A context aware model for the delivery of contentin mobile networks is presented and studied through simulation.The proposed model is based on predictive knowledge of mobileuser behavior related to consumption of content on smartterminals. Content prediction is here exploited to change the timeand the location of content delivery, opportunistically utilizing theinstantaneously available excess of resources in the network. Thisis anticipated both to increase network utilization and to enhanceuser perceived service quality. However, since the accuracy of thecontext information, and associated content predictions, mighthave a significant impact on performances, our investigationshave been accounting for different content prediction capabilitiesas well as for various degrees of similarity in users’ contentrequests. The obtained results show that substantial gains bothin terms of wireless network efficiency and improved user serviceperception can be achieved, as compared to classical contentdelivery methods, for a number of realistic scenarios.
A novel experimental approach for investigating the performances of context-aware content delivery schemes is presented in this paper. An innovative testbed, capable of remotely controlling multiple terminals, injecting a wide range of traffic loads in real networks and monitoring different performance measures has been developed and utilized for quantifying both the energy costs and user perceived service quality associated with different context- aware content pre-fetching schemes. In the implementation proposed in this paper, the context information required for performing content pre-fetching is extracted and utilized by individual user terminals and does not require any support from mobile operators. The performances of pre-fetching are compared to those of an on-demand content delivery scheme, for both video streaming and file downloading services. The results shows that not only pre-fetching can increase user service appreciation by reducing the time needed to access the information, but it can also significantly lower the amount of energy consumed in user terminals for retrieving the content. Our experiments further indicate that in order to achieve these additional energy gains only limited content prediction capabilities are required, thus making pre-fetching a solid candidate for the provision of a wide range of content types and services in both wide and local area networks.
In this work, we present two new low-complexity network decoding strategies for cooperative network coding in a multiple-access relay channel scenario. For these two strategies, Selection and Soft Combining and Majority Vote Network Decoding, along with the optimal joint network decoding, we derive expressions for bit error probability performance as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the different Rayleigh fading links, and show the tightness of the derived bounds through simulation results. The two proposed schemes provide a similar bit error probability (BEP) performance compared to the optimal scheme, while having significantly lower complexity. Further, we study the effect of user pairing on the error performance by considering different SNRs on the user and relay links towards the destination. It is also shown that the error performance of the different schemes follows the same trend for a given user pairing strategy.
A novel scheme for data retransmission for wireless unicast communication is presented. The scheme is based on a transmitter and receiver structure and bit-level data processing using a combination of channel coding and network coding that allows retransmissions to contain the previously incorrectly received information and new information, both destined to the same receiver. Results show that, for the chosen forward error codes, up to 68.75% retransmission throughput gains are achieved compared to HARQ with Chase combining.
Mobile operators and mobile service providers like SMS aggregators and ticket providers have until now been the main actors in the provisioning of SMS tickets for public transportation services. The consumers have been charged for SMS payments using the mobile phone bill. Due to financial regulation (EU directive) mobile operators are no longer allowed to handle payments and transactions for non-telecom services without being a payment provider implying registration of the customers. In Sweden the mobile operators have joined forces and formed a joint venture that offers a separate charging solution, i.e. not using the phone bill. However, this new joint venture has in most cases not been involved in the public procurement of new ticket and payment solutions initiated 2012 by the Swedish transport companies. The outcome is that a number of new actors and constellations have entered the mobile payment business. In the paper the change of the market structure for SMS payment services in Sweden is analysed. The motivation for the research is to contribute to the understanding why mobile payment services do not take off on a large scale in Sweden although the technology and solutions are here. The case with the transformation of the SMS payment market provides insights about some of the barriers. There is no common national SMS payment solution. Users have to register accounts with a number of different payment providers. The registration process is an obstacle, the SMS payments have decreased with 50 – 90% compared to the same period 2012. We can see a fragmentation of the Swedish mobile payment service market. Due to the multitude of different solutions the incentives for both consumers and merchants to extend these payment solutions to other areas would be low.
A Licensed Shared Access (LSA) “authorization/license” includes an agreement between the secondary sharing user (some type of operator) and the primary license holder (e.g. a government organization) around the conditions of use (where, when, how). Compared to secondary access LSA offers a more attractive case for long term investments. The contribution in this paper is that we look into how LSA can be used by different types of actors. The outcome depends heavily on what type of actor that makes use of the spectrum using LSA. Based on cost structure analysis (leading to required investments) and analysis of availability of the basic spectrum resource we can identify clear differences of the commercial usability of spectrum awarded using LSA, all depending on what actors that make use of the LSA contract. Cases where new actors need to invest a lot in new infrastructure do not that look that promising. We cannot identify a separate “LSA business case” that is feasible from a business perspective (where the key resource for the operator is spectrum awarded using LSA). Service availability that cannot be guaranteed due to LSA type of spectrum being the only resource seems risky, especially when combined with high investments. However this applies only for outdoor deployment. For deployment of a new indoor network the situation is different. The cost structure is the same no matter if a new or existing actor deploys the networks. In addition, a multitude of spectrum bands and spectrum access options exist indoor so the service provisioning will be less vulnerable if some part of spectrum is not available some period of time.
In this paper and two accompanying papers we will discuss the issues above with focus on the business network, often called the “mobile eco-system”, and the role of different types of middlemen or intermediaries. Empirically, since mobile payments enabled by NFC technology is not yet widely diffused and commercially available (inSwedenandNorthern Europe) we cannot study and analyze the envisaged eco-system with actors, roles and relations. However, there are a number of daily-life services that are enabled by the use of mobile phones. SMS based ticketing and payment is one such type of existing service that can be investigated in order to describe existing interactions between actors, and the formation of different forms of new business. By studying the existing services and markets some lessons can be learned how new business and value can be created, this is the topic of the first paper.
In another paper with the title “Dissemination of New Communication Technology and the Creation of New Business Roles and Intermediaries: The case of contactless mobile payment services” we will discuss aspects of mobile eco-systems using NFC based services. The third paper in the special session is called “Trust Strategies in the Rollout of Near Field Communication Services”.
This paper puts focus on the application of Near Field Communication technology (NFC) to mobile payments. Uncertainties about global policies open for a variety of local business policies. Taking into account different representations of actor interaction as described by different eco-systems by different policy forums the main research question to be discussed in the paper is: Can policies or standards describing actor roles and responsibilities for technical innovations like mobile payments remove obstacles for introduction of the innovation?
Different types of industry forums are not only involved in strictly technical matters but also discuss and describe “visions” about how a new technique might be applied in business life. They suggest different “business architectures”, (not only a “technical architecture”), where roles of different type of actors and relations between actors are outlined based on ideas about so called “eco-systems”. Against this background the paper first discusses how NFC enabled mobile payments currently attracts a lot of attention and identifies four possible development paths “making it happen”. The paper discusses and compares how global policy networks describe the technical and business architectures for mobile payments. The paper uses a business practice analytical framework and an industrial network framework to identify major problems in connecting global and local policies. Some comments on further research finalize the paper.
The case is to be used for identification, selection and analysis of company strategies with focus on decision making for companies providing mobile services. The target groups are both managers in the industry as well as master level students in areas like business administration, industrial marketing, industrial economy, and information and communication The work using the case includes a group exercise with identification and analysis of different strategy options for a sequence of events where market conditions change.
In the case the students will represent the management of a mobile network operator (MNO) that needs to adapt to market changes related to mobile payment services. An ccompanying, but totally different, case covers the use of mobile payment services by big retailers.
In Sweden many new mobile payment solutions and services have been proposed during the last years. Banks and payment providers have proposed different forms of person to person (P2P) and Point of Sales (PoS) services that are tested and taken into commercial use. The Swedish mobile operators have joined forces and formed a joint venture that offers a separate charging solution that can be used for mobile payments and e-commerce, i.e. not using the phone bill. Early 2013 the SMS ticket for public transportation was changed substantially with the entrance of many new actors.
In this paper we use the ARA model (Activities, Resources and Actors) in order to analyse the new mobile payment solutions and services looking into the activities, roles and responsibilities of different actors. We also apply the activity system approach describing the Activity system content, structure and governance and activity design themes indicating the main value creation drivers. The analysed cases include mobile payment services for P2P transactions, payments in shops, and ticketing for public transport and parking. The technology, services, and new constellations of actors seem to work fine but there are challenges for the adoption of new services both due to both the multitude of solutions as well as the need to register and manage new user accounts with the payment providers offering new solutions.
A mobile payment service is much more than the transaction, the payment is one part but other types of services and values can be added. In a Swedish research project with public transportation companies KTH researchers look into mobile services for the public transport. The mobile services include integrated solutions for information services, ticketing and payments. For the public transport sector, payment and ticket solutions is one way to attract new types of customers, to decrease barriers for users and to increase the use of public transport in general. These mobile services mainly target segment that do not use public transport on a daily basis, both car drivers (that never or seldom use public transport) and those that quite often (but not always) use public transport. From a research perspective, it is interesting to study mobile services for public transport since it is used by many persons – and often. If mobile payments can take off in this area it may be an “island” that can grow.
In this paper we consider business feasibility analysis of systems and services using cognitive radio and secondary use of spectrum. The approach is generally applicable to business analysis of services using "new" technology but the analysis is focused on cellular use of TV white space. The paper describes what can be learnt from history when mobile technologies have been introduced in the market. New services introduced by new actors are challenging since the market entrant need to invest in infrastructure and marketing and to build up a customer base. Hence the role and position of existing actors and services need to be considered. Promising business cases for mobile broadband services using cognitive radio and secondary spectrum access are presented for both wide area and local area systems. The difference between wide and local area network deployment and business are analyzed providing implications for future local area wireless systems.
This paper analyzes the technological development of local access provisioning of wireless broadband through the study of commercial forces of push-pull character behind its development. The work is conducted within the Novel Access Provisioning (NAP) project that is a joint techno-economic research effort between the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and the Swedish Telecom Agency (PTS). This paper reports the findings from a series of interviews with main representatives from actors within and outside the telecom industry confined to the Scandinavian market. The aim of the paper is to increase the understanding for the rate of diffusion of wireless broadband access solutions and to suggest innovative alternatives that may fuel its development.
Network sharing is a commonly used solution for macro cellular networks when mobile operators want to exploit benefits of sharing infrastructure, typically to save network costs. For local area and indoor networks infrastructure sharing using distributed antenna systems (DAS) and repeaters are commonly used solutions to improve indoor coverage. For these applications multi-operator solutions are well known and supported by both standardization bodies and by collaboration practices. However, when local networks are discussed in terms of femtocell solutions, offloading or heterogeneous networks, the multi-operator context seems to be forgotten. Small cells are often presented in a single-operator context. This does not comply with market demand and practices, since facility owners neither want one single mobile operator to dominate the capacity provision nor accept multiple indoor infrastructures provided by multiple mobile operators. In this paper we will discuss the business model implications of different multi-operator solutions for indoor deployment. The key findings are in the areas of: i) how multi-operator small cell solutions can fit into existing market practices when it comes to operator business, ii) how local network operators (3rd parties) and outsourcing can play a role in the business landscape, and iii) how different (novel) spectrum allocation and access strategies can play a role for indoor network deployment.
After year 2000 with the introduction of third generation (3G) mobile networks a new type ofcooperation between competitors emerged, network sharing. Cost reduction is often mentionedas the main driver for network sharing. However, cost aspects are only part of the story “why”operators cooperate. In this paper we discuss multiple aspects of “why” operators cooperate andalso “how” competing mobile operators cooperate.Besides cost the “why” aspect is discussed in terms of market position, market entry andexploitation of the resources and skills of the sharing partner but also drawbacks of sharing. Thepatterns of cooperation are illustrated by analyzing how roles, responsibilities and resources canbe distributed among the mobile operators. The findings are based on case studies where wemake comparison in three different domains. In the time domain we compare network sharing inSweden the years 2000 and 2010. From a cost perspective the drivers to share networks havedecrease since many base station sites can be re-used. Anyway, new network sharing companiesare formed in order to make the network operation more efficient.We also compare cooperation between operators at the Swedish and Indian mobile markets. Inboth countries the competition is very strong. Network sharing is used but in India thecooperation is organized through tower companies, hence the operator cooperation is weak.Finally we look into network sharing principles for indoor network deployment in Sweden. Thecooperation between operators is strong but not as strong as for the network sharing jointventures. The tie between two operators can be said to be weaker since several mobile operators,the facility owner and also enterprises may be included in cooperation. In addition theinvestment risk is lower.
In this paper we analyze the business feasibility of mobile broadband access services using secondary access of spectrum in the TV bands. We use a capacity-cost analysis considering costs for radio equipment, base station sites and radio spectrum. We compare network deployment by a market entrant and an existing mobile operator using either licensed spectrum or TV white spaces. In addition, we compare the impact of high and low spectrum prices using examples from Sweden and India. The analysis shows that market entrants will be in a more difficult position than the established actors. No matter the cost-capacity performance of cognitive radio equipment, a new operator needs to invest in a new infrastructure with sites and transmission. If the spectrum costs are "high" (like in India) the use of TW white spaces is more cost efficient for both existing operators and new operators.
It is envisaged that future internetworking technologies would continue to further the openness of interfaces and open up new business opportunities for new business players. An increased cooperation between different types of providers will result in improved service availability for end-users and in a potentially larger market for operators.
This paper investigates in what way regulatory support is needed to support new business models and value chains. It also discusses whether the deployment of ambient networking concepts is supported by current regulation and if features of Ambient Networks can be identified among emerging networking and business concepts.
Our view is that Ambient Networks concepts like network composition, dynamic roaming and new interfaces will enable the de-coupling of business roles of the traditionally vertically integrated value chain. This will enable increased cooperation both between operators as well as between operators and end-users. Other benefits of this kind of cooperation are that the risk associated with investments in own networks can be reduced and that barriers for new market entrants are lowered, hence this will support an increased competition.
In this paper we will compare the cost & capacity performance of femtocell and macrocellular networks. The motivation is the possibility to use femtocells as complement or as replacement of wide area networks and hence to save investments in macrocell networks. In this study the femtocells thus are used as a tool for operators to reduce network costs for mobile broadband. This represents another business case than the often presented cases with focus on improved indoor coverage in homes with focus on voice services. Our techno-economic analysis is made as a comparative case study where capacity and cost is analyzed for wireless broadband deployed in a newly built office area with high user density. In addition to wall penetration losses we take into account; the level of user demand, the density of existing macro base station sites, the recent improvements in cost and spectral efficiency for radio access technologies, and the use of wider system bandwidths. The main finding of the study is that femtocell solutions, for the considered demand levels, are more cost efficient when new macro base station sites need to be deployed, otherwise macrocell solutions are more cost-efficient.
Internet access now changes from mainly being a service consumed in own and fixed locations to be a service used at any location. The main topic in this paper is to address what kind of market actor that will be the most important for the provisioning of these public Internet access services. The research questions and methodology are related to business roles, market actors, customer relations, payment options and business mechanisms. The analysis is based on interviews with market actors within and outside the telecom sector that are candidates to take one or several business roles for access provisioning. The main finding of the analysis is that public local access provisioning to a large extent differs from the traditional operator business Actors from outside the telecom sector start to enter telecom business and the main driver is to support the non-telecom core business. The access is often provided based on temporary or short term customer relations.
The introduction of mobile broadband technology, smartphones and dongles has resulted in a tremendous increase of mobile data traffic. Future demand for more capacity can be met by allocation of more bandwidth and new spectrum bands to mobile communication.
But spectrum is a scarce resource and allocation of new licensed bands will only partly satisfy the growing demand.
Another possibility is secondary use of spectrum bands which primarily have been allocated for other services, e.g. TV or weather and traffic control radars. The secondary use exploits un-used spectrum in frequency, time or physical location. Such un-used spectrum in the TV bands is called TV white space (TV WS).
In this paper we will focus on the business analysis of “cellular use of TV white spaces” where the service is mobile broadband access. A number of business cases are analyzed where we look into mobile broadband services in rural and urban areas and for indoor use. The service can be provided by a mobile network operator with licensed spectrum or by an operator using TV white spaces only.
The analysis indicates that market entrants will be in a more difficult position than the established actors. New operators need to invest in networks, platforms, marketing and customers. Promising business cases are presented for existing mobile operators that use TV WS as complement for capacity expansion in urban areas and for local operators (e.g. facility owners) that will use TV WS and own indoor infrastructure in order to offer ”indoor” capacity to mobile operators
The usage of Internet is currently changing from mainly being a service consumed in fixed and known locations like your home or at your work to be a service used at any location. This 'public' wireless broadband access can either be based on extension of broadband systems using WLAN for the local area or be wide area cellular systems with high data rate capability. Mobile network operators have started to offer very competitive flat rate subscriptions for wireless broadband based on 3G / HSDPA. The 'business' WLAN hot spot are also challenged by wireless access offered for free (or very cheap) at cafés, a restaurant, hotels, buses etc. A large increase in wireless broadband usage is expected. We can expect more or less the same penetration as for mobile telephony. At the same time there will be a migration from fixed to wireless or even mobile networks. Mobile networks promise anytime everywhere services. This is a very strong quality guarantee. It is important to realize that in using Internet access at fixed and Âknown locations people have been used to get a more or less guaranteed data rate and availability. A wide scale migration from fixed networks to wireless network is likely to result in the same kind of requirements. The paper will look at the consequences of such kind of quality guarantee from capacity, cost and availability point of view. Since quite large capacities are needed it is vital to study how those capacities can be provided in a cost efficient way and also to study options for new types of business models. For fixed and mobile telephony and for broadband connections the business model has been the same for many years. End-users have a subscription with an operator that provides the service. For wireless access provided at public places there already today exists a number of different business concepts. A number of submarkets can be identified. The involved market actors are; Mobile Network Operators and Internet Service Providers but also Municipality Network Operators and Facility owners. As mentioned above, other types of actors outside the telecom sector have started to offer wireless access services. In this paper we will describe and analyze these submarkets with different sets of actors and different ways to cooperate and to organize the value network. The description of these submarkets also includes type of markets segment, the value proposition, cost structure and profit potential. We claim that new strategies for cooperation are needed in order to be able to offer public Internet access with high quality and capacity at low cost. This includes both 'technical' cooperation between wide area and local area network and, more importantly, cooperation in the business domain between different market actors.
In this work we present results from the Swedish Tele-economic research project Novel Access Provisioning. We target business aspects for wireless access services in the local environment with focus on concepts that enable public access for anyone. Key characteristics are high data volumes and data rates combined with low cost, low price or access for free. For fixed and mobile telephony and for Internet access services the traditional business model is based on a long term business agreement between the end-user and the provider, the subscription. Internet access now changes from mainly being a service consumed in own and fixed locations to be a service used at any location. The main topic in this paper is to address what kind of market actor that will be the most important for the provisioning of these public Internet access services - traditional operators or new market actors?
The research questions and methodology are related to business roles, market actors, customer relations, payment options and business mechanisms. The analysis is based on interviews with market actors within and outside the telecom sector that are candidates to take one or several business roles for access provisioning. Groups of business models, i.e. different ways to form the value constellation, were identified based on three groups of business roles; network operation & access provisioning, customer relation management & customer acquisition and establishment of trust & payment relations. Customer relations and payment options were analyzed and common characteristics of a SWOT analysis were summarized.
The main finding of the analysis is that local access provisioning to a large extent differ from the traditional operator business based on subscriptions. Low cost, high capacity public internet access is often a kind of “here and now” support of the daily life activities and are often based on temporary (“short term”) customer relations.
The last year Mobile Operators have successfully offered mobile broad band services based on ÂUSB dongles and competitive flat rate subscriptions. Both the numbers of users as well as the Âusage in terms of transferred number of Mbytes per user and month are increasing substantially. This will require very cost-efficient high capacity network solutions. Mobile communication systems with coverage almost Âeverywhere (e.g. GSM) are deployed for mobile telephony services. They are feasible solutions for voice or low rate data services, but not economically viable for high data rates and high capacity access. For cellular systems so called hierarchical cells structures (HCS) are used to provide services in areas with varying demand. The macrocells are complemented by micro and pico cells in areas with high demand. Recently femtocell solutions with small (possibly user deployed) indoor base stations have been proposed and this deployment option is currently investigated by operators and manufacturers (see www.femtoforum.org).
New ways of increasing cost efficiency and introduction of new services are necessary to promote development of extensive usage of a multitude of high data rate wireless services similar to the Internet. The Novel Access provisioning (NAP) project investigates the possibilities in small scale access and service provisioning as a low cost complement to existing Mobile Networks. New market players and business models are analysed. Private companies, shops etc can act as Local network operators where the company network is re-used for public access. Companies with large customer base, a strong brand and wide spread local presence represent another type of new market player where company assets like marketing, customer support and billing units also can be exploited for operation of mobile networks.
This paper analyses the marginal value of spectrum which includes engineering and strategic value. The analysis of the engineering value shows that operators that are able to obtain more spectrum than their competitors, and pursue network sharing and spectrum aggregation have a competitive advantage as they have the lowest production cost, highest margin and highest capacity when usage takes off. The analysis of the strategic value shows that the level of offered data rates is pivotal for operators’ marketing of mobile broadband services and that network sharing in combination with spectrum aggregation has a positive impact on the strategic value. Altogether, the willingness to pay for spectrum in recent auctions has been lower than the estimated marginal value in this analysis. However, it is likely to increase when a broad range of smart mobile devices and mobile broadband are ubiquitously used as this will put unprecedented pressure on mobile networks increasing the demand for spectrum.
The overall objective of this paper is to highlight the need to consider a multitude of scenarios for the requirements, design and deployment of mobile broadband networks. The R&D and standardization have for many years been targeting high peak data rates enabled by improved spectral efficiency, adding more spectrum bands, aggregation of frequency bands and offloading to local wireless networks connected via public fixed phones or broadband. However, many of these features driving the technology development are representative for the conditions in US and Western Europe. The wireless networks also need to be designed assuming deployment in regions in the world where both the availability of spectrum as well as the penetration of fixed phones and broadband are limited.
In this paper we focus on Sweden and India where the conditions in terms of fixed line infrastructure and amount of allocated radio spectrum to operators are totally different.This means that for an expected rapid growth of mobile broadband services in India the coming years the mobile operators need to consider a wider range of network solutions compared to Sweden. As examples of these different conditions and it consequences we discuss three different network deployment strategies including the related spectrum allocation aspects: networks sharing, the use of TV white spaces and use of narrowband femtocells for off-loading of macrocell networks.More work is needed in these areas but the main finding of the analysis in the paper is that existing network deployment strategies need to be modified and adapted to conditions other than those in Europe.
The numbers of users and usage of mobile data service are increasing dramatically due to the introduction of smartphones and mobile broadband dongles. For the next decade the mobile broadband market is expected to grow and reach a level where the average data consumption per user is orders of magnitude greater than today. For the telecom industry it is a magnificent challenge to design and deploy these s high-capacity wireless networks taking into account limitations in cost, energy and radio spectrum.
The objective of this paper is to highlight the need to consider a multitude of scenarios for the requirements, design and deployment of mobile broad band networks. The R&D has for many years been targeting high peak data rates enabled by improved spectral efficiency, adding more spectrum bands, aggregation of frequency bands and offloading to local wireless networks connected via public fixed phones or broadband.
However, many of these features driving the technology development are representative for the conditions in US and Western Europe. The wireless networks also need to be designed assuming deployment in regions in the world where both the availability of spectrum as well as the penetration of fixed phones and broadband are limited.
Mobile broadband is increasing rapidly both when it comes to traffic and number of subscriptions. The swift growth of the demand will require substantial capacity expansions. Operators are challenged by the fact that revenues from mobile roadband are limited, just a few per cent of ARPU, and thus not compensating for declining voice revenues, creating a so called "revenue gap". Concurrently, mobile broadband dominates the traffic, set to grow strongly. In this paper we analyze the potential of different strategies for operators to reduce or bridge the revenue gap. The main options are to reduce network costs, to increase access prices and to exploit new revenue streams. The focus in the paper is on cost & capacity challenges and solutions in the network domain.
Operators can cooperate and share sites and spectrum, which could be combined with off-loading heavy traffic to less costly local networks. In the network analysis we illustrate the cost impacts of different levels of demand, re-use of existing base station sites, sharing of base stations and spectrum and deployment of a denser network. A sensitivity analysis illustrates the impact on total revenues if access prices are increased, whether new types of services generate additional revenues, and if it fills the revenue gap. Our conclusion is that the different technical options to reduce the revenue gap can be linked to business strategies that include cooperation with both other operators as well as with non-telecom actors. Hence, innovations in the business domain enable technical solutions to be better or fully exploited.
In this paper we discuss different business models for deployment and operation of femtocell networks intended for provisioning of public mobile broad band access services. In these types of business cases the operators use femtocells in order to reduce investments in “more costly” macro networks since the traffic can be “offloaded” to “less costly” femtocell networks. This is in contrast to the many business cases presented in Femtoforum where femtocells mainly are discussed as a solution to improve indoor coverage for voice services in homes and small offices, usually for closed user groups
The main question discussed in this paper is if “operators need to consider new forms of cooperation strategies in order to enable large scale deployment of femtocells for public access?” By looking into existing solutions for indoor wireless access services we claim that the answer is both “Yes” and “No”. No, since many types of cooperation are already in place for indoor deployment. Yes, because mobile operators need to re-think the femtocell specific business models, from approaches based on singe operator networks to different forms of cooperation involving multi-operator solutions, e.g. roaming and network sharing.
Wide spread adoption of mobile Internet services will increase the demand for low cost high capacity wireless networks. Cooperation between different types of operators will enable increased network utilization and availability for the end-users. This will lead to more satisfied customers and potentially both more users and increased usage. The benefits of cooperation is clear for end-users as they can freely chose access networks and services from a larger pool of options. The operator benefits are not as straightforward although some benefits can be identified. In this paper we will present both end-user and operator related performance metrics that describe the effects of network cooperation. The Ambient Networks concepts and functionality are used to illustrate cooperation mechanisms and performance gains. The main result is that the proposed Operator Satisfaction Index (OSI) can be used to describe benefits of cooperation in terms of network utilization, user perception of availability, revenues and network cost
The Ambient networks concepts will enable operators to co-operate in new ways and allow users to connect to a multitude of “visited networks” although the user is within coverage of the “home network”. In this paper we will investigate how operators and users can exploit the flexibility in selection among different access options. More specific questions are:
In this paper low cost concepts for future wireless access are presented and discussed from the business perspective. Instead of extending todays cellular technology or to focus on the bandwidth efficiency of the radio equipment, the chosen approach focus on reduction of costs for network deployment and operation. Adaptive antennas (MIMO), multihop schemes and local access points are combined with user deployed infrastructure and reuse of existing network assets. Business models candidates are analysed, showing that all proposed low cost solutions can be used either by local network operators (LNOs) in close cooperation with mobile operators (network franchising) or to be user deployed using a traditional subscriber model. MIMO and multihop relays require close integration into the cellular network implying that these solutions would be less suitable for an independent LNO.
This paper analyzes push-pull initiatives of technological development by studying the concept of Novel Access Provisioning of new wireless Internet access to existing backbone infrastructure. The Novel Access Provisioning project is conducted within the Swedish techno-economic research project with participants from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and the Swedish Telecom Agency (PTS).
This paper reports on the results from a series of interviews during the fall of 2005 with main representatives from within the Telecom Industry and outside in the Nordic market having an interest in the development and use of mobile services. The aim of the paper is to increase the understanding for why some innovations have a rapid rate of adoption while others are deployed more slowly.
Operator utility is related to expected profits, risks and strategic issues. In this paper we focus on the potential change in operator utility from network cooperation. If network cooperation would increase operator utility significantly, that would be an important driver of cooperation. We show that the most important effect of network cooperation would be increased user utility, which in turn is shown to have significant impact on operator utility. The user utility is compared without and with cooperation between mobile operators. The user utility is expressed as a User Satisfaction Index (USI) which is depending on the service availability, service quality and the price. Cooperation in the form of sharing of network resources is usually seen as a way to share costs and risk for network deployment. However, there are other operator benefits:
The network related property of cooperation to reduce the number of disconnected users is transformed into a higher degree of user satisfaction. This would most likely result in more loyal customers and hence the churn would be reduced. In this paper we discuss the implications of the increased user satisfaction on operator costs for customer acquisition and management. We see business opportunities for mobile operators leading to cost savings and changes in the cost structure.
Mobile operators face a scenario characterised by new challenges such as growing data consumption, a slowdown in subscriber growth and reduced revenues due to the success of OTT providers. To remain competitive, mobile operators must offer affordable services and think on strategies to retain current customers.
Quality of Experience (QoE) is a well-established methodology for measuring and understanding the overall level of customer satisfaction with a service and has been presented as a way to improve telecommunication services. Even though QoE can be used to solve problems such as customer loyalty and optimisation of network resources in mobile networks, there is a great lack of knowledge on how mobile operators can take advantage of QoE and its potential benefits.
This thesis explores the incorporation of QoE in mobile networks to improve their service offering from a technical, regulatory and business perspective.The technical level focuses on the definition of the mechanism to integrate QoE in the operation of mobile networks. The second part of this study has been focused on the regulatory framework on Net Neutrality. Finally,the third part of this thesis focuses on the identification of potential business scenarios and models based on the incorporation of QoE in mobile networks. An important conclusion is that due to the nature of the challenges faced by the mobile industry, a QoE analysis cannot be limited to a technical discussion. A technical solution can be the first step to the first step to overcoming industry challenges. However, it is important that a technical decision comes along with an informed analysis of the regulatory conditions and the business implications of the proposed solution. On the other hand, mobile operators require new methods that integrate technical, market and business considerations to improve their service offer. A method analysed in this dissertation is a Customer Experience Management (CEM) platform. Given the technical, regulatory and business factors covered in this thesis, a CEM platform can be used by mobile operators to make a better use of QoE in their business operation.
Current wireless networks have no knowledge on the type and characteristics of the specific mobile services and contents they are providing (they are agnostic). On the other hand, associated to richer content and more advanced devices, improvement of Quality of Experience (QoE) levels perceived by each user looks as one of the main goals of the different actors in the telecommunication's ecosystem. In this respect, network awareness of the transferred content types and their quality requirements can be important to deliver them fulfilling user requirements while optimizing the utilization of network resources. In this paper, we explore the effect of including semantic knowledge in the radio resource management (RRM) schemes of cellular systems as a way to reach this balance for video streaming service. To make this possible, we propose a number of semantic-aware RRM schemes using information about the video playback's current status, and investigate their performances based on the reduction of the total time of interruptions (TTI) perceived by users when a video streaming content is played. The achieved results are compared to those of the standard agnostic scheme implemented in the cellular networks. The outcomes show that incorporating semantic-aware RRM schemes, more users can receive the content provided by a network within a tolerable level of TTI, while the number of users receiving High Definition (HD) videos can be increased, which in general terms might reduce the investment in infrastructure to fulfill users' requirements.
With the development of mobile networks, customer needs and behaviours have changed. Mobile communications means so much more than simple voice communication; there is now mobile Internet with web surfing, videophone, streaming media, and micro blogging. The objective of network optimization has gradually shifted from enhancing network performance to improve quality of experience (QoE). Therefore, assessing and optimizing QoE is the trend for optimizing future mobile networks. Today, users want reliable access for their content, wherever they go in the network. To deliver the best possible experience to mobile broadband subscribers, operators need new ways to assess performance that will enable them to build and manage their networks in the most efficient way. The new paradigmatic eco system (user-interfacenetwork- content) requires novel and disruptive end-to-end considerations in order to enable and sustain the next generation of services and user experience. Thus, the extraordinary adoption of mobile connectivity by end users, and the need for optimized bandwidth management network resource, on the one hand, and the growing interest for good quality content delivery/consumption, is boosting the creation of new network solutions.
M2M sector is an increasingly important source of connections growth for mobile operatorsworldwide. Operators are looking at M2M as a new business alternative means to reduce the impact of theslowing growth (or declines) in traditional consumer mobile services. As a result, many operators areadapting their organisational structures and business models exploring opportunities to expand theirportfolio to emerging markets in developing countries. These markets are still in process of maturing,with M2M implementations at very early stage. On the other hand, the benefits that could accrue todeveloped countries through the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine type communication (MTC) arenumerous. In this context, this paper presents an initial study about the current status of M2M in somedeveloping countries, considering as study cases regions such as Latin America and Asia. Presentedinformation remarks the potential of the considered markets to boost the growth of M2M solutionsworldwide. Finally, we show some specific requirements for M2M business models for developingcountries and a description of the technical challenges to be considered at the moment of investing inM2M solutions for developing countries.
Energy efficiency is important for mobile devices because battery technology development has not kept up with the growing demand of ubiquitous broadband communications. This paper addresses optimal energy-efficient design for uplink (UL) MU-MIMO in a single cell environment. We assume mobile devices have dynamic antenna management capability and can turn off circuit operations when some antennas are not used to save power. We show that some antennas should not be used even when their channel states are good because turning them on consumes too much circuit power. This indicates a single antenna system could perform better than a multi-antenna system in terms of energy efficiency. Based on theoretical analysis, we further develop low-complexity yet globally optimal algorithms that converge to the optimum exponentially.
In this paper, we solve a fundamental problem: how to use distributed random access to achieve the performance of centralized schedulers. We consider wireless networks with arbitrary topologies and spatial traffic distributions, where users can receive traffic from or send traffic to different users and different communication links may interfere with each other. The channels are assumed heterogeneous, and the random channel gains of different links may have different distributions. To resolve the network contention in a distributed way, each frame is divided into contention and transmission periods. The contention period is used to resolve conflicts, while the transmission period is used to send payload in collision-free scenarios. We design a multistage channel-aware Aloha scheme for the contention period to enable users with relatively better channel states to have higher probabilities of contention success while assuring fairness among all users. We show analytically that the proposed scheme completely resolves network contention and achieves throughput close to that of centralized schedulers. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is robust to any uncertainty in channel estimation. Simulation results demonstrate that it significantly improves network performance while maintaining fairness among different users. The proposed random access approach can be applied to different wireless networks, such as cellular, sensor, and mobile ad hoc networks, to improve quality of service.
End-to-end communication is the fundamental building block of communication networks. In this paper, we discuss globally optimal energy efficient design for end-to-end communications. An end-to-end multiple-hop system with one sender, one receiver, and multiple relays is considered. We first study in detail energy-efficient designs in the wideband regime that is characterized by wide signal bandwidth and low spectral efficiency, and later briefly those in the narrowband regime. We will reveal the globally optimal link adaptation as well as relay deployment strategies such that the whole system can achieve the highest energy efficiency. The technologies proposed can be used in various communication systems, such as the deployment and communication of wired core networks and wireless relay networks, to improve their energy efficiency. While this paper focuses on a linear end-to-end network topology, the methodology can be easily extended to two-dimensional network topologies for energy-efficient designs of the whole network
In this paper we discuss globally optimal energy-efficient communications in the wideband regime that is characterized by wide signal bandwidth and low spectral efficiency. An end-to-end multiple-hop system with one sender, one receiver, and multiple relays is considered. We discover the globally optimal link adaptation as well as relay deployment strategies such that the whole system can run with the highest energy efficiency. The technologies proposed can be used in various communication systems, such as the deployment and communication of wired core networks and wireless broadband relay backhauls, to improve their energy efficiency.
Originally, networks were engineered to provide only one type of service, i.e. either voice or data, soonly one level of resiliency was requested. This trend has changed, and today’s approach in serviceprovisioning is quite different. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) stipulated between users and serviceproviders (or network operators) regulates a series of specific requirements, e.g., connection set-up timesand connection availability that has to be met in order to avoid monetary fines. In recent years this hascaused a paradigm shift on how to provision these services. From a “one-solution-fits-all” scenario, wewitness now a more diversified set of approaches where trade-offs among different network parameters(e.g., level of protection vs. cost and/or level of protection vs. blocking probability) play an important role.This chapter aims at presenting a series of network resilient methods that are specifically tailored for adynamic provisioning with such differentiated requirements. Both optical backbone and access networksare considered. In the chapter a number of provisioning scenarios - each one focusing on a specificQuality of Service (QoS) parameter - are considered. First the effect of delay tolerance, defined as theamount of time a connection request can wait before being set up, on blocking probability is investigatedwhen Shared Path Protection is required. Then the problem of how to assign “just-enough” resources tomeet each connection availability requirement is described, and a possible solution via a Shared PathProtection Scheme with Differentiated Reliability is presented. Finally a possible trade off between deploymentcost and level of reliability performance in Passive Optical Networks (PONs) is investigated.
The presented results highlight the importance of carefully considering each connection’s QoS parameterswhile devising a resilient provisioning strategy. By doing so the benefits in terms of cost saving andblocking probability improvement becomes relevant, allowing network operators and service providersto maintain satisfied customers at reasonable capital and operational expenditure levels.
Mobile communication networks account for 0.5% of the global energy consumption, a value that is expected to double within the next five years. For this reason, means of reducing the energy consumption in cellular mobile radio networks has recently gained great interest within the research community. In mobile networks the backhaul contribution to the total power consumption is usually neglected because of its limited impact compared to that of the radio base stations. However, meeting the almost exponential increase in mobile data traffic requires a large number of (mainly small) base stations. This means that backhaul networks will take a significant share of the cost and the energy consumption in future systems. Their actual contribution to the energy consumption will depend on the radio base station deployment scenario as well as on the technology and topology choices for the backhaul itself. This paper presents an initial assessment of the power consumption of two established backhaul technologies, i.e., fiber and microwave. For the microwave case, three backhaul topologies are considered, i.e., tree, ring and star, while for the fiber case only one topology is analysed, i.e., a dedicated point-to-point star. The presented results, assuming off-the-shelf products and based on todays network capacity levels, confirm the importance of considering the backhaul when minimizing the total power consumption in heterogeneous network scenarios. They also show the impact of the basic technology and topology choices of the backhaul for minimizing total power consumption.
The remarkable growth of mobile communication has reinforced the significance of the radio spectrum for mobile network operators. The availability of spectrum varies considerably between different countries due to national regulatory decisions. The focus in this paper is on India where operators have access to a limited amount of spectrum. This paper analyses the value of spectrum by estimating the opportunity cost, which is calculated by the savings that can be achieved by acquiring appropriate amount of spectrum rather than investing in additional base stations. The applied approach combines network deployment, user demand levels, cost, and capacity issues, which are integrated in the application in the opportunity cost approach for spectrum. The opportunity cost of spectrum is compared with prices paid at spectrum auctions. The analysis includes a discussion of drivers that determine the willingness to pay for spectrum. The results show that the opportunity cost of spectrum in relation to auction prices is lower than prices operators paid for 3G spectrum in the metro circles (service areas) while the value derived from the opportunity cost is higher than auction prices in the remaining circles.
Radio spectrum is a vital asset and resource for mobile network operators. With spectrum in the 800 and 900 MHz bands coverage can be provided with fewer base station sites compared to higher frequency bands like 2.1 and 2.6 GHz. With more spectrum, i.e. wider bandwidth, operators can offer higher capacity and data rates. Larger bandwidths means that capacity can be provided with fewer base station sites, i.e. with lower cost. Operators that acquire more spectrum in existing or new bands can re-use existing sites for capacity build out. Engineering value is one way to estimate the marginal value of spectrum. The calculation of engineering value is based on comparison of different network deployment options using different amounts of spectrum. This paper compare estimates of engineering value of spectrum with prices paid at a number of spectrum auctions, with a focus on Sweden. A main finding is that estimated engineering value of spectrum is much higher than prices operators have paid at spectrum auctions during the last couple of years. The analysis also includes a discussion of drivers that determine the willingness to pay for spectrum.