On August 11, we looked at In-Stat’s data on the global migration of mobile users to 3G networks and beyond. As of 2010, only 17% of the world’s subscribers can access bandwidth enabling them to play video and use other rich applications – leaving 83% of the current base yet to generate untold volumes of data traffic.

Carriers’ migration from one generation of network technology to the next is a complex, long-term process with many moving parts and interdependencies. First, wireless spectrum is acquired and activated. Next-generation radio networks are rolled out. Backhaul is upgraded. The core network is upgraded. Next-generation mobile devices are launched. Finally, after years and hundreds of millions of dollars, the new network is ready for subscriber adoption.

Clearly, different regions of the world are on different trajectories toward 3G and 4G migration and adoption.

Today, Western Europe has nearly twice the global percentage of 3G subscribers. 3G adoption in North America is pushing toward 50%, while Asia is comparable to the global average. The outlook for 4G penetration in all three regions over the next few years is incremental but measurable.
   
By contrast, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Caribbean and Latin America each have less than 5% 3G penetration and no forecast for 4G. The potential for growth of data subscribers and traffic in these emerging markets is vast.

The net net? The mobile data tsunami – which has increasingly commanded news headlines, frustrated consumers, and caused carriers to adapt their business models and technology adoption curves over the last couple of years – is still a wavelet. In developed and developing markets alike, albeit at different stages and paces, the real sea change is yet to come.

-Tod Bottari 
 

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Wireless packet data networks were built on voice networks and provided the basic connectivity between mobile consumers and the Internet.

For years, operators struggled to drive adoption of mobile data. The key barriers were the speed of the network, the cost of data delivery, the capabilities of mobile devices, and the availability of internet content. Bytemobile technology connected wireless laptops to the Internet and helped operators address network speed and data delivery costs. WAP phones provided access to walled-garden content on the operators’ portals.

Next, operators launched 3G networks and the first generation of smartphones, while connecting feature phones to the Internet. Bytemobile enabled this trend with the adaptation of web, Flash and media content for smartphones and feature phones, and the insertion of advertising in adapted content for the monetization of web traffic.

The commercial implementation of HSPA network technology supported compelling new devices such as high-end smartphones and rich new applications such as video. This confluence of factors caused mobile internet usage to grow exponentially, as data revenue and traffic volume accelerated far beyond operators’ expectations.

Operators now had to expand their network capacity quickly in order to capitalize on the revenue opportunity and manage the traffic challenge. They increased infrastructure investments in radio access, backhaul, and core network technologies. Bytemobile supported this requirement with a mobile internet gateway enabling operators to optimize and deliver web and video content on all Internet-connected mobile devices.

Today, operators are building and launching 4G networks with policy controls to ensure both full monetization and fair use of next-generation data services. The intelligent application of policies enables operators to differentiate services by subscriber usage profile and enforce limits on excessive consumption of data.

In this environment, Bytemobile’s mobile internet gateway produces a cumulative network multiplier effect across the operator’s investments in wireless spectrum and multiple generations of radio, backhaul and core technologies. This multiplier effect serves to enhance the performance of all network elements by increasing efficiency and control.

The Unison™ Mobile Internet Platform provides operators with a comprehensive solution for managing mobile data services which combines web and media optimization with traffic analysis and policy enforcement. The result is a next-generation policy control and traffic delivery system for 4G networks.

-Tod Bottari         
 

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On a global scale, the mass migration to 3G network technology is yet to come. The chart below – produced by In-Stat, the mobile internet/digital entertainment market intelligence firm – indicates that in 2010, only 17% of the world’s 4.3 billion mobile subscribers are on 3G networks or higher. This means that 83% are unable to play video and access other high-bandwidth applications that the proliferating iPhone/Android community uses every day.

In the second half of 2008, a number of 3G networks began showing signs of stress due to traffic congestion caused by multimedia-hungry subscribers with powerful mobile devices. After years of investment to drive data adoption and fill their 3G pipes, the operators of these networks were now facing frustrated consumers forced to contend for bandwidth and watch stalling videos.

Two years later, the stress has become seriously aggravated and elicited public comments like the following from the AT&T CTO, in response to widespread criticism of network service quality: “We will move heaven and earth [to meet our customers’ growing data needs]” (VentureBeat – July 12, 2010).

The In-Stat data, corroborated by other industry sources such as Gartner and Morgan Stanley Research, makes it clear that the challenge to operators is still in its infancy. Moreover, it will continue to accelerate for the next decade and beyond, as a) more consumers adopt mobile data, b) more consumers upgrade to iPhone-/Android-class smartphones, and c) more networks advance to 3G and beyond.

-Tod Bottari

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It is clear that India’s mobile internet revolution has become a primary driver of economic development. Millions of urban and rural poor, from Kolkata rickshaw pullers to Rajasthan camel herders, now carry mobile phones. With the number of devices in the market exploding, the wireless Web is growing rapidly throughout India. A report from AdMob shows that  mobile advertising grew by 1.5% last quarter in India - which does not yet have full 3G penetration.

Bytemobile is sponsoring an important thought leadership event for wireless network operators and ISPs next month at India – VAS Asia 2010.

Deepak Mahajan, Bytemobile country manager for India and SAARC, will present the challenges and opportunities of managing the data deluge. He will address the priorities of customer satisfaction and retention, and how to achieve them by enhancing the user experience and increasing network efficiency and intelligence. Mahajan will also focus on the delivery of greater personalization based on a deep understanding of the customer’s individual needs and interests – ultimately leading to profitable revenue growth for India’s wireless service providers.

- Jaishree Subramania
 

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