[Infonetics]: VoIP & IMS Market Grows by 37%, Due to VoLTE; ALU Leads

A new report by Diane Myers [pictured], principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS, Infonetics Research finds that "Worldwide service provider VoIP and IMS equipment revenue totaled $992 million in 1Q14, an increase of 37% from 1Q13, but a sequential decline of 9% .. the standout vendor in 1Q14 is Alcatel-Lucent, rising to the top due to strong growth of core IMS and voice application server revenue, particularly in North America"

“Voice over LTE (VoLTE) continues to positively impact the service provider VoIP and IMS equipment market, though we look for the market to slow this year as operators commercially launch services and draw down capacity built over the past year .. Already this year we have seen AT&T, PCCW/HKT, and other operators launch VoLTE services, and NTT DoCoMo is set to do so in June"

See "VoLTE fuels 37% year-over-year growth in Q1 carrier VoIP and IMS market; Alcatel-Lucent rises to top" - here.

Optimization Deployments [138]:PCCW [HK] Reduces Signaling by 25% with Huawei

Nokia-Siemens Networks and Huawei continue to educate the market, push and sell solutions which address a significant pain for mobile operators - application level signaling traffic that floods the radio and backhaul links, creating congestion and reducing quality of experience for actual data.

Huawei announced that "PCCW mobile has adopted Huawei's pioneering smartphone signaling optimization solution to further enhance its network performance and improve the mobile broadband experience for its customers. The 3GPP-Release-8 (3GPP-R8)-based smartphone signaling optimization solution can significantly reduce 3GPP-R8 smartphone signaling traffic by over 25%".

Mr. Ying Weimin (pictured), President of GSM,UMTS and LTE wireless networks, Huawei, said: "It took several months for Huawei and PCCW mobile to finish the testing of our signaling solution on existing networks. The high performance of this solution shows that Huawei is capable of innovation to help customers succeed".

See "PCCW mobile Pioneers Huawei's 3GPP R8 Smartphone Optimization Solution to Reduce Signaling Traffic by over 25%" - here.

Ovum: "Mobile Operators in Asia will Increase Focus on QoS in 2012"; Hong Kong Carriers Lead

   
A survey by Nicole McCormick (pictured), Senior Analyst Telco Strategy, Ovum finds that " .. For the first time in four years, QoS topped Ovum’s Mobile Broadband Industry Survey, Asia-Pacific (conducted jointly with Telecom Asia) as the “most important differentiator in the mobile broadband market”. In comparison, last year’s survey found that coverage was the top issue .. the gap between incumbents and challengers has narrowed, putting more onus on QoS .. However, unlimited data tariffs remain a major barrier to improved QoS in a number of markets"

McCormick added: “Ovum was surprised to find that approximately 40% of respondents in this year’s survey believed that unlimited plans were the most effective way to charge for mobile data. As data usage increases, unlimited plans will only lead to the degradation of customer experience. Operators will need to abandon these plans if they are to differentiate themselves based on QoS .. As the findings from our survey show, many operators will increase their focus on QoS in 2012. Those that don’t may well face the wrath of regulators”.

See "Quality of service is more than just a buzzword in Asia-Pacific"- here.

In related news, CIO Asia reports that "Three Hong Kong mobile service operator -- CSL [here], SmarTone, and 3 Hong Kong -- announced Monday [13/2] that they will continue to offer unlimited local data service plans to customers in Hong Kong, but will apply network priority management in real time to ensure fair network access .. Another mobile carrier PCCW Mobile however has ceased all unlimited mobile data service plans on Monday". 

See "Hong Kong mobile carriers apply priority management to unlimited data usage" - here.

Monday's Guest Post: The Advantages of a Single-Vendor PCC Environment

 
A new guest post will be published on Monday. In his article, "Why Not a Single Vendor for Policy and Charging Controls?", my 12th guest, Chris Hoover , will discuss the advantages of using a single-vendor solution for Policy Management and Online Charging Systems.

"There’s been an interesting debate within the policy market –whether or not it is advantageous to have the same vendor for Policy Management as for Online Charging Systems. Since I've had the luxury of working on these systems both as a carrier and a vendor, this is a topic where I couldn't resist sharing my experiences", says Chris.
Stay tuned.

If you like to propose a guest post, please send me a proposed subject, abstract and the author details.

TM Deployments [101]: Smart [Philippines] Deployed GreenPacket for 3G/Wi-Fi Convergence and Targeted Advertisement

 
GreenPacket (see "GreenPacket Enhances Offloading with Policy Control" - here) announced that it has "secured a major win with Philippines’ largest wireless service provider, Smart Communications Inc .. Greenpacket’s award winning Intouch Connection Management Platform (ICMP) will enable Smart to be the first Philippines operator to offer converged connectivity across its 3G and WiFi access networks .. The ICMP solution enables seamless connectivity across 3G and WiFi access networks, thus providing a strategy for alleviate network congestion by offloading data to less expensive and less congested WiFi access networks. Additionally, the ICMP is customized to support Smart’s new targeted advertisement push services".

Smart Communications, a subsidiary of PLDT, is the Philippines' leading wireless services provider with 47.8 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-June 2011 (see revenues chart for PLDT wireless services).

".. The company recently clinched a similar deal with Time Warner Cable .. The solution is also being deployed by Hong Kong’s leading telco, PCCW a 3G and 4G communications and technology provider .. [Kelvin Lee, Senior General Manager of Greenpacket] expects to close more deals for the ICMP suite of solutions with operators keen on finding avenues to optimize access networks, manage connectivity across devices and also generate more revenue"

See "Smart Communications Philippines Chooses Greenpacket’s Intouch Connectivity Management and Data Offload Solutions" - here.

[WSJ] AT&T, China Telecom and PCCW Expand Wi-Fi; Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile will not Deploy

   

Cari Tuna covers for the Wall Street Jounral the recent trends in use of carrier Wi-Fi to improve the capacity of wireless data networks. See "Battling a Wireless Deluge" - here.

AT&T, being the most famous wireless operator to use Wi-Fi (see "AT&T: Times Square needs a Wifi Boost to cope with 3G Traffic" - here) : "Today, the carrier has six such Wi-Fi access zones across the U.S. and plans a "rapid acceleration" in its building of such networks over the coming year, said Angie Wiskocil (top picture), AT&T's senior vice president of Wi-Fi services. She called it a "cost-effective complement" to the company's 3G cellular network".

Other carriers using Wi-Fi are Towerstream, PCCW (Hong-Kong) and China Telecom - "Ruckus Wireless said a unit of China Telecom had installed more than 4,000 Wi-Fi access points across Chongqing, a major city in southwestern China, in order to augment its cellular network".

 

Nevertheless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless are not deploying Wi-Fi. "There are features on cellular networks that you don't have on Wi-Fi—the mobility, security and reliability that our customers have come to expect" said Nicola Palmer, (picture) VP Network, Verizon Wireless.

See also - "In-Stat: Wi-Fi Hotspot Growth Continues to be Strong" - here. 

Gartner analyst Paul DeBeasi told WSJ: "Outdoor Wi-Fi access points are also smaller, easier to install and, at roughly a thousand dollars each, less expensive than cellular towers.. however, that Wi-Fi access points are designed to transmit signals several hundred feet, compared with a cell site's reach of several miles"