LTE should prove to be a very useful tool for the Swiss

Swisscom has turned on its LTE network, becoming the first provider of next-generation 4G services in the country. At launch the LTE network will be available in 26 locations and it said that it plans to cover 70 per cent of the population with LTE by the end of 2013. The network will operate at 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.

The carrier said that the new network was necessary due to the vast increase in data used by consumers, which was doubling every 16 months. Swisscom said that at launch the compatible handset choice would be limited to the HTC One XL but that the Samsung Galaxy SIII 4G, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 4G, and Nokia Lumia 920 will follow in early December.

Compatibility for the iPhone 5 would come via a software update it said once network testing had been completed. Swisscom said it will also offer a USB based Huawei modem and a mobile wifi device from ZTE.

The carrier claimed that the network is capable of a theoretical 150Mbps at present with 300Mbps speeds coming at a later date. It plans to invest CHF1.5bn in the expansion of its network through 2016.

The operator is the leading carrier in Switzerland with over 61 per cent market share as of September 2012, according to Informa WCIS statistics.

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 flyer for the event.

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.

Roger's LTE network is to be built exclusively using Ericsson kit

Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications network supplier has won a multi-year deal to supply Canada’s Rogers network with an end-to-end LTE network.

Ericsson said that it will install its multi-standard RBS 6000 radio base stations at all of its LTE sites as well as upgrading and expanding Roger’s existing packet care network into an Evolved Packet Core network, in order to support the new base stations.

The move follows technical trials conducted between the two companies last year.

Angel Ruiz, head of Ericsson North America, said in a statement: “Ericsson’s LTE/EPC network will enable Rogers to deliver unique experiences for people and businesses thereby shaping the networked society.”

Ericsson said it has now signed commercial LTE contracts with six of the seven of the top ranked operators by 2010 global revenue, four of which are in North America.

Rogers is the leading mobile operator in Canada, with 36 per cent of the market according to Informa supplied data.

Operators need to partner with Internet companies and social networks that their customers use and construct business models to both do this and generate income from sources other than network access. Services based on the GSM Association’s Rich Communication Suite (RCS) initiative are seen as a way to maintain a competitive market position, because with RCS  the mobile phone address book remains the central point from which subscribers communicate, and over which additional, converged services can be laid. Interoperability across networks is supported by GPRX today and IPX in the future. However, delays by mobile operators in commercially launching RCS services are creating an opportunity for infrastructure vendors such as Huawei to develop RCS services for non-IMS networks.

Huawei offers a comprehensive Rich Communication Suite (RCS) Solution, a service platform that provides a convergent and open platform as well as innovative value added services that help mobile operators to identify and fulfil customer needs. Huawei’s RCS Solution provides convergent communications, a user friendly experience, convergent personal information storage, and convergent social network services based on mobile subscribers’ real social relationships. It is fully compliant with GSMA’s RCS 2.0 and 3.0 specifications, and will also be compliant with future GSMA RCS specifications, but without mobile operators needing to deploy an IMS network.

This white paper provides an overview of the GSM Association’s RCS initiative as well as Huawei Software’s RCS Solution. It also includes a case study from a mobile operator which has deployed Huawei’s RCS platform.

Click here to download this whitepaper: Huawei Rich Communications Suite WP-Aug2010

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega says heavy data users may have to suffer premium charges

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega has revealed that the US carrier may have to force its heaviest consumers of wireless data to scale back their usage through the introduction of tiered pricing.

At an analyst meeting in New York on Wednesday, de la Vega said that three per cent of the operator’s smartphone users generate 40 per cent of wireless data traffic on the network. The popularity of wireless data in key markets such as Manhattan and San Francisco has caused network performance issues for AT&T, he conceded. “We’re going to focus on giving incentives to that small percentage of users to reduce or modify their usage,” de la Vega said.

While de la Vega seemed to be suggesting that a greedy few are causing problems for a more reasonable majority, he has come under fire from US commentators for trying to foist the blame for his network’s shortcomings onto his own customers. AT&T has made much of its exclusive relationship with Apple and has heavily promoted the iPhone and associated unlimited data tariffs.

De la Vega said that “the iPhone has been very good to us,” and revealed that Q309 saw record activations of the iconic handset. But many customers have complained about the performance of the carrier’s network and the issue highlights the problems carriers face if they fail to scale their networks up to cope with the performance requirements of the mobile data boom they have for so long been hoping would arrive.

The USA now leads the world in terms of smartphones and mobile data, de la Vega said during his presentation, saying the market has 40 per cent of the world’s smartphone users. “What we’re seeing in wireless data is [being seen] nowhere else on the planet,” he said.

Mobile TV

Everybody’s saying it’s the one to watch

Issue 136 November 2006

Featuring:

Network neutrality: Some are more equal than others

Broadband handsets: Are they still too expensive?

2005

The year ahead…

 

Issue 127 Dec/Jan  05/06

Featuring:

The year ahead

Emerging markets

Consolidation

Covergence

Alternative networks

Mobile games

Handset review

The BIG squeeze

How to get the most out of your network

Issue 93 July/August 2002

Featuring:

Business: The enterprise market

Services & Applications: The developer community

Technology: Network optimisation techniques