Wi-Fi offload is touted as a solution for strained cellular networks, allowing providers to use less expensive Wi-Fi infrastructure and unlicensed spectrum to expand their network capacity while controlling costs.
“There is no question that Wi-Fi offload is one of the mobile industry’s most hotly debated business opportunities right now,” said Claus Hetting, independent consultant and analyst, in a white paper for carrier-grade Wi-Fi provider Aptilo Networks. “Many of the world’s biggest carriers already recognize Wi-Fi as a business-critical, strategic technology and some are in the early phases of testing or commercially deploying seamless Wi-Fi offload solutions. A few progressive new operators entering the mobile arena today even consider Wi-Fi their primary technology using mobile networks as a secondary coverage layer.”
Saudi Arabian wireless provider Etihad Etisalat Co., or Mobily, is using Accuris Networks’ AccuRoam platform to enable seamless Wi-Fi offload and roaming. Mobily has a broadband service that involves about 1,500-2,000 hotspots, and a mobile customer base with very high smartphone penetration.
Mobily was Saudi Arabia’s second mobile operator and was launched in 2005. The GSMA has reported that it is the fastest-growing operator in the Middle East, and its network includes both HSPA+ and LTE services. According to a recent report on the Middle East for the GSMA by Deloitte, Mobily has said that it “could not cope with the level of [mobile broadband] demand when it introduced flat-rate plans” and “recently revealed that mobile data traffic has grown more between January and June 2012 than from the entire period between 2006 and 2012.”
Accuris’ solution allows Wi-Fi connection without relying on customers entering user names and passwords, which is a traditional stumbling block to Wi-Fi use as part of the larger cellular network. Wi-Fi access via user name and password “doesn’t allow full integration into the mobile network,” said Aidan Dillon, chief technical officer for Accuris.
The GSMA recently awarded its Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough to the AccuRoam platform at Mobile World Congress 2013.
Dillon said that the geography of Saudi Arabia means that there are both large rural areas with very little or no wireless coverage, juxtaposed with extremely dense urban areas where it can be difficult for operators to cope with the demand for 3G and 4G wireless services. Mobily has been expanding its Wi-Fi strategy for the past two years, and Dillon said that the roll-out of seamless Wi-Fi in conjunction with its LTE network allows the company to build out sufficient coverage at a lower overall cost.
“LTE can handle a certain amount of the network, but LTE doesn’t handle it all in all locations,” Dillon added.
Accuris said that during the first week of Mobily’s Wi-Fi offload effort, it had 65,000 unique connected users and 410 GB of data were consumed. The company also noted that while the data consumption of Mobily’s customers continues to skyrocket, the company’s quarterly results have increased profitability. In its most recent financial results, Mobily reported a net profit that increased 11% year-over-year in the final quarter of 2012, while the volume of data traffic over its wireless broadband network reached 750 TB a day, compared to 163 TB during the same period in 2011.
