Eric Mauskopf, Business Development, YouTube

Eric Mauskopf, Business Development, YouTube is delivering the opening keynote on Day Two of the Broadband LATAM conference, taking place on 2 – 3 July 2013 at the Grand Hyatt, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ahead of the show we speak to him about his role at YouTube, what he’s working on right now and what YouTube plans are for future growth.

First up, what excites you most about your role at YouTube?

I was fortunate to join YouTube at the beginning of our mobile efforts, when we were working with operators to bring video to phones. We did not lack for sceptics, but we worked hard and delivered an engaging video experience that users could enjoy at home or on the go. People watch more than 25 per cent of all YouTube videos on their mobile device, and this number keeps growing. YouTube’s device partnerships will be a catalyst for even more users to experience YouTube in the years to come.

I believe we are playing a key role in changing how the world is informed and entertained. With more than seven billion people on earth, only two billion have ever accessed the internet, and only one billion have smartphones. Our device efforts are the likely means of reaching those people who have not yet had access to internet services. As the past years have shown us, once you give people access to information and commerce, they innovate in ways we could not have expected and end up changing the world.

What’s the tech gadget that you can’t live without at the moment?

My smartphone has become an integral part of my everyday life but I think the real question for me is what apps can’t I live without? There are probably ten apps I depend upon throughout the week. One of my favourite new apps is “Get It Now”, which matches customers who’d like to have an item delivered with couriers and bike messengers who have the free capacity to deliver this item. I tend to use it for delivering food from my favourite San Francisco restaurants that haven’t arranged their own delivery service.

What cool new things are you working on right now?

Over the past year, I helped incubate a new business focused on cross platform multi-screen experiences, the YouTube app on your smartphone or tablet can automatically pair with the YouTube experience on your SmartTV. This enables seamless sharing of content through our “send to TV” feature, selecting videos on your mobile screen that you’d like to view on your connected TV screen, while using your mobile screen for command and control or queuing up the next video to watch.

Where are the most promising opportunities for growth for YouTube in the next couple of years?

The majority of my attention is focused on leading our emerging market device partnership efforts, where a tremendous number of users are coming online for the first time, and primarily doing so on mobile devices.  Working with operators and device manufacturers to enable a good YouTube experience from day one of a user’s internet exposure is key to this mission. With 72 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, content discovery is of utmost importance. Depending on the region and language, different YouTube content will be more relevant to those users. Whether it’s a feature phone, smartphone, tablet, or connected TV, we want to surface the content users’ care most about to the screen closest to their eyes.

YouTube has increased its focus on monetising content in recent years? Would you explore models that would remove in-video advertising for consumers?

Today, there are more than one million channels generating advertising revenue on YouTube. Our goal is to give video creators more flexibility to monetise and distribute their content to reach the fan communities that made their channels a hit, including our recently announced plans for a self-service subscription model.

My TV, Blu-ray player, console and phone are all from different manufacturers but all have custom YouTube interfaces. Why are all of these necessary?

The TV is often the largest and most beautiful screen in the home for enjoying videos. Regardless of your brand of TV, game console, or phone, you should be able to enjoy YouTube on any device without having to re-learn how to use the application for that specific device. That’s simply not the case at the moment. With new features like our “send to TV” that automatically pair your phone and your TV, and efforts with partners to improve latency and performance, we are actively working to simplify the experience across the device ecosystem.

Pierre François Dubois, VP product development, Technocentre, Orange, France

Pierre François Dubois, VP product development, Technocentre, Orange, France is speaking on ‘Maximising the benefits of LTE with RCS’ on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how RCS will both benefit consumers and help to maximise operator revenue.

Your talk is on maximising the benefits of RCS and VoLTE for the customer. However, consumers already have effective voice and OTT apps. Can you highlight what the benefits of using these will be?

There are three key benefits for customers. Firstly, RCS will be adopted by all mobile operators, which means that everyone’s friends will have access to a rich and reliable set of services. They will not need to be invited and then download an app – it will just be there. Secondly, RCS also provides a fantastic eco-system for app developers, as well as providing them a massive audience for their apps and services. Customers will therefore be able to enhance their lives with all sorts of fun and productivity applications with real-time sharing. Thirdly, VoLTE completes the picture by transferring voice communications to IP thus ensuring that all the RCS sharing and communications features can be done simultaneously with voice and video calls, and all at Telco quality. The combination of RCS, LTE and VoLTE means that customers will have no reason to go elsewhere for the social or business communications.

How can operators make best use of RCS services to increase revenues?

Market research tells us that customers are happy to buy extra data bundles for services which add value to their lives. This is what we already do with specific applications like Deezer or Orange consumer cloud. Mobile data usage will therefore drive revenues in the future. With this objective in mind, RCS provides a core set of IP based communication services and APIs that are designed to stimulate data usage and this is why RCS APIs are important for our future. For example, video applications can leverage these APIs for the benefits of both parties. Social networks can also contribute to this objective, but I believe MNOs must have their own growth engine to better control their business model.

Will VoLTE be an upsell to consumers or will it just be a transparent service for consumers with a transition that occurs in the background.

VoLTE will simply replace circuit switched voice and, whilst it certainly brings a better experience, I don’t believe it will be an upsell to consumers. VoIP and RCS over LTE together will provide a great customer experience with many added-value applications and together drive data usage and revenues.

What do you think will be the most critical development in LTE over the next six to 12 months?

I think that until recently, most MNOs have worked on RCS, LTE and VoLTE projects with different timelines. Nevertheless we need to anticipate, not only technically, the fact that we are migrating to IP communications. I foresee two important challenges:

• RCS over LTE with seamless switching  and continuity of sessions when switching between 4G/3G/Wifi/2G
• Convergence between RCS and VoLTE as a consistent service platform. Orange strongly supports the initiative launched recently by the GSMA to address this point.

Please tell me why coming to the LTE World Summit is so important for yourself and for Orange and why it’s a great event.

LTE is a true revolution for our industry. It is always difficult to guess what will come out of a revolution and in our case a lot of uncertainties remain for the future of our business model. I think this event is a unique opportunity to share possible scenarios both on technical and marketing aspects with experts in our industry. As it takes place in Europe, where competition is very fierce, I expect the presentation and the debates to help us better shape the future.

Michele Zarri, head of international standardisation and IP management, Deutsche Telekom, UK

Michele Zarri, head of international standardisation and IP management, Deutsche Telekom, UK, is speaking on VoLTE vs OTT Voice on Day Two of the LTE World Summit, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Speaking ahead of the show, Zarri explains why he feels the operator provided voice services will still offer benefits to consumers over OTT VoIP applications.

What is your timeline for VoLTE and what benefits will it bring?

Early versions of VoLTE have already been launched in some markets such as Korea and Hong Kong. Operators are currently focussing on deploying LTE, but deployment of IMS platforms, accelerated by the desire to launch Joyn, is taking place simultaneously. Additionally, given the availability of devices compliant to the GSMA’s IR.92 standard, expected during the course of 2013, there is no technical impediment to launching VoLTE. As a consequence I expect to see commercial services rolled out by the end of this year (2013) in most developed markets with international roaming launched within two years after that.

From an operator point of view, the main benefit of VoLTE is being able to provide the voice service natively over the packet switched access, while avoiding disruption to back-office processes. This removes the last constraint justifying the running of circuit-switched networks; therefore achieving the objective of moving fully to the more efficient packet-switched access.

What appeal will VoLTE have to consumers over and above their favourite OTT apps?

Today customers are already replacing the mobile operators offered voice service with their favourite OTT application. The reasons why OTT apps have not been adopted in large scale therefore is not the availability of broadband mobile access, but due rather to the benefits offered by operator-supplied voice. Such advantages will not be lost in the migration to VoLTE. What I am thinking of is reach (call and be called by anyone), security (a trusted relationship with the operator and strong encryption), privacy (user data is safe with an operator), familiar interface (voice client is natively integrated in the handset), seamless user experience (use of phone numbers, set of supplementary services), predictability (well-known charging scheme) and, last but not least, quality, as the network is configured to prioritise voice traffic over other types of traffic.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Will VoLTE sound significantly better than current voice calls?

Calls between two VoLTE users will use the HD voice codec, resulting in a far superior experience. In fact HD Voice is already available over 3G networks, therefore in time the vast majority of the mobile to mobile calls will enjoy the benefits of such a codec. Fast forwarding a few years, as IMS allows the device of the caller and of the called party to negotiate the codec used, it is imaginable that new and more powerful codecs will be introduced and used for Voice over IMS calls.

Why was VoLTE not baked into LTE from initial launch of the technology?

The goal of 3GPP when developing LTE was primarily to create a radio technology that could meet the IMT‑advanced requirements issued by ITU, therefore the service layer was not in focus. Furthermore, in 2008, when the LTE specifications were released, IMS was already a three-year old technology and earmarked as the means to create voice services over a packet switched access. In fact, you will notice that no service except connectivity was, to use your expression, baked into LTE, though the low-latency target and support for guaranteed bit-rate were evidently tailored for the support of voice and other multimedia services.

Is any kind of VoLTE launch practical without SRVCC widely implemented?  (In a network without SRVCC implemented, please explain what happens when a VoLTE call is made to a handset that goes out of LTE coverage?)

Indeed SRVCC will be important functionality in the early days of VoLTE due to the expected patchy LTE coverage. However, when operators start rolling out voice over HSPA, which has also been profiled in GSMA, the occurrence of SRVCC events will become much less frequent, since the far more efficient packet switched handover will be used instead to move from LTE to 3G. Other positive aspects are that field tests by Deutsche Telekom have shown that the predicted long interruption of the service in case of SRVCC have been overestimated.

As a VoLTE call would fail when the handset goes out of coverage, operators are unlikely to deploy VoLTE until SRVCC is available and will instead rely on CS Fallback, whereby the handset moves to a legacy access technology prior setting up a call.

Do you believe that RCS services can genuinely help the industry compete with OTT?

Contrary to this widespread misconception, competing with OTT is not the goal of Deutsche Telekom. Arrogant as it may sound, Deutsche Telekom will not lower its standards to those of some of the OTT offers currently available to consumers. The goal of RCSe is instead to offer an integrated and secure service for which there is demand in the market, adding all the benefits described above for VoLTE as well as other specific ones. RCS will also show that even traditional mobile operators can offer innovative services. For example, Joyn is a product based on the RCS-e standard and provided by the mobile operator community. The next version of RCS will be fully supported by IMS, bringing additional benefits for the consumer.

Rogerio Takayanagi is CEO of TIM Fiber, Brasil

Rogerio Takayanagi, CEO of TIM Fiber, Brazil, is speaking on Day One of the Broadband LATAM conference taking place on 2-3 July 2013 at the Grand Hyatt, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how Brazil’s broadband infrastructure is developing at a pace and how TIM Brasil is readying itself for the rapid expansion of demand for data in the country in time for the World Cup and Olympics.

The world’s eyes will be on Brazil in time for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. What are you doing to get your networks ready for the data onslaught?

TIM has been constantly investing in its network improvement. Intelig’s acquisition in 2009 and AES’ in 2011 gave us more than 20,000Km of fibre in Brazilian territory, generating a network with more strength and resilience and a company with clear priorities. By the end of 2015 we’ll have near 80 per cent of the urban population covered with 3G, in addition to the LTE service we will launch in 2013, covering the 12 World Cup cities. The total amount invested in infrastructure will be above BRL10bn in the next two years. I believe that despite the data peak, TIM customer’s and our visitors will have a great experience during the events.

Brazil has not enjoyed the fastest broadband speeds up to now. How are you going about improving this and what technologies are you currently rolling out?

Despite the low average speed in Brazil, the market for higher speed is growing, and we’re playing an important role on this process. Our value proposition with Live TIM is centred exactly on delivering an ultra-broadband experience, offering 35Mb as the entrance speed.

We have an innovative and disruptive network architecture (FTTC), which is a hybrid solution between fibre and VDSL, instead of mainstream FTTH. It drives expansion complexity down and has a relatively low CAPEX. This is a central pillar in Live TIM’s strategy, as it not only optimises the deployment process but also home passed costs.

How are you going about making broadband more affordable for the general population?

We can offer more speed for less due to our network architecture (FTTC), which enables a high quality product at a very competitive price. Our offer is unique in the market, as we have ultra-broadband solo, with no bundles, such as Pay TV or fixed-line and no fidelity contract or fines. This is a major difference in a market dominated by bundling offers.

Regarding our geographic expansion, in 2012 we covered most areas with high ‘A/B classes’ concentration. In 2013 we have entered Class C and in 2014 we plan to focus on Class C concentration areas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

What are your plans around 4G?

We plan to launch the service this year in six cities hosting the Confederations Cup, and over the course of the year, all the 12 cities of the FIFA World Cup 2014, sticking to Anatel’s (The Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications) minimum coverage requirements.

How important is wifi offload to your rollout plans?

Wi-Fi offloading has gained significant relevance, delivering great cost and performance benefits to operators, as well as superior customer experience. We believe wifi offload for 3G is essential as data traffic and users increase, driving convenience and faster speeds usage, that’s why it’s part of TIM group strategy to improve customer satisfaction. It is a customer driven strategy.

Many of the larger operators have either deployed their own wifi hotspots or established partnerships with wifi access wholesalers, and hybrid networks are an important wave of the next years. So TIM Fiber rollout is part of this strategy, as our network helps developing spots in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro metropolitan areas. It maximizes TIM investments as the infrastructure is used both for mobile and broadband services.

What opportunities do the new cloud services provide for operators?

With SME cloud services telcos have been in a tricky position due to strong competition from IT service providers, OTTs and vendors. However, cloud services and ultra-broadband bandwidth are highly related and can help telcos to be more competitive, as it enables operators to offer a complete solution to its customers in all segments through cloud aggregation.

The operators could and should play a key role in offering end-to-end cloud solutions to the business market, as SaaS services to connected companies. On the other hand, in the consumer segment, cloud gaming and cloud storage are upcoming services experiencing a burst of growth.

What impact will improved broadband and mobile speeds have on the economy?

The impacts are difficult to measure, but easy to sense. More speed leads to a large number of possibilities and potential uses, and this boosts the economy. New services based on the faster infrastructure, new applications and new systems generate more employment that in turn generates fresh demands for services. It is a cyclical movement that benefits everyone.

What is the most exciting development you expect to see in broadband over the next 12 months?

The most exciting development will be the experience of video and the development of new video services.  There’s already a strong demand for online video, and OTT is becoming an attractive option for customers, so we believe that HD streaming of videos and films are just a small sample of the huge opportunity that will come from this segment. Additionally, operators have the chance to integrate bandwidth to content delivery and this advantage will then guide the creation of new products that will disrupt the market.

Takehiro Nakamura, director of radio access network development for NTT Docomo, Japan

Takehiro Nakamura, director of radio access network development for NTT Docomo, Japan is speaking in ‘The Future of LTE’ track on Day Two of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we learn about how NTT Docomo is taking a lead in the development of LTE, with many of its home-grown technologies forming part of the latest 3GPP LTE standards.

When will you start trialling carrier aggregation and will you introduce it before the rest of LTE-Advanced’s other features?

Docomo has started to develop base stations utilising our own technology — advanced Centralized RAN (C-RAN) architecture for LTE-Advanced. These high-capacity base stations are capable of carrier aggregation and HetNet/eICIC, which will make them ideal for high-traffic areas such as train stations and large commercial facilities. These will be available around 2015.

Will the RAN enhancements that you’re planning for LTE Advanced also need improvements in backhaul?

Optical backhaul has been put to good use in urban and suburban area of Japan already and these will also be used for our high-capacity base stations. However, improvements in backhaul will be essential to meet the increasing requirements of the market in the future.

How are your plans progressing around VoLTE and RCS?

Commercial VoLTE service is under development at NTT Docomo, but no clear deployment plan has yet been decided.

How advanced are your small cells plans and what’s your strategy for integrating them into your network?

Our advanced C-RAN architecture will enable small cells (so-called “add-on cells”) for localised coverage to cooperate with macro cells that provide wider area coverage. This will be achieved with carrier aggregation technology, one of the main LTE-Advanced technologies standardised by the 3GPP. The add-on cells will significantly increase throughput and system capacity, while maintaining mobility performance provided by the macro cell. These add-on cell can be upgraded to improve mobility performance and other aspects, and these improvements are under standardisation for 3GPP Release 12, using the name “Phantom cell” – a concept proposed by Docomo.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Mock Pak Lum

StarHub is the second placed operator in Singapore, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Mobile penetration in the market is just shy of 160 per cent and four operators (one of which, DNA Comms, is a small iDEN player) are battling in what is, figuratively and literally, a very tight space.

StarHub launched LTE service in refarmed 1800MHz spectrum during the third quarter of 2012 and, while the firm has not released recent subscriber numbers for the service, an estimate from Informa’s WCIS Plus put the number of LTE subscriptions at 1,750 for 1Q13.

Mock already has one eye on LTE Advanced and says that StarHub is keen to get as much spectrum in Singapore’s upcoming auction as possible with a view to implementing carrier aggregation solutions. The Singaporean Government has voiced plans for an auction sometime in the middle of 2013, which will see further 1800MHz spectrum and 2.5GHz spectrum made available to the market’s operators.

“We will try and get as much as we can and we will have to make sure we get spectrum in both bands so that, with aggregation later on, we are able to offer a better customer experience,” Mock says.

The firm’s GSM subscriptions are in reasonably steep decline, with Informa estimating the total at 556,300 for end March 2013, down from 701,600 for the same point in 2012. As in other markets, spectrum is a tight commodity, but the time is not yet right to run down the GSM network in order to harvest the spectrum, says Mok Pack Lum, StarHub’s CTO.

“We have not announced any dates for this,” he says, “and we are still monitoring the traffic. There are two categories of users that will continue to need GSM; the people who roam into Singapore from neighbouring countries and the foreign workers who tend to be either labourers or domestic workers and have GSM phones.”

Nonetheless, Mock says, StarHub is keen to migrate customers onto its 3G network. “GSM is still a significant portion of our voice traffic but we’re trying to see how we can move as many people as possible from 2G to 3G so we can free up more of the 1800MHz spectrum for our LTE offerings.”

Given the small size of the Singaporean market, roaming—both inbound and outbound—is a crucial revenue stream for local operators. But there is little urgency around provisioning roaming services for LTE, Mock says. “At this point we are not concerned about LTE roaming. We are talking to our partners about it and we are putting in our diameter infrastructure. But we think that 2G and 3G will remain the most significant source of roaming traffic,” he says.

He adds that StarHub is “engaging IPX providers” for roaming services but that the firm is also considering “other multilateral initiatives”. This may be a reference to South Korean operator SK Telecom, which has made clear its intention to act as an LTE roaming hub for the Asia Pacific region.

Mock is similarly relaxed about VoLTE. For early movers to VoLTE the principal driver has been the need to consolidate to a single network technology. But for StarHub the technology is most interesting for the opportunities it offers in terms of enhanced services, Mock says.

“We are doing some [VoLTE] trials but I don’t know when we will be offering it,” he says. “The question today is which handsets are available. But the ability to combine voice with other IP applications is the most important impetus for us and that is down the line,” he says.

StarHub’s more urgent priority is extending the reach of its LTE network—and in Singapore this isn’t always easy. There are many high rise buildings and “the biggest challenge,” Mock says, “is providing coverage up to the 50^th floor.” Meanwhile all public housing in Singapore must contain a reinforced concrete bomb shelter with very thick walls, which presents a unique penetration problem.

“We’re hoping that, as vendors come up with integrated solutions, hetergenous networks and small cells, it will help solve our problems,” Mock says. StarHub plans to have nationwide outdoor coverage by the end of this year, up from around 60 per cent today.

But LTE is not StarHub’s sole network challenge . There are still coverage obligations to meet for the 3G network—the Singaporean government announced in April that the market’s operators were required to achieve 99 per cent outdoor coverage and 85 per cent indoor coverage and StarHub is awaiting confirmation that it has hit this target. It is in the firm’s interests to do so as it should help encourage users to move across from the GSM network, Mock says.

LTE has been simpler to deploy than 3G, though. Mock says that the most challenging aspect of deployment that the operator faced was refarming the spectrum—a challenge that was mitigated by the fact that the same vendor, Nokia Siemens Networks, supplied both the GSM and LTE networks.

Dependence on vendors is a reality for all operators and Ericsson’s head of LTE recently suggested that single vendor environments will provide better results in heterogenous networks, so does Mock Pak Lum agree? “Without having done any direct tests in this area, I would think that this would be so. Having a single vendor could be a more efficient and elegant way of providing coverage,” he says.

The LTE Asia 2013 event takes place in Singapore, September 18 – 19. For more information click here.

Liverpool FC has deployed a wifi network in the Centenary Stand of its Anfield stadium

Liverpool FC, a team that dominated English football in the 1970s and 1980s, is looking to become a champion of mobile internet service provision.

The club has recently deployed a wifi network in the Centenary Stand of its Anfield stadium, to allow fans an easier and more reliable method to access match information as well as wider online content. Telecoms.com caught up with Andrew Robinson, Liverpool FC’s (LFC) head of digital media and tech, to find out more.

Robinson explains that the club used technology from wifi network specialist Xirrus for the pilot project. Xirrus provided a number of its Wireless Array access points, each of which allows over 1,000 wireless users to connect to its wifi networks. But before they could be deployed it was necessary for LFC to upgrade its core backbone infrastructure.

“The network infrastructure in the stadium was not as up to date as it might be,” Robinson explains. “This is because Liverpool FC has been in a ‘do we or don’t we?’ situation regarding a move to a new stadium. But when we decided to install a wifi network we had to do some work on core infrastructure.”

Robinson said that the network offers full wifi coverage across the centenary stand and the club has built a user experience layer, to promote content the club believes will get fans excited.

“We’ve made the solution quite open from day one, we’re not controlling exactly where people can go, the standard “bad content” locking aside, but we’ve populated the experience layer with match stats, a range of food and drink offers, the ability to tap into social media and the ability to place bets on the game with our partner Paddy Power. The challenge now is to monitor how good the experience is and improve it accordingly.”

Robinson acknowledges that building a wifi network is not the only way to improve fans’ access to the web from the stadium. He reveals that the club has considered capitalising on the existing relationships it has with mobile operators to enhance cellular coverage within the stadium.

“We’ve talked to a range of operators about a range of solutions and we’ve worked with mobile operators all around the world on content distribution,” he says.

“From a network perspective, we looked at the potential to enhance the cellular coverage at the ground as well to provide better voice and data services within the stadium, but there were issues in terms of the dense space within the stadium, the power requirements, other priorities and projects. It’s not something we’ll necessarily rule out.”

Robinson added that wifi was more attractive as the club had been looking to improve data connectivity within the stadium, rather than voice. In addition, offload to wifi should free up capacity on the cellular network, making it easier for fans to use it for core communication services.

Access to the wifi network will initially be free for fans in the Centenary stand, although  this does not necessarily mean the club will not charge for wifi access in the future. In fact, Robinson says the club may build in functionality such as a direct micropayment linked to ticket types.

“If you take video replays as an example, there may be a layer in the service to charge extra for that, and differentiate between general access and restricted access.”

Robinson acknowledges that Xirrus was attractive because it was one of the more cost effective solutions on the market but he adds that another benefit the firm offers is the way the network pushes a lot of the technology to the array itself, meaning the club can minimise cable runs. Robinson explains that as Anfield is not a modern stadium, he faced many challenges with space and complexity. Therefore, the ability to minimise cable runs reduces installation costs.

The club also hopes to drive improvements in its customer relationships. “The beauty of this kind of project is that you can gain benefits in all sorts of areas,” Robinson says. “The starting point is the fans; we get data we didn’t have, particularly from those in the hospitality areas, as we don’t always know who those people are.”

And, even if the wifi remains free of charge to fans, it is hoped that it could drive spend in other areas. “Wifi connectivity could also mean people arriving at the ground earlier and if they arrive earlier, there’s potential that they’ll consume more food and drink, especially as there is an incentive through the special offers within the application layer we’ve created. There’s also exposure for our partners and sponsors, and then there’s future potential with micropayment transactions.”

Perhaps more than anything, though, wifi is just a hygiene factor for today’s sports crowds.“Wifi is increasing becoming commodity – people expect it,” says Robinson. “Not providing wifi is not going to make people stop going to Anfield, but people increasingly just expect these sorts of things, it is just part of their in-venue experience.”

Dr J W Byun, the CTO of SK Telecom

Dr J W Byun, the CTO of SK Telecom, South Korea is speaking on Day One of the LTE World Summit, taking place on 24-26 June 2013 at The RAI, Amsterdam. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how SK Telecom has been able to extend its global lead in LTE and gives some insights into what he sees coming down the line for telecoms.

SK Telecom has a leading LTE deployment and has been one of the first to go live with VoLTE? Why do you think you were able to do so when other operators have not done so?

We were able to achieve nationwide LTE rollout at a rapid pace as Korea is a small but densely populated country. Moreover, Koreans are already used to fast internet speeds and their expectations are getting higher and higher in terms of network speeds and device features/capabilities.

As Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom has developed strong technological capabilities in mobile telecommunications and accumulated extensive knowhow in network operation over the past 29 years. Based on its long-standing partnerships with many telecommunications equipment manufacturers and device makers, SK Telecom was able to maintain its market leadership by developing the most innovative LTE technologies and securing the richest line-up of mobile devices.

After launching Korea’s first LTE service in July 2011, the company saw its LTE subscriber base expand rapidly thanks to its premium service quality and customer care. With the spread of LTE, the company shifted its focus to developing and providing diverse services specially designed to match the needs of LTE users, allowing them to get the most out of the LTE network. In addition, on August 8, 2012, SK Telecom has launched the world’s first nationwide VoLTE service to enable users to experience premium-quality voice services.

Are you also intending to be one of the first to pioneer RCS services and what impact do you think it will have on customers mainly using OTT services?

SK Telecom has already commercialized an RCS service named joyn.T. Launched on 26 December 2012 the number of joyn.T users reached 1.57 million in April, 2013. The strong growth of joyn.T is attributable to the fact that it

1) Enables joyn.T users to send free messages (SMS, MMS) to anyone including those who have not downloaded the joyn.T application.
2) Offers diverse differentiated features such as live video sharing and location sharing.
3) Can become interoperable with RCS services of other mobile carriers throughout the world.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Where are you with LTE Advanced and carrier aggregation in particular?

At Mobile World Congress 2013, SK Telecom showcased Carrier Aggregation using a smartphone for the first time in the world and we plan to commercialize LTE-Advanced by launching Carrier Aggregation (CA) in the second half of this year, using a combined total of 20MHz (from the 800MHz and 1800MHz bands).

However, last year, in July 2012, SK Telecom became the first company in the world to commercialise Multi Carrier (MC) – a technology that enables operators to choose one frequency band from multiple carriers to provide more seamless and reliable LTE services at faster speeds – by building 1.8GHz base stations. Going forward, these MC-capable base stations can be easily turned into CA-capable equipment through software upgrades so as to support LTE-Advanced from the second half of 2013.

Do you believe that RCS services can genuinely help the industry compete with OTT?

RCS service sets itself apart from the traditional OTT offering through its unique features. It provides guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) since it is offered over the managed IP network of the operators and hence is carrier-grade. In addition, it can be grown into a more comprehensive service with the addition of diverse features developed based on the global RCS standards. SK Telecom plans to add attractive features that are combined with communication services, such as HD Voice (VoLTE). Furthermore, as many mobile operators around the world are promoting the development of RCS services based on the same specifications, these services are expected to become a universal service that can be enjoyed by all customers around the world regardless of network and carrier.

Is VoLTE part of your plans and what benefits will it bring both to operators and consumers?

For customers, VoLTE improves voice quality over 3G voice calls by 40 per cent by utilising a wider bandwidth (50~7000Hz) compared to 3G voice calls (300~3400Hz) and Adapted Multi-Rate Wide Band (AMR-WB) codec, which handles 2.2 times wider frequency bandwidth than that of 3G voice calls. Moreover, the call connection time is less than 0.25 to 2.5 seconds, two to 20 times shorter than 3G voice calls. VoLTE also provides seamless conversion between voice and video calls.

Moreover, VoLTE has helped mobile operators strengthen their competitive edge over third-party players, while paving the way for the creation of new and creative all-IP-based business models.

Where do small cells fit into your plans, and what benefits will they bring?

In the LTE-Advanced environment where data traffic is expected to increase dramatically, small cells will become the most crucial part of mobile operators’ strategy. Small cells enable operators to expand network capacity using their existing frequency resources in the most cost-effective manner. SK Telecom has deployed 50,000 femtocells including 3,000 LTE femtocells. To realize the true benefits of small cells, SK Telecom plans to develop and apply cell virtualization technologies such as Super Cell. Super Cell enables mobile operators to use cell virtualisation technologies to enhance network capacity by minimising inter-cell interference, ensure seamless call quality by removing handover, and benefit from cost-efficient operation of networks.

Are there any other key innovations in your network compared to others operators?

SK Telecom’s premium quality LTE service is supported by innovative LTE network technologies like Multi Carrier, LTE femtocells, Downlink CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Point) and SON (Self-Organizing Network), all of which were commercialised by SK Telecom for the first time in the world. The application of these advanced technologies, combined with SK Telecom’s long-established know-how and experience in network operations, is making the company’s networks even stronger, faster and smarter.

The company is also making constant efforts to keep developing core LTE-Advanced technologies to lead the full-fledged opening of the era of LTE-Advanced. It has successfully demonstrated, for the first time in the world, core LTE-Advanced technologies like Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (eICIC), Uplink Cooperative Multi-Point (CoMP), Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Transmission Mode 9 (TM9).

Pricing for LTE is a controversial subject. Are operators getting it right?

LTE operators around the world are introducing many different types of price plans for their LTE subscribers. As for SK Telecom, it is offering a wide variety of LTE price plans in order to meet the diverse needs of customers and to encourage them to experience the advantages of the ultra-fast network in the most convenient and cost-effective manner. They include flat-rate plans, specialised plans for different age groups such as the elderly and teenagers, and optional data-only plans.

For instance, the company’s most recently launched (March 22, 2013) fixed-rate price plan named ‘T&T Sharing’ provides customers with unlimited intra-network voice calls as well as unlimited intra-network and inter-network texting. The company also modified its existing LTE data plans to lower the cost burden on customers by allowing them to add one data-only device to use the same data pool for free.

Moreover, in January 2013, SK Telecom introduced the ‘LTE Data Gift Program’ that allows customers to give their remaining data to other LTE users through a simple process.

How will affordable LTE roaming be achieved?

LTE roaming costs are expected to become as affordable as that of 3G roaming through close partnerships between mobile carriers. This will occur as LTE services spread across the globe. Recently, the members of the Bridge Alliance reached a consensus that LTE auto-roaming takes an important role in the future direction of next-generation roaming services, thus calling for strategic partnerships between carriers around the world.

After launching the world’s first LTE auto roaming service under partnership with Hong Kong’s CSL on June 1, 2012, SK Telecom has launched the service in Singapore by joining hands with M1 (October 1, 2012) and SingTel (March 1, 2013). Recently, SK Telecom has also started the service in the Philippines (April 1, 2013) by partnering with Globe Telecom.

What are the biggest changes you see coming down the line for mobile telecoms?

It has long been their dream of mobile operators to create mobile networks strong and smart enough to provide optimal network quality at all times. In the world of ever-increasing data traffic, they have been making heavy investments in their network infrastructure to prevent worst-case scenarios involving network overload. As a pioneer in the development of the global mobile industry, SK Telecom has already launched and refined its LTE network and is currently moving rapidly towards the era of LTE-Advanced.

Along with its efforts to realise unprecedented network speeds, SK Telecom also plans to promote the development of the Software-Defined Network (SDN) and network virtualisation technologies to make its network more powerful and attractive. SDN and network virtualisation technologies hold great promise for mobile carriers and will have a huge impact on the industry over the next five years. With SDN and virtualization technologies applied to the existing mobile networks, operators will be able to significantly reduce their network investment costs as they can install a number of software services within a single system, and flexibly adjust the amount of resources needed for each of them. Moreover, they will be able to offer optimal network quality for a particular service being used by customers located in a highly-congested area.

Wilgon Berthold Tsibo, CTO, Equateur Telecom, Congo

Wilgon Berthold Tsibo, CTO, Equateur Telecom, Congo is speaking at the LTE Operator Strategies track on Day One of the LTE Africa 2013 conference, taking place on the 9th-10th July 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa. Ahead of the conference we speak to him about the particular challenges Africa is facing as local telcos look for roll-out LTE.

Please give me an overview of Equateur Telecom and tell me more about your customers and the wider MNO market in the Congo.

Congo is a country of four million inhabitants and there are more than 3.8 million mobile phone users; a penetration rate of 95 per cent. The MNO market Congo is composed of four operators : MTN Congo, Airtel Congo, Warid Congo & Equateur Telecom Congo (ETC),  known under the trade name of Azur-Congo. MTN and Airtel enjoy the largest market share (41 per cent and 40 per cent respectively) due to the length of time they have been established in the country – nearly 15 years. Warid, with six years market presence has 11 per cent market share, and finally Azur Congo (ETC) holds eight per cent of the market after three years.

ETC is the fourth mobile operator in Congo Brazzaville and launched in 2010 in two main towns of the country – Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire. ETC has a commercial 2G license at 900 and 1800MHz frequencies and currently ETC is engaged in a deployment to achieve nationwide GSM coverage by the end 2014. We also offers EDGE services.

The customer base is mostly composed of young people, ages between 16 and 29 years old who are addicted to new technologies.

What are the biggest challenges to rolling out LTE in the Congo and the wider continent?

Most of Congo’s networks are 2G networks with some 2.5G services. One operator has started 3.75G services, but success has been limited. The biggest challenges to an LTE roll-out in the Congo will be mastering the equipment swap from 2.5G to 4G. After the swap, the second challenge will be obtaining terminals that are compatible with LTE, in order to make the product accessible to the whole population.

The LTE Africa conference is taking place on the 9^th-10^th July 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa. Click here to download the brochure for the event.

Will LTE act as a fixed-line replacement in Greenfield areas in Africa?

LTE won’t be a fixed-line replacement in Greenfield areas in Africa, but LTE is coming to reinforce the capacity and the diversity of services in Greenfield areas. LTE and fixed-line will keep walking together for a long time, because the availability of terminals constitutes a brake on the African LTE market boom.

What are the challenges around moving from WiMAX?

The challenges around moving from WiMAX to LTE are first and foremost adapting infrastructure to the Long Term Evolution technology and also ensuring the compatibility of terminals for the use of LTE services. Though they are close technologies in terms of development, the major challenges remain terminal availability.

FDD or TD-LTE – what is your technology preference and why?

Our preferred technology is Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD)-LTE because FDD is very good in situations where the uplink and downlink data transmissions are symmetrical (which is not usually the case when using wireless phones). More importantly, when using FDD, the interference between neighbouring Radio Base Stations (RBSs) is lower than when using TDD. Also, the spectral efficiency (which is a function of how well a given spectrum is used by certain access technology) of FDD is greater than TDD.

Are you considering network sharing agreements to lower costs and what are the regulatory issues surrounding this?

The strategy of sharing infrastructure is good as it reduces both CAPEX and OPEX. It reduces CAPEX for new operators entering into the business, because it does not have to raise large amounts of capital for its roll-out and it enables it to cover a large amount of territory through building sharing agreements. In return, the new operator will significantly reduce the OPEX of the site owner (fuel, electricity, maintenance, security, capacity) through its participation in the operational costs of the site. It will also enable the site owner to have a faster return on investment.

What particular challenges does Africa face in terms of backhaul provision?

The particular challenges are the availability of capacity at long distances from sites. Most operators use satellite links to serve remote areas but these links are very expensive and we cannot assure  quality during inclement weather. The emergence of different optical fibre platforms across Africa may be a solution.

How do small cells fit into your strategy?

In our strategy, small cells are a vital for 3G data off-loading, and we will also find also small cells vital for managing LTE Advanced spectrum more efficiently compared to using just macro-cells. The current cell architectures cannot support the exponential growth in demand for data transfer over the long term. The new radical concept of small cell networks can provide a viable solution economically and ecologically.

Ricardo Sanfelice, marketing and products executive director for GVT, Brazil

Ricardo Sanfelice, marketing and products executive director for GVT Brazil, is speaking on Day One of the Broadband LATAM 2013 conference, taking place on 2-3 July 2013 at the Grand Hyatt, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ahead of the show we find out why fibre is such an important focus for the Brazilian telco.

FTTH is clearly the optimal solution performance wise, but is clearly cost prohibitive. Does is make sense to invest in FTTH?

Large companies, such as GVT, have to invest in fibre to achieve a greater geographical footprint. Spreading to new areas using FTTH makes sense as the CAPEX may not be that different from laying the last mile with copper. There are also benefits from a lower OPEX due to lower maintenance cost on the network. Helpfully, GVT’s network architecture has a shorter last mile due as its architecture is based on FTTN (Fibre to the Node), where the fibre reaches the street cabinet near the customer premises. Therefore, the investment needed to migrate from copper to fibre is more affordable for companies such as GVT in comparison to the incumbents. While for GVT the last mile is an average of 400 metres, the incumbents have areas where they would need to replace up to 5km of copper.

What can be done to lower the cost of fibre roll-outs to make them more affordable?

A fibre-based solution is future proof and guarantees a virtually unlimited speed increase for converged services. GVT offers 150Mbps speed in FTTH fibre dedicated to the customer’s home, but it is still an expensive service for the majority of the population. However, GVT’s network topology, consisting of FTTH with GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), including the CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) with integrated optical port, is already the same price as copper solutions. In order to keep control of costs, the company has to choose a suitable 2.5Gbps GPON project with predefined levels of splitters, a careful analysis of potential customers in the area and cost-effective CPE.

How far can copper-based technology be taken performance wise?

Copper and fiber will coexist for many years because it is already possible to reach 100Mbps with copper. But the offer of converged services at very high speeds, such as 300Mbps and IPTV, increases the need for fibre and therefore GVT is prioritising fibre for new investments in network expansion. 

What opportunities do cloud services provide for operators?

Cloud gaming is one of the services with the most potential for retail customers, enabling high quality entertainment for the customer at a low price. Another opportunity in Latin America is the lack of locally operating cloud storage services available and telcos have the infrastructure to provide this for their customers. Additionally, customers tend to use the higher speeds available at home to create their personal clouds, making their content accessible everywhere. Telcos could enhance this through their equipment that is already present in homes. In the corporate market, GVT aims to strengthen its reputation as an IT-based cloud managed service provider that can deliver virtual servers, email services, web hosting and more.

What is the most exciting developments you expect to see in broadband over the next 12 months?

The last few years showed a huge growth in connected devices (i.e. smartphones, tablets). We are engaged in providing access to fast wifi hotspots to improve the internet experience outside the home. This is not just a service for the customer, but is also an opportunity for fixed and mobile operators, where the traffic from mobile can be offloaded to fixed line telcos, unburdening mobile network cells. In the connected home, the fixed broadband connection will become increasingly important as the centre of the converged experience.