Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but we maintain some editorial control to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: [email protected].
Cellular networks are buckling from the overwhelming demand of mobile devices. Mobile data traffic is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 66% from 2012 to 2017, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index – reaching 11.2 exabytes per month by 2017 (an exabyte is one billion gigabytes).
One such solution for coping with this explosive traffic growth is to scale network capacity by increasing the number of cell towers and adding base stations of smaller cell sizes (e.g., picocells or femtocells). Other options include upgrading the network to LTE or WiMAX. Network expansion, of course, is ongoing as carriers seek to deliver high-performance and high capacity to support new services and deliver a rich customer experience. But it also takes time, and time can be the carrier’s enemy in highly competitive markets.
Time-to-capacity is everything
Carriers need the capacity and performance now. Waiting for conventional network buildouts invites failure, as other service providers and new challengers leapfrog ahead with practical solutions that can be implemented today. The problem has become acute for cellular operators, who aren’t equipped to handle the growth in data. The fact is, even with improvements in compression, smaller cell sites, and more efficient use of spectrum, there is simply no way to overcome physical limitations.
Enter Wi-Fi, a clear alternative due to its low cost, pervasive presence and ability to transmit at high capacity. With minimal new infrastructure investment, or with routine updates to an existing Wi-Fi network, carriers can offload cellular traffic to a wireless network that is connected to a wired network, which can relieve congestion quickly and effectively.
That’s why hotspots are popping up in droves. Deploying more Wi-Fi hotspots is significantly less costly and far quicker than wired-network upgrades and build-outs, making Wi-Fi a clear winner in addressing the “time-to-capacity” issue.
Initiatives underway
One of the first major Wi-Fi initiatives by carriers was to address the high-density, high-load issue by offloading traffic in crowded pedestrian environments: San Francisco’s AT&T Park and New York’s Times Square were among the first buildouts.
A second carrier initiative is to extend Wi-Fi to other urban and commercial centers and high-traffic pedestrian areas. This move takes advantage of local businesses that employ dual SSIDs on wireless access points, giving them the ability to accommodate their own business needs and offer a part of their bandwidth to pedestrians or customers transitioning through the coverage area. By leveraging the capacity already being delivered along these commercial strips, carriers also enable the businesses along those strips to optimize their customer service operations.
A more wholesale approach is to consider the home hotspot in urban and multi-dwelling unit environments. Carriers are already considering deploying Wi-Fi in residential areas, using residential Wi-Fi access points that employ dual SSIDs – one for the homeowner’s use, and another to serve either people walking down the street or neighbors who need additional capacity.
DSL plays a role
Another headache for cellular carriers is how to backhaul the rapidly increasing traffic. And that market is about to heat up, according to Infonetics Research: “We expect a cumulative $5 billion to be spent worldwide on outdoor small-cell backhaul equipment between 2012 and 2016, with the market kicking into high gear in 2014. This is in addition to the nearly $44 billion being spent on macrocell backhaul equipment during the same five-year period.”
Today, DSL dominates those wired connections, and new advances in DSL, such as vectoring and pair bonding, today enable 100 to 250 megabit-per-second rates over legacy connections, making copper a good candidate for small-cell backhaul. Furthermore, DSL network management products are at work, providing network diagnostics and optimization to ensure that DSL networks perform at their best and provide optimal data rates. DSL is already used by about 80% of small and medium-sized businesses in urban and commercial centers. Connecting Wi-Fi to the network core using a reliable, stable, high-capacity DSL connection has become a key component of many carriers’ cellular offload strategies.
