its coverage of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara to handle 6 terabytes. And it’s not just the stadium itself that needs an upgrade when a big event comes to town. Roads, transport hubs, major hotels and gathering points also require a subsequent boost. For Super Bowl 50 that adds up to a $70 million long-term investment to more than triple 4G LTE wireless data network capacity in key areas throughout the Bay Area. Preparation has taken nearly two years, boosting network performance in more than 10 major areas from San Francisco to Santa Clara, along with the three major area airports and several hotels. The list of network rollouts has included:

16 NEW MACRO CELL SITES; 75 SMALL CELLS; FIRST TIME, PATENTED ANTENNA SYSTEM TO REACH LOWER STADIUM SEATS; INCREASED PEAK DOWNLINK SPEEDS; 37 SITES UPGRADED TO XLTE 14 MOBILE CELL SITES

Nor is meeting stadium demand merely about the technology. Before and during Super Bowl 50, a special team of 100 technicians and engineers will monitor and manage the network in real-time both in San Francisco and in and around Levi’s Stadium. As can be seen from the list below, meeting the demands of large venues requires a mix of technology. DAS, small cells as standalone deployments and in pseudo-cloud iterations, beefed up macro and Wi-Fi will all play their part. This mix is determined at the outset by the expected traffic mix (ie voice, data, video, uplink/downlink), the inherent RF propagation characteristics of the building, and also what the building owner wants to achieve with the rollout. Another factor, especially for existing buildings, rather than new builds, is the existing supporting infrastructure, such as cabling and power. It’s notable that some systems may offer tri-mode capability, powered over Ethernet, but that might mean installing additional cables through a building rather than using the existing cabling. It’s also worth remembering that boosting access within a building will, using small cells, in many cases, mean boosting access to a building. That means increasing the backhaul. Of course, the upside of this is that once a building is properly covered, there should be ample capacity within the building, and so increasing capacity means increasing backhaul to the structure, rather than revisiting a site to install more radio nodes.

TMNQUARTERLY 31

FEATURE: NETWORKED WORLD

Vodafone and Telefonica Germany have dealt with large crowd events at its “Fan Mile” by installing a digital

Stadium or large venue wireless design doesn’t necessarily have to be permanent. If venues are expecting a one-off increase in demand for an especially large event, or a temporary stadium is being constructed (as for many sporting events) then check out these options.

CELL ON WHEELS

Let’s roll this. Sometimes you just need to roll in capacity. The most recent example is Verizon boosting its coverage for the Super Bowl 50.

OUTDOOR EVENT INVERT TRAFFIC PATTERNS

How will the technology choices that in-building wireless providers make impact on the services they can deliver? #tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

Source, Nokia

Nokia has recently launched its pop up network. This comes with services that include planning and optimisation, provided by specialist tools and consultants to make sure that temporary capacity is located, provisioned and deployed in a dedicated way.

Join the conversation

32 TMNQUARTERLY

THE NON PERMANENT OPTIONS

THE DAS ALTERNATIVE

The newest battle in large in-building installations is around services. One aspect of choosing the technology is to understand what you want from the technology. For example, a building owner may just want to make sure its tenants or visitors get the coverage and capacity they need. An operator installing a dedicated network may want to go further and be able to use its connection to the core network to provide localised or enterprise services, that can be hosted on the infrastructure that provides the capacity (like in the Mobile Edge Computing or SpiderCloud’s Services Node or Nokia’s Liquid Apps model). Or it may be that the enterprise itself wants to be able to provide services to its own users, or in an environment like retail or hotels, to its visitors. An equivalent in the large stadium environment would be to offer attendees to the event dedicated content or video streams of the event they are attending, using locally optimised broadcast over LTE, or streaming, services. This aspect, the service enablement of the in-building space, will form the next battle for revenue in this sector, but it is one that will be influenced by the technology choices that businesses are making today.

25km away. The system uses Cobham Wireless’ idDAS

THE POP UP

ABOUT SERVICES

DAS that is fed over fibre by base station capacity sited

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FEATURE: NETWORK SECURITY

Y T I D L R R CU WO IN A

A U T VIR

D E S LI

ly rapid e r a rk etwo n e . l obi ation m c i e t h s i d ot soph n an ats t d o i e n t r a a h s t li cy rity r irtua quen v e r o Secu majo f t s t n f i a i h g ) e sh asin (SDN e, th s. g m incre n i i t egie rk e t o a m r w a t t e es ys ed N curit At th n e fi s e r to are-D pera o r Softw o ns f catio i l p im

FEATURE: NETWORK SECURITY

obile network security has never had a higher profile than it does today. Just a few short years ago at Mobile World Congress, for example, security wasn’t even on the agenda. Now, security products and discussions are prevalent on the show floor. There’s a heightened awareness in the industry about the vulnerabilities that exist in nearly every part of the mobile network, from the devices to the mobile core and the business support systems that store volumes of customer data. For mobile operators, the most disastrous cyberattacks can cause a major service outage or steal customer data. Operators pay a high price for suffering a cyberattack in direct financial charges and brand damage. A recent cyberattack on UK broadband provider TalkTalk highlights just how wrong things can go for service providers. In a major customer data breach, hackers accessed the personal details of 156,959 customers (including names, addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers and email addresses), as well as bank account details for 15,656 of those customers. To make matters worse, the incident was the third such attack on TalkTalk in nine months. TalkTalk estimates the cyberattack will cost up to £60 million and is offering all customers a free upgrade.

But the damage to TalkTalk’s brand and reputation for failing to safeguard its customers’ personal data is likely to last longer than a one-off financial hit and possibly result in higher churn and lower new subscriber additions. According to consumer market research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, TalkTalk lost market share in the UK home services market in the fourth quarter of 2015 following the data breach, as seven percent of its broadband customers left for other service providers. No mobile operator wants to be the target for high-profile public backlash like TalkTalk was in the UK, which is why network security is now so important. But there are signs that mobile operators are not as well equipped as they should be to deal with today’s threats due to lack of visibility into the traffic flowing across their networks (particularly at the application layer), inadequate threat detection and not enough automation to avert attacks before they can inflict damage on the network. According to Arbor Networks’ annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report, 38 percent of mobile operators surveyed said they had an event that led to a customer-visible network outage while 38 percent said that they had no visibility into their mobile packet core network, slightly up compared to 33 percent in last year’s survey. Meanwhile, 44 percent said they had no visibility into their mobile Internet infrastructure. The survey results also suggest DDOS attacks are on the rise, some originating from mobile users. Of the mobile operators surveyed, 68 percent said they had seen DDOS attacks targeting their users or infrastructure, which is a

...DISASTROUS CYBERATTACKS CAN CAUSE A MAJOR SERVICE OUTAGE.. significant increase from last year’s 36 percent. Furthermore, 15 percent of mobile operators surveyed said they had detected DDOS attacks from mobile users, but 59 percent said they did not know, indicating they lacked sufficient visibility to detect these threats. Mobile operators are increasingly frustrated by a lack of granularity in the traffic monitoring systems that detect threats. When a network traffic anomaly is discovered, it’s difficult and time-consuming for an operator to determine whether the incident is the result of a malicious attack or not. For example, an unusual spike in LTE signalling could be caused by malware or just a poorly designed “chatty” application that requests too many server updates. Operators also need to act more quickly to prevent a malicious attack from degrading services or compromising customer data once it has been detected and identified. This requires more automation in network security systems. While operators seek solutions to today’s myriad network security challenges, some are moving towards a new network security architecture, which is virtualised, based on the fundamentals of Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and SoftwareDefined Networking (SDN).

TMNQUARTERLY 35

FEATURE: NETWORK SECURITY

n the surface, NFV and SDN look like network security nightmares. Both networking paradigms introduce entirely new ways of building networks and creating services. In network security terms, new equals risk. NFV takes mobile operators out of their siloed hardware comfort zones. Software-based network functions reside in software on generic, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, which can be spun up all at once across a network, rather than traditional vendor-specific hardware being launched by teams of engineers. Among the many security concerns about this approach is that by injecting telecom network functions into IT platforms, those functions are vulnerable to the security weaknesses already inherent in the IT infrastructure as well as to hackers who are familiar

Looking ahead to a secure 5G future Even though it’s too early to say what 5G will actually be, research is well underway to determine how best to secure it. Since 5G will encompass a greater variety of connection types across many different industries, security design principles need to cover a range of parameters from privacy to basic trust models while also

with how to infiltrate such IT systems, thereby creating new kinds of threats. Not only does the network function need to be secured, but also the virtualisation infrastructure that it rides on. Also, the use of open application programming interfaces (APIs) will give more people access to network resources than ever before, while the adoption of open source software creates new vulnerabilities too. When it comes to SDN and its centralised software-based network control, the worry is that it will be easier for hackers to disrupt services by attacking just one SDN controller. However, despite those concerns, virtualsation and SDN present significant opportunities for operators to implement more flexible, cost-efficient security across their networks as well as provide revenue-generating security services to businesses. The principles of flexibility, programmability and agility that underlie NFV and SDN are just as applicable to network security, if not more so. NFV and SDN allow security to be distributed to more parts of the network and enables security to scale flexibly according to

taking into account evolving cyberattack patterns. An EU-funded research program, 5G-Ensure, is tackling the issue with the goal of defining a 5G security architecture so that security principles are built in to all new networking standards. Members include Alcatel-Lucent (now part of Nokia),

Ericsson, Orange, NEC, and Telecom Italia. Whether it’s safeguarding customer data, protecting the network, evolving to virtualised security or pondering the implications of 5G, security has never been more important for mobile network operators - or more talked about - as this year’s MWC will undoubtedly show.

Can security be designed as integral to 5G networks? Join the conversation

36 TMNQUARTERLY

changing threat patterns. Some operators are already pursuing virtualised security, most notably AT&T and BT. For AT&T, the move to virtualised security is in line with the operator’s overall transition to NFV and SDN. As AT&T senior VP and Chief Security Officer Ed Amoroso explained to the Wall Street Journal, the idea is to no longer rely on perimeter security, but to “shrink-wrap” security around new applications and databases with software as the operator shifts to SDN. Meanwhile, BT is working with Cisco in a major security initiative aimed at its own networks as well as those of its business customers. According to Les Anderson, VP of cyber at BT Security, one of the key reasons why BT choose Cisco for this project was the vendor’s “ability to deploy security products into SDN and virtualised environments to unlock additional value that is critical to security.” The move to virtualised security is also leading to new partnerships among security and telecom vendors. For example, in the Cisco-Ericsson partnership, Cisco’s security portfolio was highlighted as an important factor in the relationship. Meanwhile, Swedish security vendor Clavister has teamed with Nokia Networks to integrate its virtual security solutions with Nokia’s security offerings.

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

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AN EVENT OF

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FEATURE: TEST & MEASUREMENT

A PEEK AT THE FUTURE Gigabit throughputs, four to five carrier aggregation, LAA and more are all now live on the test and measurement lab benches. Not to mention 5G. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a peek at the future of live production networks - and the near future at that. TMN rounds up what the test houses are bringing to the market at MWC.

38 TMNQUARTERLY

FEATURE: TEST & MEASUREMENT FEATURE

ANITE ADDS NETWORK TO VIRTUAL DRIVE TEST WORLD Recent updates from Anite, now a part of Keysight Technologies, include the addition of simulated network support to its Virtual Drive Testing Toolset (VDT Toolset). VDT Toolset reproduces real network conditions in the laboratory, enabling mobile operators and device manufacturers to perform a larger portion of device testing in the laboratory compared to in the field. Anite’s virtual drive test solution uses network signalling and RF propagation log data, captured in the field using drive test tools, to recreate a realistic mobile device performance testing environment in the laboratory. It leverages the Propsim F32 Channel Emulator.

ANRITSU LOOKS AT 5G AND THE C-RAN

ROHDE & SCHWARZ’S FOCUS REFLECTS THE NEARCOMMERCIALISATION OF IOT, LAA AND EVEN 5G. The company’s CMW500 wideband radio communication tester includes 64QAM uplink, LTE-Unlicensed and 4CC downlink carrier aggregation (CA) with 256 QAM and 1 Gbit/s data throughput. The CMW290 functional radio communication tester is for cellular Internet of Things (IoT) tests, while the company will focus on LTE-U with its R&S TS8980 RF conformance test system. Via its SwissQual unit the company will also be showing the ability to benchmark QoE and QoS for network technologies such as voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi), VoLTE and eMBMS. Finally, R&S’ role in 5G development will be highlighted with three different test setups: 5G and WLAN signals with bandwidths up to 2 GHz, generation and analysis of 5G air interface candidates and 5G channel sounding.

Anritsu will be looking at how it is helping to develop the new 5G air interface, as well as LTE-A Pro scaled-up to 1GB/s, with experimental new waveforms, mmW measurement, OTA and massive MIMO test needs. It will also be showing the development of new test methods for emerging 5G device technology, using the latest technology of “modulated S Parameters”. To meet the move to C-RAN deployments, the company will be showing field test solutions that include RF and CPRI testers, optical transport network testing, and also SDN and NFV transport network implementation, configuration and maintenance.

COBHAM WIRELESS GETS EVERYTHING UP TO R12, ADDS SOME R13. Cobham Wireless’ TM500 network test family can now validate all the main features of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) up to and including 3GPP Release 12. The system has also added support for carrier aggregation with unlicensed frequency bands as used for LTE Licence Assisted Access (LAA), a major feature of 3GPP Release 13. The Release 12 feature line-up includes LTE TDD-FDD carrier aggregation and 256 QAM. The TM500 also now supports carrier aggregation with unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz WLAN band, as used by LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U) and LTE-LAA. Additionally, there is support for 5 carrier aggregation, another R12 feature.

TMNQUARTERLY 39

FEATURE: TEST & MEASUREMENT

VALIDATION THE KEY TO 5G SUCCESS Taking 5G’s underlying technology from concept phase to prototype, and eventually to rollout, is dependent on the development of new and sophisticated testing and validation techniques.

but important emphasis should also be placed on validating the end user experience for potential applications. Many of these implementations are still in the concept phase, but are likely to be developed at an increasingly swift rate over the coming years, so the industry needs to be as prepared as possible for a wide range of use-cases. The technology being utilised at the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) in Surrey, officially opened in 2015, will ensure the technology is perfected ahead of commercial launch with a test bed in As has been widely discussed in the place to validate everything from the industry, from the outset 5G will support chipset and radio antenna to end-to-end high-speed data services and will network performance. simultaneously be the enabler for a One of the key activities will be to rapid expansion in M2M. Critical IoT create and characterise the underlying applications in industries such as algorithms for potential 5G air interfaces, automotive and healthcare, and humanwhich for the sub-6 GHz bands need IoT interactions such as manufacturing to be substantially different from those control and wearable electronics, will used previously. At this stage test each require vastly different wireless instrumentation is being used both to technology compared with the more generate the air interface waveforms familiar personal communications and to evaluate their performance against applications. However, even for those key design parameters. The softwareuse cases requiring low-bandwidth defined air interface design principle that provision, the sheer volume of applications is being proposed for 5G will allow the being used will place heavy demands on fundamental air interface parameters – network capacity and availability. or even the air interface architecture Validating 5G to support the whole – to be dynamically changed according spectrum of user requirements needs to to the service scenarios. begin at the design phase. By adopting With such a powerful design concept this methodology, it is possible to start the likely scenario is that 3G and 4G air at the ground level and work up, refining interfaces will be included among the processes along the way to understand, many radio access technologies that validate and improve system design and will be used in the 5G system. performance. This ‘design for testing’ Ultimately, the philosophy of ‘testing principle can provide the foundation by design’ will provide the wireless for 5G and the services it will enable, industry with the blueprint to begin ultimately giving the technology a greater developing the coherent technological chance of long-term success. framework needed to support 5G, There are key considerations to be giving the technology an increased chance made for the architecture and different of meeting the high demands expected frequency bands that will be integrated of it. By Dr Li-Ke Huang, Research & into the broader 5G technology framework, Technology Director, Cobham Wireless

From a test point of view, what will be the hardest thing to validate in 5G development? 40 TMNQUARTERLY

Join the conversation

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

FEATURE: MVNES

MVNOs have long been known for their ability to introduce competitive tariffs to markets, and addess market segments the main operators have found hard to reach. But, driven by the capabilities of the MVNEs, some business models are changing.

At first, many MNOs originally decided to build out their MVNE capability in-house, figuring that their own core network and IT capacities could be forked or re-used to provide services to their MVNO customers. But because MNOs have telecom and IT systems designed to support their own brands and processes, this internal MVNE capacity is developed and maintained with a higher level of cost and feature rigidity which has often proved to be incompatible with the MVNO market, both for the MNOs and the MVNOs. The has led to the introduction of a class of provider known as the MVNO Enabler (MVNE) that can sit between the mobile operator and the MVNO. This MVNE provides many of the systems - core network, subscriber management, billing etc etc - to the MVNO. The MVNEs can therefore build dedicated business models for a specific target MVNO: very different to the MNO model.

TMNQUARTERLY 41

FEATURE: MVNES

That model quickly expanded and now, according to analyst Cartesian, MVNOs and MNOs are served by a fragmented market of Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs) ranging from large scale Global Vendors, System Integrators and a large number of small specialist providers and niche players.

O SPECIALIST MVN

ORS GLOBAL VEND

NICHE PLAY

MVNEs in the market The increasing range of services offered by MNOs means that MVNEs must be able to offer a like for like to MVNOs, who otherwise risk being “out-featured”. That in turn means that MVNEs become another candidate customer for companies that are used to selling systems to network operators. For example, MVNOs may want to offer a service like VoWiFi calling, but without the element of developing a whole IMS to control the service. In that case companies like Taqau or New Net can provide services to the MVNE, that in turn enable the MVNO. For example, Teleena has deployed NewNet’s Krypton platform to offer IP communications services for its customers including Voice over WiFi/Voice over IP, SMS over WiFi and IP Chat.

42 TMNQUARTERLY

Taqua’s Virtual Mobile Core (VMC) is a converged 4G mobile core enabling rapid deployment of next-generation mobile voice and messaging services. The VMC converges a number of 3GPP standard functions, including a Telephony Application Server (TAS), IP Short Message Gateway (IP-SM-GW), Service Consistency and Continuity Application Server (SCC-AS), and Media Resource Function (MRF).

That enables VoWiFi and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services utilising an operator’s existing mobile infrastructure without requiring expensive or complicated upgrades. “Mobile operators and MVNOs worldwide are realizing the growing importance of Wi-Fi Calling as a valueadded service that solves real-world coverage issues for incumbents, and provides a fast, cost effective on-ramp to advanced voice and messaging services for new providers,” said Gary Sarson, vice president of business development for Taqua. An MVNE like Teleena offers services ranging from SIM logistics and provisioning, to integration with existing systems for Operational / Business Support (OSS/BSS), the collection of Call Data Records (CDRs), billing and reconciliation. Teleena also offers IoT solutions for MNOs and IoT players, including managed connectivity and billing integration on cellular networks and on LPWA alternatives such as LoRA and Sigfox. Teleena has actually launched its own in-house developed Home Location Register (HLR). Teleena says that benefits of this new software-based HLR include improved scalability and lower operational cost. Teleena will also offer capacity on the new HLR to 3rd parties as a hosted managed solution. This is known as the HLR/HSS as a Service, so called HaaS, model.

The role of the MVNE spans core network, wholesale, BSS and field products and services.

FEATURE: MVNES

“Our HLR platform saves mobile operators, M2M and OEM companies from having to build a complex expensive infrastructure which also requires a high level of expertise. Teleena’s new HLR is already connected to 400+ MNO networks through international signaling integrations, enabling rapid provisioning of multi IMSI’s. Therefore organisations benefit by being able to launch new services in a few weeks.” says Timo Smit, Founder & Executive Director at Teleena. According to Cartesian, other MVNEs are extending their services beyond traditional OSS/BSS platform solutions. THESE INCLUDE: DATA ANALYTICS CAPABILITIES HE INTEGRATION OF OTT T AND WEBRTC SERVICES FRAUD AND REVENUE ASSURANCE OBILE MONEY AND M WALLET SERVICES As they seek to differentiate, MVNEs are also benefitting from the same technical drivers that MNOs are taking advantage of. Cartesian says, “As an example, high levels of virtualisation, pre-integration of solutions and robust planning and deployment frameworks enable MVNOs to reduce the time-to-market to several months from the point of contract sign-off. Removing the need to partition an existing MNO’s platform with an “off the shelf” product removes the need for complex integration and migration of customers.” Whatever, it seems undoubtedly the case that the MVNE platform provider needs to provide as much innovation and differentiation as the range of MVNOs it is supporting demand. That in turn has made the MVNE an increasingly large opportunity for those in the vendor space.

One market has gone even further than a one step relationship between the MNO and the MVNO. In the Netherlands, to overcome fears of enterprises being locked into operators M2M contracts, via the SIM, the government has enabled the birth of the Private Virtual Network Operator (PVNO). These are enterprises that act as their own MVNO. With the new PVNO model, enterprises that have large amounts of SIM cards installed in devices across the country can become operators in their own right escaping the lock-in of long term contracts with a mobile network operator. That means that they can switch to another network without having to replace SIM cards in their devices. The system is operated via a PVNE that sits between the mobile operators and the PVNO. The PVNE holds its own Mobile Network Code - and delivers sub-ranges to the PVNO from within the code. That means that the same network code is in fact available to devices that are attached to networks of different operators for wireless communication between devices and the enterprises’ back-end systems. Essentially the PVNE operates as an ‘HLR Proxy’, connecting the sub-ranges via its MNC to the host network.

The Netherlands’ first PVNE - CGI deploys technology from BroadForward, using its BFX Interface Gateway for handling all the signaling and intelligent routing of M2M traffic based on network codes and sub-codes. The first PVNO in the market is Enexis, a Dutch utility company that has a significant deployed range of M2M devices. Its target is to provide a comprehensive and complete solution to smart meter and secondary substation connectivity in the Netherlands. At this moment, approximately 350,000 Enexis customers have a smart electricity meter and 300,000 customers have a natural gas meter. Gas meters are connected to E-meters through an MBus interface; either wired or wireless. Currently the main communication technology used to connect smart E-meters with the Enexis back-end system is GPRS; meaning that a SIM card is installed in every E-meter. Since SIM cards are owned by the mobile communications provider, Enexis found that it was not possible to switch to another communication provider without exchanging SIM cards. The utility therefore applied for and obtained its own MNC in September 2014. It then executed a tender for a ‘Private Virtual Network Operator’ or PVNO solution (PVNE) that was won by CGI.

Can the Dutch PVNO model be exported to other markets? Join the conversation

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

TMNQUARTERLY 43

FEATURE: MOBILE BACKHAUL

and enha nced MP) coor dina tion inte r-ce ll inte rfer ence whi ch are desi(eIC IC), to impr ove perfo rma nce at gned the cell edge . netw ork

SATELITE

ed mul tip oin t (Co

Cert ain LTE -Ad va nce requ ire phas e sync hron d feat ures also isat ion, such as coo rdi nat

DATA TRAF FIC VOLT E LTE mark et newc omers to the ology There are many ng wire less techn that are pushice high er ons, limi ts to produ for back haul appli cati capa city equip mentaime d at back haul ing many of whic h arefibre is eithe r too costl y smal l cells where

tes wi ll nee d 80 p erc ent of si Bu t by 20 20 ,20 p erc ent of si tes 270 Mb ps a nd Gb ps. Th at ’s a sta gg erinexngt few yea rs. 1 wi ll req ui re r a te o f gr ow th ov er the

O P E RA TO R BA CK HA UL

poten ti ally g o we l l beyond such

network management. Although it’s not yet clear what exactly the primary use cases would be for SDN in backhaul networks,

VOLTE DATA TRAFFIC wireless for mobile backhaul is not about capacity

em s po is ed ne tw or k se d fo r al l, an e ba ck ha ul In de ed , th bo ri ng st at us on ce to ma te d, s au t, en ig ll to sh ed it lp as an in te at w il l he an d em er ge co nt ro ll ed li nk th ear so ft w r be tt er st s. to de li ve at io na l co op er at or s du ce op er re d an se rv ic es

But by 2020, 80 percent 270 Mbps and 20 percent of sites will need will requir e 1 Gbps. That’s ofa sites stagge ring rate of growth over the next few years.. ..

DATA TRAFFIC VOLTE LTE SATELITE

Cert ain LTE -Ad van ced feat requ ire phas e sync hron isat ures also ion, as coo rdi nat ed mul tip oin t such (Co MP) and enha nced inte r-ce ll inte rfer ence coor dina tion (eIC whi ch are desi gnedIC),to impr ove perfo rma nce at the cell edge netw ork .

FEATURE: MOBILE BACKHAUL

BACKHAUL: merely a piece of connective tissue between the beating heart of the core and the active extremities of the limbs, or something more? Michelle Donegan investigates.

ackhaul doesn’t get a lot of love and attention in the mobile network industry. It’s not very glamorous and easily overlooked, yet it is a critical link in determining overall network performance and end user experience. In simplest terms, the backhaul network connects base stations to the mobile core network; mostly via fibre or microwave radio links. It’s tempting to dismiss backhaul as an unsophisticated segment of the network that simply needs more than enough capacity provisioned to meet mobile traffic demands. But that would be wrongheaded, as any backhaul specialist would say. Indeed, the backhaul network seems poised to shed its boring status once and for all, and emerge as an intelligent, automated, software-controlled link that will help operators to deliver better services and reduce operational costs. At least, that’s the vision that mobile operators have for the backhaul network. But to understand how backhaul networks are evolving to meet that ideal scenario, it’s important to look at changes in the radio access network (RAN) that are coming down the pipe (literally) and creating new requirements for backhaul. Ever-increasing mobile data traffic, new services such as VoLTE and LTE Broadcast, evolving small cell architectures, LTE-Advanced features, as well as the development of virtualisation and software defined networking

(SDN) all create new opportunities and challenges for mobile operators when it comes to the backhaul network. Altogether, these are huge challenges for backhaul. Mobile operators want to optimise spectrum as much as possible; and to do that they are driving new requirements to the mobile backhaul that are getting harder and harder for any equipment to achieve.

Unquenchable capacity thirst Capacity is a perennial challenge for backhaul networks. If capacity in the backhaul network can’t keep up with traffic demands from the RAN, then end users will start to notice poorer service quality when networks get congested. To provide some idea of capacity growth trends per base station over the next few years, Ericsson estimates that for an advanced mobile broadband operator in 2015 (that is, one that has deployed LTE and is rolling out LTEAdvanced), 80 percent of cell sites require 90 Mbps to the base station while 20 percent of sites need 360 Mbps to the base station. But by 2020, 80 percent of sites will need 270 Mbps and 20 percent of sites will require 1 Gbps. That’s a staggering rate of growth over the next few years. When such high capacity is required, operators inevitably prefer fibre to connect base stations. And the adoption of new architectures like Cloud RAN, where the baseband processing is

by 2020, 80 percent of sites will need 270 Mbps and 20 percent of sites will require 1 Gbps separated and centrally located to serve multiple small cells, also needs fibre fronthaul/backhaul. But fibre can still be cost-prohibitive in many deployment scenarios, which means there will still be substantial investment in current and new wireless backhaul to address new challenges. Ericsson, for one, believes current and future base station capacity demand can be met by wireless backhaul technology, which is evolving to support multi-gigabit speeds in traditional microwave spectrum bands and surpass 10 Gbps speeds in higher millimetre wave bands. So deciding whether to deploy fibre or wireless for mobile backhaul is not about capacity, but about what an operator already has in the ground and total cost of ownership (TCO), according to the Swedish vendor. There are many newcomers to the market that are pushing wireless technology limits to produce higher capacity equipment for backhaul applications, many of which are aimed at backhauling small cells where fibre is either too costly or will take too long to deploy relative to the mobile operator’s time-to-market plan. A good example is startup Kumu Networks, which has developed self-interference cancellation technology that will enable full-duplex wireless to effectively double spectral efficiency.

TMNQUARTERLY 45

FEATURE: MOBILE BACKHAUL

Some vendors have introduced self-organising network (SON) features to wireless backhaul that can reduce deployment complexity and costs, which have been significant impediments to outdoor small cell rollouts. One such company is UK-based CCS (Cambridge Communication System), which has a multipoint-to-multipoint wireless backhaul system called Metnet that operates in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz frequency bands and automatically configures itself. Each node in the CCS system can deliver up to 480 Mbps and the company is working on a 1 Gbps system that’s due to be released later in 2016. Other backhaul startups, as well as established vendors, are looking to exploit higher frequency millimetre wave spectrum (60 GHz and above) to meet the capacity and deployment challenges of small cells. These include AOptix, Fastback Networks (which merged with Sub10 Systems last year), BridgeWave, Siklu, Mimotech, as well as Dragonwave and Ceragon.

New services, new backhaul challenges In addition to punishing capacity requirements and challenging small cell architectures, some LTE services and LTE-Advanced features are also adding complexity to the backhaul network. One of these is LTE Broadcast, which is based on the 3GPP eMBMS (evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) standard. The technology is designed to enable mobile operators to deliver a variety of content, from video to software updates, in a more efficient way than previous mobile broadcast technologies by using a multicast method. It’s not widely deployed today, but there appears to be momentum among operators to evaluate the business case for the service. But LTE Broadcast requires very

46 TMNQUARTERLY

stringent synchronisation to prevent video service disruption, which is one of the most difficult new requirements that backhaul equipment vendors face today. The service requires what’s called phase synchronisation, which has much tighter requirements and is more difficult to engineer than frequency synchronisation that most mobile operators currently employ. Certain LTE-Advanced features also require phase synchronisation, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) and enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC), which are designed to improve network performance at the cell edge. Meanwhile, services like VoLTE introduce tougher latency requirements in backhaul networks. That means VoLTE traffic will need a higher priority in the network than other LTE traffic to ensure low latency and good voice call quality. Such traffic prioritisation is a relatively new challenge for the backhaul network.

SDN on the horizon All of these challenges call for better visibility across the backhaul network so that traffic is routed and network resources are used in the best possible way. But that’s not an easy feat, since the backhaul network is made of disparate wireless, fibre and even xDSL network segments from many different vendors. Ideally, mobile backhaul networks should be able to adapt automatically to changing traffic patterns in the RAN, just as the RAN should also be able to direct traffic based on known conditions in the backhaul network. Ericsson calls this “service-oriented backhaul” or radio-transport integration,

which essentially is a network management technique that lets the radio network know what’s happening in the backhaul and informs the backhaul about radio network conditions. But SDN applied to backhaul networks can potentially go well beyond such network management. Although it’s not yet clear what exactly the primary use cases would be for SDN in backhaul networks, amongst the things that SDN can potentially enable is visibility across the entire mobile backhaul network so that traffic routing decisions can be controlled automatically in real-time by software (residing in SDN controllers) based on network analytics. In a proof of concept for SDN in backhaul networks, Nokia and Coriant have been demonstrating what they called a “self-aware” mobile backhaul system that could automatically adapt to varying traffic demands. The concept combines SON with analytics and SDN to show how network resources can be automatically changed and reconfigured based on an analysis of key network performance and quality factors. To achieve such network management nirvana, SDN requires standard interfaces to be agreed and implemented in all vendor equipment in the backhaul network, which is some way off. However, as mobile operators mull the potential of SDN and cope with new backhaul requirements resulting from increasing traffic demand, new LTE services, LTE-Advanced features, and small cell architectures, it seems that the development of backhaul and RAN technologies will become more and more entwined.

Should operators be pushing harder to bring backhaul into overall “smart network” and SDN strategies. Join the conversation

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

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THE WAITING GAME

47 42 Tomorrow and tomorrow. It’s been a case of take a ticket

38 34

and wait your turn for the small cell crowd. Now thoughts are turning to 5G. Surely the wait cannot go on? At a recent event held in London by small cell backhaul hopeful, Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited, the point was made that 5G will, in one way or another rely on small cells. It’s undoubtedly true that to meet throughput and latency demands there will need to be greater spectrum reuse within the lower spectrum ranges, meaning more small cells. Additionally, cmWave and mmWave access technologies will de facto operate on a very dense basis. Added to that, use cases with low latency requirements will 48 TMNQUARTERLY

Forum, released in late 2015 and called (somewhat revealingly, “Crossing the Chasm”) said, “for the first time outside require service logic to be sited close the residential segment, small cells moved to users, which could also mean more from trials and smaller deployments, to small cells. large-scale rollouts, and this process of That’s all very well and good, but does densification will accelerate from 2016 it mean that for outdoor small cells to through to the end of the decade. become mainstream we are now talking But even the SCF is willing to admit that 5G timescales? And even if that is the case, deployments of outdoor small cells (ie it’s still not necessarily good news for the not residential, not enterprise) remains vendors of standalone small cells right limited. Outdoor carrier deployments have now. In 5G “small cells” may not mean accelerated in the second half of 2015 what it means to today. but remain concentrated in the hands of That’s not to say there hasn’t been a relatively small group of operators, with market momentum to date. Of course tens of thousands of units in a few key there has. A report from the Small Cell projects (over 84,000, up almost fourfold

FEATURE: SMALL CELLS

Small Cell Shipments (millions)

Small cell shipments forecasts Small Cell Shipments (millions)

from just 22,000 in 2014). The forecast for 2020 is to hit over 667,000 units. In other words, although there were a little over 100,000 outdoor small cells deployed, cumulatively, in all of 2014 and 2015, by 2020 there will be two thirds of a million small cells rolled out. Verizon, Vodafone, EE, SK Telecom, Telcel, Reliance and Sprint are among those which now have large-scale commercial deployments underway. Mobile Experts has started seeing cases where outdoor small cells are used as the primary coverage strategy, rather than to fill holes in an existing macro. This has created a few large deployments in the range of 30,00040,000 units. Calculations by Rethink Technology Research, based on a survey of the deployment intentions of about 100 MNOs, found that the shift towards higher density deployments will accelerate sharply from late 2016.

0 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 2017 2017 2018 2018 2019 2019 2020 2020

Small cell shipments 2013 to 2020 (including low power radiohead units) Source: Mobile Experts Residential + SOH Residential + SOH

Enterprise Enterprise

That mention of key operators refers to the likes of AT&T and Verizon. Another to recently enter the fray is Reliance Jio. Speaking to a crowd at the Small Cell Americas conference, Reliance Jio Senior VP of Wireless networks, Tareq Amin outlined Reliance Jio’s network plans, which include what he called the “largest small cell deployment… happening in the world.” The ambitious plan includes more than 100,000 macro sites, 150,000 small cell, 500,000+ Wi-Fi access points and more than 234,000 kilometres of fibre to be deployed in the next three years. Amin also said the company’s goal is to have more LTE subscribers than all of the US telcos combined in the next two years. All of this comes with no legacy infrastructure in place. Amin says while this comes with its challenges,

UrbanUrban

RuralRural + Remote + Remote

it is actually a blessing in that Jio can concentrate fully on LTE without having to worry about backward compatibility. What is interesting, and it is something that should be of concern for the large number of vendors who offer planning, fulfilment and installation workflow solutions, many of them specifically designed to automate the process of large small cell deployments, is that Reliance Jio is using its own tools and platforms to manage the rollout. It’s notable that AT&T, perhaps the best known T1 operator with an existing small cell deployment plan, also went down the same route for its planning and optimisation, designing its own HetNet management system. Some more mundane problems remain. At the CBNL event, speakers from EE and Telefonica both highlighted the fact that there are still barriers to small cells rollouts due to site approvals. Cities don’t necessarily like the idea of a free for all on the streets, with lamp-posts, building walls, bus stops and ex phone booths all included. The challenges, then, which are most likely to affect the timeline for deployment in 2016 are quite different, and relate to the issues of deploying at scale – robust SON/automation solutions, integration with other networks such as Wi-Fi, and the TMNQUARTERLY 49

FEATURE: SMALL CELLS

ability to monetise emerged as the three biggest challenges, reflecting an industry that is growing up rapidly. Sprint President and CEO Marcelo Claure made a point to discuss the importance of streamlining the siting process when he visited the FCC on 8 December 2015. During the meeting, Claure talked about the importance of streamlining the siting process to allow more rapid deployment of small cells and network densification. He also noted the delays frequently encountered in certain jurisdictions and encouraged the FCC to consider actions that would speed the siting process nationwide. The filing did not spell out what type of actions might be considered. One way to increase the count of small cells in the market is to count remote radio heads as small cells. For the first time in its reporting for the SCF, Mobile Experts is also including an alternative architecture which has started to be deployed in the US in Enterprise and Urban scenarios, notably by Verizon – a low power remote radiohead unit (RRH) without baseband processing, linked to a centralised baseband unit. This category has played a small role in 2015, but will be more significant as the years go by, and is expected to add about 1.1 million units to the 2020 shipments figure. With the inclusion of these RRH units, total shipments are forecast to rise from almost 4.1 million Hyper-dense tokm10.37 million units between 2015 > 150 per sq and 2020. The architecture will evolve Dense - 26-150 small cells over time to support different splits of per sq km the baseband functions between the Medium dense radio and central units. 4.25 small cells per sq km The SCF is leading the work at where the splits will be, Non-denselooking 1.3 small cells per sq km which essentially means how far down in the stack virtualisation 100 will proceed. For some it is hard to get their heads round the idea of a virtualised baseband supporting

clusters of remote radios “Indoor DNS will grow to 12,000 as a small cell. But the SCF locations and 133,000 nodes by 2020,” says that it has developed the know how to support the said Ganzi. “Indoor will continue to deployment of small scale outpace outdoor through 2017.” endpoints into the market the tower industry was in its heyday,” whether that be in a standalone or he said. RRH architecture. “A lot of real estate needs to be Another aspect is the distributed antenna acquired,” Ganzi said. “A lot of property market: wireless investors now refer to owners are going to have their doors DAS as DNS, or distributed network services. Marc Ganzi, CEO of Digital Bridge, knocked on.” To conclude then. Outdoor small cell an investor in wireless infrastructure, told deployments are on the cusp, although a recent conference that there are 74,000 logistical and commercial concerns still active nodes in the US. remain. Meanwhile, the discussion of “The biggest self-performer is AT&T with just what a small cell is - standalone, 10,000 nodes,” says Ganzi. He said that RRH, virtualised, DAS - may blur the the carriers will spend more on indoor lines on what constitutes the small cell DAS than outdoor for the next two years. market. One irony is that the endgame Ganzi said 270,000 total nodes are for small cells seems to be a world in needed indoors and outdoors to support which the meaning of the term small the demand for mobile data. “That’s a cells itself becomes less certain. much faster growth trajectory than when

Are we ever going to see mass outdoor small cell deployments, or will other architectures intervene? Join the conversation

#tmntalkingpoint // Contact: talkingpoint@the-mobile-network.com

Increasing densification of small cell deployments 2020 2020

Hyper-dense Hyper-dense- 150per persqsqkm km > >150

2019 2019

Dense Dense- 26-150 - 26-150 small smallcells cells per persqsqkm km

2018 2018 2017 2017

Medium Mediumdense dense- 4.25 4.25small smallcells cells per persqsqkm km

2016 2016 2015 2015 2014 2014

Non-dense Non-dense- 1.3 1.3small smallcells cells per persqsqkm km

2013 2013 00

2020

4040

6060

8080

100 100

Percentage Percentageofofsmall smallcells cellsdeployed deployedininvarious variouslevels levelsofofdensity density2013 2013- -2020 2020

Small cell shipments 2013 to 2020 (including low power radiohead units) SCF: “Crossing the Chasm”, November 2015

50 TMNQUARTERLY

COUNTRY PROFILE: SPAIN

Spain’s market was buffeted by the company’s macro economic crisis, and is known globally for the eye-catching collapse of its SMS traffic. But with Telefonica to the forefront of new technical developments, and a surprisingly varied mobile network tech sector, there is more to Spain’s mobile

ollowing the economic crash in 2008, Spain was one of the countries that suffered greatly from the debt and Euro crisis. That created depressed economic conditions, some which such as youth unemployment, that remain to this day. Spain was one of the first markets to witness a collapse in the volumes of a core service - SMS - where volumes dropped off from the end of 2008 as free messaging alternatives took over. Due to the profitability of text messaging, that was a near direct hit to the operators’ bottom lines. In 2012 SMS revenues fell by 60% to about €171 million. And the industry was still contracting: Telefonica saw its overall mobile revenues fall 13%, Vodafone saw revenues fall by just under 10% and SMS volumes fall by a further 70%.

OPERATORS SUBSCRIBERS

market than meets the eye.

TMNQUARTERLY 51

COUNTRY PROFILE: SPAIN

Yet today that decline has stabilised somewhat. Vodafone reported revenues down 1.3 percent to EUR 1.26 billion in its fiscal third quarter to December 2015, following falls of 2 percent and 5.5 percent in the previous two quarters. Although ARPU continued to drop to EUR16.60 from EUR 17.30 in the previous quarter Vodafone pointed out that its mobile customer base actually grew, with contract customers now representing 78.3 percent of the base. In addition its 4G coverage reached

86 percent of the Spanish population by the end of Q3, covering over 2,100 municipalities, with the number of 4G customers growing to 4.8 million. The operator also commenced the rollout of 800 MHz spectrum. Orange was another operator to show LTE growth, with 4.5 million LTE customers at 30 September 2015 (+1.0 million in the 3rd quarter). Orange claims its 4G coverage is now at over 80% by population - similar to Vodafone’s coverage.

FIXED MOBILE CONVERGENCE One other notable similarity between the operators has been the boost in fixed line and fibre revenues. This is a result of the major structural change in Spain’s communications market in recent years, with the two formerly mobile-only operators becoming fixed-mobile players, challenging the incumbent for converged service revenues. Vodafone’s acquisition of ONO, and the launch of its Vodafone One service, and Orange’s acquisition of Jazztel have given both companies a new dimension, leveraging a joint fibre network build project between the two companies. Vodafone posted a 12.7 percent increase in the last three months of 2015, compared to Q4 2014, thanks its Vodafone One converged service, which now has over 1.1 million subscribers, having increased by 360,000 in the quarter. The company’s high-speed broadband service now reaches 8.2 million Spanish households thanks to its joint fibre network build with Orange. Orange’s latest results also show fibre grew rapidly, supported by the strategy to migrate Orange customers to the Jazztel fibre network: there were 142,000 net additions in fibre in the 3rd quarter 2015 for a total customer base of 563,000.

SPECTRUM CHANGE-UP A knock-on effect of this structural change has been the nascent introduction of new players into the mobile market. Aire Networks, which operates under the Ion Mobile brand, acquired licences in the 2.6 GHz band freed up by Orange as a condition of its merger with Jazztel. Aire Networks now extends its presence beyond the regions of Extremadura and Valencia to roll out 4G services in Andalucia, Aragon, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and Castilla-Leon. Vodafone’s ONO also had to release some 2.6GHz band freed up as a result of its merger, with results of an auction due in March 2016. Fourth player Yoigo and MasMovil may still bid for spectrum in the 2.6 GHz freed up following Vodafone Spain’s acquisition of Ono in July 2014. Yoigo, which has perenially been unable to break through from its low user base, could do with the spectrum. It recently announced it will invest €25 million in the expansion of its 4G mobile network with the goal of covering 80 per cent of the Spanish population in May 2016.

52 TMNQUARTERLY

TELEFONICA’S GLOBAL PRESENCE Through all the strife, Telefonica has retained a global presence and a high profile in the emerging next generation networks space. Its Unica project gained global attention for its marketleading deployment of pilot SDN and NFV technology in the network. Its selection of HPE for the first phase of the project raised eyebrows, as it was a non-traditional telco NEP. Reports have recently appeared that the operator is now seeking to work with a different provider for the next phase. Huawei, which has had an optical SDN project live with Telefonica in South America for two years, will be hoping to extend its presence within the group. Telefonica is also investing in 5G development, opening a dedicated laboratory in Madrid in 2015, and taking part in European level R&D programmes. The centre, called 5TONIC, was developed with the backing of IMDEA Networks and the companies want it to be a place where actual real world, pragmatic tests can be undertaken. 5TONIC will comprise two main areas: a unit dealing with virtualisation software for 5G networks (5G Virtual Software Network) and one looking at the 5G wireless systems area. Telefonica’s impetus remains important to a country’s tech sector that may surprise some in its diversity. The page opposite shows only those active in some way in mobile and wireless network technology. There are dozens more companies exhibiting at Mobile World Congress from the mobile sector as a whole. Although Spain may have a troubled recent mobile past, there are plenty working on its future.

COUNTRY PROFILE: SPAIN

Network Architectures, Security and Mobility, Video, IPTV and Collaboration, Virtualisation and Datacenter

Monitoring Systems Development, Supervision, Consulting and Administration, Network Visibility Solutions

www.acuntia.es/en

www.ayscom.com

www.altiria.com

Cibersecurity, Communications, Systems, Energy efficiency

Communication infrastructures, cellular repeaters, positioning systems, telemetry, AVL systems

Telecom and Aeronatical Infrastructure systems, Wireless Remote Satellite Line-up, Carrier Monitoring

MMS and SMS Gateway, mobile marketing, mobile web development, Apps development

www.grupocys.com

www.integrasys-sa.com

Digital urban furniture for tourist, public chargers and wifi

Wireless infrastructure, Engineering and Consultancy, Audiovisual Contents

Apps development, monitoring and performance optimisation, Security

www.iurban.es

www.landatel.com

www.nextret.net

Building automatisation, IoT, energy management

Wireless software and solutions, Small Cell Management, LTE protocol stack software

Telecom products development, HSS/HLR system

www.sensingcontrol.com

www.sistelbanda.es

www.summanetworks.com

Research, design and manufacturing of telephony antennas, fiber optic cable and optic broadband equipment

Wireless sensors, smart cities, IoT and monitoring

SmartHome, energy efficiency and security

www.telnet-ri.es

www.tst-sistemas.es

www.factum-it.es

iUrban

www.wattio.com

TMNQUARTERLY 53

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TMNQUARTERLY 55

MWC 2016 | HALL 6, STAND 6G31