Abstract
The growth of Wi-Fi is driven by unlicensed spectrum, standardization and the
cost curves that derive from advanced silicon design and manufacturing. Paired
with growth in smartphones, this has created conditions that have literally
revolutionized the way in which mobile data services are consumed and how the
industry is structured.
The great success of mobile Wi-Fi is not a surprise, as such - although mobile
operators did once actively lobby handset makers against integrating Wi-Fi
capability. In fact, Wi-Fi's ascendency had been long predicted by technology
watchers. It was the launch of the Wi-Fi-enabled iPhone in 2007 that signaled
that the game had changed, and confirmed that local-area wireless technology
had made an indelible mark on the cellular industry.
Consider, for example, how advanced, high-end smartphone use cases (and by
extension, subscriber value) have shifted to Wi-Fi. With rich-media
applications such as Skype, Facetime, BBC iPlayer, Spotify and others being
designed to run over Wi-Fi rather than 3G - and in some cases restricted to
Wi-Fi because cellular is too congested or expensive - it is clear that users
derive value in this form of connectivity that is additive to the 3G wide-area
experience. Reclaiming some of that usage and influence is strategically
important for operators and is underpinning a renewed push to integrate Wi-Fi
more effectively into their subscriber offers.
In addition to these high-end applications, common use cases for Wi-Fi include
in-home usage, office connectivity, “deep indoor” venues with poor cellular
coverage (e.g., conferences) and as an affordable alternative to mobile data
roaming. In all these cases, operators see strategic value in being able to
participate in this usage and clear potential to use their capabilities to
deliver a better Wi-Fi service to end users. This situation led one senior
operator executive interviewed for this report to state that “Wi-Fi is the
comeback story of the year”. Like many other operators - and nearly all Tier
1s - it has a range of initiatives underway to evaluate and deploy Wi-Fi
solutions.
The challenge of Wi-Fi in the cellular context, then, is not so much
conceptual, but for mobile operators to identify specifically where and how
Wi-Fi can help deliver better service to end users and to understand, in
detail, how to integrate Wi-Fi technically at mass-market scale.
Wi-Fi Strategies for Mobile Operators analyzes the technology advances and
ongoing standards work that will allow mobile operators and their customers to
take better advantage of Wi-Fi. From a commercial perspective, the report
addresses integration of Wi-Fi with the cellular environment, examines to what
extent “managed Wi-Fi” should be made part of the end-user service, and
explains why Wi-Fi integration should fundamentally be viewed as a platform
for service innovation and revenue growth, not simply an offload solution to
reduce network costs.
The report provides strategic highlights for 14 major mobile operators that
are making substantial investments in Wi-Fi access networks, and examines the
positioning of more than 23 leading vendors that are working to help operators
influence and enhance the Wi-Fi user experience.
Making Wi-Fi into an operator-friendly technology will require significant
technology development. It may be a cliche, but the characterization that
“Cellular is from Venus, Wi-Fi is from Mars” has more than a grain of truth.
The 3GPP World that defines 3G and LTE and the IEEE World that defines
Ethernet and Wi-Fi do occasionally speak different languages, and both are
therefore working to adapt their technologies for mobile operator Wi-Fi. The
excerpt below highlights some of the initiatives being pursued by the cellular
industry through the 3GPP.
Cellular Network-Oriented Initiatives for Wi-Fi Integration
| INITIATIVE | DESCRIPTION | IMPACT/TIMELINE |
| SIM Authentication | SIM card is the supplicant in the 802.1X architecture;
enables secure connections and auto login;
uses mobile identity for billing and policy | Already in limited use by some progressive operators,
butis expected to became more widespread in 2012;
it's first major step toward service provider Wi-Fi |
| I-WLAN | Integration of Wi-Fi access with the 3G packet coe;
the basis for SIM authentication, as mentioned above | Control-plane (SIM authentication) integration, as mentioned above;
unclear whether bearer-plane integration will ever be widely deployed |
| Evolved Packet Core(EPC) Integration | EPC is designed to be Access-independent;
it takes over from I-WLAN and
becomes the anchor for mobility aoross access types | EPC is being deployed already;
the Wi-Fi integration piece is probably a few years away,
but could start as soon as 2012 |
| Access Network Decision & Selection Function(ANDSF) | A core network solution that instructs devices to
dermine when and to which Wi-Fi APS they should connect | Already being deployed in South Korea,
but it is less clear how this solution will evolve elswhere;
proprietary implementations are also emerging |
| IP Flow Mobility (IFOM) | Allows a device to connect to cellular and
Wi-Fi networks simultaneously and specific applications
over a specified access patch (e.g., video call over LTE, best-effort over Wi-Fi) | A Release 10 feature, and likely to be a long time coming;
still in the R&D phase today and not yet relevant from practical perspective |
Source: Heavy Reading
Making Wi-Fi part of the carrier network is a long-term objective and one
that, arguably, the majority of operators have still not embraced. Even where
there is clarity that Wi-Fi is a useful technology, the extent to which it
should be formally part of the operator's service set, and then should be
integrated into the network, is unclear at most operators. A phased approach
is therefore logical. The excerpt below identifies four steps to making Wi-Fi
an extension of the mobile network.
Phase of Service Provider Wi-Fi
Source: Heavy Reading
Report Scope and Structure
Wi-Fi Technology Strategies for Mobile Operators is structured as follows:
Section I is an introduction to the report, with complete report key findings.
Section II examines the rise of Wi-Fi in smartphones and provides market
context on service provider initiatives, consumer usage patterns and the major
operator-specific Wi-Fi technology and standardization initiatives. It also
identifies and analyzes the key equipment suppliers.
Section III explores the “Wild West of Wi-Fi” and the relative attractiveness
of different types of Wi-Fi access - residential, hotpots, etc. - to mobile
operators.
Section IV examines how operators can make Wi-Fi part of their commercial
offer and integrate the technology into the network.
Section V covers core network integration options such as I-WLAN and IFOM that
will help operators influence and enhance the Wi-Fi user experience.
Wi-Fi Strategies for Mobile Operators is published in PDF format.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
I. INTRODUCTION & KEY FINDINGS
- 1.1. Key Findings
- 1.2. Report Scope & Structure
II. THE RISE OF SMARTPHONES & RISE OF WI-Fl
- 2.1. Half of Smartphone Usage Is Already on Wi-Fi
- 2.2. Wi-Fi Usage by Device Type
- 2.3. Operator Wi-Fi Is Booming
- 2.4. Examples of Operator Wi-Fi
- 2.5. Wi-Fi vs. Licensed Small Cells
- 2.6. Service Provider Wi-Fi Technology Suppliers
- 2.7. Key Technologies for Service Provider Wi-Fi
III. THEWILDWESTOFWI-FI
- 3.1. Types of Wi-Fi &Attractivenessto Mobile Operators
- 3.2. Public Hotspots
- 3.3. Wi-Fi Zones
- 3.4. Residential Wi-Fi
- 3.5. Other Types ofWi-Fi
IV. INTEGRATING WI-Fl INTO THE OPERATOR ENVIRONMENT
- 4.1. PhasesofGrowth
- 4.2. Add Public Wi-Fi Access to Mobile Subscription
- 4.3. Auto Login &AAAlntegration
- 4.4. Access to 3GPP Packet Services From WLAN
- 4.5. Seamless Service Across 3GPP & Wi-Fi Access
V. CELLULAR NETWORK INTEGRATION
- 5.1. Evolved Packet Core
- 5.2. From l-WLAN to EPC-Based Integration
- 5.3. IP Flow Mobility
APPENDIX A: ABOUT THE AUTHOR
APPENDIX B: LEGAL DISCLAIMER
LIST OF FIGURES
SECTION I
SECTION II
- Figure 2.1: Wi-Fi/LAN Access vs. Mobile Network Access (Total U.S., May
2011)
- Figure 2.2: Connections to AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots by Smartphone Users
- Figure 2.3: Operators Investing Wi-Fi Network Strategies
- Figure 2.4: Per-Sector/Carrier Data Rates of Wi-Fi & LTE Picocells
- Figure 2.5: Service Provider Wi-Fi Vendors
- Figure 2.6: Cellular Network-Oriented Initiatives for Wi-Fi Integration
- Figure 2.7: Wi-Fi-Oriented Initiatives for Integration With Cellular
SECTION III
- Figure 3.1: Types of Wi-Fi Access
- Figure 3.2: The ‘Fon Model” for Residential Wi-Fi
SECTION IV
- Figure 4.1: Phases of Service Provider Wi-Fi
SECTION V
- Figure 5.1: User-Driven “Hard” Wi-Fi Offload
- Figure 5.2: l-WLAN for Core Network Integration
- Figure 5.3: EPC-Based Core Network Integration
- Figure 5.4: IP Flow Mobility
- Figure 5.5: Flow Aggregation in Heterogeneous Access Networks
