The mobile data industry is struggling to keep up with the exponential growth in data traversing service provider networks, triggered by growing 3G penetration, lower-cost smartphones and the invention of USB laptop dongles.
This has resulted in heavily congested networks in many urban centers - where often 80% of data traffic is managed by just 10% of cell sites. Bandwidth hungry services are exacerbating the problem, with video expected to account for 64% of mobile data traffic on the network within the next three years.
The result: dropped data sessions, slow network speeds and pent up subscriber frustration.
Many operators are now adopting a range of strategies including optimization of 3G networks using intelligent policy control, mobile data traffic offload and transformation to 4G that will reduce costs and alleviate network congestion.
Mobile data offload in particular can deliver costs savings in the range of 20% to 25% per annum. In the US market, operators could save between $30 billion and $40 billion per year by 2013.
Offload – the ability to shift mobile data traffic from one network to another in a way that is transparent to the subscriber – is a key component of an effective network congestion reduction strategy.
By shifting data traffic from the 3G network to Wi-Fi or femtocells, for example, operators can reduce costs and improve economies of scale by balancing traffic demands across networks.
Operators implementing a data offload strategy can address a number of congestion pain points including overburdened core network elements and congested cell sites. By routing traffic directly to the internet before it reaches core network elements, such as the SGSN, GGSN and service grooming servers, operators can reduce backhaul costs.
And operators deploying intelligent policy controls that reside in the core network can intelligently offload subscribers attached to congested cell sites. Movement can be based on a real-time knowledge of conditions and subscriber entitlements, location, and usage behavior.
An offload strategy has the added benefit of supporting new business models including revenue-sharing partnerships between 3G and Wi-Fi service providers and enabling fixed operators to leverage their infrastructure to offer mobile data services via Wi-Fi.
Exploiting availability of Wi-Fi
Operators with Wi-Fi assets – or partnerships with Wi-Fi providers – can reduce the burden on their networks while ensuring a better user experience for mobile subscribers.
A seamless user experience is important in any mobile data offload strategy. Consider a typical premium user with a data plan that enables access to mobile video. In a busy urban location, during times of network congestion, the premium user’s mobile data experience may be degraded, resulting in inconsistent streaming, slow downloads, and frustration.
However, if the user is in a Wi-Fi hotspot zone, the mobile device can detect the Wi-Fi network and automatically redirect the device to Wi-Fi using the connection manager on the device. Once connected to Wi-Fi, the user’s services runs smoothly with no delays.
By applying service controls that transparently re-authorize and re-authenticate the user without the need to sign-in again, the entire experience of shifting from 3G to Wi-Fi is seamless to the user, who now has access to premium content over the Wi-Fi network.
Orange, Verizon Wireless and AT&T among other operators are taking advantage of Wi-Fi offload. Fixed operators can also gain a greater share of the mobile subscriber wallet by ‘onloading’ subscribers to their Wi-Fi networks to deliver wireless services.
And the addition of intelligent policy controls allows operators to apply flexible business rules to offload certain subscribers, devices, or applications to alternate networks.
This enables operators to alleviate the problem of congestion by correlating congested cell sites with subscribers, their service plans, and usage behavior in real time.
Network intelligence plays a key role. Smartphone users do not always have Wi-Fi turned on due to the heavy battery drain on their mobile devices. Moreover, network systems cannot force a device to switch on Wi-Fi, which presents challenges for operators who want to offload traffic to Wi-Fi.
By pushing policies directly to the mobile device, operators can enable WiFi to be switched on when the device is in the vicinity of congested cell sites and alternate WiFi networks are available.
These device policies can also selectively offload subscribers attached to priority congested cell sites, enabling a consistent experience that reflects subscriber entitlements, location, devices, and usage behavior.
Sidebar: Verizon, AT&T and Orange look to Wi-Fi offload
Verizon Wireless launched a new service in December 2009 that allows mobile broadband customers to access thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional charge and to move easily from the 3G wireless network to those hotspots.
When customers are on Wi-Fi and are ready to move, but want to remain connected, or if they want the added security of the 3G network, they can simply switch back to the 3G network.
AT&T's policy to offload traffic to Wi-Fi has brought a 70% cost advantage, reports Morgan Stanley, owing to lower congestion, lower equipment costs, and zero licensing costs for Wi-Fi spectrum.
France's Orange, which owns a significant Wi-Fi network in the region, is looking at ways to deliver a superior smartphone user experience across 3G and Wi-Fi hotspots.
David Sharpley is senior vice president of marketing and product management for Bridgewater Systems