Beruflich Dokumente
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Ian Lenathen
VP Sales and Business Development
Nexus Communications Ltd.
We all know that subscribers want a Broadband Connection and they want it everywhere.
Incumbent Operators are holding strategic sessions – the Executives, the Engineers and the
Market-ears on the smartest way to extend their networks, to provide the best service and the
greatest ARPU possible against increasing competitive threats and innovations.
New competitors are using leap frog technologies which are not connected to a drag anchor of
legacy assets slowing them down or causing them regulatory pause… Their strategy sessions are
about how to by-pass every aspect of the incumbents network where both Broadband and VoIP
are ubiquitous immediate.
The networks are mixed with technologies and inertias and speeds and feeds and circuits and
packets and spectrums and vendors… planned and built on various and sundry Processes …
All of this brings CHOICES… and the choices made yesterday effect who and what you are today
--- the choices made today… will dictate your future success!
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This presentation looks at the choices facing operators today WHICH WILL DETERMINE THEIR
SUCCESS TOMORROW.
LTE or WiMAX?
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But it shows the story of one of the choice influencers and that is the story of MARKET PLACE
INERTIA.
Inertia can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what side of the curve you are on. It is
easy to read – the faster you are climbing the “Y” Axis the greater your Inertia. In this case if
you are riding high on a current business case with an evolved solution and billions of users…
you might almost feel invincible… and you are probably a Mobile Service Provider… and if you
are really good, you are probably a GSM Mobile Service Provider…
Mobile subs will number over 3 Billion Users now or very soon (depending on whom you listen
to) and this will increase to over 5 Billion users or devices by 2013. Currently about 70% of
these devices use GSM as the base technology and this is growing… The force is with them and
the MARKET INERTIA is Great!
The next best climber on the “Y” axis is the number of Internet Subs… also moving
exponentially – to over 2 Billion users at the end of this year… Obviously the Inertia l effect
shows us that the most popular choices people are making today involve Cell Phones and
Internet!
Broadband Users represent the next best climber --- moving exponentially using Wireline
DSLAM’s, Fixed Wireless Proprietary and WiMAX, Mobile GSM and CDMA, and Mobile WiMAX…
Everybody wants BROADBAND, and to the ones providing it, it has to be delivered under $500
US per subscriber --- the more under $500 the better the case. In fact $500 seems is the Worst
Case condition.
But on the chart – look at the WiMAX Inertia… We will have fewer than 150 Million WiMAX
subscribers delivered from about 500 providers worldwide by 2011…
I have drawn this chart to scale so the Inertial effects are obvious… showing where the market
is going…
In my humble opinion WiMAX will have a greater challenge overcoming the Mobile (LTE) Inertia
and we have not even talked about the hand held multimedia device Inertia in both technology
ecosystems.
This is not to say that WiMAX is not an important technology – It will be deployed and in my
opinion as a NICHE MARKET Solution --- there is nothing wrong with a GOOD NICHE MARKET!
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Speed
MOBILE VOICE MOBILE BROADBAND
1gbs
LTE = IP + Data Centric + OFDMA +MIMO LTE
WiMAX = IP + Data Centric + OFDMA + MIMO Mobile WiMAX
100mbs 16 m
HSPA+ UMB
Mobile WiMAX
HSUPA
10mbs 16 2005
HSDPA 1xEVDO B
HSPA 1xEVDO A
1mbs EDGE Fixed/Nomadic
UMTS 1xEVDO 0 WiMAX 16 2004
100kbs GSM W-CDMA
GPRS CHOICE of Access Technology –
CDMA
Towards LTE or WiMAX, Wireline
2000
10kbs CDMA Ethernet or Proprietary Orphan
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14
© Nexus Communications – Ian Lenathen Acronym Soup 3
So we have shown the choice based on Market Inertia --- now let’s look at the CHOICE of
ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES.
This chart is busier than most of us, but there is no other way for me to show it.
It is an ACRONYM SOUP and some people have built their careers serving Acronym soup to the
rest of us… I admit I sometimes I do forget what the acronym means yet I do know what it is… I
think…
In the final analysis --- acronyms are TRIBAL things --- We know the Tribe you belong to by the
Acronyms you use!
This chart shows the language of 4 tribes and if you look around you will see members of each
tribe sitting here! There is the CDMA TRIBE, The GSM (LTE) TRIBE, the WiMAX Tribe and that
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other not thought about too often, show off type of tribe - the Ethernet Tribe… they are all
potential Cannibals!
The GSM Tribe, think the CDMA tribe are a dying breed and they sometimes laugh at them…
The CDMA Acronym chant is… CDMA 2000 1xEVDO (A), 1xEVDO (b) – UMB --- oops not UMB
no more… QUALCOMM stopped the development of Ultra-Mobile Broadband last November ---
in effect they ran to the GSM tribe not wanting to be on the side of the losing CHOICE… and
wanting to influence the decisions made to ensure the royalty checks keep coming.
The GSM Mantra is GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, HSPA, HSPDA, HSUPA, HSUPA+ and finally the golden
grail itself --- LTE! Long Term Evolution is the endgame. Surely this will be the tribe ending up
with the most coconuts! This is not well known, but I have heard leaders of the LTE Tribe don’t
think of LTE as Long Term Evolution – they really think of it as… Let’s Take Everything!
To show the seriousness of CHOICE we can look at a case currently happening in CANADA –
where a few years ago Bell and Telus chose CDMA, which seemed a good choice at the time
based on a solid Nortel product plan… the technology was superior.
Rogers working with Ericsson chose GSM, and to this day ROGER’s CTO is treated somewhat like
a God --- for making the RIGHT choice!
Bell and Telus are now spending about $1 Billion dollars to build a GSM based network, like the
Rogers Network across Canada. Rogers is the only game in town for multi-media Mobile
devices like the iPhone… Bell and Telus are not amused!
As can be seen on the chart, the CDMA tribe does not have a path to LTE… IMHO, they will
become an orphan technology and eventually will go the way of the Floppy Disk… there may be
some around here and there but most people will not be using it any more.
The WiMAX guys are newer to the jungle. The WiMAX sales force, usually mention they are
Data Centric --- IP all the way and based on STANDARDS… where iNTEROPERABILITY between
Vendors becomes an advantage for the SUBSCRIBER and the OPERATORS. WiMAX has three
Acronym mantras --- 16(d), 16(e) and 16(m)… WiMAX is a great technology… and I saw this for
myself about a month ago in Toronto where I was in a van with 4 LCD screens built in… each a
separate virtual computer or TV… as the van was driven (by a driver who was not allowed to
have an LCD screen like the rest of us) at 120km/h, me and three others, were individually
watching live - Real Time TV programs like HBO or Oprah, while making a Skype Call, then
bringing in SLING and watching a foreign program like the NEWS in Japan! The technology
was Motorola 2.5GHz WiMAX 16e with 10MHz of Spectrum. And we did a successful seamless
hand off while moving at that speed.
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This demonstration proved to me that the tribal war has nothing to do with Technology… I am
a technology whore and believe me when I say this technology is beautiful --- It will not be
commercialized soon though because the tribal wars are all about Business Cases… and in my
humble opinion, the WiMAX tribe will not be able to cannibalize the GSM tribe because the
GSM Business case is humming along and making too much money for the Mobile Service
Providers… If you are a Star Trek fan and a good observer of human nature, you may see that
most people belonging to the GSM tribe look like and talk like Ferengi!
The winning Business Case at the moment is being executed by the Mobile Service Providers…
they want nothing to do with WiMAX, since it is a game changing technology which would only
cannibalize the current case.
Who cares if it is based on a STANDARD which will provide a better deal for the subscribers
since they will be able to use one CPE device on multiple networks around the world?
While WiMAX is an excellent technology, it is a cannibal business case unless we are talking
about unserved or underserved areas… where WiMAX will provide an excellent solution… Right
now it is a Niche Market solution and in my humble opinion may remain just that… but very
good ROI can be made in a healthy Niche market.
It does not surprise me that Ericsson wants nothing to do with WiMAX --- Why cannibalize a
good case.
The LTE tribe may also be pulling a bit of a fast one on us… have you noticed LTE and WiMAX
16(m) look very much alike, having common technology platform components --- LTE is IP
Based, Packet Centric, OFDMA Based and MIMO based --- WiMAX(m) is IP Based, Packet
Centric, OFDMA Based and MIMO Based. Both are 4 G (Whiz) solutions – meaning they will
deliver over 100Mb/s over the air… and it is expected over the air speeds greater than 1Gb/s
will be achieved in the next few years.
Could it be the GSM Tribe have seen great merit in the technology attributes of WiMAX, but
could never call LTE a WiMAX solution? Both ways the technology platforms for LTE and WiMAX
will have common technology attributes… and there still can be a choice for the subscriber.
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Some analysts portray the future of WiMAX and LTE to be shared --- where one Hardware
Platform will be able to emulate either the LTE Protocol or the WiMAX protocol – where
subscribers will have a choice of standard devices based on IEEE or proprietary extensions
based on ITU.
In my humble opinion, the LTE tribe have looked at WiMAX technology and realized how good
it actually is… They could not come out and say to the world the GSM tribe was inferior, but
they did make sure their LTE solution had converging technology which looks a lot like
WiMAX… Hey I am just writing out loud here… it may all be just a coincidence.
The main message here is that LTE and WiMAX are becoming converged technologies – CDMA
is becoming an orphan.
I will not talk about the multi- G/bps Wireline Ethernet tribe except to say that some good
poetic engineers believe the wireless speeds will eventually meet the Wireline speeds…
probably around CANTO’s 40th anniversary… If this happens please attribute this prediction to
me… if it does not happen, forget that I even mentioned it!
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This is not a busy slide and simply shows the two faces of SWITCHING TECHNOLOGIES --- this is
a no brainer…
Alexander Graham Bell’s idea of CIRCUIT SWITCHED VOICE has served us for over 100 years…
Leonard Kleinrock’s idea about Packet Switching will probably serve us for the next 50 or so.
Packet Switching in the entire network from ACCESS TO CORE is the only way to go.
For those in the room still encumbered by legacy Voice Switched TDM big iron --- if I had time I
would propose a minute of silence for the demise of your business case…
The choice is to move to an NGN and NGM mind set --- Packets everywhere and IP under
everything.
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Choice of Spectrum
GSM & W-CDMA CDMA2000 Pre WiMAX and WiMAX
• 900MHz Cellular • 850 MHz US • 700MHz
Band Cellular Band
•1.5 GHz
• 1800 MHz DCS • 1900 MHz PCS
Band • 2.3 GHz
Band
• 2100 MHz IMT- • 2.5 GHz
• 2100 MHz IMT-
2000 Band 2000 Band • 3.5 GHz
• 900 MHz E-GSM • 450 MHz NMT • 3.65 GHz
Band Band
• 4.9 GHz
• 5.8 GHz
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© Nexus Communications – Ian Lenathen
This chart shows the spectrum usually associated with the GSM and CDMA Mobile Operators
and spectrum sought after in WiMAX deployments.
The granting of licensed spectrum is usually facilitated by Auctions – some auctions have raised
billions of dollars for the governments and the cost of the spectrum to the operators must be
added to the bottom line cost in the business case.
Having the license for good spectrum is definitely a competitive advantage and much time and
effort is spent ensuring a winning strategy at the best price is put forward.
Legacy systems often involve non-licensed solutions in the 900, 2400 or 5800 MHz bands…
these are, in most locations, a crowded space… with other competitors using the same
frequency plan… DIFFERENCIATION in this case usually involves the proprietary Vendor chosen.
The right CHOICE of Spectrum is CRITICAL to future success… and the choice of the Vendor
equipment chosen to deploy that spectrum is also a CRITICAL decision.
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Choice of Vendors
Billing
WiMAX
CORE Network IP
VoIP
Soft
Switch
RF Planning
Integrators
Vendors are biased to their own solutions and that is the way it should be.
Vendors are also mostly concerned with their part of the solution… and in some cases end-to-
end considerations or conflicts are left to the OPERATOR.
Of course the integration of Billing and ARPU gaining Value Added Services Platform vendors
are also in the mix.
The choice of a best practice Process in the deployment of your network or in the upgrading of
your network assets is also critical to success.
Due to time considerations I will not go into great details here but let me say the choice of
Process is fundamental and key to your success.
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© Nexus Communications – Ian Lenathen
Thank You
Ian Lenathen
VP Sales and Business
Development
Nexus Communications Ltd
www.nexus-communications.com
ian@nexus-communications.com