In a recent news release, Telefónica Group announced that it is the first network operator in Spain to launch flat rate plans with Internet browsing speed rates of up to 21 Mbps. The company also announced significant web browsing enhancements as a result of deploying Bytemobile’s Web Optimization application, stating that subscribers that were previously browsing at speeds of 40Kbps in GPRS are now reaching 170Kbps as a result of Bytemobile’s optimization technology.

Like the majority of the world’s largest 3G network operators, Telefónica Spain uses Bytemobile’s Web Optimization application to increase capacity for growth in internet traffic and users, while enhancing the user experience with significant download speed-up on both handsets and laptops.

A long-standing customer of Bytemobile, Telefónica Spain, provides Telecomunication services to 44 million subscribers with more than 25 million mobile customers. As a group it provides telecommunications services to more than 268 million customers worldwide serving more than 205 million mobile customers at the end of September 2009. Today it is the leading mobile network operator in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, and has substantial operations in UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is also the largest private shareholder of China Unicom, with 8% ownership of the company.

Bytemobile’s Web Optimization works with all devices — from low-end feature phones to high-end smartphones and wireless laptops and netbooks — and all networks — from legacy 2G to Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX. Acting transparently to both the content server and the client, Web Optimization requires no special processing or configuration by the content provider or the user.

-Stacey Infantino

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As complaints from frustrated customers indicate, wireless carriers are struggling to keep up with their users’ seemingly insatiable appetite for data. Networks are stressed due to the huge and ever growing popularity of smartphones such as the iPhone and computing devices such as netbooks, USB ‘dongles’ for mobile broadband access, and video-intensive applications.

There are many ways that carriers are attempting to tackle this problem, including acquiring more bandwidth in the form of spectrum and building out 4G network infrastructure. In the short term, some operators are also using technology to “optimize” web and video content for access via mobile devices.

To find out whether optimization has a measurable impact on the customer experience, Informa Telecoms and Media, a leading industry market research company, conducted an extensive study comparing the performance of mobile broadband across leading U.K. wireless providers including O2, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, BT, Vodafone, and H3G. From June to August 2009, a series of tests were performed in and around London, measuring the download performance of several popular internet destinations including Amazon, Facebook, Lycos, and Starbucks.

Informa’s measurements illustrate that T-Mobile and O2 (which both use Bytemobile’s solution), BT (which uses Vodafone’s network) and Vodafone were consistently the smallest in webpage download size and in 80% of measurements were the fastest to complete the download.

As a result of its findings, Informa concluded that enhancing an existing network - whether via 2G, 2.5G or 3G - with an optimization solution produces results that are not achievable via any other upgrades with a similar level of financial investment.

Interestingly, the results of this study echo the findings of YouGov’s recent survey, in which U.K. mobile users ranked their satisfaction with providers’ data download speeds.

Download the Informa report for free at http://www.telecoms.com/category/format/informa-white-papers.

-Graham Carey

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On the evening of October 13, employees of Metro PCS and Bytemobile gathered over cocktails and gourmet hors d’oeuvres to celebrate their ongoing partnership – specifically, the successful launch of Bytemobile’s web optimization solution in the MetroPCS network. The Customer Connection event – held at TPC Craig Ranch, a country club in McKinney, Texas – was part of Bytemobile’s Mobile Minute program for customers and partners in the global mobile ecosystem.

MetroPCS guests included Ed Chao, senior vice president, Engineering and Network Operations, and Doug Glen, senior vice president, Corporate Development. Bytemobile hosts included Hugh Barton, vice president and general manager, North America, and Dr. Constantine Polychronopoulos, founder and chief technology officer. Also on hand were members of MetroPCS’s engineering and product teams and the Bytemobile sales, marketing, professional services, and customer support resources that support the account.

-Jaishree Subramania

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