optimizing mobile application ecosystem 04.24.11

8/6/2019 Optimizing Mobile Application Ecosystem 04.24.11

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4GAmericasOptimizingtheMobileApplicationEcosystemApril2011 2

TAB LEOF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 3

1. OPTIMIZATION & EXPANSION OF EXISTING NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE RESOURCES ....... 5

1.1UPGRADINGMOBILENETWORKINFRASTRUCTURESTOTHEIRLATESTGENERATIONOF

STANDARDS .......................................................................................................................................... 5

1.2EXPANDINGNETWORKINFRASTRUCTURETOELIMINATENETWORKBOTTLENECKS ............. 7

1.3TRAFFICOFFLOADINGOPTIONS ........................................................................................................ 8

1.4DEPLOYINGSERVICELAYEROPTIMIZATIONELEMENTTOIMPROVEUTILIZATIONOF

NETWORKCAPACITY .......................................................................................................................... 9

2. OPTIMIZING APPLICATIONS TO MAXIMIZE UTILIZATION OF SPECTRUM AND NETWORKCAPACITY ........................................................................................................................................... 11

2.1 OPTIMIZINGNETWORKPARAMETERSFORSIGNALINGTRAFFICUSAGE ................................. 11

2.1.1 Minimalizing Signaling Impact on Network .................................................................................. 11

2.2 SCHEDULINGLARGECAPACITY,TIME-INSENSITIVEAPPLICATIONSTORUNINNON-PEAK

HOURS ................................................................................................................................................. 12

2.3 MOTIVATINGAPPLICATIONDEVELOPERSTOMAXIMIZENETWORKCAPACITYUTILIZATION 13

3. PLAN FOR NEWER TECHNOLOGY DEPLOYMENT AND ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL SPECTRUM14

3.1DEFININGTHEMOSTAPPROPRIATEFREQUENCYRANGEFORNEWSPECTRUMCOUPLED

WITHTECHNOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 14

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 15

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................................ 16

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 18

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 19


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EXECUTIVE S UMMARY

Wireless communication has seen a rapid growth over the last couple of years and at this time there are

over 5 billion wireless cellular subscribers, which is expected to grow to 50 billion connections by the year

2020 [1]. There has been a dramatic increase in mobile data traffic, primarily due to the popularity of

smartphones, connected devices and innovative mobile applications.

Todays mobile phones are multi-functional devices capable of hosting a broad range of applications for

both business and consumer use. Although the networks were initially dimensioned for voice, there has

been a substantial change with the rapid adoption of data-oriented devices and the diversity of services,

applications and usage of devices. Unlike voice, which has a predictable usage and resource

consumption profile, data applications are generally unpredictable and unbounded in their usage. These

diverse applications also have unique characteristics in their utilization of signaling and user plane

resources, which has put enormous demand on the mobile networks and this demand is growing at a

much faster rate than the network capacity.

Figure 1: Average Demand per User versus Average Capacity per User

(Source: Mobile Broadband Capacity Constraints And the Need for Optimization - Rysavy Research 2010)

The wide availability of ever powerful client devices and innovation in services poses enormous demand

on the mobile network infrastructure to handle the volume and intensity of end-user traffic. The popularity

of presence applications such as social networking and messengers using always-on connectivity

consumes a significant amount of end-user device and network resources. From the end-users

perspective, the user-perceivable experience is dependent on parameters like end-to-end delay (including

delays in the terminal, network and servers), delay variation due to the inherent variability in arrival times

of individual packets in packet networks and throughput may impact the end-user experience. The

dynamic mobile radio environment in wireless networks, unlike wireline, presents unique challenges in

meeting the necessary quality of service demands needed to support the diverse end-user applications.

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DemandversusCapacity

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The key is to facilitate technological improvements to enable mobile networks to handle the evolving

traffic characteristics more efficiently. Although there are alternatives to utilizing the existing spectrum

efficiently in the near future, there is a long term need to secure additional licensed spectrum to support

the increasing demand of mobile traffic.

This white paper outlines the mobile industrys challenges in handling the increasing demand of data

traffic and identifies some potential strategies to enable ways to support and manage this traffic growth. It

is organized to provide the reader with the technical description of the critical components of the mobile

Internet ecosystem.


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1. OPTIMIZATION & EXPANSION OF EXISTING NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE RESOURCES

1.1 UPGRADING MOBILE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURES TO THEIR LATESTGENERATION OF STANDARDS

Mobile operators worldwide see mobile broadband as the fastest growing business opportunity delivering

an exciting range of services from Video on Demand and interactive gaming on the mobile network.

Among mobile operators in mature markets, mobile data is overtaking messaging as a revenue source

and is growing rapidly as the biggest success since voice.

Figure 2: 3GPP Technology Evolution1

(Source: Transition to 4G:3GPP Broadband Evolution to IMT-Advanced,

Rysavy Research 2010 White Paper)

Designed to support basic voice and data services, the original Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) system deployed by network operators consisted of a circuit switched core

network that provided the routing of calls to mobile subscribers, the Base Station Subsystem for radio

access and the Mobile Station. One of the most important factors in GSMs success is the standard open

1Note: Throughput rates are peak theoretical network rates. Radio channel bandwidths indicated. Dates refer to expected initial

commercial network deployment except 2009, which shows available technologies that year. *20/10 MHz indicates 20 MHz used on

the downlink and 10 MHz used on the uplink.


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interfaces that have enabled any vendor to supply any elements of the network, and have let operators

worldwide deploy multi-vendor systems of their choice. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) was then

introduced as a packet-oriented mobile data service on the GSM. GSM (2G) combined with GPRS is

sometimes described as 2.5G telephony. It provides moderate-speed data transfer in the GSM system.

Operators deployed Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also known as Enhanced GPRS)

on GSM networks to enable improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of

GSM. EDGE provides both a fast way to achieve good indoor and outdoor coverage and to meet

increasing demand for mobile Internet services through optimal use of available radio spectrum. For

network operators, EDGE has been an important complement to mobile broadband services presently

delivered over Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS-HSPA) networks. To build on the

global success of EDGE, the GSM community has standardized EDGE Evolution; this has allowed

network operators to provide further improvements in performance, capacity with significantly reduced

latency.

Developed by the global GSM community as its chosen path for 3G evolution, WCDMA is the air interface

for one of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) family of third-generation (3G) mobile

communications systems. UMTS enables the continued support of voice, text and MMS services in

addition to richer mobile multimedia services such as Music, TV and video, Entertainment content and

Internet access. Standardized by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), HSPA is the set of

technologies that defines the migration path for WCDMA operators worldwide. HSPA is also backward

compatible with UMTS systems, allowing operators to maximize returns from their UMTS investments.

This compatibility is an important characteristic of 3GPP standards, allowing phased upgrades and a

choice of evolution paths for operators. Different enhancements are being introduced in different 3GPP

releases. With HSPA evolved (HSPA+), higher-order modulation can be supported in both the uplink and

downlink enabling higher user peak data rates. In addition, MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) is

supported in the downlink with HSPA evolved. This uses multiple antennas to effectively increase the

peak rate on the downlink; enabling even higher user peak data rates when MIMO is combined with

higher modulation schemes. Latency will also be further reduced with HSPA evolved.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) based on OFDM technology is the next step for UMTS-HSPA network

operators that are already on the GSM technology curve and for others, such as CDMA operators.

Networks with greater capacity but lower costs per bit need to be deployed to handle the future demand

for mobile broadband. The roadmap developed by 3GPP enables operators to do this, irrespective of their

legacy network infrastructure. HSPA is the first step, followed by flat network architecture options such as

HSPA Evolution (HSPA+) and LTE that promise even higher throughput. LTE introduces a new radio

interface plus an evolution of the UTRAN access network, designed to deliver higher data rates and fast

connection times. A key attraction of LTE for mobile operators is its inherent spectral flexibility through its

variable carrier bandwidth. It can be deployed in many different frequency bands with minimal changes to

the radio interface. Another hallmark of LTE is the appearance of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network


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architecture, simplifying connectivity with 3GPP and 3GPP2 technologies as well as Wi-Fi and fixed line

broadband networks. The phased release approach of 3GPP allows operators to introduce LTE in a

flexible fashion, balancing their legacy network investments, spectrum holdings and business strategies

for mobile broadband. The combination of multiband terminals with backward-compatible infrastructure is

central to this flexibility, allowing operators to build out service capability in line with device and spectrum

availability. One of the most significant features of LTE and EPC is its transition to a flat, all-IP based core

network with a simplified architecture and open interfaces. Indeed, much of 3GPPs standardization work

targets the conversion of existing core network architecture to an all-IP system. This migration to an all-

packet architecture also enables improved interworking with other fixed and wireless communication

networks.

LTE-Advanced is the next step from LTE mobile systems whose capabilities go beyond those of IMT

2000. This new evolution of next-generation technology beyond IMT2000 is referred to by ITU as IMT-

Advanced. In order to meet this new challenge, 3GPPs Organizational Partners [2] have agreed to widen

3GPPs scope to include the development of systems beyond 3G. Some of the key features of IMT-

Advanced include: worldwide functionality & roaming, compatibility of services, interworking with other

radio access systems and enhanced peak data rates to support advanced services and applications.

The deployment of LTE co-existing with UMTS-HSPA promises to mirror the success of the deployment

of UMTS-HSPA co-existing with GSM/EDGE. The generations of 3GPP radio technologies GSM,

UMTS-HSPA and LTE vary in different markets and operators and will continue to coexist into the

foreseeable future and operators will manage the three generations of 3GPP in parallel.

1.2 EXPANDING NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE TOELIMINATE NETWORK BOTTLENECKS

As the use of mobile Internet devices such as smartphones and data cards continues to grow, more

mobile subscribers want to access high data volume Internet applications such as video. This is leading

to an unprecedented increase in traffic on the mobile networks.

Mobile operators continue to invest in building new cell sites and additional carriers for increasing

capacity, to improve signal quality and to expand coverage. Greenfield deployment of cell-sites expands

the operators footprint; the primary purpose of other socalled infill sites is to increase capacity and, in

this respect, can be conceived as an alternative to new spectrum. If a network operator is already using

the entire spectrum it has been allocated, the only way to increase network capacity is to build more cell

sites closer together. Increasing network density through the addition of cellsites is the primary substitute

to new spectrum for adding broadband capacity to the network. That is, in the absence of new spectrum,

carriers may be expected to increase the growth rate of cellsites as a means to meet data traffic

demands.

However, adding sites introduces a number of variables into the overall network. The first of these is

interference since, in areas where cell sector coverage overlaps, there can be interference between


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sectors that will cause degradation or loss of signal. Designing a dense network also presents challenges

due to the very characteristics of the radio waves. As more cells are built closer together, there are bound

to be issues with respect to coverage and quality regardless of how well the network is designed. Some

of these problems are being addressed by 3GPP.

As the demand for broadband data increases, mobile operators are constantly adding various types of

cell sites in their effort to keep up with demand, including microcells, picocells and even femtocells, which

will be discussed in the next section.

Wireless traffic volume is growing at an amazing pace, driven by high-speed mobile services such as

mobile video, multimedia messaging and web browsing. The increasing development of bandwidth-

intensive mobile broadband applications has placed a heavy burden on mobile backhaul. This traffic

growth is accelerated by the evolving high-speed radio access technology and this trend is set to continue.

To cope with the additional traffic generated, operators are investing in increasing mobile backhaul

capacity.

Mobile technology has evolved in order to achieve improved spectral efficiency relative to prior

generations of air interface standards. Mobile data traffic is a key driver of spectrum need and the

demand for such traffic is likely to increase significantly in the future. In spite of the improvements in

spectral efficiencies, the mobile data demand will exhaust spectrum resources in the near future.

1.3 TRAFFIC OFFLOADING OPTIONS

Radio spectrum can be the most expensive and the scarcest resources in the mobile network. With the

popularity of smartphones and their associated applications, the demand for radio spectrum resources is

increasing. Wherever it is feasible and practical, the offloading of traffic to other networks such as Wi-Fi

networks or to other network connections such as femtocells could provide an alternative for the

subscribers need for wireless broadband access. The feasibility and practicability of performing such an

offloading is also dependent on other factors such as interoperability and security.

The use of femtocells allows for the offloading of user traffic from the macro cellular network as well as

providing a mechanism for providing cellular coverage in areas where there is little or no macro cellular

network signal strength. Femtocells allow the wireless network operator to retain the control and

continuity of the communications sessions while the user traffic is being transported via the wiredbroadband connection associated with the femtocell. The transition of active sessions between macro

cellular network connections and femtocell connections is supported in this environment.

The use of Wi-Fi broadband connections also provides the opportunity for the offloading of data traffic

from the macro cellular network assuming that proper business agreements and security conditions exist.

The Wi-Fi broadband connections may be owned by the end-user (e.g., home Wi-Fi network), may be

owned by the wireless operator, or may be owned by third parties. Due to this variety of Wi-Fi connection


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options, the wireless network operator may not be able to retain control and management of these

communications sessions. There may not be any transition of active sessions between macro cellular

networks connections and Wi-Fi connections.

The selection of the connection path is a combination of the smartphone functionality and the control

capabilities of the wireless operator network. The smartphone may provide the end-user options to

control specific connection modes (e.g., enabling Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling airplane mode to turn off

macro cellular network connectivity). The smartphone applications may not be aware of their connection

path (e.g., macro cellular network, femtocell, Wi-Fi) and therefore need to be developed in a manner

which has efficient usage for any of these connection options.

1.4 DEPLOYING SERVICE LAYEROPTIMIZATION ELEMENT TOIMPROVE UTILIZATION OF

NETWORK CAPACITY

Applications have diverse requirements on the mobile network in terms of throughput, relative use of

uplink vs. downlink, latency and variability of usage over time. While the underlying IP based Layer 3

infrastructure attempts to meet the needs of all the applications, significant network capacity is lost to

inefficient use of the available resources. This inefficiency stems primarily from the non-deterministic

nature of the aggregate requirements on the network from the numerous applications and their traffic

flows live at any time.

This reduction in network utilization can be mitigated by incorporating application awareness into network

traffic management through use of Application or Service Layer optimization technologies. A Service

Layer optimization solution would incorporate awareness of 1) device capabilities such as screen size

and resolution; 2) user characteristics such as billing rates and user location; 3) network capabilities such

as historic and instantaneous performance and; 4) application characteristics such as the use of specific

video codecs and protocols by an application such as Video on Demand (VOD) to ensure better

management of network resources.

Examples of Service Layer optimization technologies include:

Real-time transcoding of video traffic to avoid downlink network congestion and ensure better

Quality of Experience (QoE) through avoidance of buffering

Shaping of self-adapting traffic such as Adaptive Streaming traffic through packet delay to avoiddownlink network congestion

Shaping of error-compensating flows such as video conferencing through use of packet drops to

avoid uplink network congestion

Shaping of large flows such as file uploads on the uplink through packet delays to conserve

responsiveness of interactive applications such as web browsing

Explicit caching of frequently accessed content such as video files on in-network CDNs to

minimize traffic to backbone


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Implicit caching of frequently accessed content such as images in web content on in-network

caches to improve web page retrieval speeds

Service Layer optimization technologies may be incorporated in the data path in many locations: 1) the

origin server; 2) the UE device; 3) as a cloud-hosted offering through which devices and/or applications

and/or networks route traffic or; 4) as a network element embedded in a service providers network.

Further, in a service providers network the optimization function may be deployed in either the core

network and/or edge aggregation locations. When Service Layer optimization entities in the network are

deployed at both core and edge locations, they may operate in conjunction with each other to form a

hierarchy with adequate level of processing to match the traffic volume and topology. Such a hierarchy of

network entities is especially effective in the case of caching.

The 3GPP standard network architecture defines a number of elements such as QoS levels that are

understood and implemented in the network infrastructure. However, much of this network capability is

not known or packaged for use in the Service Layer by application developers. One approach to resolving

this discrepancy may be to publish standard Service Layer APIs that enable application developers to

request network resources with specific capabilities and also to get real-time feedback on the capabilities

of network resources that are in use by the applications. Such APIs may be exposed by the network to

the cloud or may be exposed to application clients resident on mobile devices through device application

platforms and SDKs. The network APIs being defined by the Wholesale Application Community are an

example of the recognition of the need for such Service Layer visibility into network capabilities. Future

versions of the WAC standards will likely incorporate and expose network Quality of Service (QoS)

capabilities.


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2.OPTIMIZING APPLICATIONSTO MAXIMIZE UTILIZATIONOFSPECTRUM AN D NETWORK

CAPACITY

2.1 OPTIMIZING NETWORK PARAMETERS FOR SIGNALING TRAFFICUSAGE

With the advent of smartphone devices, wireless data services have finally gone mainstream thereby

providing a growing new revenue source. There is a move from circuit switched-oriented connectivity

(voice / session-oriented browsing) to always-on data connectivity and services. With the support for

packet-oriented always-on connectivity in newer networks (LTE), there is an ability to support

unpredictable two-way application data communication between handset and server. A wide range of

applications, including always-on synchronization software such as email, web browsing, video (real time

and buffered), peer-to-peer, gaming, and social-networking, are now being served wirelessly through a

broad range of wireless data devices. Supporting these applications on existing circuit switch-oriented

networks creates a signaling load as the packet data overlay gets established and torn down frequently.

There are several applications and services (e.g., email, instant messaging, social media messaging,

presence, etc.) that have small payload but frequent data transfer. Users of smartphones make constant

queries of the network as they move among cell sites to push email, access social networking tools and

conduct other repetitive actions. These always-on applications may also rely on keep-alive messages.

Therefore, while data traffic is growing, by many accounts, signaling traffic is outpacing the actual mobile

data traffic. For example, a Yahoo IM user may send a message but then wait for some time between

messages. During the brief time intervals when no data is being sent over the air, the radio resources

could be kept up to allow for data to be sent constantly. Alternatively, the radio resources could be torn

down briefly which in turn incurs additional signaling to setup the radio access bearer when there is data

to send. Additional signaling results in the need for additional Radio Access and Core Network resources

thereby decreasing the net traffic handling capacity of the system. This increased signaling traffic due to

the growing demand for always-on mobile applications has resulted in increased instances of network

congestion. Since the number of signaling messages required to set up a bearer and tear it down is much

higher in WCDMA than in GSM, the impact of frequent, short data transfers is much higher in WCDMA.

The signaling traffic problem on current networks is only growing and not going away anytime soon. As a

result, existing networks have to be re-dimensioned to support these applications. 3GPP is driving several

initiatives to address this problem.

2.1.1MINIMIZINGSIGNALING IMPACT ON NETWORK Packet data traffic is bursty with occasional periods of transmission in between. There is a tradeoff

between keeping the radio bearers active at all times to be able to rapidly transmit any data, UE power

consumption and uplink interference considerations. 3GPP has defined several states in the connected

mode to allow for optimal use of radio resources, signaling resources and battery life. Some of these

states support high data rates, some support low data rates, and some support only paging. The choice


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of states and timer values for transitioning between the various states decides the tradeoff between

signaling resource usage, radio resource usage and UE battery power consumption.

While the 3GPP standards continue to provide for improvements in signaling usage, through the ability to

tune network parameters, the increased signaling due to the growth of applications will eventually require

additional network resources and conceivably improved UE batteries to support this increased demand.

These efforts, currently underway in UMTS-HSPA, will continue with the deployment of full packet-

oriented networks such as LTE.

2.2 SCHEDULING LARGECAPACITY,TIMEINSENSITIVE APPLICATIONS TO RU NIN NO N

PEAK HOURS

Based on the network usage characteristics, applications using wireless connectivity could be classified

as real-time, quasi-real-time interactive and time-insensitive. Examples of real-time applications include

two-way communication and streaming media delivery. Examples of quasi-real-time applications include

email and notifications. Examples of interactive applications include web browsing and smartphone apps.

Examples of time-insensitive applications include certain Machine-to-Machine M2M communications,

large file downloads and software updates.

These applications have differing operational characteristics. For instance, web browsing traffic is

transactional and bursty while video traffic is long-lasting over an extended period of time. M2M

applications have diverse network requirements varying from heavy signaling-low throughput in the case

of geo-tracking to low signaling-high downlink throughput in the case of Near- Video on Demand (VOD) to

low signaling-high uplink throughput in the case of webcams. Further, M2M applications may also be

widely distributed in large numbers partly due to the low cost-low maintenance nature of the UEs

resulting in rapid growth in M2M traffic. In addition, the wide distribution of these devices requires remote

manageability using Over the Air (OTA) software updates further adding to the traffic demands on the

network.

Operators can take advantage of these unique operational characteristics to alleviate some of the

congestion by smoothing out the peaks through intelligent application scheduling. For instance, many of

the M2M processes such as software updates and retrieval of utilization information (e.g., utility meter

readings) are not time sensitive and could be scheduled for periods of time which would have minimum

impact on the wireless networks.


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2.3 MOTIVATING APPLICATIONDEVELOPERS TOMAXIMIZE NETWORK CAPACITY

UTILIZATION

The application developers understanding of the impact of their applications on the mobile networks is

very important. When the application developer understands these impacts not only could utilization of

network resources be maximized but the application developer has the opportunity to develop

applications that function well under high network utilization conditions to the benefit of their end-users.

This understanding of applications impacts could be provided to the application developers via a variety

of mechanisms such as:

Training seminars and application developer conferences

Webcasts on impacts of application design and best practices

Enhancements in the software development kits (SDK)

Availability of simulators and test environments to evaluate the application behavior under varioussimulated wireless network traffic conditions

However, in order for the application developers to partake of these training opportunities, they need to

understand the benefits they could provide to their applications and products. The following are

examples of the types of benefits that might be realized:

a) Most applications probably operate adequately in an environment when there is low utilization of

radio network resources. However, as the busy hour approaches, the radio utilization will

increase and the performance of the application could be impacted. If the application developer

understands the impact of their application to radio network resources, the application developer

could develop their application in a manner for maximum efficiency of the radio resources. The

advantage to the application developer is that their application could operate better under busy

network conditions than their competitors application and, consequently, there could be an

increase in the demand for their application.

b) Some wireless operators are implementing rate plans which contain limits on the data network

utilization by the subscribers mobile device. Consequently, the amount of data network

utilization of the smartphone applications may become a factor when the end-user is selecting

their smartphone applications. An application developer who develops his application for themaximum efficiency of the radio resources may utilize less data network resources than their

competitors application and, therefore, may be more attractive to the end-users.


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3.PLANFO RNEWERTECHNOLOGY DEPLOYMENT AN DACCESS TOADDITIONAL

SPECTRUM

3.1 DEFINING THEMOST APPROPRIATE FREQUENCY RANGE FOR NE WSPECTRUM

COUPLEDWITH TECHNOLOGY

The choice of spectrum for commercial wireless services is dictated by regulatory entities and is in most

cases distributed through open auction mechanisms by regulators on a country-by-country basis. The

variation in operating bands varies country by country as well as continent by continent. As new wireless

technologies become commercial, spectral fragmentation continues to become more problematic. With

UMTS/HSPA there are essentially five mainstream global bands. The advent of LTE further adds to both

the global and regional band fragmentation as there are probably more than ten bands that could be

considered mainstream LTE bands. With LTE, this complexity even comes on a regional or continental

level. The challenge for device manufacturers is to select frequency band combinations for devices that

cover the local band needs for indigenous operations and at the same time provide an adequate number

of bands for roaming.

Future spectral allocations require some careful considerations in light of the fact that technologies like

LTE require wider bandwidth allocations to deliver high data rates and a true mobile broadband

experience to the end-user. The allocation of new spectrum for mobile broadband technologies such as

HSPA and LTE bring to light several considerations that are well covered in another 4G Americas

whitepaper titled, Sustaining the Mobile Miracle: A 4G Americas Blueprint for Securing Mobile Broadband

Spectrum in this Decade.

In the above paper the following buildup lends weight to the need for additional spectrum:

1. Demand is likely to outstrip supply in short order under a business as usual approach.

2. There is no single panacea to addressing this gap.

3. Supplemental spectrum allocations are a critical part of addressing this gap.

There is further discussion regarding appropriate choice of spectrum and related issues. The following

lists the points covered in that paper:

1. Well Considered Spectrum Allocation Policies are Imperative

A. Configure Licenses with Wider Bandwidths

B. Group Like Services TogetherC. Be Mindful of Global Standards

D. Pursue Harmonized/Contiguous Spectrum Allocations

E. Exhaust Exclusive Use Options Before Pursuing Shared Use

F. Not All Spectrum is Fungible Align Allocation with Demand

2. Market-oriented spectrum assignment approaches work spectrum caps should be

disfavored.

3. There is no time to lose spectrum allocations can take years to effectuate.


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CONCLUSION

In this whitepaper, we have explored some of the reasons for the tremendous growth of mobile data

traffic across the world and the implications of this growth on existing networks. The demand for

additional growth is getting stronger with more subscribers upgrading to data-rich devices coupled with a

dynamic and expanding marketplace for mobile applications. The dilemma for operators is to understand

how to chart out their own strategically efficient path to meeting this demand while planning for additional

spectrum and new networks to meet future growth.

Wireless spectrum is a limited and shared resource whose capacity is defined by Shannons Law, which

defines a finite limit on the maximum amount of error-free digital data that can be transmitted with a

specified bandwidth in the presence of the noise interference. In such a system it is imperative that we try

to operate as close to the Shannon limit as possible, try to conserve capacity and finally plan for

additional spectrum.

In summary, we have identified ways to bridge the gap between the insatiable demand for mobile data

services and an operators capacity to continually meet this demand. As we get closer to physical

capacity limits, operators efforts to improve spectrum and network efficiencies are constrained and the

most practical solution is to deploy new spectrum for sustaining the tremendous growth of mobile data

services.


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GLOSSARY

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting

AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

API Application Programming Interface

APN Access Point Name

ARP Allocation and Retention Priority

AUC Authentication Center

A2P Application to Person

CAGR Compound Annual Growth Rate

CAPEX Capital Expenditure

CN Core Network

DRX Discontinuous Reception

E2E End to End

EPS Evolved Packet System

GBR Guaranteed Bit Rate

GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

GPS Global Positioning System

HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access

HSPA High Speed Packet Access

HSS Home Subscriber Server

HTML HyperText Markup Language

IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

LTE Long Term Evolution

M2M Machine to Machine

MBR Maximum Bit Rate

MME Mobility Management Entity

MSC Mobile Services Switching Centre

OPEX Operational Expenditure

OTA Over The Air


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P2P Peer to Peer

PCC Policy and Charging Control

PCRF Policy and Charging Rule Function

PDA Personal Digital Assistant

PDN Packet Data Network

PDP Packet Data Protocol

PDSN Packet Data Serving Node

PEP Policy Enforcement Point

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service

PS Packet Switched

PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

PTT Push To Talk

P2P Peer to Peer

QCI QoS Class Indicator

QOE Quality of Experience

QOS Quality of Service

RAB Radio Access Bearer

RAN Radio Access Network

RNC Radio Network Controller

RRC Radio Resource Control

SDE Service Delivery Environment

SDK Software Development Kit

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

SLA Service Level Agreement

TE Terminal Equipment

UE User Equipment

UI User Interface

UGC User Generated Content

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

USB Universal Serial Bus

UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The mission of 4G Americas is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment and adoption of the

3GPP family of technologies throughout the Americas. 4G Americas' Board of Governor members include

Alcatel-Lucent, Amrica Mvil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, CommScope, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Huawei,

Nokia Siemens Networks, Openwave, Powerwave, Qualcomm, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers, Shaw

Communications, T-Mobile USA and Telefnica.

4G Americas would like to recognize the significant project leadership and important contributions of

Peter Koo of Ericsson, as well as representatives from the other member companies on 4G Americas

Board of Governors who participated in the development of this white paper.

optimizing mobile application ecosystem 04.24.11

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