This week we interview Terry Norman, the lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s Wireless Networks and Spectrum research programmes. Terry’s latest research report, The case for Wi-Fi offload: the costs and benefits of Wi-Fi as a capacity overlay in mobile networks, will be discussed in a forthcoming webinar on Wednesday 8 February 2012 at 15.00 GMT.
Terry has more than 30 years’ experience in the radio communications industry. He has worked in radio planning, access network design and operations. Before joining Analysys Mason’s Research Division, he was a consultant with the company for ten years.
How have wireless networks changed over the past decade?
TN: Networks have changed immensely in the last decade, mainly driven by technological innovation. Ten years ago, 3G was in the process of being implemented across the European Union. The trouble was no one knew what to do with it. Voice services were covered by GSM, and none of the operators knew how to ‘commoditise’ or package data as a commercial product. Hutchison changed all that by starting to sell data at cheap rates and packaging it into a retail mobile plan, rather than merely offering it at flat rates. This forced a lot of the operators to change the way they viewed data as a product.
In 2009, as a result of the introduction of HSPA+, data overtook voice as the number one service pushing network capacity. This forced a lot of operators to review their strategy of offering limitless data and replace it with capped plans.
What are the greatest challenges for wireless networks?
TN: The number one challenge is how to make data profitable. To do this, operators really only have two choices – they can increase the price of data, or they can decrease the cost of delivery. Increasing the price of data will be extremely difficult for operators because consumers expect data to become ever-cheaper. Decreasing the cost of delivery by opting for a heterogeneous network solution is a possible fix for network carriers.
Is this what you are going to be covering in your webinar on Wednesday 8 February 2012?
TN: Yes, I will be looking at one important aspect of this strategy – the use of Wi-Fi to reduce network carriage costs. Operators will need to improve the efficiency of traffic delivery as well as reduce network carriage costs by 50%, or they will face an eight-fold increase in the costs of RAN equipment. One way to reduce these costs, which is attracting a great deal of interest from mobile network operators, involves carrying a proportion of the traffic on a cost-efficient small cell. Because it is widely deployed and competitively priced, Wi-Fi is the leading candidate ‘small cell’ technology. It may cost as little as 20% of what an alternative macrocell solution would cost.
What are the downsides to Wi-Fi, if there are any?
TN: Wi-Fi does not have a role to play outdoors. Its deployment is also contingent on a favourable commercial relationship with a particular ‘owner’ of the space you are trying to get into (for example, McDonald’s or Starbucks). There are also challenges associated with backhaul, as well as technical challenges (for example, Wi-Fi does not support voice).
Click here to register for the webinar.