Latest Blog Entries
Mobile offloading puts femto cells in the spotlight { 0 }
As we know, mobile operators are experiencing severe capacity problems, caused by a number of factors. First, multimedia is becoming increasingly prevalent on mobile networks. Smartphones are offering an increasing array of music and video apps including Spotify and YouTube streaming, while mobile social media is also hot, as we’ve discussed before. This trend is being exacerbated by some users groups – such as students – using mobile broadband as their primary broadband access technology for their laptops.
How mobile operators can figure out where a user is – and can make money from it { 0 }
Handset location can be established by triangulation of macro cells, but it lacks accuracy, GPS improves location accuracy but isn’t on all handsets and does not work well when the device is indoors. A femto cell instantly remedies this. As soon as a device registers for a session with a femto cell, the operator knows exactly where that devices is – inside the femto zone. When the femto cell is first registered for use on the network, the operator will combine post code information and IP address with macro cell triangulation to create an accurate picture of where the femto is in physical space.
We know where you live – the femto cell reveals all { 0 }
Operators should stop looking to insert themselves in the value chain as developers of “killer applications” or trying to defend a walled garden of proprietary services. The emergence of the iPhone / App store ecosystem has demonstrated that multiple parties pooling their resources can grow a market more effectively than a single player.
Cell site modelling – femto cells prove cheaper than macros { 0 }
This is because of the way that macro cells manage capacity. Our research into how traffic is managed in the network of a Tier 1 mobile operator in the Americas reveals that despite radio capacity being shared equally among three sectors of a marco cell site, in practice one sector will be more loaded than another, often carrying 50% of the site traffic. A quarter of macro cells had 2/3 of their traffic overloaded on one sector.
Can femtocells be strategic? { 0 }
Many operators are still asking the question of whether femtocells are strategic or not. I believe they have to be…for a number of reasons. The real challenge operators face is making sure that femtos are compelling to users, and add to the strategic focus which is to reduce the bottom line and generate new revenues.
Can femtocells connect the unconnected? { 0 }
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of any discussion of how femtocells can be used in previously unconnected or poorly covered areas is that the same general principles apply whether the proposed cell is located in rural Africa or the Scottish highlands. Even in highly developed markets where operators have achieved population coverage in excess of 99% there are still many communities where coverage is at best erratic and at worst non-existent.
What’s in a name? Femtos come in all shapes and sizes { 0 }
There is often some confusion between the terms femtocell, picocell and microcell as if they are somehow in competition, and the market is becoming very fragmented. This is not the case. These days the “greater femto” is a continuum, with the same architecture being applicable to number of deployment scenarios.
Just who is using the mobile internet? { 0 }
The mobile internet has become part of everyday life, fuelled by the increased penetration of smartphones across the mobile subscriber base and by the widespread availability of mobile broadband connectivity. Morgan Stanley recently forecast that more users will connect to the internet using mobile devices than PCs within five years. But, as with the traditional internet, the way in which mobile internet services are used varies widely across the subscriber base.
Ecosystem challenges – why operators need help with the glue { 0 }
Service providers are the vital glue in the new mobile ecosystem, connecting all of the stakeholders. But they might need a little extra help in making the most of this role, particularly with the changes being brought by small cells.
For instance, I believe operators will need a strong support with experience of negotiating with media agencies or with retail chains. Operators will also need help with acquiring the sheer number of new sites that they may need – and this will involve negotiating with site owners, planners and fixed-line network providers.
Small cells bring new ecosystem challenges { 0 }
Currently, small cells are making a complex mobile ecosystem even more complex. Already, service providers now have to cooperate, negotiate, partner or compete with a wide range of stakeholders from device manufacturers to site owners, town mayors, civic planning, possibly even MVNOs, and more.
