The Next Big Thing

The past decade has witnessed a huge surge in the Indian telecom industry which has resulted in India being not only the fastest growing market in the world, but also competing right at the very top. With a subscriber base of 723.28 mn and a teledensity of 60.99, India is the second largest telecom market after China. The numbers are promising and the market is still at large to be explored. However, the biggest concern for the sector is its inability to keep pace with the rest of the world in terms of technology.

The 3G deployments have finally begun and all the telecom companies are expected to roll out their 3G services by the end of this year. Now, the point of reckoning here is that when the 4G/LTE infrastructure is almost ready, should we skip 3G and how difficult will be the migration? It is not as difficult as we thought it would be. Service providers can smoothly evolve from any existing 2G/3G and green field network infrastructure to 4G LTE to deliver enriched end user quality of experience.

The platform provides significant bandwidth capability for high definition video streaming and other gaming applications besides being commercially viable. A stable NGN for current as well as future applications can help service providers get free networks to deliver heavy multi-media information efficiently without blocking the network. Thus, spectral efficiency is among the most significant applications of LTE.

Across the globe, LTE has been hailed as the next big thing in the telecom space and initial response has been extremely positive. So, what makes this technology such a rage across the globe? Standardized by the 'Third Generation Partnership Project' (3GPP), it has emerged as the next generation wireless technology. Its adoption by service providers around the world has the potential to generate unprecedented economies of scale as it becomes the universal 4G mobile platform used by both GSM and CDMA service providers.

Being a fourth generation technology, it can be integrated with other networks and is beneficial especially from India's point of view where licences have just been granted and networks will start to roll out. Since there is no pan-India 3G operator other than BSNL/MTNL, there will be gaps in the network. But with LTE technology, 3G operators will have an option to partner with LTE service providers to bridge these gaps. Whether it is CDMA/EVDO or HSPA, LTE is the only technology that can provide interoperability.

Many think LTE is only about radio access-the part of the network between the mobile device and the base station. In fact LTE networks will have four major domains-each equally critical; wireless connection to a handset; backhaul of traffic from base station into the network; evolved packet core which routes the traffic; and the service layer, based on IMS, which can manage many features and services delivered. All these domains need to be closely coordinated to form a seamless, end-to-end solution that can deliver a compelling experience to end users.

Today's users are searching for new services that seamlessly interweave their lives, their work, and their play with those of their friends, family and colleagues. Increasing demand for these new services is driving and will continue to drive dramatic, exponential growth in the demand for wireless data. Consumers are looking for seamless mobility-a benefit that is inherent with LTE. In the past year, some operators have seen 6-fold to 10-fold increases, and mobiles in some areas will soon be saturated. And yet, even as subscriber data traffic is increasing, operators' average revenue per user is flattening or reducing. Service providers are realizing that their traditional business model is not adequate to ensure a sustainable data-centered business. With LTE, these issues will get addressed and a major chunk of the revenue will come from this space. Apart from application enhancement, it will enable increased ARPU. LTE will offer new opportunities to customize business models and strengthen revenue streams.

For sustainable profitability, strengthening existing data revenue streams is not enough. Wireless service providers must drive a new 2-sided business model. Building a next-gen ecosystem that is open to non-traditional telecom companies such as advertisers, retailers, consumer goods manufacturers, media and that leverages the LTE network is critical for a wireless service provider. An all-IP and scalable LTE network will enable service providers to capture new non user-paid revenue streams from the next-gen ecosystem of wireless devices, from the 'Internet of Things', and from content and application providers.
With LTE, operators will not only have a platform to deliver truly ubiquitous mobile broadband services, but also a much improved business proposition compared to legacy technologies. LTE brings lower cost per bit, speed, higher capacity, a high level of flexibility, and a significant global appeal compared to 2G and 3G wireless technologies.

Inherent benefits such as high bandwidth and low latency will result in a new end user behavior that can be capitalized such as massive multimedia services and online gaming. New network intelligence delivered through the 'Evolved Packet Core plus IP based service delivery' environment will provide end users with a more enriched, personalized and contextualized wireless experience, reinforcing the service provider's position in the wireless value chain.

Consumers will also benefit the most from this technology, especially in India where subscribers have long waited for high speed data streaming that can enable services like video calling, movie downloads and other high-end applications.

There is no denying the fact that LTE is a superior technology and comes with inherent cost benefits too. The ecosystem is almost ready and operators are hoping that this technology will drive the telecom growth in the times to come.

TG Sekar
The author is director, Alcatel-Lucent
vadmail@cybermedia.co.in