50 Billion Connected Devices by 2020 (2025?)

Back in April, Hans Vestberg, CEO and the President of Ericsson declared that there will be 50 Billion connected devices by 2020.

In the recently concluded LTE World Summit, this statement seemed to have gained lots of attention. Everyone quoted this left, right and center. The interesting thing was that some said that this would happen by 2025 and some also said 2030.

While we can make a generic statement that there will be some 50 Billion connected devices sometime between 2020 and 2030, not everyone was sure how they would be connected.

My understanding is that a device is connected if it has a valid IP (IPv6) address. That means that the PC's at home are included and anything connected over WiFi are included as well.

So by this definition, it wont surprise me if we probably have 100 Billion connected devices by 2030.

Redefining the wireless Quality of Experience (QoE) with LTE

Ken Wirth, President 4G/LTE Networks of Alcatel-Lucent showed us the following video in the LTE World Summit 2010. Its been available on Youtube for quite some time but I missed it before:

Using LTE to boost ARPU

Here is my presentation from the LTE World Summit 2010. The presentation was prepared for discussion during the Breakfast briefing on the 19th May 2010.

Using LTE to boost ARPU

View more presentations from zahidtg.

You can also see the discussion on Linked group here. (Sorry, you may need to register).

Agilent Demo at the LTE World Summit 2010

Here is the Agilent Demo. I have blogged about Agilent's demo from last year here.

Anritsu Demo at the LTE World Summit 2010

I have blogged about the Anritsu MD8430A here and about their RTD product here. Recently they have become first test equipment vendor in the world to achieve GCF-approved test case validations for both LTE (Long Term Evolution) RF and protocol conformance testing.

Here is their Demo from LTE World Summit 2010.

Mobile Phone Developments May 2010

HTC's 4G [sic] Phone is al ready to be rolled out. It is supposed to allow to transfer data averaging speeds of 3 to 6 megabits per second, and bursts hitting 10 Mbps. Ok, I can visualise some suspicious smiles but that's marketing. Its the data speeds of a normal HSPA network but it sells.

Inside the Evo is a 1 gigahertz Snapdragon processor, 512MB of ram, and 1 gig of built in memory. On top of those screaming specs are a 480×800 display, as well as two (count em!) cameras, the better of which packs 8 megapixels. Running it all is the newest version of Android (2.1), as well as HTC’s Sense UI for a little extra eye-candy. All told, this looks like an amazing phone to finally make use of Sprint’s fancy new network, and it may just be their best bet for reversing their falling fortunes.

The Evo 4G will allow for simultaneous voice and data and will be the first smartphone to ship with a YouTube HQ player and a video chat app from Qik to be used with the front-facing camera. Though Sprint's onstage Qik demo didn't work, we were impressed with the Evo 4G's speed (Sprint brought in a 4G tower for the event) as well the handset's 3D gaming capabilities and HDMI output.

As we learned at CTIA 2010, other goodies include an 8-megapixel camera on back, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1, and an extra-large 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen.

Tired of losing your cell phone? Maybe you need a Zomm.

The new gadget is billed as a wireless leash for mobile phones reminding you when you've left your cell phone behind. Here's how it works:

You just pair the nugget sized Zomm with your phone over Bluetooth. Then you clip the Zomm onto you or attach it to your keychain. When your cell phones gets more than 30 feet away from Zomm, the Zomm unit starts to vibrate, flash lights and then eventually lets out a wail.

You can also use the Zomm as a Bluetooth speaker so you can answer calls through it, instead of talking straight into your phone.

The leash idea can work in reverse too. If you're the type who loses their keys more than their phone, you can just attach Zomm to your keys and then whenever you lose your keys, you can call Zomm and set off its alarm.

There's also a panic button. In case of emergency you can just press it and get help immediately, without dialing on your cell phone.

Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has named ZOMM as ‘One to Watch’, because of its innovative use of Bluetooth technology and universal appeal.

“Through the use of Bluetooth wireless technology, ZOMM provides an array of convenient applications for users,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.

“Its simple application of Bluetooth technology appeals to the masses – nobody wants to lose their mobile phone.”

Verizon Wireless and LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. announced the LG Ally™ will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning May 20. The first Android device from LG, the Ally is the perfect assembly of futuristic, stylish design and 3G Android power for customers looking to tackle life's most challenging feats and everyday ventures. Verizon Wireless customers can pre-order the phone at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 13.

Until now, mobile users have been faced with a choice -- either type on a tiny keyboard or use a touchscreen keypad.

Neither is perfect but, so far, tiny but real keyboards have been winning out for many people. One of the many reasons cited by some BlackBerry users for not switching to an iPhone or similar device is that sensitive touchscreen keypad.

Some manufacturers have tried to give users the best of both worlds, a touchscreen and a pull-out keyboard, but search giant Google has another idea: make all mobile-phone keyboards obsolete.

With the recent release of its own phone, the Nexus One, users are beginning to experiment with what Google hopes is the future of mobile search: voice-and picture-based searching.

"Voice, we think, is just a natural way to solve a problem that exists on all phones, which is that typing is quite difficult, especially in certain languages like Japanese," said Alex Nicolaou from Google's office in Waterloo, Ont..

"Input methods are relatively onerous, whereas saying a brief phrase . . . is extremely fast . . . and there are just times when a picture really is worth 1,000 words.

"If you're standing outside a landmark and you want to know about it, it's obviously going to be much, much simpler to take a photo of that landmark and have the system tell you what it is, than it would be to figure out what name to type in, especially in a foreign country."

Google admits both are still in relatively early development stages and are not very reliable.

For voice searches, short strings of words work best. Even in noisy cafes, most four-or five-word searches worked well during testing. Nicolaou said one misheard word won't necessarily throw off your search results.

Google has hinted at some future features incorporating voice and image recognition. Engineers are working to improve the ability to photograph a printed page so it can be accurately scanned into text and quickly translated into another language. In a video posted online, a Google employee scans a menu from a German restaurant and uses his phone to translate it into English.

Google also hopes that, eventually, travellers will be able to speak a phrase into their phone, have it translated into another language and played back through their phone's speaker.

This season, big handset makers including Nokia, Microsoft and Motorola are betting you’ll want to flaunt cute, palm-shaped devices that look more like compact powder cases than brick-shaped mini-tablets.

Motorola is likely to introduce a new phone next month called Flipout that will have a 2.8-inch display, a 3.1-megapixel camera and a twist-out keyboard. We haven’t tested it yet, but on looks alone, it’s fabulous, darling.

Motorola’s square-shaped phone follows the release of Microsoft’s fresh-looking Kin One earlier this month. The Kin One has a 2.6-inch display, a slide-out keyboard, and looks like a rounded square when closed. In September, Nokia introduced the Twist on Verizon, a squarish phone with a 2.5-inch display. Even LG has a square-shaped phone called the Lotus, which has been available on Sprint for more than a year, and though it’s not exactly been a big seller, its looks are hot, hot, hot.

Microsoft released the final version of the desktop Office 2010, along with which it made available a flavor aimed at mobile phones, namely Office Mobile 2010. The owners of a device powered by Windows Mobile 6.5 can now take advantage of the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing capabilities of the application while on the go.

Among the features that Office Mobile 2010 comes around with, we can count SharePoint integration (users can easily access and edit documents stored on a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 site), Bluetooth controller mode for PowerPoint presentations, access to SharePoint Workspace Mobile, the possibility to easily take notes on the phone and to insert voice clips or pictures in them, and others more.

“Effective today, Office Mobile 2010 will be available for free via Windows Phone Marketplace for all Windows Mobile 6.5 phones with a previous version of Office Mobile. People using Office Mobile 2010 can perform lightweight editing of Office documents and take notes on the go.

As if mobile phone cameras weren't complex enough, Sharp has just announced a tiny 720p 3D camera for its mobile devices.

The 3D Camera Module has been made to fit inside either a compact point and shoot or a smartphone. The camera is crammed full of the latest technology, all of which enable it to capture both moving and still high resolution 3D images.

Things like colour synchronising processing, as well as 'fast readout' technology, help the tiny little camera to produce its images.

Sharp has made use of complicated high-density mounting technology in order to pack so many features in to this tiny device.

The company insists that the cameras will go into mass production by the end of the year.

World Vendor Awards 2010

Winners of the first World Vendor Awards were revealed during a dinner at the UnderGlobe in London on the 5 May 2010.

Outstanding Vendor of the Year

Open to

All hardware and software vendors and OEMs who are able to demonstrate organisational scale, strategy and procedures of a truly global standard.

About this category

The winner in this category will demonstrate outstanding innovation backed by quality of service, reliability, and sales support. It is most likely that the winner will offer a strong portfolio of products and solutions, and will be able to demonstrate evidence of strong and disciplined management providing a sound business footing, and strategic direction and future scope for development of the company.

Criteria

Entrants for Outstanding Vendor will be judged on the degree to which they fulfil the following conditions:

Address customer needs in terms of quality, reliability and customer service

Provide strong and innovative product and/or solution offerings

Show sound management, clear strategic direction and strong performance

Demonstrate revenue generation/growth.

What features make your operation stand out from the competition? How have you responded to customer and/or market changes?

Winner: Huawei Technologies

Other Nominees:

BroadSoft

Intec Telecoms Systems

Highly Commended: Juniper Networks

Oracle Communications

Best Specialist Vendor

Open to

All hardware and software vendors and OEMs specialising in provision of a particular product, solution or group of solutions. The Best Specialist Vendor may be a division of a larger company, but must be able to demonstrate their autonomy as a specialist in their own right.

About this category

The winner in this category will demonstrate how their products and solutions address the needs of a specific part of the telecom market and how their foresight and innovation is improving business for their customers.

Criteria

The winning company must have been offering commercially available products prior to the closing date for the award entries. The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Innovation

How easy it is to implement and customer ?

What are the benefits to the users

Value for money

Features that stand out from competitors

Evidence of customer satisfaction e.g. testimonials

Winner: ip.access

Highly Commended: Ipanema Technologies

Other Nominees:

Mformation

RAD

Telmap

Best Mobile Device

Open to

Manufacturers and vendors of all mobile devices, including but not limited to handsets, PDA’s, and netbooks.

About this category

The judges will be looking for the device that has in their opinion best combined innovation and usability to create a mobile device that provides the greatest benefit to the intended users, whether business or consumer.

Criteria

The device must have been commercially available prior to the closing date for the award entries

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

How easy is it to use and implement?

What are the benefits to the users

Value for money

Evidence of customer satisfaction e.g. testimonials

Winner: Apple iPhone/ iPhone 3G

Other Nominees:

BlackBerry BOLD

HTC Hero

Motorola DROID

Nokia E71

Best Brand Campaign

Open to

All hardware and software vendors, OEM’s, device manufacturers, outsourcing companies, systems integrators.

About this category

This category will recognise the organisation that has created the most effective and compelling brand campaign for its products or services in one or more branches of the media. This may be through a single campaign or series of campaigns. Only in this category can supporting material be accepted, in the form of printed or audio/visual material from the campaign, for review by the judging panel. Please email supporting material to vendorawards@totaltele.com.

Criteria

The campaign must have run or be running during the calendar year 2009.

Entrants should provide details of:

Reason for the campaign(s)

The rationale behind choice of media, company or service name/ slogan, etc

Scope and target audience

Stated business objectives behind the campaign

Raised brand awareness and positive impact on market share, valuation or bottom line.

Winner: Juniper Networks

Best Outsourcing Initiative

Open to

This category is open both to dedicated outsourcing companies and to vendors, consultants and integrators running outsourcing initiatives.

About this category

It covers all forms of outsourcing initiative, including BPO, IT outsourcing and network outsourcing, and the winner will be the organisation that can demonstrate an initiative best delivering its planned benefits, whether these be cost saving, skill improvement, or resource release. The judges will be particularly looking for evidence of innovation that has delivered tangible benefits.

Criteria

The campaign must have been initiated or have delivered its first measurable results during calendar year 2009. In addition to evidence of innovation, judges will seek to understand what the key project objectives were, how successfully the project was implemented and how success is being measured. Credit will be given for being able to supply independent testimonials supporting project success or process improvement.

Winner: Comviva Technologies

Other Nominees:

Firstsource Solutions

Huawei Technologies

Infosys BPO

ITS

Clean Technology Initiative

Open to

All Vendors, OEMs, integrators and consultants

About this category

This category seeks to reward the company that has best reduced the environmental impact of telecommunication services through its products and solutions or utilisation of products and solutions. The judges will be seeking evidence of eco-friendly products, innovations, and specific programmes or initiatives.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate:

Evidence improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, recycling, conservation, manufacturing and logistics cost reduction and eco-friendly consumption.

A measurable programme, delivering against and reaching set targets for improvement.

Future plans to continue to address corporate, social & environmental issues

How your clean technology programme has benefited stakeholders including customers/end users, employees, and the wider public.

Winner: Eltek Valere

Other Nominees:

ADTRAN

Huawei Technologies

Technology Foresight

Open to

All equipment vendors, OEM’s and developers of software solutions, as well as outsourcing companies and integrators that have deployed or trialled a new technology by an operator, service provider, or enterprise telecom customer.

About this category

This award will go to the individual or organisation that has shown the greatest foresight in developing or fostering the development of a technology used or able to be used in delivering or receiving communications services via carrier networks.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate:

The development of a technology with potential for far reaching effect on business or consumer markets

That the technology and/or its application are the original work of the entrant, and that they are not simply implementing another company’s technology.

That it represents an innovative approach to an existing aspect of communications networks or services, or opens up an entirely new area

That the technology works and has potential in a commercial environment.

What revenues do you expect your technology to produce? How do you intend to grow revenues and/or business from your technology or product over the next three years?

Winner: SpiderCloud Wireless

Highly Commended: Huawei Technologies

Other Nominees:

Juniper Networks

Evolving Systems

ECI Telecom

Best Software Solution

Open to

Software vendors and developers, as well as integrators providing software solutions.

About this category

The judges will be looking for an organisation that is providing or utilising a predominantly software driven solution. This could be in any part of the telecom sphere, including using software in place of hardware upgrades, or a traditionally software driven solution such as billing, network management etc.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate why their solution is the most appropriate for the problem addressed, the commercial performance/cost savings brought by the solution, and highlight innovations brought to the sector. Customer testimonials should illustrate the degree of satisfaction delivered by the solution.

Winner: Comviva Technologies

Other nominees:

cVidya Networks

Juniper Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks

Novarra

Sybase

Technologist of the Year

This will be a public vote looking for the CTO, IT Director or senior technology leader of a telecom software or hardware vendor who has demonstrated outstanding vision in driving forward the organisations product and solution offerings, innovations and realising the potential to turn research into commercially successful products.

The Total Telecom team will seek nominations from the industry of senior technology leaders who are perceived as driving change, innovation and success in the industry, as a shortlist of which will be put to the public vote.

Winner: Thierry Klein, Founder and CTO, Alzette Venture Alcatel Lucent

Other Nominees:

Rupert Baines, VP Marketing, picoChip

Ajay Bhatt, Architect, Intel

Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEO, RIM

Antonio Nucci, CTO Narus, Inc.

Best Support System

Open to

All vendors of support systems, including, but not limited to Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS)

About this category

The judges will be looking for the support system that has created the greatest service improvement, cost saving, or enabled the greatest increase in business income. They will be seeking product innovation, ease of use and application, and delivery of customer satisfaction.

Criteria

The support system should have been in operation during 2009 and the entrant should be able to demonstrate

How has your product or application improved customer satisfaction levels?

Provide evidence of improved customer acquisition or retention levels?

That the solution is simple to operate and easy to understand with good customer training and support

That the solution is scalable and flexible, that it can cater for new service delivery platforms, service combinations and business models.

Winner: Comptel Corporation

Highly Commended: Aito Technologies

Other Nominees:

Martin Dawes Systems

Sigma Systems

More about the World Vendor Awards here.

Whitepaper; MIMO and Smart Antennas for 3G and 4G Wireless Systems

3G Americas has published an educational white paper titled, MIMO and Smart Antennas for 3G and 4G Wireless Systems: Practical Aspects and Deployment Considerations. The report is a complete tutorial reference document that outlines the considerable importance of various smart antenna schemes for improving the capacity and coverage of the emerging generations of wireless networks.

With the rapid growth of wireless data traffic, now greatly exceeding voice traffic in many developed markets, operators are anxious to quickly expand the capacity and coverage of their wireless networks. To address these demands for increased capacity in a cost effective way, 3GPP standards have incorporated powerful techniques for using “smart antennas.”

“The gains in spectral efficiency being advanced by new wireless air interface technologies, such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, will be enabled by the application of MIMO and other smart antenna technologies,” stated Kevin Linehan, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer – Base Station Antenna Systems, Andrew Solutions. Linehan, one of the project leaders for the creation of the 3G Americas report continued, “It is critical that operators and others in the industry appreciate these advanced technologies and their practical application.”

The term smart antennas refers to adaptive array antennas – those with electrical tilt, beam width and azimuth control that can follow relatively slow-varying traffic patterns; intelligent antennas, which can form beams aimed at particular users or steer nulls to reduce interference; and MIMO antenna schemes, predominately featured in LTE and LTE-Advanced.

The white paper was created by a 3G Americas technical work group and concentrates on the practical aspects of antennas and their deployment for 3G and 4G wireless systems, specifically downlink antenna techniques available in 3GPP LTE Release 8. The comprehensive report highlights a substantial and growing body of theoretical and field experience that provides reliable guidance on the tradeoffs of various antenna configurations. Some of the areas addressed in the paper include:

• Smart antennas provide the next substantial increase in throughput for wireless networks. The peak data rates tend to be proportional to the number of send and receive antennas, so 4X4 MIMO is theoretically capable of twice the peak data rates as 2X2 MIMO systems. For another example, in upgrading from HSPA (1X2) to LTE (2X2) a gain of 1.6x is seen (Rysavy Research, 2009).
• The practical tradeoffs of performance with the realistic constraints on the types of antennas that can be realistically installed, cognizant of zoning, wind loading, size, weight and cabling challenges and constraints from legacy terminals and other equipment. Constraints are, of course, present in both the base station and the terminal side of the air interface, where MIMO technology promises useful gains if multiple antennas, amplifiers, receivers and baseband processing resources can be made available in terminals.
• Beyond the single antenna or beamforming array cases, 3GPP Release 8 of the LTE standard supports MIMO antenna configurations. This includes Single-User (SU-MIMO) protocols using either Open Loop or Closed-Loop modes as well as Transmit Diversity and MU-MIMO. Closed-Loop MIMO mode, which supports the highest peak data rates, is likely to be the most commonly used scheme in early deployments. However, this Closed-Loop MIMO scheme provides the best performance only when the channel information is accurate, when there is a rich multipath environment and is appropriate in low mobility environments such as with fixed terminals or those used at pedestrian speeds.

The white paper, MIMO and Smart Antennas for 3G and 4G Wireless Systems: Practical Aspects and Deployment Considerations, was written collaboratively by members of 3G Americas and is available for free download HERE.

While MIMO and Smart Antennas for 3G and 4G Wireless Systems concentrates on the practical aspects of deploying antennas in emerging wireless markets, 3G Americas’ June 2009 white paper, MIMO Transmission Schemes for LTE and HSPA Networks, provides additional background information on the processing gains feasible with smart antennas.

3GPP and 3G Americas workshop in Latam LTE Summit

3GPP and 3G Americas held a LTE Standards workshop in advance of this years’ LTE Latin America Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro 26-28 April.

Speakers from Operators and Manufacturers’ looked at the huge potential for HSPA and LTE networks and discussed Standards and Regulatory issues that are affecting LTE Roadmaps for the Latin America Region.

Topics such as equipment availability and spectrum scarcity were high on the agenda, along with discussions on systems architecture evolution and backhaul issues.

The presentations from the workshop are available on-line HERE.

Individual presentations could be downloaded from the links below:

• Operator Presentations
  

  • VIVO - Oportunidades e Desafios Banda Larga Móvel no Brasil
    
  • CLARO - Operator Strategies for Mobile Broadband
    
  • NTT DOCOMO - RAN Migration Strategy

  
  
• Manufacturers’ Presentations
  
  • Ericsson - Perspective Setorial de HSPA Evoluido
    
  • NSN - Migrating from HSPA to HSPA+ and LTE
  
  
• 3GPP and 3G Americas Presentations
  
  • Marketplace update
    Spectrum Policy and Recommendations
    
  • 3GPP Standards Roadmap

HSPA & LTE: Peak Rates, Average Cell capacity and Round Trip Time

Interesting picture

Update from LSTI Trials

Lsti mwc presentation_final

View more presentations from guest99ced7.

LTE Devices and Platforms: April 2010

Click on the image to see larger size image

Interesting summary of devices and platforms for LTE in development and trial which I took from GSA Information paper here.

Interesting to see multiple platforms from Samsung, LG and Qualcomm while Huawei seems to have a single all in one device.

800MHz to be reserved for LTE and WiMAX in Europe

We were having a discussion in the LTE Linkedin group couple of days back about when devices would be ready in bands other than 2.6Gz. The 2.6GHz band has become a de facto standard for LTE but there are other bands at much lower bands that are gaining interest as well.

Here is something from Cellular News today:

The European Commission has adopted a Decision establishing harmonised technical rules for Member States on the allocation of radio frequencies in the 800 MHz band that contribute to the deployment of high-speed wireless internet services by avoiding harmful interference.

In several Member States the 800 MHz frequencies are being freed up as part of the so-called "digital dividend" resulting from the switchover from analogue to digital television broadcasting. If Member States decide to change the existing frequency allocation (for broadcasting) they must immediately apply the harmonised technical rules laid down by the Decision to make these frequencies available to wireless broadband applications. Today's decision does not itself require Member States to make available the 790-862 MHz band for electronic communication services. However, the Commission is considering such a proposal in the forthcoming Radio Spectrum Policy Programme.

The Commission strongly supports the use of the 790-862 MHz band (currently used for broadcasting in most Member States) for electronic communication services and wants EU countries to act quickly, as coordinated management of this spectrum could give an economic boost of up to EUR44 billion to the EU's economy and help to achieve the EU 2020 Strategy target of high-speed broadband for all by the end of 2013 (with speeds gradually increasing up to 30 Mbts and above in 2020).

The new Commission Decision stipulates that all Member States which decide to make available the 790-862 MHz spectrum band (the so-called 800 MHz band) for services other than broadcasting should apply the same harmonised technical rules when they do so. These technical rules will ensure that radio communications equipment, like handsets or base stations using the 800 MHz band, can be used efficiently for wireless broadband networks, such as LTE or WiMAX.

Telecoms industry experts estimate that infrastructure to provide mobile broadband coverage using the 800 MHz band will be around 70% cheaper than through using the radio frequencies currently used by 3G networks. The lower costs involved in rolling out such networks will make these investments more attractive for operators, which should improve the geographic coverage of wireless broadband services. Application of the technical rules for frequency allocation foreseen by this Decision will substantially increase the potential economic benefits of the digital dividend by giving a new impetus to wireless internet services.

Until now, the 800 MHz band has been used for terrestrial TV broadcasting in most Member States. The new rules laid down in the Decision set out conditions for allocation of nearly one quarter of the frequencies that will become available when Member States switch from analogue to digital broadcasting (due by end 2012). The Commission is currently working on a Radio Spectrum Policy Programme that will take into account the other elements of the digital dividend and may also include a common date by which all Member States must make the 800 MHz band available.

Also read this post.

Avren's Next Generation Networks & Basestations Conference Summary

Interesting summary on Next Generation Networks & Base stations conference is available on Think Femtocell and Avren's website. Here are some interesting bits:

• Operating a mobile network contributes around 30% to the annual costs of each operator, and there are many different ways to save money. Where before, coverage was a real differentiator between networks, today it’s much more about service.
• There are enormous savings to be made by sharing cellsites between operators – T-mobile and 3 in the UK have combined their cellsites and reduced the total number from 55,000 to 31,000 in the last two years. The number is now slowly expanding again to fill in coverage holes and add capacity. The recently announced merger between Orange UK and T-Mobile means a further round of site consolidation over the coming years. Meanwhile, their UK competitors O2 Telefonica and Vodafone have also made a site sharing agreement, meaning that there will be just two competing sets of cellsites across the country.
• Some speakers questioned the sense of offering unlimited flat rate data plans – the industry sentiment is that these can’t last. The highest traffic users are consuming disproportionate amounts of network resources – several examples were given of 2 or 3% of users taking up over 40% of available capacity.
• Kenny Graham, Vodafone R&D Group, has been a keen champion of femtocells in public areas for some time – coining the term metro-femto. He believes that the most difficult challenges for femtocell deployment have already been overcome. He classified femtocells into four groups and clearly believes all have a place in network deployment:
• Domestic
• Enterprise
• Public service areas (indoor hotspots)
• Metro Femto (Outdoor hotspot )
• Installing more antenna and equipment at existing cellsites, such as required for LTE or MIMO technologies, is constrained by physical and planning limits of cellsites. Metro femto can be deployed unobstrusively in the urban areas with peak traffic demand, providing high levels of capacity.

Looking forward to the LTE World Summit 2010

This month I will again be attending the LTE World Summit. I have already mentioned why I am looking forward to it. I also plan to cover the event in much more detail as I have done in the past.

I am also hosting a breakfast briefing session with my topic of interest being, "Using LTE to boost ARPU". I am interested if anyone has any opinions on this topic. I have started a discussion in the LTE Linkedin Group. Please follow this link if you want to post your ideas or follow the discussion (Sorry, you may have to become member of that group if you are not already a member)

As usual, I am always looking forward to meeting friends, colleagues, journalists, fellow bloggers and anyone and everyone. So if you are around then please do say hello.

LTE, Conformance Testing and GCF

According to Light Reading article, LSTI results indicate that most mobile operators are still in the very early stages of testing next-gen mobile broadband Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) technology.

Meanwhile, the System Simulator manufacturers are going strong in their LTE Conformance testing.

Anritsu Corporation announced recently that it is the first test equipment vendor in the world to achieve GCF-approved test case validations for both LTE (Long Term Evolution) RF and protocol conformance testing.

Mobile terminal manufacturers must gain GCF approval to prove that their LTE terminals satisfy the 3GPP standards, meaning that there is increasing demand for an approved conformance test environment.

At the GCF CAG#22 meeting earlier last month, Anritsu successfully gained GCF approval for an industry-leading 12 RF test cases for its ME7873L RF Conformance Test System together with additional test cases for its ME7832L Protocol Conformance Test System.

Anite and Huawei demonstrated the first TD-LTE UE protocol conformance test cases. Anite and Huawei are working together to accelerate the process of TD-LTE technology for China Mobile’s World Expo.

The new TD-LTE tests build out Anite’s comprehensive portfolio for all leading 3GPP protocol technologies, from GSM through EDGE and WCDMA to the latest HSPA+ and LTE futures. Anite blends software-only host and target test solutions for 2G, 3G and LTE technologies that allow developers to adopt a total end-to-end solution for all wireless testing needs.

Starting next month, 7 layers will offer LTE testing services in three areas: regulatory compliance, certification, and operator-specific test cases.

Aeroflex Test Solutions and 7 layers have signed an agreement to provide LTE (Long Term Evolution) testing services in support of the commercialization of LTE mobile phone networks in Japan. Aeroflex will install its 7100 LTE Digital Radio Test Set in 7 layersA' laboratory in Yokohama, Japan, greatly expanding 7 layersA' LTE regulatory compliance testing services.

With advanced LTE test equipment and services conveniently located, Japanese UE (user equipment) manufacturers and network operators can speed up testing in advance of LTE rollout.

Some tests and logs from the UE Conformance Testing of Protocols are available on the 3G4G website here.

Interesting videos on NEC's Femtocell Services

Watch them in the order to get a better picture of the applications. To know more about just the lifestyle evolution with NEC Femtocell, see the last video.

Dilbert Humour: Building Nationwide Wireless Network

Operator Top Ten Requirements for the networks

Operation Requirements for next generation multi-technology networks are the key topic that brought 3GPP, NGMN and TM Forum together for a workshop held March 29-30 2010 in Bonn. The two-day workshop was attended by forty industry experts who worked on use cases and requirements in three parallel work streams and provided recommendations for next steps.

At the Bonn workshop, the 3GPP Telecom Management working group - SA5 - presented background data on the SA5 work program to date, much of which meets the needs of the NGMN Top Ten Requirements:

• Quality and Quantity of Alarms
• Automatic Software Management
• Energy Saving
• LTE Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) and Self Organizing Networks (SON) Operation
• Performance Management in Real-time
• Substitution of Monitoring Probes by Infrastructure Inherent Trace Functionality
• eNodeB Plug & Play Self-Commissioning
• OSS Standard Itf-N
• LTE Parameter Optimization
• Automatic Inventory

The workshop conclusions acknowledged that:

• Standards specified by SA5 over the last ten years provide a widely deployed, fully re-usable and expandable solution for management of Next Generation Networks,
• NGMN Top Ten Requirements are mostly satisfied already by 3GPP SA5 specifications, the missing functionalities will be addressed in 3GPP Release 10 (due December 2010),
• The ongoing 3GPP-TMF alignment program provides an excellent opportunity to address network management of Wireless-Wireline convergence based on the 3GPP IRP framework.

At the end of this workshop, the SA5 Chairman Christian Toche said:

"This workshop has identified important requirements and allowed TMF and 3GPP to compare their solutions that can satisfy Operators requirements, of whom many are already supported in 3GPP specifications. I am confident that, as long as the representation from each group is maintained at the right level, an alignment of the 3GPP and TM Forum specifications will result from this cooperation, satisfying the requirements for use in convergent network operational environment."

Christian Toche identified that the next step includes the need for the two ongoing Network Management harmonization projects with the TM Forum - On FM and resource modelling - to be completed.

Further progress on the alignment of 3GPP and TMF specifications will be made at the follow-up workshop on May 6-7, 2010 in Montreal

3GPP documents from Bonn workshop are available at: ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_sa/WG5_TM/Ad-hoc_meetings/2010-05-Top_10/Docs/S5w100004.zip

3GPP Technology Standards Roadmap

New presentation from Stephen Hayes, Chair 3GPP-SA available on the 3GPP website. Click here.

Softbank and Ericsson for TD-LTE as well

Last week I blogged about TD-LTE in India and China, today I found out that there is more interest in TD-LTE:

From Fierce Wireless:

Ericsson, the world's largest wireless infrastructure vendor, is looking to gain more expertise is the area, and this week signed an MoU to create a strategic cooperation with Datang Telecom in China to develop TDD solutions and likely gain a foothold in China Mobile's planned TD-LTE network.

As part of the deal, Ericsson will begin integrating Datang's TD-SCDMA radio access network equipment into its own 3G offering. TD-SCDMA is China's homegrown 3G standard that China Mobile and others are using. TD-LTE is seen as the next generation of TD-SCDMA.

From Telecom Asia:

Japanese cellco Softbank Mobile is considering deploying the Chinese-developed TD-LTE standard as a 4G network.

Senior executive vice president Ted Matsumoto told telecomasia.net the company could deploy it in the 2.5GHz spectrum it gained access to when it bought a stake in failing PHS operator Willcom last month.

But he said Willcom’s next-gen PHS technology, XGP, and mobile Wimax were also under consideration.

“We’re going to have 2.5GHz TDD spectrum, so we will seriously explore TD-LTE,” he said.

The XGP technology was “very much like TD, or at least is compatible with TD-LTE.”

Softbank is also focused on winning access to the key 700MHz or 900MHz frequencies, the “golden spectrum” with a much higher propagation range already that is used by both of its competitors.

“We’re fighting the handicap game [without those frequencies],” Matsumoto said. “There’s no 100% assurance, but we definitely will seek a 700/900MHz license.”

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications plans to allocate 40MHz of spectrum in the 700/900MHz ranges for LTE and is now conducting a review.

For the time being, Softbank has put LTE plans on the backburner in favor of HSPA+.

It shut down its 2G network last month and is looking to reap the cost benefits of running a single 3G/3.5G network with up to 42Mbps download speeds.

Pervasive connectivity means that we are working far more

Picture source: dmb

From the IET Magazine:

All of which led to it being no surprise that research from Nectar Business is headlined 'Workaholic Brits just can't switch off', according to the release. Far from saving us time and bringing quality back to our lives, Nectar - the loyalty card people - have found that we're working on average an extra 10 days a year.

Some of the headline results are alarming for managers wanting to keep a workforce motivated and fresh. They include:

• a fifth of people keep work phones on over weekends;
• 79 per cent of workers haven't met half the people with whom they do business;
• one-third of men turn their work phones off when they leave the office;
• one in 20 people get over 100 emails a day;
• twenty-four per cent of people feel stressed by this constant state of being on call;
• 42 per cent of people say they meet colleagues less regularly due to email dependence;
• 60 per cent - get this - now say they prefer to communicate by mail than face to face.

That's a lot of figures. However, some of the findings were positive - 71 per cent of people found email the best way to keep colleagues informed and 28 per cent thought it a useful tool for delegating. But that still leaves a quarter of respondents stressed.

Complete article here.

GPS to become commonplace and far more accurate

First it was Nokia that started giving away the Satnav software for free. Now Google is offering free Satnav software for Android phones in UK. Its already been available in US for quite some time and the response is generally positive.

According to comScore, the use cellphones for Satellite Navigation is becoming more common in Europe. According to them, in February, 21.1 million consumers in five large European markets -- Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy -- used their cellphones for navigation, 68 percent more than a year ago. This compares to 20.4 million personal navigation devices sold in those markets in 2008 and 2009 in total, according to research firm GfK.

I talked about Satellite based Internet before but today we will focus on satellite based GPS systems.

The GPS system, which was developed way back in 1989 for and by the military has been used by general public since the year 2000. Its has become very common in the last few years.

The GPS we know and love is part of a larger family of systems called Global Navigational Satellite Systems or GNSS. The following are the members of the GNSS; GPS is the USA system, GLONASS is the Russian system, Galileo is the European system and Compass is the Chinese system

The following is from the IET Magazine:

Satellite navigation systems take their location cues from 30 GPS satellites that circle the Earth twice a day transmitting status, date and time, and orbital information. Soon there will be around 100 satellites to lock on to as GPS is joined by global constellations from Europe (Galileo), Russia (GLONASS), and China (Compass).

GPS wasn't built to help us find our way to the shops - it was a Cold War project funded by the US Department of Defense to ensure that nuclear submarines could surface and target their missiles accurately. There are strategic rumblings about the new satellite constellations too, but the current consensus is that civilians have most to gain from more accurate and reliable location and tracking applications. That's if receiver designers can get the power consumption under control.

Russia's GLONASS system used to be famous for its satellites failing faster than they were launched, but since last month it has had 24 functioning satellites in orbit. Meanwhile, Europe's much-delayed Galileo system will have 14 satellites operating by 2014, according to the European Commission, with the full 30 available by 2017. The US GPS system is being modernised to become GPS III by 2013, with additional navigation signals for both civilian and military use. Information about China's Compass system is sketchier - it was going to be a regional system but is now understood to be global.

'All this activity is great news because whatever the application, there will potentially be multiple constellations to get a position fix from, which will help with signal integrity in safety-critical environments such as maritime, aviation or rail, and accuracy for mobile phone users in urban areas,' says Andrew Sage, director of Helios, a consultancy specialising in satellite navigation.

A GPS receiver should be able to 'see' at least four GPS satellites anytime, anywhere on the globe and establish three position coordinates (latitude, longitude, and altitude). But in city streets hemmed in by tall buildings, a receiver is unlikely to be able detect more than two satellites and the signals will often have bounced off structures.

'For the average pedestrian, the position fix can be a long way out and very unpredictable,' says Sage. 'Most users don't see that today because GPS receivers match us to maps and smooth the errors out. But if you are walking around a city and not on a road in a car, multi-path reflections are a problem.'

The more satellites visible from within these 'urban canyons', the easier it is to carry out consistency checks on the received signals. 'Even when you can't isolate the multipath-contaminated signals, the more signals you have, the more your errors average out,' says Dr Paul Groves, lecturer in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), navigation and location technology at UCL.

Better GNSS integrity would enable new applications, such as road-user charging, enforcing bail conditions and pay-as-you-drive insurance. 'Clearly, if position information might be used as legal evidence, it has to be reliable,' says Groves.

The delayed arrival of Galileo and the resurrection of GLONASS have complicated matters for receiver makers. Galileo was designed to offer the simplest possible upgrade path from GPS to a dual-constellation system. Agreements were made to put the carrier frequencies of the main open services in the same part of the spectrum as GPS, at around 1575MHz, so receivers could share the same radio, analogue components and antenna. Both systems also send their signals using a spread-spectrum code-division multiple-access (CDMA) approach. GLONASS uses a frequency-division multiple-access coding technique (FDMA) and a main open-service carrier frequency of 1602.2MHz.

The complete IET Magazine article can be read here.

There is another interesting article titled 'GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass: What GNSS Race? What Competition' here. Interesting analysis.

When Femtocells become Picocells

Femtocells are not really becoming Picocells but when you read about the new features coming up in Femtocells, you can imagine why operators are embracing Femtocells.

A typical Picocell, offers limited coverage but the same capacity as a macro-cell and can cost between £5000 to £10000. A Femtocell overs very limited coverage and very few users but its dirt cheap.

What if a compromise Femtocell is made that can solve both the coverage/capacity and price then its a win win situation for everyone.

This is where "Metro Femtocells" come into picture. They can be called by different names but lets stick to Metro Femtos.

Ubiquisys's press release about the Colo-Node HSPA Femtocell shows us the direction in which the device manufacturers are moving. It allows 16 users (as opposed to 4) and the range of 2km (as opposed to couple 100 metres). Picochip has already released a chip that can serve 32 users at 2km range. These femto's are Release-7 compliant with 42Mbps peak dl and and 11Mbps peak ul.

The good thing is that they may be soon used to fill the coverage black holes but that can also mean that the operators may stop putting lot of effort in Network optimisations.

The ubiquisys Colo-Node HSPA will be available end of July this year.

Ubiquisys has also demonstrated a wide area femtocell with 12 sq. km range. I wonder where they will be used.

The WiMAX taxis of Taiwan

LTE wont be coming to Taiwan until 2017. In fact, I am hoping that LTE-A would be available by then and Taiwan can skip LTE completely.

Taiwan is pushing WiMAX as a lot of small manufacturers based in Taiwan jumped in the WiMAX bandwagon at its peak. The main advantage with WiMAX being that there is no legacy GSM/UMTS baggage so the things are relatively simple. Having said that, this is also the main reason operators have not embraced the WiMAX technology.

See the Video above before reading the report from Telecom Asia below:

I’ve been to a number of Wimax conferences in the past few years, but this year’s Wimax Forum Asia show in Taipei marks the first time I could walk out of the conference hall and see a demo of Wimax in action.

As Telecom Asia reported last month, Vmax has launched a Wimax service in the capital, offering connectivity to 1,000 taxis.

I managed to catch one of them. The Wimax set-up featured a GPS-enabled touchscreen MID mounted on the back of the front passenger seat. Among other things, I could access a real-time navigation app that also displayed our driving speed, and – of course – streaming music videos.

The video was the real test, and it was YouTube quality – which is to say, acceptable – for the entire 15-minute trip.

If Vmax chief Teddy Huang is right about the service yielding “much more” than NT$500-NT$600 in ARPU per user, it’s not a bad testament to Wimax’s potential to carve out these kind of B2B niche services.

Or to allow users to come up with their own solutions. Another taxi I rode in had a mounted laptop next to the driver that was running GoogleMaps whilst playing a live local TV channel with good video quality.