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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In 2007, just before the dawn of the mobile internet revolution, Bytemobile and IBM formed a strategic partnership for the integration and deployment of Bytemobile’s Unison™ Mobile Internet Platform with IBM’s BladeCenter network servers.

Today, approximately 15 of Bytemobile’s largest tier-one operator customers – serving more than 350 million subscribers in North America, Europe and Asia – have deployed the Unison platform on the BladeCenter for the delivery of web and video optimization, traffic management, content adaptation, and analytics services.

The throughput capacity of these operators’ networks is estimated to range up to 2.6 petabytes (PB) of data traffic daily. The mobile internet revolution is not only in progress, but also accelerating in momentum.

Together, Bytemobile and IBM enable operators to cost-effectively manage and monetize consumer demand for mobile data services. The BladeCenter has become an industry-standard server in the networks of the world’s leading wireless telecommunications groups. Customer feedback on the performance of the Unison-BladeCenter platform has been consistently positive.

We look forward to continued joint success with IBM and to expanding our partnership in new and complementary directions.

-Lee Llevano
 

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On May 11, Mobile Minute teamed with Informa Telecoms & Media to stage its second webinar of the 2010 season – “Meeting Consumer Expectations of the Mobile Internet Experience”. You can access a full replay of the webinar here and on the Mobile Minute page of our website.

The event drew approximately 500 registrants from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, the U.S., and Canada. Attendees included a cross-section of wireless network operators and other mobile ecosystem participants.

The webinar panel consisted of Dez O’Connor, head of Mobile ISP Domain Development at T-Mobile International (Deutsche Telekom); Mike Hibberd, editorial director of Telecoms.com; and Jeff Sanderson, head of Pre-Sales for EMEA and Latin America at Bytemobile.

As moderator, Mike Hibberd led off the discussion with a litany of compelling statistics regarding the growth of mobile broadband subscribers worldwide – from 450 million this year to 670 million next year – and its impact on network congestion and traffic patterns. He cited the experience of O2 UK in managing its iPhone subscriber base – with traffic volume doubling every three months – and TeliaSonera in its implementation of 4G technology and associated customer feedback regarding network performance and quality of service. Hibberd also emphasized the influence of video usage on traffic growth, quoting Cisco Systems’ forecast that multimedia will account for 90% of all wireless data traffic by 2013.

Next, representing a tier-one operator’s perspective, Dez O’Connor talked about the critical importance of intelligent traffic management in return on investment in major network deployments. He echoed Hibberd’s comments about video being the key driver of traffic growth and stressed the value of identifying and addressing ‘congestion hotspots’ in the network. O’Connor called out several techniques for improving network efficiency – packet dropping and shaping, traffic control by tariff and content enforcement, traffic compression and acceleration (optimization), Quality of Service (QoS) as defined in the 3GPP architectural model, and intelligent traffic off-load. He concluded that the timely, selective application of these techniques will enable operators to deliver the best customer experience at the best price – based on a manageable cost structure.

Jeff Sanderson rounded out the panel with a focus on video optimization as a means of sustaining network capacity through explosive traffic growth while controlling infrastructure build-out. He indicated that operators can achieve a more ‘deterministic’ user experience by directly addressing network congestion and its impact on quality and usability. Sanderson discussed just-in-time video delivery and the respective and combined merits of lossless and lossy optimization to reduce video stalling and enable operators to offer differentiated services. He concluded with a summary of the key attributes of smart optimization for multiple traffic types – perpetual value through subsequent generations of networks, especially 4G; dynamic adaptation to change; and a consistently positive experience for both operators and their customers.

Additional Mobile Minute events are being planned for the coming months. We will cover these events on our blog and website as part of our ongoing efforts to provide thought leadership and consultative education to the rapidly evolving mobile internet space.

-Jaishree Subramania

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