HOW MOBILE NETWORK OPERATORS MANAGE WIRELESS DATA DEMAND

Mobile carriers are facing pressure from increasing data usage. At the same time, the customers expect wireless data prices to go down. The flat pricing models are going away because of the load on the networks. I saw this interesting post on GigaOm and wanted to share the summary. You can expect similar trends in future in Pakistan and other emerging telecom markets as well.

Cell towers in the home
As smartphone users return home after using mobile broadband networks all day, do most of them revert over to Wi-Fi or do they stay on carrier networks? Results will vary, but carriers are taking steps to further offload data traffic with femtocells. These devices act as small cellular base stations: Phones connect to the femtocell, but network activity is then routed over a home broadband connection, which reduces wireless network demand. AT&T began offering a femtocell last year, and both U.S. CDMA carriers, Verizon and Sprint, do as well. The biggest challenge for consumer acceptance may be in the pricing model: Consumers often have to purchase the device (at a cost of up to $250 in the case of Verzion), or get a free femtocell and pay a monthly fee.

Improved idle features (with a bonus)
Nokia Siemens Networks announced a successful joint test with Qualcomm of an updated cellular standard that reduces wasteful network signaling traffic. Called Cell_PCH or Fast Dormancy, the updated standard increases wireless network efficiency up to 50 percent by placing a handset in an idle state when not using wireless data. This standard tackles one of the two largest network congestion issues, according to wireless analyst Chetan Sharma. By maintaining a minimal level of connectivity in a reduced power state, Fast Dormancy can also help offset the “Achilles heel” of mobility: battery life.

Go Wi-Fi Go!
One of the simplest methods to increase the supply of wireless mobile broadband network services is to get users on localized Wi-Fi networks. That’s a key reason AT&T purchased Wi-Fi provider Waypoint (and its 80,000 hotspots) in 2008 and explains why Verizon Wireless began partnering with Boingo last July to offer free Wi-Fi for its customers. How much can such network offload help with data demand? Take AT&T’s midtown Manhattan hotspot as an example. According to Jeff Thompson, CEO of Towerstream, which monitored the hotspot, the Wi-Fi zone experienced single days with more than 1 terabyte in usage, not to mention 21 million connections in a quarter. Every “bit” on the Wi-Fi network helps reduces demand on the carrier’s 3G network in this case, providing an opportunity for chipmakers.

Pay for what you use
Love it or hate it, the end of unlimited data plans are near. Now that carriers have a few years of smartphone user data to predict data demand, wireless plans are getting adjusted accordingly and economic barriers will keep some users under certain levels of data usage.

By: Babar Bhatti, 21st Oct 2010
Source: telecompk.net/2010/10/21/how-mobile-network-operators-manage-wireless-data-demand/