This white paper describes the current drivers and demand for telecoms equipment systems integration, and outlines the options for selecting a suitable systems integrator partner.

It finds that many operators are faced with the need for a “right-sized”, independent partner that can act in an end-to-end manner as a systems integrator. It proposes that, if done correctly, systems integration can move from being a “tax” on invested capital to an operator benefit, saving time and money and resulting in more efficient ongoing operations.

To join the Kapsch Webinar “Solving the puzzle of system integration” click here

SMS soon became a core part of mobile operators’ revenues, and an even more important component of their profit line. One analyst estimated that in 2011 SMS had grown to account for 16% of the total mobile revenue generated by Western European operators.

SMS may be said by some to be at the start of a long-term decline, but its importance to operators is still vital, both in terms of brand value and revenue. The competitive landscape means that it is now more vital than ever that operators take steps to protect their assets by investing in two key areas – revenue assurance on SMS interconnect, and spam analysis and prevention. By doing this they will protect their own revenue streams, as well as ensure that their subscribers benefi t from the best user experience.

Mobile operators are moving to a data-centric world. LTE has become the most rapidly deployed cellular network technology in the industry’s history and the demise of circuit switching—while still on the distant horizon—is now in sight.

For many years operators have neglected the development of voice services in favour of expansion and diversification. Failure to drive innovation in voice has allowed over the top (OTT) providers to launch more sophisticated services and threaten operators’ most fundamental offering.

The arrival of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) offers operators the chance to regain some ground through the development of a richer suite of integrated services. Perhaps more importantly, VoLTE is a crucial step towards greater efficiency in the network, both in terms of spectrum management and the number of network technologies operators need to maintain.

This whitepaper will argue that VoLTE creates a significant opportunity for operators, but warns that the evolution from existing voice services will place before them a number of serious challenges.

None of these are insurmountable but operators must seek out and develop the expertise to understand and address these challenges if they are to fully exploit the commercial and technical benefits inherent in VoLTE.

The paper draws on previously unseen data from a survey carried out by Telecoms.com Intelligence into of operators’ attitudes towards VoLTE and their plans for its introduction. There were more than 100 respondents to the survey, representing operators from around the world.

CLICK HERE TO ATTEND THE VoLTE: Why, When and How WEBINAR – 27th March 2013

The question of maximising RoI for operators seeking to expand their businesses—and revenues—has traditionally created significant operational challenges. Fundamental obstacles need to be addressed as these carriers can risk substantial sums of investment capital when moving into new markets and regions. Historically, an inability to collate and leverage relevant, accurate and contemporaneous market and customer data has prevented expanding operators from accurately predicting RoI levels from existing and potential customers.

This failure has, in many cases resulted in a flawed go-to-market strategy with operators building out fibre opportunistically to areas where demand potential was not at its maximum, at the expense of neglecting other pockets of demand where such build outs would be capable of generating faster RoI.

While these challenges remain, these issues are being addressed and the importance of emerging technologies such as GeoAnalytics (GA) are becoming increasing well understood. In a world where services are increasingly
standards-based, operators are waking up to the potential of such approaches to help maximise monetisation of
core assets by allowing them to develop and deploy intelligent and agile go to market strategies that target their
potentially most lucrative prospects.

The rate of global LTE deployments is ramping up dramatically across the globe. In fact new research from Informa Telecoms & Media in conjunction with industry knowledge, reveals that – in terms of perceptions on LTE maturity – the majority of global operators see a “clear need” to launch LTE networks now.

Some two-thirds of survey respondents – which was based on in-depth and extensive interviews with LTE operators as well as a full assessment of the launch strategies of 52 live LTE network operators globally – said the time is right to launch LTE in their markets immediately.

However, while the commercial imperative of 4G deployment is clearly understood, the fundamental packet-switched nature of LTE networks means that the new infrastructures are in many respects architecturally challenging compared to their circuit-switched predecessors and nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of dealing with sudden spikes in signalling traffic. Unfortunately for operators the nature of 4G traffic is characterised by such unpredictable bursts in network signalling traffic, making it imperative that measures are taken in the core network to address and control the effects on end users of these peaks and troughs in demand.

Download your complimentary copy of Leveraging Diameter to control the ‘signalling storm’ and maximise LTE monetisation

In this powerful mobile age, consumers have learned to expect instant gratification.When mobile networks do not have the latest bells and whistles required to support the growing demand for more and faster data traffic, subscribers quickly lose confidence in their mobile operator’s ability to provide network quality and keep up with the times. Mobile operators know what is required to grow and sustain their customer base – to provide data faster and deliver it seamlessly.

The question now is how to leverage current network assets while commissioning next generation technologies to support data demands without exhausting CAPEX and OPEX?

Today’s complex multi-vendor mobile networks include GSM, UMTS, LTE and HetNets (Heterogeneous Networks).  Each mobile network is unique so there is no cookie cutter solution for a “quick fix”.  Network operators proceed with caution to maintain the delicate balance of meeting their customers’ expectations, leveraging network assets, and exceeding network performance goals.

Capacity and coverage maximisation are pivotal elements in supporting our data-driven mobile world. Mobile operators need smart ways to enhance the subscriber experience through capacity maximisation while minimising CAPEX.

We invite you to download a free copy of the  ‘Smart Capacity Management in a HetNet World’ Whitepaper which will review smart ways to maximise network capacity and detail benefits to mobile network operators worldwide.

The range of opportunities for consumers to access video content via IP has exploded over the last couple of years. This has been driven on the one hand by growing bandwidth, the proliferation of new IP-enabled devices including tablets, smartphones and Smart TVs. But it has also been enabled by the entry into the market of a whole range of providers of IP video services – including established pay TV operators as well as commercial and public broadcasters and new OTT aggregators.

IP video service providers have objectives that are many and varied. Some would like to extend the reach of existing services or to provide new functionality to their existing subscribers or users, while others are seeking to compete with existing providers by offering a pure-play OTT service. In a business that is still at such an early stage of growth, the range of monetisation models sometimes seems to be as broad as the number of IP video services available.

In December 2012 we carried out a survey of over 200 industry profesionals into the experiences of providers and potential providers of IP Video services.

This report presents the results of the survey and builds a picture we’ve built of what is actually happening in the world of video services and you’ll gain an understanding of the range and scope of IP video services and the business models underpinning them.

This white paper will show that legacy Point-to-Point (PtP) architectures alone are no longer sufficient to support the modern RAN. That’s not to say, however, that there is no place for such technology in the modern backhaul environment; quite the opposite is true. In order to successfully and efficiently supply the RAN with backhaul, an operator must expect to adopt several technologies, including PtP, and implement them on a case-by-case basis.

While every backhaul technology exhibits distinct advantages, as well as some constraints, none of them can be considered as a ‘catch all’ solution. However, an optimum solution can be achieved by leveraging synergies between two best-of-breed technologies: P2MP and P2P.

The key message to take away from this paper, is that there is no ‘silver bullet’ when it comes to backhaul—operators will have to adopt several technologies, deploying each where most appropriate.

The demand for high bandwidth applications at both the consumer and enterprise level is going through a period of explosive growth; a period that is not expected to end any time soon. Consider a handful of statistics from Cisco’s VNI forecast: Global IP traffic increased eightfold in the last five years and will multiply by a factor of three over the next five. In 2016 global IP networks will deliver 12.5 petabytes of data every five minutes. By the same year there will be three connected devices per capita. As with the deployment of any new technology there are a number of elements that operators need to balance; chief among them cost and performance.

In October 2012, Telecoms.com Intelligence surveyed more than 290 industry players worldwide—including more than 120 network operators, as well as regulators, content providers and software developers—in order to capture the industry’s views on this vital technological development.

This report reveals the results of this survey including an overview of the market in 2012, 100G motivators and price Vs performance.

With smartphones becoming ever more feature rich and data intensive, mobile network operators need to assess whether their network is ‘iPhone 5 ready’. Staying ahead of the next wave of new devices, features, apps and technologies is challenging because innovation doesn’t stay still, traditionally forcing operators to take a reactive approach. However, with a clear understanding of their network readiness, operators can take proactive measures to ensure bandwidth requirements are available and enhance the customer experience, thus minimising churn rates.

The recently released J.D. Power and Associates’ Wireless Smartphone Customers Satisfaction Study revealed that 67 per cent of smartphone users have downloaded social networking applications to their device and spent more than 100 minutes per week using those apps. With this kind of explosion in data demand showing no signs of  abating, it begs the questions – is your network iPhone 5 ready?

This whitepaper examines the processes required to successfully prepare your network pre- and post the iPhone 5 launch. It also reviews the elements that should be considered, tools needed and the impact each will have on your network. A proactive process to ensure network readiness is exactly what is needed to meet your growing network demands and improve your subscribers’ network experience.

Click here to download a FREE copy of this whitepaper >>

The management of the customer experience is becoming increasingly important to mobile operators as they look to streamline their businesses.

Management of the network functions is being outsourced to vendors, while over the top providers and content specialists take leadership of the application and content space. As a result, operators are repositioning themselves primarily as service organisations, and by excelling in the management of customer relationships they can maintain relevance and leverage in the value chain.

But if they are to be successful in this endeavour they will need to make customer service and customer satisfaction absolutely central to their operations in a way that, in many cases, will involve fundamental shifts in corporate mindset.

This whitepaper addresses how operators can implement a three-step strategy to enable them to better tailor their business to customers’ needs.

It is commonly observed that human beings do not use the full capacity of their brains. If this is true then it is deeply frustrating, because we don’t know how to access the untapped reserves.

The mobile network is the brain that controls the cellular services that we all enjoy and, in this industry, we are forever discussing its ‘capacity’. Mostly we talk about how fast this capacity is dwindling or about how urgently it needs to be increased—at significant expense.

This white paper – produced by Telecoms.com and sponsored by Kapsch – argues that many mobile operators are not using the whole of their network capacity, often because they don’t have the time or aren’t being given the right advice—or simply because don’t yet know how. But the knowledge exists and, when applied, it can deliver valuable improvements and efficiencies.

Operators will always have to buy more capacity at some point. But unless they gain access to their existing, untapped resources and are able to see the performance of their entire network, from one end to the other, they will never be able to take advantage of its full potential.

Furthermore, without fully understanding existing resources, operators run the risk that future capex investments will not reap the expected benefits—or may not even actually be necessary.

In terms of deployment, LTE is the fastest growing mobile technology ever. But it is also the most disruptive element to appear since the introduction of WCDMA, bringing with it fundamental changes to the network and telecom provider business model.

Lessons learned from GSM deployment still ring true–the 2G network technology only became a mass market success once interconnection and roaming were in place. By definition of an IP-based technology, global interoperability is critical for LTE’s success but is not yet guaranteed.

Due to the all-IP nature of LTE, the SS7 signalling protocols familiar to operators of circuit switched networks are largely being replaced by a new generation of specifications, including Diameter and other IP protocols. A lack of universal interoperability for roaming is a very real problem; after all the value of a network is directly proportional to its reach.

This whitepaper from iBasis will explore the challenges facing operators when facilitating LTE roaming, and the potential solutions that can be employed to deal with them.

Data traffic demand is growing rapidly in the wake of operator strategies to encourage mobile broadband adoption. As a result, the industry is talking about offload as a solution but one which takes many forms, leaving many operators unsure of which path to take. The business case for Wi-Fi is evolving, and not just for data offload but also voice and messaging, offering an opportunity for the deeper integration of Wi-Fi with the operator’s service portfolio. However, what are the issues and friction points that operators might envisage, and how might they be overcome?

This white paper looks at the preferred solutions for implementing offload on today’s Wi-Fi networks, including WBA/GSMA recommendations and future roadmap for Wi-Fi offload through Hotspot 2.0 and NGH.

Offload specialist Accuris Networks also discusses strategies for players to “get in the game,” by forming partnerships with Wi-Fi operators both domestically and internationally and looks at the necessary steps operators need to take to succeed with Wi-Fi.

Operators around the world are facing tremendous challenges in terms of growth in data traffic, operational efficiency and customer experience. In order to address these demands, further attention and financial investment are being directed to the upgrade of existing network infrastructure-and with peak download speeds of 100Mbps and above being promised, LTE has been widely hailed as the solution to operators’ congestion troubles.

This white paper from AIRCOM International addresses the issues that will be faced by carriers already planning to deploy LTE technology over the next year, as well as any organisation planning to embrace mobile broadband as a principal service offering in the future. The data boom is upon us and anything that can be done to positively impact the future status of the network should be done today.

The Telecom environment is ever changing. Demand for smartphones and tablets continues to increase, more people become more mobile and telecom service providers are under pressure to grow revenue, customers and market share.  

This whitepaper explores the changing landscape for devices and platforms, the evolution of support desk metrics from efficiency measurements to customer satisfaction ratings, and how incorporating remote support tools into a telecommunications organisation can improve the customer experience and increase customer satisfaction.  

Download the ‘Protecting your Customer Base by Ensuring the Best Customer Experience’ whitepaper to explore examples of how telecommunication organisations worldwide have improved their customer service by implementing remote support as part of their service offering.