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IMPACTS ON CAPEX AND OPEX

Wi-Fi DATA OFFLOADING,

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Abstract
Continued aggressive growth in data trafc fuelled by increase in smartphones, video and application usage has created an urgent need for faster and efcient networks. Figuring an approach to make systems extensible and scalable is important to the success of effective data ofoad strategies that bridge the gaps of disparate systems. This paper will describe the Wi-Fi ofoad approach from the perspective of modeling the trafc model, impacts on the CAPEX and OPEX costs within network infrastructure, managing and integrating multiple access technologies. We examine the ofoad trend amongst Wi-Fi and small cells landscape of femtocells. The emerging trends in key geographical regions, supporting technologies, infrastructure requirements and product portfolio are discussed. Rapid proliferation of smartphones and the popularity of value added services have increased the data trafc signicantly. As the penetration of smartphone devices ranging from entry level to mid-level and high-end market increases further, new opportunities exist for carriers to further monetize advanced Wi-Fi services to overcome the threat of over the top applications eroding their market share.

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Contents
Overview 01

Mobile Me, Creating a Compelling Experience Hybrid Mobile Devices Optimized Experience

02

Building a Successful Offload Strategy Data Ofoad Study Designing Ofoad Trade-Off between Macro Cell Densication and Wi-Fi Wi-Fi Ofoad Simplied Wi-Fi Ofoad Observations

05

Wi-Fi or Femto Scalability Standardization Subscriber Management Policy Meets Revenue Opportunity

11

Greenpacket Mobile Data Offload Solution Seamless Data Ofoad Dynamic Data Ofoad Wi-Fi Experience Management

14

Conclusion

17

Wi-Fi Now, Maximize Investments

19 20

References

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Overview - 01

Overview
The explosion of data trafc was not an overnight phenomenon. Wi-Fi entered the wireless scene much earlier in the early 2000s, but was deemed too niche in the initial stage. The detractors saw Wi-Fi as a poor cousin to cellular technology that had strict security and QoS measurements necessary to deliver voice centric services at that time. Fast forward to 2010, the telecoms landscape has evolved and transformed into a 2nd generation of end-users that demand more than voice services. The take-off of HSPA between the years 2006-2008 was a turning point in the adoption of data-centric services. The impact of mobile data hit hard on mobile operators, when AT&T launched the iPhone in 2007. Undoubtedly, the signing of higher revenue customers that used smartphones was welcomed. However, the network was embroiled in apologetic customer relations in the aftermath of frustrated customers for dropped calls, spotty services, delayed text and voice messages and drastic download speeds in densely populated areas. There were up to 4121 HSPA networks globally deployed, responding to the mobile broadband explosion. The once dominant voice and SMS services were then reduced to the basic fundamental services that an operator provides, with little excitement, as the price competition drove down even further the revenues. It was the plethora of web 2.0 applications that were engaging, new and interesting which kept the end-users excited and thus operators are nding it hard to keep up their bandwidth. Despite the efforts of AT&T to x the network inefciencies, and doubling capacity, it did not stop customers backlash and switch to a rival carrier. Smart devices like iPhones, iPads and tablets can be disruptive, if the operator cannot handle the trafc that is generated. In order to mitigate the negative sentiments that impacted growth rates, reduction of high revenue customers and loss of brand value; AT&T embarked on improving its service delivery with alternative data ofoad approach and communicate those investments by deploying over 29,000 Wi-Fi hotspot to allow its customers to access its services complementary to the cellular network.

1Source : Informa Telecoms & HSPA+

Media, 4G Americas Aug 2011

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Mobile Me, Creating a Compelling Experience - 02 Where is Wi-Fi

Mobile Me, Creating a Compelling Experience

Anytime and anywhere connectivity is important in todays lifestyle and thus resulting in the pressure for operators struggling to maintain network efciency and rapid service delivery. The simplifying of user interface like the iPad is so intuitive. It may not necessarily be the most technologically advanced device, but ranks high on usability scale. These devices have made accessing Internet, applications and so forth pervasive. The key to keeping customers happy is to delight them. Increasingly, operators worldwide are recognizing the importance of building good customer relationships. The customer experience extends beyond getting the customers on-board. The ultimate goal is to create excellent mobile performance, brand and better communicate with their smartphone and tablet-savvy customer base by getting closer to; when and how to connect, offering loyalty programs like rewards, or some other end goal to activate a marketing ad and spend time with the operators brand. So that it will give them a good reason to do it the rst time and then a great experience so theyll do it again and again.

Hybrid Mobile Devices

The connected world now is dominated by smartphones and media tablets. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 84.32 million units in the rst quarter of 2011, a 1.1 percent decline from the rst quarter of 2010 and showing signs of slowdown. Low prices for consumer PCs, which had long stimulated growth, no longer attracted buyers. Instead, consumers turned their attention to media tablets and other consumer electronics. The overall connected device market will grow at more than 40% CAGR3 through 2014 and 50% from 2015-2020. The smart devices that enter the market are becoming more diverse in terms of functionality, platform support and usability. Android based devices have the potential to drive down price points, with lower, mid and higher range models to hit different markets.
2Source : Gartner April 2011

Market Share: Preliminary PC Shipment Estimates by Region, 1Q11 Update

3Source : Gartner The M2M Market

Evolution: Growth Attracts Everyone

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Mobile Me, Creating a Compelling Experience - 01 Overview 03

Hybrid type devices will dominate in coming years, as more multi development and delivery allow applications and content developers to extend their reach over open APIs to be included into devices. In terms of the multi-touch interfaces, it will have even greater sensitivity and processing ability to run faster and more intensive through HTML 5 support. These new generations of smart devices will become a component of other end products and systems. For example, the iPad is now already used popularly in conjunction with PoS terminal for providing inventory, billing and ordering systems.

Figure 1 : Hybrid Smart Devices

Million of Units 1,200 1,000 800

775.79

600 400 200 0

270.93 17.61 362.45 69.08 114.58 169.73 561.42 458.01

677.18

235.69

318.32

2010

2011

2012 Media Tablets

2013

2014 Smartphone

2015

Figure 2 : Forecast shipment of media tablets and smartphones 2010-2015 Source : Gartner

WHITEPAPER Optimized Experience

Mobile Me, Creating a Compelling Experience - 02 Where is Wi-Fi 04

Consumer behaviors are driven in part by the usability and simplicity of the device to bring out the experience. Similarly, operating systems and platforms are a blend of functional utilities. Optimization of the applications and development tools are changing compression techniques from settings that were impractical or that were restricted in traditional approaches into optimized support. This largely, helped reinvent the approach to deliver the web-centered approach surrounding application and media consumption. The convergence of IT and the cascading effect on the consumer electronics industries has had a shift in IT innovation from large businesses direct to the consumer. Likewise, many mobile application priorities are being re-invented for various areas. CIOs and CTOs of organizations are recognizing the commercial benets of combining the powerful delivery mechanism of Wi-Fi with mobile applications, of which include connectivity, mobility of B2C or B2B2C that cuts across consumers and enterprise models, context-aware ability and M2M collaboration.

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Building a Successful Offload Strategy - 02 Where is Wi-Fi 05

Building a Successful Ofoad Strategy

The success of mobile data take-off was a victim of its own, eventually driving data exponentially and leaving the operators in vain to combat its ailing performance. With smarter pricing strategies in place, Wi-Fi has served well to ofoad some of these highly targeted dense data needs. The main inhibitor of successful Wi-Fi deployments can be attributed to the ambiguity of service quality and long term returns, whether Wi-Fi will still be relevant in the LTE space. Many operators with legacy 3GPP systems and architecture will naturally evolve to LTE-based architecture for the same reasons of perceived easier integration towards at IP, consolidating charging, billing and mediation mechanism, and converged EPC to carry out core network control. Can Wi-Fi nd a space in this environment? There are mixed reviews, but the response from Tier 1 operators are positive by complementing the power of macro cellular network with the widely popular Wi-Fi hotspots that are widely accessible, mainly due to zero-licensing and high burst data capacity.

Data Ofoad Study

Competitive pressure and the need for cost savings are determinants of a successful Wi-Fi strategy. Below are a few questions that entail the challenges faced by operators. Where and when should data-optimized architecture be deployed? How to maximize the use of existing infrastructure and benet from it? How would Wi-Fi support and complement macro cell and/or femtocells and manage multiple access architecture types? What is the most cost-effective backhaul architecture? When does Wi-Fi ofoading approach become more attractive to macro RAN densication? It is commonly acknowledged in the industry, Wi-Fi and femtocells provide for good indoor coverage. However, it is still arguable, whether Wi-Fi or femtocells should be used purely for data ofoad purposes. In indoor coverage, the Wi-Fi proposition brings benet to both the carrier and the subscriber since the macro cellular performance is limited by the

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Building a Successful OffloadOverview - 01 Strategy 06

penetration losses. In the ofoad case, it primarily benets the carrier, although the subscribers data experience becomes more compelling because of the higher data speeds. Both Wi-Fi and femtocells approach can help ofoad indoor trafc. The early focus of Wi-Fi indoor ofoad has been based on user deployed, self-managed Wi-Fi. However, there is an alternative approach that integrates indoor unlicensed radios into an end-to-end carrier Wi-Fi architecture which is gaining popularity with the near ubiquitous availability of Wi-Fi in smartphone devices.

Designing Ofoad
Traffic Model The busy hour trafc parameter is used to measure the occurrence of heavy trafc, at a given point of time. The shift of busy hour trafc shows a greater tendency to be present during late evenings, at home and primarily utilized indoors over data intensive applications such as video streaming on smartphones and tablets. Not forgetting, the spike of busy hour also applies during the day where users are on-the-go between workplaces during mid-day. The busy hour is a key indication of network utilization that drives carrier cost and determines when to invest in new RAN capacity upgrade. Typically, when the busy hour threshold is exceeded, the carrier will add more carriers (multi-carrier) or introduce cell splitting and thus contributing towards the total cost of ownership; where every byte of data ofoaded via Wi-Fi during the busy hour will have a direct impact on the reduction of macro network CAPEX and OPEX costs. Capacity Model A typical macro cell in an urban area can have hundreds of concurrent users (depending on varying averages of Mbps/user for a given point in time) and cell capacity is shared. If one subscriber does not use the capacity, the underlying cost of operating the capacity can be allocated to the other subscribers that are actually using it. For example, a 3G carrier can deliver average throughput per cell of 14.4Mbps. Under non-busy hour condition, the node B can support up to 14 subscribers at the average 1Mbps per user. Given that busy hour trafc reaches 70% utilization, the number of active subscribers supported per node B drops to halve. As more concurrent subscribers consume more capacity, it gets more expensive for the carrier to provide the extra capacity requirements to all the users at the same time.

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Building a Successful Offload Strategy - 02 Where is Wi-Fi 07

For a given Wi-Fi cell, the average cell throughput is 11Mbps4. With greater channel bandwidth of 22MHz and 3 non-overlapping channels, Wi-Fi achievable throughput can reach up to 33Mbps. The subscribers supported per Wi-Fi cell is approximately 20 given the same busy hour utilization. The cost to service the increased capacity demand remains roughly the same throughout for Wi-Fi since the device cost is already xed regardless of whether the subscriber uses it or not and, most often purchased by the subscriber. In addition, Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum. Network Cost The network cost model is useful to estimate the CAPEX and OPEX of a carriers macro cell case by considering capacity estimate like the radio access base stations, RNC, core network (SGSN and GGSN) and backhaul. In effect, the total cost per Mbps capacity is the sum of CAPEX and OPEX for each of the network elements over the busy hour usage. Given that the cost model considers CAPEX elements are amortized between 8 to 10 years, depending on the equipment type while Wi-Fi access points are amortized over a shorter lifecycle of 2-3 years. For simplicity of study, carrier Wi-Fi implementation is integrated and therefore CAPEX already accounts for access gateways, security gateways and aggregation gateways. The OPEX element includes site rental, power, site maintenance, leasing of backhaul and data centers applicable to macro cell and to a lesser extent on Wi-Fi deployment. Other macro network cost elements include spectrum and cell site leasing of up to 20 years or more. Wi-Fi assumes the access points are in the range of $60-$150, without site leasing and power is provided by subscriber and backhaul via the Internet Service Provider which is more appealing. When the output of the cost comparison is plotted between macro cell and Wi-Fi relative to the different user types of bronze, silver and gold, it will arrive at a point where the clarity of which technologies are better suited to different trafc demands.

4Source : Assumes the IEEE 802.11a

standard

WHITEPAPER Trade-Off between Macro Cell Densication and Wi-Fi

Building a Successful Offload Strategy - 08

In order to quantify the amount of trafc that is traversing over Wi-Fi networks, carriers use various methods to analyze the trafc usage patterns of its mobile network and sets a baseline to benchmark additional capacity; when and how it could be mitigated either by macro sites or Wi-Fi ofoad.

Wi-Fi Ofoad Simplied

The coverage percentage of geographical area and density of access point per square kilometer deployment is critical in the selection criteria of Wi-Fi ofoad. The design of coverage and access point density depends on the density of subscribers and their assumed data consumption. Consumption models can be proled to three types for simplicity of study; bronze user with 0.5MB/month, silver user with 1.5GB/month and gold user with 5GB/month. Assuming a HSDPA network at 2100 MHz spectrum, typical single carrier and transmit power of 40W+- for urban deployments5. Based on the network parameters and planning computations, the capacity for a single sector HSDPA macro base station is estimated to be 3.6 Mbps and assumes 70% busy hour utilization. Typically, carriers dimension the capacity model with an overbooking of 20-30% for busy hour. If the carrier can no longer sustain with single-carrier, three-sector cell site, it will need to add a second carrier for additional capacity as required. Also, the carrier has to consider the trade-off of installing additional capacity with the incremental cost of installing that particular capacity. Meanwhile, a carrier Wi-Fi ofoad would entail the fundamental cost of the access points with minimal installation costs and zero unlicensed spectrum costs. Other associated cost of backhaul and core network is assumed integrated as part of the carrier Wi-Fi and can be adjusted depending on the vendor. A separate whitepaper, titled Operators Can Save $14million Yearly Through Data Ofoading describes the breakdown of CAPEX and OPEX costs for further reading.

5Note : Penetration loss of industry

practice of 15dBi is assumed.

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Wi-Fi Ofoad Observations

Building a Successful Offload Strategy - 09

Trade-off point for Wi-Fi and HSPA capacity density

Add HSPA cell site Add 2nd HSPA carrier

Cost to Deliver

Add Wi-Fi

Busy hour threshold

HSPA

Bronze User 0.5MB / month

Silver User 1.5MB / month

Gold User 5GB / month

Figure 3 : Trade-off Study of Wi-Fi and HSPA RAN Densication

From a cost perspective, Wi-Fi is much more cost effective on a dollar per Mbps basis than the macro cell. The conventional macro cell densication increases capacity by packing more cells within the same area. This approach can be effective, but suffers from diminishing returns as trafc grows. High-trafc areas in urban centers prove to be challenging, where deploying and operating a cell site is more expensive as site leasing can be difcult to secure. And as the density of macro cells increases, interference become more difcult to manage, with per-sector throughput declining as a result. A single sector in a macro cell can have a comparable capacity to a Wi-Fi access point, but coverage is greater, resulting in lower capacity density. Wi-Fi on the other hand, is limited by range and the impact of interference is reduced while capacity density is increased.

Coverage

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Building a Successful Offload Strategy - 10

Given the study of capacity in busy hour, there is little impact on the cost to deliver data to the bronze users, as the demand for capacity is far below the busy hour threshold shown in Figure 3. The intersecting point where the macro cell and Wi-Fi begin to show distinct cost savings advantage is clear, when the busy hour capacity is reached. This effect is more obvious, when a large number of silver and gold users are introduced into the network. These are the premium users which carry a higher degree of service level. The areas of device subsidies and depreciation of assets whether minimal or otherwise can inuence the decision for macro cell densication or Wi-Fi ofoading strategy. Other long term OPEX6 costs such as maintenance, site leasing and carrier-upgrade can draw the differential cost. The key to delivering a cost-effective mobile broadband service is to understand when the trade-off becomes more attractive for an operator to deploy Wi-Fi ofoad solution over densication of macro RAN capacity, as well as the differences between licensed and unlicensed Wi-Fi ofoad solutions.

6Note : The Internet point of presence

and Internet backbone and international ber connectivity is not considered in this discussion.

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Wi-Fi or Femto - 11

Wi-Fi or Femto
Which is the best t for ofoad? It does not have an absolute approach, as demonstrated by various carriers. The issue of data ofoading must be assessed from the aspects of suitability, readiness, integration of existing infrastructure, cost effectiveness, pain points and a host of indirect costs related to customer expectations, loyalty and brand awareness. As mobile data congestion become greater, carriers are using all tools including tiers and caps to survive the low yield data revenues through bandwidth management. The on-going challenge is not without mixed results. According to Informa Telecoms and Media market report, there are more than 2.3 million femtocells deployments in 2011, which is small and relatively weak in comparison to the 1.3 billion Wi-Fi hotspots globally. Although femtocells provide benets to the user in terms of full bar coverage and higher mobile capacity, it typically is dependent on a xed line to backhaul. The key advantage for users is it supports existing 3G terminal, but technical aspects add to the challenges of spectrum, as femtocells are deployed over the same licensed spectrum of macro networks and can potentially cause interference. Wi-Fi on the other hand, specically addresses the issue of data trafc ofoad that represents carriers immediate challenge, and highly suited for indoor coverage. Wi-Fi can be a complementary proposition for mobilizing broadband. It can help manage cost by ofoading trafc, while offering a cost-effective high-bandwidth service at home as well as in many heavily-used public locations such as airports, stadiums, cafes, hotels and so forth. Given the installed base, it is likely that security, voice services over Wi-Fi, and seamless handover will be added to Wi-Fi to strengthen (all of these being efforts that are already addressed in some way or another) ofoad strategies alongside femtocells. Several key issues that will emerge from the success of the network are scalability and manageability. Ultimately, carriers want to create a unique mobile experience that is uid between Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks.
7Note :

The congestion described in this literature exclude the study of wireless or ber backhaul connectivity. Informa Telecoms and Media

8Source : WBA Industry Report 2011 9Note :

Backhaul enhancements study is not included in this publication.

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Wi-Fi or Femto - 12

What will be the impact of Wi-Fi ofoad on revenues or subscriber experience?

100% Response Percentage 80% 60%
43% 14% 14% 30% 50% 10% 20%

40% 20% 0% APAC High Positive Impact Low Negative Impact Europe Low Positive Impact High Negative Impact
40%

13%

29%

38%

North America No Impact

Figure 4 : Wi-Fi Ofoad Impact on Subscriber Experience Survey Source : Senza Fili

Scalability
Wi-Fi has demonstrated its ability to provide cost effectiveness in terms of the cost per byte deployment. China Mobile, having one of the biggest subscriber base in the world, has big ambitions to deploy up to 1million10 hotspots by 2014 in its commitment to bring ubiquitous mobile services. Similarly, the device chain support has reached a maturity level that provides for improvement to support specications of EAP-SIM and drive down the cost by large volumes to make Wi-Fi a de-facto capability. For most parts, smartphones are designed ideally for Wi-Fi ofoad.

10Source : WBA Industry Report 2011

Informa Telecoms and Media

WHITEPAPER Standardization
The need for a unied framework to standardize authentication, security, roaming and inter-working between disparate access networks is necessary. The Wi-Fi ecosystem is maturing and it is anticipated, their role in bringing economies of scale by supplanting ubiquity. Data roaming prices are unattractive for the mass market, and as a result, customers tend to resist by switching off data roaming and relying on Wi-Fi. In the recent 2012 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, talks of carrier Wi-Fi was featured heavily among the industry carriers and analysts. With strong commitments from Wireless Broadband Alliance through the Next Generation Hotspot program and Wi-Alliance Hotspot 2.0 initiative encouraging trials amongst operators, the progressive development of Wi-Fi will see acceleration of co-operation to a wider ecosystem.

Wi-Fi or Femto - 13

Subscriber Management Policy Meets Revenue Opportunity

Carriers are seeing the importance of context-awareness to drive better understanding of user behavior by combining the trafc management algorithms and tools behind backend data processing. Real-time policy control is evolving to pass intelligence from the core network to the network edge, i.e. to bring device state awareness closer to the type of running applications. By doing so, carriers can push personalized services to the users and at the same time delivering the most optimum Wi-Fi operational capacity. Building intelligence into the system is central to Wi-Fi user experience. The general view is accepted that a carefully designed Wi-Fi deployment with granular subscriber management gives more mileage to extended revenue, as users are willing to pay for service, if the perceived performance is heightened. Based on a survey by Senza Fili Consulting, the impact of Wi-Fi ofoad to subscriber revenue and user experience as shown in Figure 4 are generally positive.

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Greenpacket Mobile Data Offload Solution - 14

Greenpacket Mobile Data Ofoad Solution

Seamless Data Ofoad
Greenpackets Intouch Seamless Data Ofoad is a client-based solution that aims to deliver a simplied and cost-effective ofoad method across multiple access networks. It is based on the Data Ofoad Platform. The Intouch Seamless Data Ofoad client can transparently ofoad 3G~Wi-Fi and continue to push operator services and manage data trafc effectively. Seamless Data Ofoad, through Inter-working WLAN (iWLAN) takes trafc from the mobile operators radio access over Wi-Fi by tunneling through the PDG at the operators core network. This ts with mobile operators need to monetize services through the personalization of services and the application of policy management; something which cant be said of other Wi-Fi ofoad approaches in the market today.

Mobile IP

Extend 3GPP services and functionality to the WLAN access environment

3rd Party HA
Cellular
IPSEC Secured Tunnel

Security for Wi-Fi the same as security for 3G networks

WLAN
Better Wi-Fi experience

3rd Party PDG IP Traffic

Common authentication architecture between Wi-Fi~3G

Intouch Seamless Data Offload Client 3GPP-WLAN Interworking Seamless Authentication Consolidated Charging Unified Services Access
Figure 5 : Intouch Seamless Data Ofoad

WHITEPAPER Dynamic Data Ofoad

Greenpacket Mobile Data Offload Solution - 15

Operators are increasingly looking at using Wi-Fi for ofoad as part of their mobile broadband strategies. However, it risks losing visibility over trafc policies that were congured for the user once it routes through Wi-Fi. What is lacking is a way for the network to communicate to users (applications and/or websites they are using) a real-time or predicted measure of the networks congestion levels. Greenpackets Dynamic Data Ofoad client is compliant to the dened 3GPP Access Network and Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF), to enable dynamic network selection and switching based on various contextual ability such as cell location, device, peak hours and subscription plan. Operators can also opt to customize these policies based on application aware policy, device policy, subscriber policy and time-based policy to trigger data ofoad.

Manage Data Ofoad Policies in Real Time

Real Time, Precise and Dynamic Offloading Decisions

Policy Enforcement Point

Policy Enforcer

SOAP

Less Load on Packet Core

High Level of Control to Operators to Manage Congestion

Intouch Dynamic Data Offload Client (Compliant to ANDSF) Device Information Usage Information Environment Information

Operator PCRF/ 3rd Party Policy Control Congestion Information Subscriber Profiles Usage Information
High Quality Experience to the Subscriber

1. Get Policy
Send Location Information (UE Location)

2. Receive Policy
No Policy/Prioritized Access/ Validity Areas/Time of Day/ Discovery Information

3. Apply Policy
APPLY and OVERRIDE DEVICE POLICY

Figure 6 : Intouch Dynamic Data Ofoad

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Greenpacket Mobile Data Offload Solution - 16

Wi-Fi Experience Management

The Intouch Connectivity Experience for Wi-Fi is based on the Connectivity Experience Platform suite of solutions, specic to managing the Wi-Fi experience. It is designed as an intelligent client that can automatically detect and switch to Operator hotspot, user-dened hotspot or partner hotspot. The client also supports various connection policies that allow time-based restrictions and device restrictions. User experience is made simple and transparent by giving control; when, how and which Wi-Fi hotspot to access without manual selection of Wi-Fi SSIDs and conguration. The client supports various authentication methods such as WISPr, Hotspot 2.0, Next Generation Hotspots (NGH) as well as secured authentication protocol such as EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS on 802.1X networks and thus provides a Wi-Fi environment in which subscribers can roam automatically with fully integrated authentication and a standard based approach with minimal change to existing networks. With advanced Wi-Fi management, the client can be extended to support advanced features of iWLAN and ANDSF for operators considering the implementation of 3G~Wi-Fi ofoading.

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Conclusion - 17

Conclusion
The motivation of Wi-Fi ofoading is varied and dependent on the use cases of the carriers mobile strategy. One factor that ranks high amongst the C-level execs would be the return on investment for every dollar that is spent. Carriers today are faced with a challenging task to protect their ARPU and battle the changing behavior of tech-savvy users. The appetite for YouTube, Netix, Hulu skyrocketed, at the expense of the traditional carriers dumb pipes. The popularization of those platforms is not difcult to understand given its free-mium value while the carriers were struggling with licensing rights on their mobile TV offering and expensive charges passed down to the end-users. Carriers now have embarked on a task to bring value back to their subscribers. There can be debates on how to achieve greater degree of control surrounding issues of data ofoad such as when, how and which should be the right network at the right location and right time. Wi-Fi ofoad approaches should ideally give operators the exibility to route ofoad trafc back to their core network as well as directly to the Internet; Wi-Fi ofoad via iWLAN promises greater visibility and management control as part of the ofoad process. With many context-aware policy control and charging solutions in the market today, carriers can integrate Wi-Fi ofoad through a closer understanding of the underlying triggers of when, how, where and what drives data usage. Contextual experience brings together - mobile, social networks, location, payment and commerce that affects the user experience in a more meaningful and relevant state of engagement. As in Greenpackets Wi-Fi solutions, the device client supports both 3GPP-based iWLAN and ANDSF specications. Ideally, every byte of data ofoaded should have a positive impact on the ROI. The parameters that carriers pay great attention is the costs relevant to coverage area percentage and capacity to capture the maximum ofoad trafc over a given period. The TCO11 consists of varying CAPEX and OPEX components with dependency of achieving coverage by the density of access points per square kilometer versus the maximum achievable savings. The end goal is the direct result of reduction in additional macro cell by the placement of corresponding access point density over the same coverage area percentage. However, if the difference in TCO of Wi-Fi ofoad savings falls short of macro cell densication, the business case for ofoading will become less useful.
11Note : Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

distribution is approximately 30% CAPEX : 70% OPEX in general industry estimation

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Additionally, it needs to ensure compatibility and interoperability between the disparate systems. Roaming is a highly desirable feature for Wi-Fi. With cellular networks, data roaming charges are unattractive. To prevent bill-shock and disgruntled service experience, carriers have begun to implement notication and alerts, so that customers can disable data roaming. Data roaming, when dealt with the correct approach, can add value to the subscribers, i.e. making Wi-Fi accessible through roaming partner by offering discounted services proposition which are more competitive. Bundling of roaming services with voice, messaging and data services is a good alternative to keep the customers happy. As a result, the cost of roaming for the end-user is reduced and they continue to receive the same level of services they are used to without the frustration. One such example is the roaming bundle currently offered through Orange France; daily, weekly or even 30-day basis, available in France, UK, Poland and other European markets. Integrating mobile services in the fundamental user experience is important to create optimized access and services to win them back. Customers view value in the service experience; regardless of the device, network and conditions they work in. A number of Wi-Fi providers are already developing carrier-grade products designed to provide seamless handover from 3G/LTE networks while keeping down the associated network infrastructure cost and complexity.

Conclusion - 18

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Wi-Fi Now, Maximize Investments - 19

Wi-Fi Now, Maximize Investments

Greenpacket welcomes you to embark on tailored Wi-Fi solutions for optimizing your network operations. At Greenpacket, we understand the demands placed on Operators like you. Our solutions are designed to give you the exibility to constantly deliver cutting-edge offerings without exhausting your capital and operating expenditures. With Greenpacket, limitless freedom begins now!

Free Consultation If you would like a free consultation on how you can apply Wi-Fi solutions, feel free to contact us at marketing.gp@greenpacket.com. Kindly quote the reference code, SWPS1211-D when you contact us.

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References - 20

References
1. Gartner Emerging Technology Analysis: Mobile Business Intelligence 13 July 2011, ID:G00214124 by Bhavish Sood, Andreas Bitterer, James Richardson. 2. Gartner The M2M Market Evolution: Growth Attracts Everyone 3. Senza Fili Consulting Technology to drive wireless disruption, with service monetization mired in uncertainty by Monica Paolini 4. Wireless 20/20 Carrier Wi-Fi Ofoad by Randall Schwartz and Magnus Johansson

For more information on Greenpackets products and solutions, please contact us at marketing.gp@greenpacket.com San Francisco

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