Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column where we let C-level executives and advisory firms from across the mobile industry to provide their unique insights into the marketplace.
Carrier Wi-Fi is often marketed as an off-load solution, but carrier-class Wi-Fi services for mobile network operators is not only about relieving network congestion. It is also about offering the mobile user a better overall mobile data service experience. In an industry where competition between mobile carriers is fierce and often based on price, such new service differentiators represent major business opportunities.
As mobile data use has skyrocketed, mobile network operators have been hungry for an immediate fix to increase bandwidth capacity over the mobile broadband pipes. Wi-Fi off-load has become a powerful solution to free-up capacity for the 3G/LTE networks: building out Wi-Fi is cheaper than creating new 3G/LTE bandwidth and will provide better coverage at indoor locations. Wi-Fi off-loading delivers on its promise of a quick, reliable way to create more bandwidth at a lower cost.
This represents the first stage of Wi-Fi off-loading. Now, service provider Wi-Fi is coming into a new, second stage, where MNOs use “seamless” Wi-Fi to make them stand out from competition and generate revenue while obtaining a better total cost of ownership.
Seamless Wi-Fi off-loading is when the hand off from 3G/LTE to Wi-Fi is invisible to the user. There’s no need for the user to interact with their smartphone or mobile device in any way in order for the device to switch from 3G/LTE to Wi-Fi. It is an invisible hand off, totally seamless from the user’s perspective. This enhances the user experience at a time when ease of use is fast becoming a key to success for MNOs.
Currently, the vast majority of Wi-Fi users are being deluged with requests for sign-ons – signing in to new applications, into networks, etc. – having to add credit card information, user names, passwords, other identifying information, and it’s all becoming tiresome.
Why not allow users to sign on once, and then have the network remember the user (and their device) so that he or she can access Wi-Fi from anywhere, anytime, without another cumbersome login?
A better overall service experience is a significant competitive advantage for MNOs that increases customer retention. It also addresses the loss of the “all-you-can-eat” data plans at a time when the need for mobile data has exploded. For users who can rely on Wi-Fi to carry the bulk of their data use, an easy-to-use service provider Wi-Fi service can make the difference between staying, or leaving, their current carrier.
Within a few years ANDSF and Hotspot 2.0 functions controlling network selection will give MNOs more tools to optimize the user experience and off-load performance based on time, traffic load and location. But contrary to common belief, these new technologies are not a prerequisite for a seamless Wi-Fi user experience; it can be obtained already today.
The key to seamless Wi-Fi off-loading is SIM authentication, a means of authenticating users via the SIM card in their mobile device. SIM authentication uses the same security methods as the 3G/LTE network to ensure the user is who he/she claims to be. As a result the Wi-Fi network becomes as secure as the 3G/LTE network.
SIM authentication also makes this hand-off process blazingly fast and automatic without any user interaction, so the network does not need to remember the device to deliver a seamless user experience, the user is authenticated automatically every time they associate with the operator’s Wi-Fi network.
Even without leveraging Wi-Fi off-loading, carrier-class Wi-Fi is a business opportunity for mobile operators in its own right. There is a tremendous market of Wi-Fi-enabled devices and it’s only going to grow. Many users will have multiple devices they take with them such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, game consoles and cameras. Mobile operators can tap into this market by adding Wi-Fi as a service capability, either by partnering with a Wi-Fi service provider or building their own carrier-class Wi-Fi service, one with hyper-competitive performance and quality. By providing services even for non-SIM, Wi-Fi-only devices, the operator will make the subscriber sticky to their service with significantly reduced churn as result. This requires a Wi-Fi service with a multitude of additional secure authentication methods and even support for traditional Web portals for manual login.
Multi-service operators with both mobile services and cable services can utilize excess capacity in residential broadband set-top boxes. This is one of the most interesting new Wi-Fi business models today. In a recent white paper, analyst Claus Hetting notes that, “By enabling public Wi-Fi access in set-top boxes in their subscribers’ homes, fixed broadband service providers can build huge public Wi-Fi networks virtually overnight.” This is a creative opportunity that could reshape the wireless landscape in a very short amount of time.
MNOs can also use Wi-Fi to better understand their customers, to develop new sales opportunities. By following users into the Wi-Fi network (from 3G/LTE) they can analyze traffic patterns to obtain a complete picture of user activity, and additionally offer services that can be monetized. In many parts of the world MNOs even charge equally for both Wi-Fi and 3G data, a move that reflects the demand and value of Wi-Fi.
The promise of wireless is starting to become a reality. But fast speeds, instant use, anywhere, anytime, securely – will only be realized if users can switch from one network to another seamlessly, with the process totally invisible to them, so there’s nothing for the user to do except have their phone turned on. For MNOs, the business potential of seamless Wi-Fi is great and will only continue to grow. In a few years’ time the term Wi-Fi off-load will start to fade out and Wi-Fi will become just another radio network in the MNO´s infrastructure. Who off-loads whom will be of little interest.
Torbjorn Ward has more than 20 years of experience in different senior executive and management positions within the telecom and mobile communications market. He has been the CEO of Aptilo Networks since its inception and was part of the founding team in 2001. Before Aptilo Networks, Ward was GM of Axis’ Mobile Internet Division and in that position was responsible for guiding the company’s wireless and mobile communications initiatives. Prior to Axis, he spent eleven years with Ericsson where, while based in the United States, he founded and built Ericsson’s Digital Wireless Office business in cellular technology. While in Canada he was manager for Ericsson’s Radio Systems Management/TDMA division and before that he held various positions in Mobile Systems in Sweden. Ward holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and holds eight separate patents in the area of wireless/mobile communications.
