Interview: Senior Director Global Spectrum Policy, GSMA: “The white space approach cannot replace the urgent need to secure additional harmonised spectrum for mobile broadband.”

Wladimir Bocquet, Senior Director Global Spectrum Policy, GSMA

Wladimir Bocquet, Senior Director Global Spectrum Policy, GSMA is taking part in a panel discussion entitled: “Highlighting the availability and assignment of 2014’s spectrum bands”, taking place on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 23rd-26th June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands.  Ahead of the event we find out more about the GSMA’s work in making the best use of spectrum and free up new resources to improve mobile broadband throughout the world.

What role do you play at the GSMA in ensuring that there is greater spectrum harmonisation?

We encourage national administrations around the world to license commonly-used, harmonised mobile spectrum in order to establish a wide range of affordable mobile devices and equipment that can be used worldwide. Not only does this broaden access to mobile broadband services by reducing the cost of equipment, it also reduces international interference and facilitates roaming. We also work with the international regulatory community to establish vital new mobile bands to meet future data demand – again, with a view to establishing harmonised spectrum worldwide. The industry is currently in the middle of this hugely important task which will conclude at the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference next year.

Verizon’s voice-over-LTE service will include Facetime-like video calling at launch

Gigaom

AT&T(s t) may have beat Verizon(s vz) off the starting line when it took its new voice-over-LTE service live this week, but Verizon said on Tuesday it plans to finish the VoLTE race strong. The carrier still hasn’t revealed when in 2014 its next-generation mobile telephony service will launch, but when it does it will debut nationwide and immediately offer enhanced communications features like video calling, Verizon VP of Mobile and Internet services Brian Higgins said at a media briefing.

The video chat feature will be much like Apple’s(s aapl) Facetime as it will be accessible from the phone’s dialer and contact lists and users can switch between voice and video calling with a tap of the button. Verizon started previewing integrated video calling way back in 2011, but it’s significant that the feature will available to customers on day 1 of launch.

Most mobile carriers are gradually rolling…

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First commercial LTE network launched in North Africa

How LTE is stepping in to fill the rural bandwidth gap in Portugal

Vitor Pereira is a Portuguese-based journalist and blogger with a focus on smart cities.

Vitor Pereira, a journalist and blogger, takes a look at how mobile broadband is helping solve traditional connectivity problems in rural Portugal. 

For decades, the remote and less populated regions of the most varied parts of the world have tried to keep pace with the spread of Broadband and high speed Internet. These naturally, first arrived in the big cities and most populated regions for several reasons. Firstly, and essentially, due to the business models of major telecommunications operators and, secondly, due to the lack of serious public policies promoting the development of infrastructure for areas of low population density.

In other words, for companies operating in an open, free and competitive market it is a matter of numbers and economic viability (or the lack thereof) and objectively we can all understand this.

Free expo passes for the LTE World Summit!

The best things in life are free – according to the musical from the 50s and Janet and Luther’s song from the 90s. So why not take full advantage of the free expo pass for this year’s LTE World Summit 2014, which features more companies exhibiting than ever before.

The free pass gives access to:

• Over 3,500 industry experts under one roof with limitless networking opportunities
  
• Freenote conference sessions presented by C-level speakers from Huawei, KPN, Samsung and SK Telecom
• Hear from leading operators, vendors and analysts about the latest LTE and 5G developments at our 5 free expo summits:
  • Future of LTE – hear from Imagine Technologies, SIMalliance, BT, MTC Namibia, Orange, EE, Orange Poland, TNO
  • LTE Public Safety – hear from TCCA, Athonet, Federal Police, ASTRID, European Utility Telecoms Council
  • Innovation Accelerator – your chance to pitch and discover the latest and greatest innovative companies, 
  • Network Optimisation – hear from YooMee Africa, Wireless Broadband Alliance, GSMA, Telecom Italia, Hot Telecom, TNO, Telecom Argentina, 5GPPP
  • Maximising Spectrum – hear from Avea, Telenor, UK Spectrum Policy Forum, GSA, FCC, Ofcom, ESOA
• Over 150 exhibitors at the world’s leading 4G exhibition
• 45% director level or above attendance
• Over 125 countries represented
• Speaker Interview Theatre

Get your copy of the Visitor Ticket Here
With all this why not bring along a group to make sure your company covers everything the expo pass has to offer! See you there!

And if you want to take full advantage of all the conference has to offer sign up for a full conference pass here

 

 

Interview: Chief Network Architect, China Telecommunications Corporation: “OTT services, especially the instant messaging applications, have had a very deep impact on mobile networks.”

Yingqi Li, Chief Network Architect and Senior Manager, China Telecommunications Corporation

Yingqi Li, Chief Network Architect and Senior Manager, China Telecommunications Corporation is speaking at the 3rd annual Signaling Focus Day, taking place on the 23rdh June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. We speak to them about the signaling issues affecting its LTE network rollout.

China Telecoms has launched LTE in over 100 cities – what are the main challenges you are facing as you manage your upgrade program to LTE and how long will it take to complete?

The main challenges we have faced are very practical. The first was acquiring new sites for our base stations, and the creation of environment protecting standards for our 4G equipment. Technically we also had to manage the interoperation between LTE and CDMA2000 network. It took nearly ten months to complete the first phase of our network development.

Interview: General Manager, 5G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey: “Collective and harmonised global activity throughout Europe, US and Asia will be a must for the success of 5G.”

Dr Shahram G Niri, General Manager, 5GIC (5G Innovation Centre), University of Surrey

Dr Shahram G Niri, is general manager of the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey. We find out more what this institute is about, what he believes the main challenges will be in reaching a 5G standard. Dr Niri is speaking on Day One of the inaugural 5G World Summit is taking place on the 23rd-26^th June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. 

Please tell me more about the 5G Innovation Centre? What are its aims and how it came to be based at the University of Surrey?

The 5GIC (5G Innovation Center) programme is the result of a  successful funding bid made by the University of Surrey in 2012 to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), under the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) for the creation of a sustainable and specialised 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC). The 5GIC is the world’s first dedicated 5G programme and an international hub for telecommunication research and innovation with a unique large scale 5G test-bed for network testing.  The centre collaborates with key telecom service providers, network and device manufacturers and test equipment solution providers to create a facility that develops solutions and standards for 5G networks worldwide and generates significant downstream benefits for parties involved, the wider economy, and the community.

Beyond the core: how networks are enabling innovation in vertical markets

Dr. Mussaad Al-Razouki

This post is by Dr. Mussaad Al-Razouki, Chairman, AbiDoc

The technologies and business models pitched by the various competing startup ventures at the at the recent Innovation Accelerator, held at the 4th Annual MENA LTE Conference, highlighted the recent focus of mobile operators in addressing various adjacent markets to their core telecom business.

This included aspects related to mobile healthcare, mobile money, online advertising, interactive education models as well as enterprise and cloud mobility solutions, in addition to network infrastructure-centric innovations focused on optimization and services enablement, such as HetNet cooperation, content delivery optimization and software defined mobile networks.

Interview: International Affairs and Policy Coordinator, Türk Telekom “Changes in roaming… will place considerable burden on the already troubled EU telecoms sector.”

Dr. Mustafa Aykut, International Affairs and Policy Coordinator for Türk Telekom

Turkey has yet to roll out LTE as it awaits spectrum allocation. Dr. Mustafa Aykut, International Affairs and Policy Coordinator for Türk Telekom talks us through some of the complex issues and explains his objections to the EU banning roaming charges.

Dr. Aykut, is taking part in a panel discussion entitled: “Assessing successful and innovative deployment strategies”, taking place on Day Two of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 23rd-26th June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands.

What are the main challenges of rolling out LTE in Turkey?

Currently, there is no roadmap regarding spectrum related actions for LTE roll-out as 800 MHz band will not be cleared until June 2015. Furthermore, problems associated with the unfair allocation of GSM bands continue to have an impact. The fair allocation of existing bands is a prerequisite for LTE launch and technology-neutral use of spectrum.

Internet security is an issue that is always high on the agenda. Do you think that operators should be doing more to protect their customers?

In Turkey, all ISPs operate in accordance with the regulations set by the regulation authority, ICTA, with regards to internet security related issues. However, it is important for operators to raise awareness among users about internet security to ensure the safety of their customers and their information.

5G by 2020: Hype or reality?

Senior Conference Researcher for the LTE World Summit, Informa Telecoms & Media

Although 5G is still just a vague concept, the hype around this next generation technology continues with EE and NTT DoCoMo both recently in the news showcasing their activities in this space.

Last week, NTT DoCoMo announced their plans for major 5G trials in an attempt to demonstrate the potential of 5G mobile technologies at frequency bands above 6GHz. The operator plans to collaborate with six of the industry’s leading equipment vendors – Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia and Samsung – each running in parallel on a specific trial as part of an overall proof of concept.

Furthermore, here in the UK, although we’re only just getting to grips with 4G (with even this being a long way off for most), EE have already shown signs that they’re already on the countdown to 5G.

Interview: manager of network and services planning department, Telekom Srbija: “In general, the key challenge for LTE implementation is not on the technical side, but on the commercial side.”

Nemanja Ognjanovic, manager of network and services planning department, Telekom Srbija

LTE might be mature as a technology but it’s still yet to be deployed in many networks. We speak to Nemanja Ognjanovic, manager of network and services planning department, Telekom Srbija about the challenges that remain for operators looking to deploy. Ognjanovic is one of the discussion leaders of the Service Innovation track for Voice, Video and Roaming at the Operator Mindshare, taking place on the 23^rd June at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands.

At what stage are your LTE deployment plans and what are the key challenges that you expect to face?

LTE is not deployed by any operator in Serbia yet, but Telekom Srbija is committed to implement it as soon as all the technical and regulatory requirements are met. The network has already been in the process of modernization towards LTE for several years through the introduction of “single RAN” base station cabinets that allow for the co-location of 2G/3G/4G equipment in the same cabinet. Furthermore, the upgrade of core network and necessary backhaul links to meet traffic requirements is ongoing, while waiting for regulatory issues to be solved.

In general, the key challenge for LTE implementation is not on the technical side, but on the commercial side, since the required significant investment cannot be easily monetized through service subscription and mobile data plans. The technical deployment should be followed by a proper marketing campaign aimed at attracting subscribers and creating of relevant LTE customer database.

Interview: Senior advisor, FCC: “Spectrum sharing has great potential.”

Kamran Etemad, Senior advisor, FCC

Kamran Etemad, Senior advisor, FCC is speaking at the inaugural 5G World Summit, taking place on the 23rd-26th June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Here we find out about his views on making the best use of spectrum and the challenges and opportunities therein. 

Unlicensed LTE: surely a contradiction in terms? How does this work and how what problems could it solve?

LTE-U is not a contradiction but a different way of using a technology that is primarily designed to be controlled/managed, in order to leverage the significant amount of unlicensed spectrum, to address exploding demand for mobile data capacity. Depending on how the solution is approached the added complexity may be limited, or large.

Perhaps the simplest and least intrusive way to allow LTE-U operation is to use it as a supplementary carrier to opportunistically expand the effective user plane bandwidth of a licensed primary LTE carrier, which may more predictably carry control plane signaling. The LTE-U supplementary carrier may be configured/activated dynamically through primary carrier for use as a downlink only, uplink only and TDD mode, in an unlicensed or shared spectrum. Some companies are proposing concepts aligned with this approach, while some may be considering a more Wi-Fi-like operation, which requires more changes.

President of Research company Hot Telecom: “IPX is the solution to a multitude of IP evils”

Isabelle Paradis, President of research company Hot Telecom

Isabelle Paradis, President of research company Hot Telecom is moderating a panel entitled: : “Ensuring MNOs can provide a seamless roaming service”, including senior execs from Orange and taking place on Day One of the 10th annual LTE World Summit, taking place on the 23rd-26th June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we sound her out on one of the hot LTE topics of the moment-roaming,

As customers get used to 4G at home, they will want it abroad – why is making it happen not straightforward?

Probably the biggest challenge to 4G roaming is that the regulators in each country assigned different frequencies to the rollout of 4G (LTE) and so the phone manufacturers had to scramble to fit many different radio capabilities in each phone – this is getting better, but can still create issues. Then, of course, operators also have the key challenge of enabling LTE roaming on a global basis almost from day one.

First of all, 4G has not been launched in every country and until it has the phones will switch back to the slower 3G capabilities. Even where LTE has been launched within a country it will not be available everywhere. In most cases, the technology will be launched in major cities and deployed in more rural areas thereafter. So here again, access to 4G will be patchy for some time to come.

But more importantly, new roaming agreements and interconnections will have to be negotiated between operators to support this new type of IP traffic and this can take time and money. This is where IPX comes into play. Operators are able to interconnect to a handful of IPX hubs, which offer a large number of LTE roaming destinations, enabling operators to support 4G on a widespread basis with minimal effort, time and cost.

Think LTE is Safe from Interference? Think Again.

Bill Myers, Director of Product Management and Business Development, ISCO

This post is by Bill Myers, Director of Product Management and Business Development, ISCO.

Much attention has been paid during the design of LTE to the impact of inter-cell interference, with LTE transmissions from macro, micro and femto cells impacting neighboring sites in overlapping coverage. LTE includes measurements of this type of interference and schedules resource blocks and UE usage to minimize this inter-cell interference (e.g., using eICIC).  In contrast, external sources of interference (signals that do not originate in the LTE network) can significantly degrade network performance and cannot be avoided as easily, since the LTE network cannot control the source of the interference. External interference continues to be confirmed in real-world deployments and is a catalyst for new FCC initiatives focused on radio spectrum pollution, as presented by Julius Knapp during the keynote at the Silicon Flatirons Conference on Radio Spectrum Pollution in November 2013.

Why Mobile Operators Need to Get Closer to Subscribers – Literally

Ofer Talmor, VP Products, Saguna Networks

Getting closer to subscribers can help mobile operators with two of their biggest challenges: enhancing customer loyalty and offering new, differentiating services that attract new customers and to increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

Here is how.

Telecom’s walled gardens are falling apart

Telemaco Melia,
Business Development Manager at Kudelski Security

The latest advances in wireless cellular technologies are bringing to our connected life a renewed appetite for content consumption. The availability of smarter and ever powerful end-user devices combined with the proliferation of mobile applications are pushing mobile network operators to race for newer and faster mobile networks leveraging the freshly standardized fourth generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) network. 4G LTE networks started to go live late 2011 and as of today more than 140 networks are operational worldwide, forecasting to hit 240 worldwide operators by the end of 2013 (according to Global mobile Suppliers Association). With uplink speeds up to 100Mbits and downlink speeds up to 50Mbits, 4G LTE offers to end-users high data rate communications at low, medium and high mobility. 4G LTE is set to be the reference standard for cellular communications unifying the quite fragmented worldwide technology landscape.

What‘s in a Dot?

The LTE MENA conference finished earlier this week, and as we were following Twitter, we noticed back in the LTE World Series office HQ, we noticed a several mentions of the Ericsson ‘Dot’.

Impressed by the #DOT you have all the right to be!! #ltemena @EricssonMENA pic.twitter.com/au7uCGDYmq

— Clare (@ClareAshamallah) May 12, 2014

So just in case you were wondering what the Dot was, here’s a quick reminder.

5G NETWORKS: UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE

On Purpose Magazine

By James Carlini

This article is an excerpt from James Carlini’s upcoming book, Location Location Connectivity:

5G Networks

5G Networks will be providing some very high speeds to the average user. This means building out the network to specifications which have to include

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Warid set to launch 4G LTE services, with PTA approval

Info Bulletin

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) accepted Warid Telecom’s plea to permit it to launch 4G services in the country.

The PTA had held auctions for 3G and 4G network licences on April 23 – a process in which Warid did not participate in. The bids of four mobile operators of Pakistan qualified for the auction of 3G and 4G namely Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone and Zong.

Warid had previously already obtained a spectrum that would allow the roll-out of 4G. The company’s existing licence, which was acquired in 2004, is also technology neutral.

While Warid planned to launch 4G LTE (long-term evolution) to compete with the 3G/4G licence-holders, the PTA had insisted that the company needed permission from the regulator for the introduction of the new service.

It was earlier expected that PTA may withhold Warid’s request for permission to go for the launch of 4G (LTE) considering the interests of other…

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Over-the-top services: Is now the time to join them?

Conference Researcher, Informa Telecoms & Media

In recent years we have seen a rapid growth in the use of over-the-top (OTT) applications for voice and messaging communications, which has forced operators to think twice about how they will protect critical voice revenues from attrition.

We saw the launch of TU Me by the carrier Telefonica in 2012, a free VoIP voice and messaging app, which was offered to customers to compete with the likes of Skype/Whatsapp.  The carriers scraped the idea a year later as they failed to make significant revenue or dent customer loyalty that OTT platforms such as Skype already have.

Interview: Telco Tech Lead, Telefónica Digital: “As the telco core moves away from circuit-switched technology to pure IP it will be a must for operators to relay all network infrastructure to virtualization technologies.”

Virtualisation is a must for operators says Daniel Velasco, Telco Tech Lead for Telefónica Digital. Velasco will be leading discussions on service innovation at the LTE Operator Mindshare 2014, taking place on the 23rd June 2014, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands.

What would you say are the key challenges that you are facing as you continue to develop your LTE networks?

In our team we are focusing in communications service innovation that should interwork with legacy services. The mix of legacy voice/SMS and LTE enabled VoLTE is a great challenge to provide global services available to users no matter the core technology they use.

What is your view on NFV and SDN – are these just buzz words or are they relevant to your planned network deployment?

Regarding NFV and SDN, as the telco core moves away from circuit-switched technology to pure IP it will be a must for operators to relay all network infrastructure to virtualization technologies. In all projects in which we are involved, this virtualization would help a lot but is not currently supported in the industry for elements below service layer. It will reduce costs and time to market of new network features.

Where next for LTE?

Keith Dyer is Editor of The Mobile Network

For understandable reasons, most attention regarding LTE progression tends to focus on the sort of technical features that will boost capacities and decrease latencies across the network. I’m thinking of those items that are about enabling Carrier Aggregation, interference cancellation, HetNet co-ordination, increased antenna arrays and so on.

But LTE as a technology is also travelling in another direction. If the “more features enabling more bandwidth” path represents a vertical deepening of LTE’s capabilities, you might call this other direction a horizontal expansion. That is because this direction of travel sees LTE radio technology being used for something other than increased cellular capacities, but instead utilises (in the proper meaning of that word) LTE for a wider range of applications. Although these may be niche use cases, I think they are interesting to keep an eye on for three main reasons.

Interview: CTO, MobinNet, Iran: “Customers won’t tolerate service quality downgrades even for a short period of time.”

Nima PourNejatian, CTO, MobinNet

Nima PourNejatian, CTO, MobinNet will be talking about the challenges of migrating from WiMAX to TD-LTE at the 4^th annual LTE MENA conference, taking place on the 11^th-13^th May 2014 at the Conrad, Dubai, UAE.

What is the status of your transition from WiMAX to LTE and what challenges is it throwing up?

MobinNet has made some tangible progress since we decided to migrate to TD-LTE technology according to the roadmap of the WiMAX Advanced published by the WiMAX Forum. MobinNet could secure some bandwidth on a new frequency band—2.6 GHz. Meanwhile, the infrastructure needed to completely cover one of our existing markets will be supplied. We estimate that by the end of the year, MobinNet’s first TD-LTE-based market will be launched.

Interview: Andreas Frandevi, Director Group Strategy & Planning, Etisalat who is speaking in the Emerging Markets track on Day One of the 4th annual LTE MENA conference is taking place on the 11th-13th May 2014 at the Conrad, Dubai, UAE.

Andreas Frandevi, Director Group Strategy & Planning for Etisalat

We find out how LTE is central to Etisalat’s global strategy as we speak to Andreas Frandevi, Director Group Strategy & Planning for Etisalat, who is speaking in the Emerging Markets track on Day One of the 4th annual LTE MENA conference, taking place on the 11th-13th May 2014 at the Conrad, Dubai, UAE.

How important is investment in LTE play in Etisalat’s global strategy?

LTE plays a role as a core enabler, service, revenue and operating wise, for Etisalat’s growth aspirations in applicable markets. Harnessing the current on-going explosion in mobile broadband is one of our top priorities across our footprint markets. We strive to provide a leading customer experience through an innovative portfolio of product and service offerings delivered at a high degree of quality of service. LTE is one of the enabling pieces to achieving these objectives. LTE, as indeed any other broadband technology, is part of our global technology strategy, and its relevance is dependent on the dynamics of the respective markets.

Interview: CTO of Uganda Telecom (Lap Green Group): “I believe that using the LTE as Wi-Fi backhaul will be the most interesting technology in the next 12 months, especially in the MENA region.”

Yasser Abouelenein, CTO of Uganda Telecom (Lap Green Group)

Lack of spectrum availability is still one of the issues concerning operators as Yasser Abouelenein, CTO of Uganda Telecom (Lap Green Group) tells us ahead of his keynote address at the opening day of the 4th annual LTE MENA conference is taking place on the 11th-13th May 2014 at the Conrad, Dubai, UAE.

What are the major challenges to upgrading your network to LTE?

The major challenges for upgrading the current network to LTE could be summarised as per the following:

a)      The availability of the spectrum.

b)      The availability of the high bandwidth that will be really required by LTE users.

c)       The penetration of handsets that support LTE.