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Mobile World Congress MWC 2009
The Mobile World Congress, MWC (formerly 3GSM World Congress) took place this year between 16th and 19th February 2009 in Barcelona and provided a unique shop window for the mobile telecommunications industry.
It has been quoted that there are now more mobile phones on the world than there are wrist watches, a measure of the size of the cellular telecoms business worldwide, and despite the downturn many of the large cellular companies are throwing money at the Congress. While there is always plenty of hype for the congresss, there are always main undelying themes and trends which soon become obvious. In recent years applications such as mobile video along with increased speeds from HSPA have been prominent.
This year the main themes have revolved around some of the fundamentals for the industry. The evolution from standard 3G and HSPA to LTE as the next world standard, and the promise of LTE Advanced as the 4G technology. Femotocells have also been a major impetus. However not reaching the headlines to the same extent but equally important is the backhaul technologies and systems. In addition to these main themes there have also been many other important technologies being shown. Green base station technologies along with network optimisation are but two. There have also been many applications to enable the operators to gain their revenue as well. All these have been on show, with their proponents being exceedingly committed to their developments and products.
LTE
Mobile broadband is one area where operators are expecting to see considerable levels of growth. However churn is seen as a key problem with many subscribers dissatisfied with the speed, problems with the reliability of the connectivity or just the expense. But despite this many users are looking to mobile connectivity as their many form of broadband connection for the future.With 3G HSPA now well established the industry is looking to the next steps in terms of mobile broadband, and 3G LTE will be this step. With some trial deployments and more expected soon, this technology has certainly been big at MWC. Offerings range from infrastructure to test equipment and antennas to base stations. One of the major setbacks was announcements by Vodafone, France Telecom and Deustch Telekom that they will delay their 4G deployments (adding some confusion as to what they exactly meant), but others are accelerating their 3.9G LTE deployments. In particular many cdma2000 deployments are looking to LTE as their evolution rather than UMB (ultra mobile broadband using cdma2000 technology) which will not now be supported by Qualcomm. [As an interesting aside, ZTE were still showcasing some UMB products].
As a result many manufacturers are pressing ahead with developments. The standards for LTE were frozen in December 2008, giving manufacturers a stable platform against which they can develop their equipment. Also the conformance test cases and standards are well under way and this will allow formal testing to start. Some trial networks are already being deployed and it is anticipated that the first trial devices will be available in the summer of 2009, with certified devices appearing around 4th quarter 2010. LTE is seen as a key deployment by many operators. In many areas the 3G networks consist of less than 30% HSPA compatible hardware.
As a result the leap directly to LTE from the vanilla 3G hardware appears more attractive than the more gradual and higher cost migration via HSPA. This is proving to be a major driver for the development of LTE networks. However one of the main problems for equipment vendors is not the base stations but the “user equipments” or UEs. These may be traditional handsets of dongles, etc. In order to be able to provide a viable service they need to be multistandard (LTE, HSPA, standard 3G and may be even EDGE) to make use of the available coverage. With spectrum not yet agreed for LTE and likely to be fragmented, this makes the development of roaming capable handsets particularly difficult. As a result this is introducing delays into the development of real rather than evaluation UEs.
Mobile backhaul
When talking about cellular telecommunications technology, most people focus on the phones with their applications and the air interface. However there is a lot of equally important technology within the core network. With the levels of data transfer rising all the time with increasing speeds and numbers of people using applications such as mobile internet, the backhaul technologies need to be able to keep pace with these. Currently around 55% of the base-station backhaul uses microwave links, although the exact levels depend upon country and operator. As with any backhaul solution, the key drivers are cost and capability (i.e. more bandwidth, throughput and efficiency). However it is not just the headline specification that is required, it is an ability to meet the real requirements.Harris-Stratex provide complete solutions which enable operators to migrate from their existing network solutions which are typically TDM based to the more effective IP based technologies. While the technology to achieve this may be more difficult to develop, it enables the operators to achieve their migration as easily as possible. Said Paul Kennard of Harris-Stratex: ” … providing a market leading dollar-per-Megahertz solution, while also providing a simple low risk and incremental migration path to IP.”
Femtocells
Femtocell technology is another key area that will be important to watch. With 3G coverage typically poor inside buildings, the idea of deploying small femtocells is seen as a key element in improving performance (especially data) and coverage with minimum cost to the operators while also giving significant advantages to users. This year there was a special femtozone at MWC where all those companies associated with femtocell technology can be present. Here a variety of companies will be showcasing their femtocell solutions, along with a strong presence from the Femto Forum itself. In addition to this there are very many other companies exhibiting at MWC supplying everything from hardware to software, and applications to core network software. Many large vendors are showing their femto capabilities.NEC, for example are a major system integrator who already have two contracts signed for the deployment of femto technology. Using key elements from Kineto Wireless, they are in a pole position to be able to become a major player in this technology. At last year´s MWC there was plenty of talk about femto technology, this year deployments are begining to happen. Key technical challenges include the stability (with no dropped calls), plug and play set-up (to allow easy in-home installation), and interference resilience (to allow femto-cells to operate on a single carrier, etc). Cost is also a major issue. While for enterprise systems providing an inbuilding capability for companies, cost is not such an issue, for home installation the aim is US$100. This is a major challenge for companies like NEC, but with two competing chip vendors (pico-chip and Percello) the chance of meeting the cost challenges are more realistic.
Several of the femtocell manufacturers have been showing their products. One of the leading manufacturers, Ubiquisys has demonstrated the amazing flexibility theirs can offer. In what can be termed the first domestic, and possibly the first commerical use of cognitive radio, these femtocells look at the radio environment around them and set themselves up accordingly. They obviously need to conform to the requirements of the network and regulatory environment in which they operate and if this changes then it can be accommodated by simply downloading new software over the same DSL or other link used to connect to the core network. While the technology elements have been addressed, so too have the costs which are mainly issues of scale. It is anticipated that these will be within reach of targets very soon, and this will enable volumes to increase further and costs to fall further. Not only this, but the Ubiquisys offers look very attractive - while being in keeping with a modern environment, the styling is not overdone, and the small femtocells will fit in with virtually all domestic environments.
The Femto Forum has been at the centre of the work for femto development. It has been no mean achievement to bring the operators together and enable the standards to be agreed. They have been looking at all elements from the technical aspects through to the business cases. As with any mobile telecommunications development, the business case is key, and for femtocells it appears to be a well proven case, and one that should certainly succeed. For the future? Well LTE will be the next hurdle, and work is already under way. LTE femtocells will be in Release 9 of the 3GPP specifications, so we should seem the standards settling at the end of 2009.
WiMAX
In many ways WiMAX has dropped from some of the headlines. Although some say that it may only be used in Africa, it is now a mature technology and it is starting to be used all around the globe. Many devices and chipsets have been certified for multiple frequencies and bandwidths. Although the progress has not been quite as fast as hoped, most profiles are now available. The ongoing committment to WiMAX was demonstrated by the number of people showcasing products.Aeroflex, for example have their conformance system now certified for 2.3 GHz (for Korea), 2.5 GHz (for North America), and 3.5 GHz (for Europe) and a number of other equipment manufacturers were had many products in evidence. A variety of operators are now pushing the services, with Clearweater in the USA and UK Broadband in the UK leading the way.
However WiMAX is still seen by many as a technology that cannot compete with LTE for political and not technical reasons. While there will be many services in Europe and North America they will need to offer something cable, DSL, and LTE cannot offer. For the areas where existing technologies are not present, then WiMAX is a winner, and is an ideal solution. Africa, and many other areas where no terrestrial infrastructure is present present an ideal opportunity for which WiMAX is ideally suited.
Mobile Phones
Obviously another major element of the mobile phone industry is the developments of the mobile phones. With the background of the number of mobile phones being sold this year expected to drop, fewer new phones were seen hitting the headlines.Despite this the overall trend for mobile phones is to increase their functionality. A few years ago phones were just used to talk. Now they are used as full communications devices with many containing the processing power of a computer. The Blackberry from Research in Motion has now become a defacto standard for business with many other manufacturers following similar lines or using similar levels of processing power to address a different area of the market such as imaging, music, etc..
Samsung for example showcased their touch enabled phones under the headline of a “Mobile to touch Everylifestyle”. They also said that they have the largest screen of any mobile manufacturer and the only phone able to record HD video. Interestingly they also entered the “Green” market with their “Blue Planet” initiative - blue because the Earth looks blue from outer space. Later in 2009, they will launch a phone that can be charged using solar energy and will be made from re-cycled plastic.
Mororola have also introduced a number of new phones, with the several of the major offerings aimed at niche markets. Their top of the range Aura is claimed to be the World´s first circular phone, opening using a turning action rather than sliding the two halves up and down. It is also available in a diamond studded version for those with even more to spend!! Then for those who want a tough phone, the “Terrain” is aimed at those on constructions sites and for the miltary. In line with many other manaufacturers a green phone was also on show. The W233 is the first totally carbon neutral phone, whose case is made from recycled plastic. Nokia, Sony Ericsson and others were also showing their ranges of phones.
Other applications
One area where there could be a considerable level of interest is within the green elements of the industry. A Swedish company named Flexenclosure is showcasing its solar powered and wind powered base stations. With mobile operators forecasting a worldwide deployment of over 120 000 base stations in off-grid areas where diesel driven generators may be required, a huge saving can be made by powering these stations from renewable energy sources. The power used by these base stations equates to the traffic within London, so the savings could have a real impact on the environment as well as providing cost savings.Another interesting development was being shown by Synaptics. This company has around 65% of the world touch pad market on laptops. At MWC they were showing their innovative touch screen technology for mobile phones including those used in some of the new Samsung phones. Using a capacitive technology rather than a resistive one, it is not only very flexible in its mode of operation being able to detect hand gestures as well touches, but it is also very reliable. The touch screen technology can be used on glass or PET (poly-ethylene-teraphthalate). Of the two the plastic is cheaper, but the glass gives a very and clear image, although both seemed very good. These designs are generally custom, and this allows them to be integrated into a variety of devices, including the variety of mobile phones being shown at MWC.
It is interesting to see the many different technologies that have been seen as market winners over the years. Many have disappeared without trace, and particuarly those where the technology, rather than the market have driven the development. However one interesting technology that seems to have found a niche and been market driven rather than technology driven is UMTS TDD. IPWireless have taken their UMTS TDD technology using unused spectrum that is already allocated to many operators. Using this they are introducing mobile television services which seem to be suceeding where DVB-H like its competitor DMB seem to be sinking into the noise. The secret of success is to use a low cost achievable route to introduce technology and applications. It can be a relatively simple upgrade to incorporate UMTS TDD capabilities, including broadcast rather than having to deploy a complete network of DVB-H broadcast stations.
One interesting development was shown by a company named Actix. They offer network optimisation software. With operators spending millions on setting up, maintaining and developing networks it is essential to ensure that the investment is operating to its maximum efficiency. This is not easy as networks are particularly complicated. Actix showed how their new enterprise system can ensure optimum operation and even help damage limiation when faults occur. While many of the larger companies such as NokiaSiemens networks Huawei and others can offer solutions, Actix claim theirs is more vendor independent - an important issue when networks are normally assembled over time using equipment from a variety of suppliers.
Industry Status
However one of the major questions that everyone is asking is how the downturn is affecting the mobile telecommunications industry. Already some casualities have been seen. Canada’s Nortel has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and it is likely that others may follow. While there is always plenty of buzz and hype at MWC, many companies still appear optimistic, although recognising that times are hard in the market place. Many are pinning their hopes on their particualr niche in the market or on the development of LTE. Only time will tell how many of the mobile phone industry suppliers large and small will find it difficult, but for the moment, they all appear to be confident.With Mobile World Congress 2009 now over, it will be very interesting to see how this year pans out. Trading conditions are now very tough and will continue to be so for some time yet. There was some very good technology on view, and within the current situation only the applications and technologies with sound business cases will survive. In previous years many good ideas have been seen, only to fade. Thise that ahve succeeded have had sound business cases, both in terms of those deploying them but also those that meet a real market need. As someone said the three main ingredients for a good product are sound business case sound business case and a sound business case. That surely must be the overriding moto for this year.