Canada: Operators Directed to Stop Zero-Rate Video

While zero-rated data gains popularity in some markets (Colombia, Pakistan, Zambia), the Canadian regulator, CRTC, directed two MNOs, Bell Mobility and Videotron to eliminate this "unlawful practice", which they categorize as "application-specific economic Internet Traffic Management Practice (ITMP)".

CRTC announced that "As Canadians turn more and more to the Internet for viewing content, it is important to make sure that these new platforms are made available to Canadians in a fair and open manner. In this regard, the CRTC issued a decision today that reinforces its commitment to an open Internet. 

The CRTC has directed Bell Mobility and Vidéotron to stop giving their mobile television services, Bell Mobile TV and illico.tv, an unfair advantage in the marketplace, to the disadvantage of other Internet content. These companies exempted their own mobile television services from their standard monthly data charges. Content from other websites or apps, on the other hand, counted against the customer’s data cap.

• Bell Mobility must eliminate this unlawful practice by April 29, 2015.
   
• For its part, Vidéotron indicated that it planned to withdraw its illico.tv app for BlackBerry and Android devices by the end 2014. Vidéotron must confirm by March 31, 2015 that this app has been withdrawn and ensure that any new mobile TV service it offers does not give it an unfair preference or advantage over similar services.

See "CRTC continues to set the course for the future of television with Let's Talk TV decisions" - here and a detailed discussion "Broadcasting and Telecom Decision CRTC 2015-26" - here.  

Verizon Adds Parental Controls to the Home Gateway

Verizon announced recently that "Our customers who have the FiOS Quantum Gateway router will now have access to a number of new parental controls and guest Wi-Fi capabilities. With this latest router update, parents can easily grant or restrict Internet access to any device on their home FiOS network. Additionally, parents are now able to set daily time limits on network-connected devices for management of screen-time.

And it’s free .. Manage children’s Internet usage on a per device basis so you can minimize binge TV watching! Establish parental control rules conveniently from the MyFiOS App, whether you’re home on the go Grant or limit Internet access for any connected device in your home which is perfect during final exam and PSAT preparation. Set daily or weekly time limits on any connected device in your home.

See "The Fastest Router Now Offers Easy Parental Controls and Guest Wi-Fi" - here.

NI Deployments [335]: Telenor[Sweden] Selected MyCOM OSI for Performance Management

  

MYCOM OSI announced that the "NIMS-PrOptima™ Service and Network Performance Management platform has been selected by Telenor Sweden to manage the performance of its mobile and fixed networks.

Telenor Sweden’s strategy requires a new performance management solution to gather and use data from various network domains including RAN, CS Core, PS Core, VAS, IP and Probes. Telenor Sweden required the solution to be simple to use, enabling users to quickly analyze network performance with minimal time and effort spent on report development. Key requirements included system performance and scalability, comprehensively available off the shelf modules, an effective drag and drop GIS environment and support for supervision automation.

NIMS-PrOptima™ is a converged (Fixed/IP/Mobile) Service and Network Performance Management solution with out-of-the-box support for multiple technologies, domains and equipment vendors across access, backhaul, core and service networks. It processes large volumes of performance, configuration and services data in near real time, and has advanced correlation, analysis, reporting and visualization modules. It is also highly flexible via automation, workflow and configuration capabilities".

See "Telenor Sweden selects MYCOM OSI for Network Performance Management" - here.

Flash Networks Accelerates Encrypted Traffic; Increases D/W Speed by 50%

Flash Networks announces the "..release of Harmony 7.5, its Mobile Internet Services Gateway. A key differentiator of this new version is the ability to accelerate and optimize encrypted data without violating user privacy. Based on operator trials, Flash Networks has successfully demonstrated the ability to self-detect congestion in real-time and increase download speeds by 50% for all types of traffic, including encrypted traffic. The system can also be deployed as a virtual network function (VNF) and can be integrated into software defined networks (SDN).

Flash Networks' Harmony 

..Harmony 7.5 includes smart optimization, which boosts downloads and browsing speeds for all networks, including 300 mbps LTE-A networks .. . Harmony 7.5 has been successfully used to optimize traffic in a live trial as part of an SDN topology, integrated into existing network functions and sharing the same hardware".

  

See "Flash Networks Announces New Congestion-Based Optimization and Acceleration for Encrypted Mobile Traffic" - here.

[Infonetics]: "significant changes in the policy management vendor landscape"

 
A new survey by Shira Levine, directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence, Infonetics Research, on the Policy management marker finds that:

"The next generation of policy management solutions has evolved to address the challenges associated with increased broadband consumption and a wider range of end-user devices. This shift has translated into significant changes in the policy management vendor landscape as suppliers look to refine and reposition their offerings .. There are new buyers for policy management within the operators and new requirements that policy solutions must address, and this has created challenges for many suppliers playing in the market -- a trend that we expect to continue in the coming years" 

Survey results: 

•  respondents put Huawei at the top of the list; Ericsson came in second, and Openet and Oracle tied for third
   
• Topping respondents' criteria for choosing a policy management solution are reliability and performance scalability
   
• While only 13 percent of respondents are currently running policy management software as a virtual network function (VNF), 57 percent plan to do so by the end of 2016. A surprisingly high 32 percent of operators surveyed plan to deploy policy via a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform by the end of 2016

See "Vendor shakeup expected in policy management market as operators seek more flexible solutions" - here. 

Allot: 3 Traffic Optimization Orders

Allot Communications announced that it "received orders from three new mobile operator customers in the fourth quarter of 2014 for Allot VideoClass, an application-aware and network-aware video optimization system that fully integrates with Allot Service Gateway to dramatically improve the quality and efficiency of video delivery:

Allot's VideoClass 

• One of EMEA’s leading Tier-1 mobile service providers is implementing the Allot VideoClass system to prevent video buffering delays, stalls and latency, and expedite web browsing to enhance the overall customer quality of experience (QoE). This implementation followed a competitive win against pure-play optimization vendors. The video QoE management solution also provides the operator with the network intelligence to achieve granular policy control to match the optimization policy to a customer profile and data plan.
   
• A second order was received from a major multinational mobile operator based in LATAM that selected the Allot VideoClass system to eliminate network congestion and enhance video delivery. This order followed a competitive and extended trial process. The operator will be better able to identify and allocate bandwidth to each video application to ensure a high QoE while, at the same time, lowering operational expenses.
   
• Allot received an additional Allot VideoClass system order from a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Europe. This operator also utilizes Allot’s web optimization capabilities to accelerate web browsing responsiveness and further reduce delivery costs. The solution enables this operator to realize significant savings by dramatically reducing optimizable video bandwidth by up to 40% and overall bandwidth savings of up to 20%, while maintaining a high customer QoE. This operator is also taking advantage of network analytics capabilities to gain insights into mobile traffic, which enables the provider to develop application and subscriber-based charging models.  

See "Allot Communications Secures Video Optimization Orders from Three New Major Mobile Operators" - here.

ZTE Demoed 3X Higher Throughput with Pre5G Base Stations

ZTE Corporation announced it is the "world’s first company to complete pre-commercial field testing of multi-user and multi-stream transmission on a Massive MIMO (multiple input multiple output) base station, setting new records in single-carrier transmission capacity and spectral efficiency.

Dr. Xiang Jiying [pictured], Chief Scientist, ZTE said: “ZTE successfully overcame the challenge of doing multi-user and multi-stream spatial multiplexing in a scattered-signal environment, clearing the main hurdle in the development of Massive MIMO technology .. Using ZTE’s proprietary pre5G multi-user/multi-stream spatial multiplexing technology, with user handsets based on existing 4G standards, the company’s Massive MIMO base station demonstrated peak data throughput that is more than three times that of traditional base stations, and average data throughput that exceeds conventional systems by at least five times"

Source:ZTE 5G White Paper (here)

Several major international telecommunications operators indicated they would deepen their collaborations with ZTE, after they were invited to attend the field test, noting the record-breaking results had exceeded their"

See "ZTE Pre5G Massive MIMO Base Station Sets Record for Capacity" - here.

[Update 73: Aradial <-> Procera, Sandvine] PCRF - DPI Compatibility Matrix

Aradial Technologies updated me that their customer, africonnect [Zambia] asked them to integrate with Procera. They used their RADIUS interface ("proxying service label").

Aradial also did the same with Sandvine, to other customer.

The PCRF <-> DPI matrix [here] was updated.

[TheDeal]: Procera for Sale; Sandvine is a "Better Buyer than Allot"

Procera trade on Friday - volume 4.2X average

TheDeal (see video below) reports that "Procera Networks  under attack from activist shareholders, has tapped Stifel Financial Corp. to shop the business, according to three sources familiar with the situation. 

For the Fremont, Calif.-based network equipment maker, the move comes after investor Ronald Chez in October urged the board to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a sale. Chicago-based hedge fund Castle Union LLC joined Cehz about a week later and disclosed its 5% stake in Procera, arguing that the company is undervalued and should be sold. Castle Union subsequently increased its stake to 6.6% in December [here]. 

'They're not distressed, but they're losing share,' said an industry source about Procera.'They're the third player in a three-man race.' In the communications equipment space, Procera competes with Hod Hasharon, Israel-based Allot Communications Ltd. (ALLT) and Waterloo, Ont.-based Sandvine Corp. (SVC). 

Toan Tran [pictured], a managing partner of Castle Union (one page Web site), told The Deal in October that he believed Procera could be sold for $12 per share or more and that it could garner interest from strategics such as Sandvine, Allot, F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Ericsson Inc. (ERIC). He also said that of the two players Procera directly competes with 'Sandvine and Allot' the former would be a better buyer because Allot and Procera would be a tough cultural fit. 

Sources said Procera's recent board shift could bode well for a sale. The company appointed Tom Sapanos as new chairman in October [here], and the person he replaced, Scott McClendon, was known to be against selling Procera.

Procera's stock hit a high of $20 range in 2012. On Friday, shares finished at $9.15, a 5% rise from Thursday and up 28% for the year thus far. Castle Union told The Deal last month that it will launch a proxy fight and nominate at least four board members if Procera doesn't publicly start a strategic review process by the end of January"

See "Networking Company Could Sell to Allot, Sandvine, F5, Cisco or Ericsson" - here.

Ipanema-as-a-Service: Cloud-based Management System

Ipanema Technologies announces the launch of "IpanemaCloud Central Management, Ipanema’s first ever cloud-based service. This new cloud-based service allows VARs, MSPs and telcos to reduce time to market by months, offering them easy access to Ipanema’s platform to quickly deliver Ipanema-based managed services to their customers. 

Since it requires no upfront investment in infrastructure or set up costs, IpanemaCloud offers service providers a cost-effective solution and allows them to focus resources on their core business areas, safe in the knowledge that their management platform is fully up to date. 

As a cloud-based service management platform, it leverages Ipanema’s carrier class management software and combines it with a secured service portal based on leading certified technology partners, Rackspace hosting and force.com.
  

See "Ipanema Technologies accelerates its move to the cloud announcing IpanemaCloud, with Central Management as the first of a series of cloud-based services" - here.

Telstra Deployed MATRIXX for Bill Shock Prevention

MATRIXX Software announces that "Telstra,  has deployed MATRIXX and its Convergent Charging solution to deliver real-time mobile data usage alerts to millions of Telstra customers. MATRIXX Convergent Charging enables service providers to deploy a single real-time platform for rating, balance management and charging across all access networks, services, devices and payment methods.

Scott McGibbony, Director of Mass Market Mobility, Telstra said the MATRIXX capabilities ensure Telstra can better protect customers from surprise data charges as Australians adopt high-speed 4G services: “Bill shock can be a real frustration for our customers. Mobile data usage alerts dispatched by mobile operators in Australia are typically delayed by up to 48 hours, meaning mobile users can receive an alert after they have exceeded their allowance ..  We have worked with MATRIXX to take the worry out of using mobile data by offering our customers market-leading data usage SMS alerts that arrive in real time when they have used 50 percent, 85 percent and 100 percent of their monthly data allowance”.

"The MATRIXX solution has also enabled Telstra to improve the timeliness of data usage information available on its Telstra 24×7 app (iOS and Android) Telstra One app, My Plan Manager and My Account tools"

See "Telstra implements MATRIXX Software" - here.

Procera: Multi-$M Orders From two Tier 1 MNOs

 
Procera Networks continue to release multi-million $ deals (See previous announcements from December, August).

The DPI vendor announced it received "two orders that total several million dollars from two Tier 1 mobile operators. The operators will use PacketLogic™ products solely for the mobile network and for the subscriber analytics that are visualized via its multiple mobile-centric Perspectives solutions. The revenue from these orders is expected to be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015". 

Related post - "Procera Q3: Revenues from US MSO "decreased dramatically"; 37% Customer" - here.
See "Procera Networks Receives Two Tier 1 Mobile Analytics Orders" - here.

[UK]:"Unlike some countries", All ISPs Voluntary Signed for the Net Neutrality Code

The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) announced that "all of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now signed up to a voluntary Code of  Practice in support of the Open Internet.

The Open Internet Code [here] was launched in 2012, building on previous work on the transparency of traffic management. EE, Virgin Media and Vodafone have recently signed up to the Open Internet Code, meaning that all major ISPs, operating across both fixed and mobile networks, are now signatories.

Matthew Evans [pictured], CEO of the BSG which facilitated the code, said: “Unlike some countries where net neutrality has become a controversial topic for discussion, the UK benefits from a fiercely competitive market and high levels of transparency – which together offer the best assurance of an Open Internet. The Code now provides an even stronger and more effective foundation, whilst also allowing for an environment where new business models for internetbased services which benefit consumer choice can thrive.”

The signatories of the code are: BT, BSkyB, EE, KCOM, giffgaff, O2, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone. 

By agreeing to the code, they confirm that they will:

1. Ensure that full and open internet access products, with no blocked services, will be the norm within their portfolio of products.
    
2. Provide greater transparency in instances where certain classes of legal content,applications and/or services are unavailable on a product. These products will not be marketed as “internet access” and signatories will be obliged to ensure that any restrictions are clearly communicated to consumers.
    
3. Not target and degrade the content or applications of specific providers.Content providers are able to raise potential cases of targeted and negative discrimination with ISPs. If they are not satisfactorily resolved, these issues will be lodged with the BSG  who will share them with Ofcom and government. This initiative, which the BSG was asked to undertake on behalf of the Government, builds on the transparency code of practice published in 2011 which ensures that clear, understandable and comparable information on traffic management practices is available to consumers.

See "Remaining ISPs commit to the UK’s Open Internet Code" - here.

ABI: Net Neutrality - a Risk for Telecom Vendors - Mainly in Fixed Networks

A recent report by Eric Abbruzzese, Research Analyst and Sam Rosen [pictured], Director, ABI Research, finds that "..Regulations on net neutrality have been at the center of attention recently throughout the world.Balancing the interests of businesses, governments, and consumers has been a challenge for all involved. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with Chairman Tom Wheeler, is especially struggling to resolve a moderate proposal with President Obama’s public pro-neutrality stance [see "FCC: 'No blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization'" - here]

The uncertain possibilities of neutrality regulation have impacted operators such as AT&T and Verizon, and vendors such as Cisco in the wireline broadband space, forcing a shift in priorities until regulations are finalized [see also "Attn: DPI Vendors - US Net Neutrality Vote on February" - here]

While the United States has the independent FCC at the head of neutrality decisions, groups in Europe and Canada are also facing difficult neutrality changes, with the European Council and the European Union (EU) parliament, as well as the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) leading decisions for the these regions. 

Carefully planning investments, and balancing wireline and wireless portfolios, will prove necessary for companies to continue to see success during this wireline-focused regulatory restructuring period .. Operators or carriers that have a heavy focus on wireline, such as CenturyLink or Cisco, may find it difficult to see growth with some regulatory outcomes, while companies with a more balanced portfolio, including Verizon, AT&T, and Ericsson will simply steer resources to the highest return markets". 

See "FCC Discussions on Net Neutrality Hampering Investment in Wireline Broadband, Steering Investment to Wireless" - here.

Facebook Enables Free Data to Tigo Colombia Subscribers

Facebook's Internet.org continue to expand (see Airtel, Zambia), this time to Tigo subscribers in Colombia.

Related post - "[Allot]: tigo Internet Use Case: Application Based Charging" - here.

"At an event in Bogotá, Colombia, Mark Zuckerberg and President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón announced the availability of Facebook‘s Internet.org app for Tigo customers in Colombia. Through the app, Tigo customers in Colombia will have free access to government services including: Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación, an education assessment service and Agronet, a service that provides information on agriculture and rural development.

[Tigo's Fineprint - here]

This is the first time the Internet.org app is available in Latin America, and it’s also the first to include government services as part of the other free basic services in the areas of education, health, communication, jobs, finance, and local information.

The full list of free services includes: 1doc3, 24 Symbols, AccuWeather, Agronet, BabyCenter & MAMA, Facebook, Girl Effect, Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación, Messenger, Mitula, Para la Vida, Su Dinero, Tambero.com, UNICEF, Wikipedia, YoAprendo".

See "Internet.org App Launches in Colombia" - here.

APPanalyz Launched a Cloud-Based, Application Aware, Visibility Solution

APPanalyz launched a "SaaS Platform specifically for the purpose of Measuring, Monitoring and Analyzing Application Delivery ..  can be used on servers both on-premises and in the Cloud. There is no software to install, and no packet capturing required, leaving the memory and resources of the server for other purposes. It is all about providing complete visibility into how business-critical Applications are being delivered to the end users.

APPanalyz provides complete visibility into how business-critical Applications are being delivered to their end users. The application traffic analyzer seamlessly monitors business transactions between individual app components and helps to accelerate delivery of high-quality applications. This scalable application traffic analyzer proactively finds critical issues even before they impact the end user. APPanalyz is able to detect issues and link them to the services that are at risk to resolve the problem before the business’s service is affected"

See "Appanalyz launches new SaaS platform creating a new paradigm in real-time packet analysis" - here.

Ruckus Adds App-Aware Traffic Management Technology to Improve Performance

Ruckus Wireless announced  that "..several Ruckus ZoneFlex™ access points (APs) ..  have all been qualified under the Microsoft Lync Server Wi-Fi qualification program.

.. Unlike competitive alternatives, Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi access points integrate patented SmartCast™ technology. SmartCast combines sophisticated scheduling and queuing mechanisms with advanced heuristic algorithms that automatically identify and characterize traffic based on its unique behavior to help ensure peak performance.

With a Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi system, all traffic is queued/de-queued by specialized schedulers, optimized for the corresponding traffic type, the delay/jitter tolerance and bandwidth requirements of the traffic, and the changing characteristics of each station on the wireless LAN. This automatic Type Of Service (TOS) tagging also eliminates complex Quality of Service (QoS) configurations, with automatic management of lower-speed 802.11 devices to assure bandwidth availability for prioritized video and voice over Wi-Fi applications. When combined with Ruckus BeamFlex™ adaptive antenna array technology that directs each packet over the fastest signal path that yields the highest data rates, multimedia Wi-Fi performance is effectively perfected".

See "Ruckus Makes Multimedia Streaming and Wi-Fi Calling Crystal Clear, Flicker Free, Picture Perfect" - here.

PCC Deployments [334]: Emcali [Colombia] Uses Alepo

Alepo announced that "Colombian telecommunications service provider, Emcali, has selected Alepo to modernize its AAA infrastructure across its multiple fixed and mobile broadband networks:

• With Alepo’s carrier-grade AAA Infrastructure, Emcali will be able to bring new triple-play services and revenue opportunities to market faster without adding network complexity. The platform offers multi-access network support, which will enable Emcali to use a single AAA infrastructure for its WiMAX, Wi-Fi, xDSL, GPON, and mobile 3G UMTS networks, reducing OPEX and total cost of ownership. What’s more, the scalable solution is built to support rapid subscriber growth without sacrificing speed or efficiency of service delivery.
   
• Alepo will also provide standards-based integration with many third-party systems and legacy CRM platforms
   
• Alepo will deploy its “PCRF Lite” to perform advanced, real-time policy control within the fixed broadband network environments".

See "Emcali Selects Alepo’s High-Performance AAA and Policy Control to Modernize Its Fixed and Mobile Broadband Networks" - here.

Mavenir Turns Ulticom OEM to Acquisition

Two years of OEM relations (see "Ulticom DSC Deployed Through Mavenir OEM" - here) turned into an acquisition. Mavenir announced that it has "signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ulticom, Inc., an industry leader in telecom signaling solutions. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions"

Ulticom has other OEM relations - see "Major OEM Deal to Ulticom's DSC in China" - here. 4 years ago, it was acquired by a private-equity firm Platinum Equity LLC for about $90M  (here and "Platinum Equity To Sell Ulticom To Mavenir Systems" - here).

"Through this acquisition, Mavenir enhances its portfolio of next generation software products and solutions to include a scalable, virtualized Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC), an increasingly critical network element which efficiently scales mobile operator networks and securely provides interoperable 4G LTE and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services.

Ulticom is a leading provider of telecom signaling solutions enabling the global transformation to 4G LTE, with key Diameter solutions deployed in ten tier one carrier networks globally [Entel], two of which are among the world’s top ten Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Mavenir has previously partnered with Ulticom to resell its Diameter signaling solutions to five tier one mobile operator customers globally". 

See "Mavenir Systems® Announces an Agreement to Acquire Ulticom, Inc." - here.

M-GO Uses Beamr to Reduce 4K Video Bit Rate by up to 50%

Beamr announced that "M-GO is using Beamr Video [see "Beamr Launches Beamr Video 2.0 For Improved User Experience and Efficiency in Video Optimization" - here] to provide a best-in-class user experience for the company’s premium streaming service. Based on a patent-pending perceptual quality measure, Beamr Video automatically reduces the bitrate of any H.264 or HEVC HD and 4K video stream by up to 50 percent while retaining the full perceptual quality and format of the original file. 

"The table below summarizes the typical bitrate reduction ratios achieved by Beamr Video optimization for various types of content:

Content Source	Bitrate reduction
BluRay Discs	50 - 75%
Consumer video cameras (AVCHD, DSC, mobile)	50 - 70%
Download services (iTunes, Amazon)	40 - 50%
Streaming services (Hulu, NetFlix, YouTube)	20 - 40%

See "M-GO Partners with Beamr Video to Provide Best-in-Class Streaming Quality" - here.

Broadband Minimal Speed is ...

Since my early days in data communications, when we were thrilled to migrate to a 64 kbps IBM 3274 terminal controller, things have changed. for Example - defining what is "high Speed" (or Broadband) is now a complicated task, involving also political and business aspects, not just new technologies and changes frequently:

• Josh Taylor reports to ZDNet that "The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing to raise the minimum speeds allowed for broadband from 4Mbps down, 1Mbps up to 25Mbps down, 3Mbps up .. According to a circulated fact sheet, the FCC is considering raising the definition to "reflect current consumer demands, deployment trends, and technological advances .. The draft report found that 53 percent of rural Americans lack access to the 25Mbps/3Mbps speeds, while across the entire US, 17 percent of -- or 55 million -- Americans lack access to those speeds. In urban areas, all but 8 percent of residents have access to 25Mbps, according to the draft report".
  
  

  

  Source: FCC Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2013
  
  

  See "FCC to define broadband as minimum 25Mbps" - here.
  
  
• Akamai's State of the Internet report (here) says "Since 2012 Akamai has classified broadband as:
   
• High broadband: Internet speeds greater than 10 Mbps when connecting to Akamai 
• Broadband: Internet speeds of 4 Mbps or greater when connecting to Akamai". 
• Akamai also defines "Beyond high broadband" (i.e. readiness to view 4K videos) as "4K adaptive bitrate streams generally require 10 – 20 Mbps of bandwidth". 

AT&T: The FCC is to Decide if our Network Management Program is “unfair”

Last November I reported that the "FTC Sues AT&T for Shaping Unlimited Subscribers" (here).

Jon Brodkin reports to ARS Techica on AT&T's response: "The Federal Trade Commission cannot prevent AT&T from throttling unlimited data customers because of AT&T’s status as a common carrier, the company claimed in a motion to dismiss [see below] an FTC lawsuit this week"

In addition, AT&T says that the FCC is already checking the same issue:

"The FTC seeks to litigate the very same issues in an inappropriate parallel proceeding. It asserts in this lawsuit that AT&T’s imposition of MBR was unfair and that its disclosures were inadequate. But whether AT&T’s network management program is “unfair” and whether its disclosures were “inadequate” are issues for the FCC to decide, and in fact the FCC is in the process of so deciding, just as Congress intended".

See "AT&T defends unlimited data throttling, says the FTC can’t stop it" - here.

GSA: 360 LTE Networks Launched; 96 in 2014

A new report by GSA finds that:

• 360 operators have commercially launched LTE networks and service in 124 countries (vs. 572 HSPA networks in 213 countries)
   
• 96 LTE networks were launched in 2014
   
• 611 operators are investing in LTE across 174 countries. This comprises 566 operator network deployment commitments in 166 countries (of which 360 networks have launched), and 45 pre-commitments trials in a further 8 countries
   
• The LTE commercial service footprint extended to a further 27 countries in 2014
   
• 80 operators in 42 countries i.e. over 22% of operators are investing in VoLTE deployments, studies or trials
   
• 14 operators having launched HD voice service using VoLTE in 7 countries. Many more launches are expected in 2015
   
• 107 operators in total, i.e. almost 30% of LTE operators have launched, are deploying or are trialling LTE-Advanced technologies
   
• 49 operators have commercially launched LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation in 31 countries, and this figure could double in 2015
   
• 373 million LTE subscriptions globally by Q3 2014 (according to Ovum) achieving 131% YoY growth. The balance of regional shares continued to shift to Asia, driven by impressive growth in China

See "GSA confirms 360 LTE networks commercially launched by end 2014, strong growth in LTE-Advanced and VoLTE deployments" - here.

Openet's Wi-Fi Offload Solution Deployed for 1.9M Subscribers

 
Openet announced that its "Network Selection Intelligence solution has been deployed by a leading Southern European wireless, wireline, broadband and cable TV operator. The operator selected Openet’s end-to-end solution, based on the ANDSF standard [see "Openet Acquires Routing Policy Technology" - here], to provide intelligent Wi-Fi management and offload capabilities to optimize the mobile data experience for its customers while dramatically reducing network costs".

Related post - "Ovum: Operators Look for a Device-based Policy Solution for Wi-Fi Offload" - here.

"This operator has turned to Wi-Fi management techniques as a way of cost effectively improving the mobile data experience for its 1.9 million customers. Openet’s Network Selection Intelligence solution can seamlessly integrate with existing network elements and applications to significantly reduce costs from interconnection fees, and use of a less expensive access technology. The solution will also ensure all customers benefit from the best available network capacity and enjoy an optimal mobile data user experience".

See "European Cable Operator Deploys Openet’s Network Selection Intelligence Solution" - here

FCC: "No blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization"

It seems now that next month's Net Neutrality FCC rules will not allow any traffic management intervention (except, most probably the traditional "reasonable network management" for congestion control).

Alina Selyukh and Malathi Nayak report to Reuters that "Comments by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas appeared to show he leaned toward regulating Internet service providers (ISPs) more strictly under Title II of the U.S. communications law, as Obama has suggested .. "We're going to propose rules that say that no blocking (is allowed), no throttling, no paid prioritization," Wheeler said [skip to 18:40' in the video below].

He said companies' behavior should be measured against a yardstick of whether it is "just and reasonable," referring to a standard often applied to public utility companies to make sure they do not hurt consumers or competition". 

See "FCC chief seen siding with Obama on net neutrality" - here.

EliteCore Offers PCRF as Cloud Service

Elitecore Technologies follows the trend of offering cloud-based policy management and analytics systems, in a service business model (see Tango Telecom, Openwave Mobility and Sandvine)

The company announced the ".. availability of Virtualized NetVertex PCRF on Cloud as SPI model for CSP on a Pay as you go. The Pretested and Preconfigured NetVertex Policy Control Solution comes bundled with integrated NetVertex Policy analytics and on board EMS system.

.. The complete solution is available Preconfigured on cloud, enabling operators accelerate ready- to- use deployment timelines from 4-6 weeks to 1 day and also considerably reduce cost, time and effort for IOT and POC ..  it offers Rule based Auto Scaling to meet CSP Peak hour traffic, where by capacity is increased and up within minutes for the Peak time only. This does away need for additional hardware procurement and database each time to increase capacity. It offers greater Elasticity to increase performance and scale at a lower cost in minimal time.

NetVertex PCRF is available on cloud across 41+ Point of Presence connected to over 25+ Datacenters, offers added advantage of local presence across all these locations with committed SLA of 99.999% uptime and Secure connectivity over VPN or Direct link to CSP in premise data center".

See "Elitecore Announces Network function Virtualized NetVertex PCRF on Cloud available to CSP as SPI (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS)" - here.

Secured Video Streaming is Bad for Your In-flight Internet

Gogo, the in-flight internet services provider, released a statement about its traffic shaping and blocking practice, made by Anand Chari [pictured], EVP and CTO:

“Gogo takes our customer’s privacy very seriously and we are committed to bringing the best internet experience to the sky. Right now, Gogo is working on many ways to bring more bandwidth to an aircraft. Until then, we have stated that we don’t support various streaming video sites and utilize several techniques to limit/block video streaming. 

One of the recent off-the-shelf solutions that we use proxies secure video traffic to block it. Whatever technique we use to shape bandwidth, It impacts only some secure video streaming sites and does not affect general secure internet traffic. These techniques are used to assure that everyone who wants to access the Internet on a Gogo equipped plane will have a consistent browsing experience.

We can assure customers that no user information is being collected when any of these techniques are being used. They are simply ways of making sure all passengers who want to access the Internet in flight have a good experience.”

This comes as a response to the following tweet:

hey @Gogo, why are you issuing *.google.com certificates on your planes? pic.twitter.com/UmpIQ2pDaU
— Adrienne Porter Felt (@__apf__) January 2, 2015

See "STATEMENT FROM GOGO REGARDING OUR STREAMING VIDEO POLICY" - here.

Netflix to Geo-block VPN Users

 
ERNESTO reports to TorrentFreak that "Netflix is starting to block subscribers who access its service using VPN services and other tools that bypass geolocation restrictions. The changes, which may also affect legitimate users, have been requested by the movie studios who want full control over what people can see in their respective countries 

.. Over the past weeks Netflix has started to take action against people who use certain circumvention tools. The Android application started to force Google DNS which now makes it harder to use DNS based location unblockers, and several VPN IP-ranges were targeted as well .. Thus far the actions are limited in scope, so not all VPN users may experience problems just yet. However, TorGuard is one of the VPN providers which noticed a surge in access problems by its users, starting mid-December.

..Netflix is not the only streaming service that’s targeting VPN and proxy users. A few months ago Hulu implemented similar restrictions. This made the site unusable for location “pirates,” but also U.S. based paying customers who used a VPN for privacy reasons".

See "Netflix cracks down on VPN and proxy pirates" - here.

[Survey]: Offload to Gain Most Traction in Mobile Traffic Management for 2015

Chetan Sharma [pictured] published his annual survey for 2015 - "a way to engage our knowledgeable community on the trends we are likely to see the next year. We put some of the pressing questions to our colleagues and industry leaders from all corners of the world .. Executives, developers, and insiders (n=175) from leading mobile companies and startups from across the value chain and from around the globe participated to help see what 2015 might bring to surprise us. The survey draws upon the unique collective wisdom of the folks who are the center of the mobile evolution. Thanks for being part of our annual ritual".

Q10 is relevant for this blog: "Which solutions will gain the most traction for managing mobile data broadband consumption?

Wi-Fi accounts for bulk of the mobile data traffic in almost all major markets hence the rise of mobile offload as the preferred solution for managing data growth. But, LTE deployment, spectrum acquisition, and tiered pricing remained the top solutions for the operators.

See "Mobile Predictions 2015" - here.

Attn: DPI Vendors - US Net Neutrality Vote on February

Follow-up on my recent post "FCC Expected to Adopt Net Neutrality this Quarter; Google Supports Neutrality" (here):

Brian Fung [pictured] reports to the Washington Post that "Federal regulators looking to place restrictions on Internet providers will introduce and vote on new proposed net neutrality rules in February, Federal Communications Commission officials said Friday .. It's still unclear what rules Wheeler has in mind for Internet providers. Analysts and officials close to the agency say that momentum has been building recently for far more aggressive regulations than Wheeler had initially proposed".

For the DPI vendors, this is a major milestone. Back in November, Allot Communications said ".. We believe that once the FCC will get to a final resolution about [Net] neutrality it will open doors for large scale projects with our type of technology. We’re starting to see over the last few months, more interest coming from them. We are in direct touch with them, doing trials, but nothing yet that has materialized to a project". See "Allot: US Sales Waits for Net Neutrality " - here.

See "Get ready: The FCC says it will vote on net neutrality in February" - here.

FCC Expected to Adopt Net Neutrality this Quarter; Google Supports Neutrality

Grant Gross [pictured] reports to NetworkWorld that "The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will adopt net neutrality rules in early 2015, maybe as soon as February, several observers believe, but few people want to predict what those rules will look like .. It appears that the FCC will move forward with net neutrality rules in the first quarter of 2015.

.. There's no consensus about the direction the FCC should take, however. Congressional Republicans, large broadband providers and a significant number of people filing comments with the agency have urged commissioners to back away from reclassifying broadband as a regulated public utility, like Obama and other strong net neutrality advocates have called for.

.. So where does this leave the FCC? Chairman Tom Wheeler said recently he has no set timeline for moving forward on net neutrality rules. The FCC should act quickly, but also make sure any rules it creates will stand up to potential court challenges, he told reporters in early December". 

See "Experts: FCC will adopt net neutrality rules in early 2015" - here.

In other news - Google position on Net Neutrality.

2014 Top Posts

Wishing all my readers and sponsors a happy 2015! 

In case you missed some of the most popular 2014 posts - here are the top 10 (no doubt - market leaders info and rumors are good for business ..):

1. [Rumors]: Flash Networks to buy Mobixell 
    
2. [Gartner] Riverbed & Silver Peak are the WAN Optimization Leaders
     
3. Flash Networks (40%) and Citrix (30%) Lead the Mobile Optimization Market
    
4. [Guest Post] Standardizing Service Chaining Models for Next-generation Service Provider Architectures
    
5. [Anaylsys Mason]: Ericsson and Amdocs Led the Telecom Software Market in 2013
    
6. [Infonetics]: Oracle, F5 and Huawei Lead the DSC Market (54% CAGR to 2018)
    
7. [Rumors]: AT&T "Sponsored Data" is Based on Openet's PCC
     
8. Telus to Start Charging for Usage ("it is fair")
    
9. Allot Softly Launched a New High-end Product (Service Gateway Tera)
    
10. NetCracker Launches SDN/NFV Based Service Orchestrator