Broadband Boosts Mobile Network Operations

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Eugene Juwah

 

A new report has disclosed that broadband is having a revolutionary impact on mobile network operators.

The report by Heavy Reading, research analysts,  said that the big increase in interest in deployment of broadband in the mobile sector has given a major revenue boost to the sector.

The report tagged Mobile Broadband and  the Rise of Policy: Technology Review & Forecast,  stressed that after years of development and discussion, policy management had finally gone mainstream, as mobile network operators scramble to resolve key challenges created by the mobile broadband data boom.

The result, according to the report, was that there has been a major increase in policy deployments, with most vendors reporting double-digit revenue growth in 2010, and similar growth likely in 2011.

Chief Analyst of Heavy Reading and author of the report, Mr. Graham Finnie, said that "in less than five years, networks once dominated by voice traffic have in some cases become dominated by data traffic, much of it originating on the Internet, and with characteristics completely different from legacy traffic. As a result, the vast majority (more than 80 percent) of new policy control deployments over the past 12 months have been in mobile networks."

The report estimated that the global policy market, grew by nearly 40 percent in 2010, to reach approximately $783 million.

The report also added that the transition to LTE would maintain the momentum around policy, because policy control is even more central in 4G than in 3G networks, Finnie notes.

"In fact, policy is effectively mandatory as voice migrates to IP, since it will be used to prioritize key applications, including voice”.

The report also disclosed that 4G investment  increase the pressure on operators to use policy to differentiate and monetise services.

Drawing on data from a survey of more than 70 network operators and an interview program with more than 30 vendors, the report also presents a comprehensive five-year forecast for the policy market.

The report profiles 40 leading providers of policy technology, reviewing their products, capabilities, strengths, partners and customers.

These profiles focus primarily on vendors that have their own PCRF-compliant policy server, but also include vendors in several other areas that are highly relevant to the policy market, such as optimization and Diameter management.

The report also stressed that more demanding policy use cases that are now emerging will put pressure on vendors and may benefit those with the most powerful, flexible and well-integrated solutions.

It emphasised that as policy becomes more sophisticated and widespread, it will require massive scaling up in the policy engine in terms of transactions or sessions handled, as well as better integration with other elements in the policy architecture.