Steve Zhu: Gigaworld is where users might be able to
experience mobile broadband connectivity irrespective of user
location or content 
                      

                           
Berlin conference: Wireless networks will see more and more
people using mobile devices for their daily internet activities
                                  
                                
We are moving into the era when mobile broadband becomes an essential part of the lives of millions of people. Mobile services were mainly used for voice with little or no internet activity and low data traffic.
But this has changed with the evolution of mobile phones into smartphones — essentially handheld personal computers.
“Smart phones can now provide the same applications that are available on any desktop or laptop,” says Zhu Haobing — or Steve Zhu — the chief strategy and marketing officer for wireless networks at Huawei. “With such powerful devices, people want to carry around their broadband experience with them.”
Huawei forecasts that the data traffic will increase 500 times in the next 10 years.
“That means the mobile network is moving from kilobit level, in 2G days, through megabit level, with 3G networks, to a gigabit level,” says Zhu, speaking at a mobile broadband conference in Berlin. He is calling this “gigaworld” — “the place where users might be able to experience mobile broadband connectivity irrespective of user location or content”, he explains.
But capacity and reliability are the main challenges. “Wireless networks will witness growth in traffic with more and more people using mobile devices for their daily internet activities. This shift in usage pattern and the resultant traffic surge will lead to hardware and interface constraints,” he warns.
Huawei’s Global MBB Forum took place in Berlin, attended by more than 200 people, representing more than 50 operators and many third-party vendors.
“Deploying new sites is both expensive and time consuming,” says Zhu. “Operators will look towards economically attractive solutions, allowing them to achieve the maximum using minimal means in a short period of time.”
However, existing cellular coverage might prove inadequate for a broadband experience. “In dense traffic zones or areas of poor coverage — hotspots and blind spots respectively —operators will need to augment existing coverage through more targeted and flexible solutions. Once sufficient coverage and capacity are in place, operators can work on service packages targeting specific subscriber groups.”
But how do operators get a return on their investment mobile broadband networks? “How to monetize the data traffic is a key topic when we talking about mobile broadband,” he says. The industry will need new business models and new technology to cut the total cost of ownership.
And the traffic keeps on rising, he warns. “Global mobile traffic has almost tripled every year for the past few years. This trend is not expected to go down anytime soon, especially with the growth in LTE deployments that will happen in the coming years.”
At the moment the world’s networks are carrying an exabyte of data annually, “we expect to see exabyte traffic every month by 2015-16”, says Zhu. “The average mobile network connection speeds would go from a few hundred kilobits a second to a few megabits a second.”
But, he notes, considering the uneven capacity and coverage requirements, it is more difficult than before for mobile operators to satisfy their customers.
In order to achieve gigabit-level coverage, macro sites will be bigger and bigger, and they will be supported by more and more small cells.
“Network deployment and maintenance are becoming more and more difficult and expensive,” says Zhu. “Operators will look to simplify networks, allowing for easy distribution of resources through concepts such as cloud, auto-configuration and dynamic resource management.”
But how do you define a quality mobile broadband network? “One that maximizes an operator’s investment value. This can be achieved through a network that can last an operator a good 10 or so years, allowing for flexible capacity and coverage upgrades to meet traffic demands,” says Zhu, simply.
“A Gigasite is radio access network site that is capable of providing gigabit throughputs. This is made possible through a combination of high capacity baseband , radio units with multi-band antennas and suite of software. Gigasite, Small Cell and SingleSON are all part of Huawei’s latest wireless solution suite.” They are “a step into gigaworld”.
Gigasite will provide gigabit throughputs “allowing operators to gear up for the mobile broadband surge that we’re witnessing”, he says. “Although Gigasite will be able to handle most of the capacity demands, there might be small areas with dense user traffic. These small areas will require an additional layer of targeted coverage.” That’s where the small cells will be useful. GTB

Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Huawei takes 100% of Huawei Symantec 15 Nov 2011
Huawei and Beltelecom test 100 gig 11 Nov 2011
Ericsson and Huawei win Colombia LTE deals 31 Oct 2011
Huawei wins LTE deal for Hong Kong JV 18 Aug 2011