Gigabit Era for Mobile: Telefónica and Telia Make Strides

The gigabit era for mobile Internet access is coming faster than many believe.

New improvements in 4G platforms will boost 4G network speeds to a gigabit per second on Telefónica networks in Spain, while Telia plans to launch 5G in 2018, supplying gigabit speeds--and possibly multi-gigabit speeds--as well.

Telia plans to launch commercial 5G services in Sweden and Estonia in 2018, and recently demonstrated 5G operating in a real world environment over a live network.

The system used 800 MHz of spectrum in the 15 GHz band and achieved peak rates of 15 gigabits per user, and a latency below three milliseconds.

Separately, Telefónica, Nokia, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have demonstrated download speeds of up to 800 Mbps on Telefónica’s Long Term Evolution 4G mobile network. That is part of work the company is taking to boost peak speeds on its 4G network to a gigabit per second over the next few years.

The test used Nokia radio network equipment and a test terminal equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem.

To achieve the new throughput, two radio carriers were used, allowing mobile terminals to simultaneously download data from two frequency bands.  MIMO 4x4 technology (Multiple-input Multiple-output) also was used, multiplying the number of data flows that a mobile terminal can use with a given cell.

Also, the new 256QAM modulation (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) also was employed. Taken together. All of these technologies will be introduced into the Telefónica Spain radio network.

Are Webscale App Providers Shaping Core Telecom Platform Trends?

Webscale Internet companies (Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon) now are exerting a “markedly increased influence” on markets for communications service. Analysts at Heavy Reading now think the webscale players also increasingly are shaping the market for networking hardware, software and services.

That will be a contentious point of view, even if many telecom industry execs and others think that is true, to some extent.

Google and Facebook are developing new backhaul and access platforms. Google Fiber does buy industry-standard optical access networks as well.

But Facebook mostly is looking at open source platforms that can be manufactured by supplied by industry suppliers.

Clearly, there is impact in terms of buying behavior in the case of Google Fiber, and development potential in the open source efforts by Facebook.

At least some telecom industry professionals believe the webscale providers are "leading in networking innovation"; are "increasingly calling the shots"; increasingly "building out their own telecom infrastructure" and that "it's a matter of time before one of these guys buys one of the big CSPs (communications service providers).”

A Heavy Reading analyst team interviewed more than a dozen leading network infrastructure professionals at leading CSPs at the CTO, VP and director level, as well as more than 25 senior individuals in network equipment vendors at CTO, VP and director level; plus several leaders in key telecom industry associations, standards bodies and other specialist consultancies; and some of the WICs themselves.

The primary and secondary research was complemented by a Heavy Reading online survey, generating responses from 82 qualified respondents in network equipment vendors and 57 from qualified respondents in CSPs.

Keep in mind that about half the 82 vendor respondents came from individuals from one vendor company.

Around half came from vendors from whom two or more (but no more than four) respondents supplied responses. Those companies from which two or more respondents participated include ADVA, Broadsoft, Casa Systems, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, F5, Huawei, HP, IBM, Infinera, Juniper Networks, Nokia, NetScout, Vasona Networks and Radisys.

As you might expect, the online respondents identified Google as the webscale player posing the greatest threat to communications service providers.

Source: Heavy Reading

Sprint, Sprint Foundation to Make Free Mobile Service Available to One Million High School Students

Sprint and the Sprint Foundation will help change the lives of one million high school students by giving them free mobile devices and free Internet access.

The One Million Project is supported in part by device donations from handset suppliers. Sprint and the Sprint Foundation will raise funds through special events, donation drives and other activities aimed at employees and customers, as well as company-owned, dealer, and national retail stores across the country.  

Sprint will work with non-profit agencies including EveryoneOn and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance which will help to recruit community organizations such as schools, libraries, public-housing authorities, and non-profits to deliver the devices and activate the mobile internet service, usable by students for up to four years in high school.

Each student may receive either a free smartphone, tablet, laptop or hotspot device and 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month.

Unlimited data is available at 2G speeds if usage exceeds 3GB in a month. Those who receive a smartphone can use it as a hotspot and for unlimited domestic calls and texts while on the Sprint network.

AT&T Selling Gigabit Services to More than 3 Million Locations, Will Exceed 12.5 Million Locations by 2019.

With the caveat that a “passing” (customer location that can buy a service) is not an “account,” AT&T says its gigabit services now are available in parts of 32 major metro areas, with plans to reach at least 45 metros by the end of 2016 and 67 markets overall.

AT&T says it is marketing service to over three million locations, of which over 500,000 include apartment and condo units. AT&T also says it is on track to exceed the 12.5 million locations planned by mid-2019.

DirecTV Might Help AT&T Connect MDUs Out of Region

Most multi-product businesses earn disparate amounts of revenue--and profit--from each discrete product line. In a perhaps-ideal scenario, a mix of young and fast-growing “next product cycle” products as well as mature, cash-producing lines of business contribute to overall earnings, profits and strategy.

Telecom companies are no different, featuring a mix of products, customer segments and growth profiles. And, frequently, profits and revenues from one part of the business are used to subsidize the operation or growth of other segments.

So it is that AT&T’s DirecTV operations might help AT&T grow its Internet access services outside its historic fixed network footprint.

The reason: AT&T plans to serve customers living in apartment complexes outside of its fixed network service area, operating as a competitive local exchange carrier, and offering 100 Mbps Internet access, perhaps using millimeter wave spectrum and fixed wireless.

Obviously, roof rights are required, and many apartment complexes might already have business deals with DirecTV that AT&T can leverage to supply high speed Internet access as well, using fixed wireless to reach some buildings.

The strategy apparently is to use a hub-and-spoke network where a central building is connected directly using optical fiber, while nearby buildings are connected using fixed wireless.

Google to Light 6th Undersea Cable in Which It has Ownership Interest

Google is working with Facebook, Pacific Light Data Communication and TE Subcom to build the first direct submarine cable system between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. The move highlights changes in the way global wide area network capacity is created and supplied.

The Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) will have 12,800 km of fiber and an estimated cable capacity of 120 Tbps, making it the highest-capacity trans-Pacific route, a record currently held by another Google-backed cable system, FASTER.

The project represents the sixth submarine cable in which Google has an ownership stake, joining the ranks of the Unity, SJC, FASTER, MONET and Tannat projects. The new network is expected to be operational in 2018.

Though data center traffic is a fraction of end-user traffic or traffic within single data centers, intra-data-center traffic has the fastest growth rate, at about a 32 percent compound annual growth rate.

In addition to cloud computing and cloud-based apps, video, mobile users and Internet access now drives wide area network capacity demand.

Those apps and functions now drive “in the data center” traffic, long haul and metro traffic growth. In fact, wide area network traffic, though growing robustly, is not growing as fast as “within the metro” demand.

Metro-area traffic likely surpassed long-haul traffic in 2015, and will grow nearly twice as fast as long-haul traffic from 2014 to 2019.

The higher growth in metro networks is due in part to the increasingly significant role of content delivery networks, which bypass long-haul links and deliver traffic to metro and regional backbones.

Content delivery networks will carry over half of Internet traffic by 2019. Globally, 62 percent of all Internet traffic will cross content delivery networks by 2019 globally, up from 39 percent in 2014.

Traffic from wireless and mobile devices will exceed traffic from wired devices by 2019. By 2019, wired devices will account for 33 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi and mobile devices will account for 66 percent of IP traffic. In 2014, wired devices accounted for the majority of IP traffic at 54 percent.

Though there has been a mix of “carrier-purchased” and “enterprise private networking,” the current trend in the WAN market includes a higher mix of “owned” networking by big app providers such as Facebook and Google.

Equinix Will Use Space-Based Optical Communications

Equinix will be first to use a Laser Light Communications space-based laser communications system. As part of the initial agreement, Laser Light will establish its inaugural global Point of Presence (PoP) at Equinix’s DC11 International Business Exchange data center in the Washington, D.C. area.

Once operational, the All Optical Hybrid Global Network (HALO) will offer wide area communications to carriers, enterprises and government customers at Equinix facilities around the globe.

The initial deployment in Equinix’s DC11 IBX is expected to grow with additional Points of Presence planned globally, including Equinix facilities in the UK, Japan, Brazil, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe.

The system is based on use of medium earth orbit satellites, initially using eight to 12  satellites.