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Mobile Broadband vs. Mobile Backhaul
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By Glen Hunt, Current Analysis Principal Analyst, Carrier Infrastructure and,
Peter Jarich, Research Director, Telecom Infrastructure, Mobile Networks and Carrier Core
Mar 16, 20098
Current Perspective
Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past year (and with the state of the economy, I wouldn’t blame you) you know that “mobile broadband” has become the latest buzz phrase to get overused. Just like the broad concept of Voice over IP, mobile broadband can mean different things to different people. From a network technology perspective, however, the basic concept is fairly simple – high-bandwidth (e.g., 1 Mbps or more) services driven by technologies such as EV-DO, HSPA/HSPA+, mobile WiMAX and LTE.
Yet, long ago (back when DSL and cable were solving the last mile bottleneck for fixed access) it became obvious that for mobile broadband to become a reality, something would need to change in the way networks are built. Backhaul capacity from the mobile core all the way out to the cell site would need to be grown dramatically. For years, this basic truism was ignored (though widely accepted). Then, something changed. Blame it on the iPhone. Blame it on netbooks, PC cards and USB dongles. Blame it on the commercial reality of EV-DO and HSPA with the imminent arrival of HSPA+ and LTE. Blame it on whatever you want. Mobile data traffic is on the rise, driven by new technologies in the radio access layer combined with applications, devices and clients that help people take advantage of these technologies. Against this backdrop, however, backhaul becomes a bottleneck to anything even closely resembling a satisfactory service – opening the door for customer defection.
Ultimately, however, while the idea that added capacity in the RAN requires added capacity in the transport layer is easy to grasp, looking at backhaul as nothing more than an issue of plumbing (upgrading the network with fatter pipes) ignores a number of key facts and issues facing operators and vendors alike.
- TDM vs. IP. If the evolution from 2G to 3G to 4G is often described as a movement from voice (2G) to data (3G) to fully mobile broadband connectivity (4G), it’s just as much about the move from circuit to packet to all-IP connectivity. Obviously, this has an impact on backhaul. Sure, mobile operators could run packet data from the radio access network over circuit connections, but this quickly runs into scalability, performance and OpEX issues. This leaves operators with various options: overlay existing circuit backhaul with a Carrier carrier Ethernet (IP) transport layer for data traffic; run packet and circuit traffic all over a Carrier carrier Ethernet network thanks to circuit emulation services; run packet and circuit traffic over Carrier carrier Ethernet thanks to IP support at the base station. In the long- run, all operators obviously hope to implement the last option. In between now and then, it’s safe to assume that all these options will live together.
- Fixed vs. Wireless. If operators would like future mobile transport to be all-IP, it’s equally true that they’d like it all to be running on fiber. Just as fiber to the home promises the scalability and reliability to support whatever new consumer services we can imagine, fiber to the cell site should deliver the scalability and reliability to support tomorrow’s wireless applications. It’s unrealistic, however, to think that fiber will ever be able to run out to most base stations across the globe. This means that operators looking for fat, IP pipes will be forced to rely on microwave for a long time to come. It also means that microwave vendors will enjoy new opportunities, but that new competition will force a focus them all to “be on their game” – delivering broad spectrum support, strong IP and TDM networking, high capacities, spectral efficiency, etc.
- Solutions vs. Products. If the concept of “mobile broadband” is nebulous, so too is the concept of “backhaul solutions.” Most every vendor claims to have a backhaul solution. What this means, however, isn’t always clear. For IP at the base station, cell site routers might be considered a solution. For connectivity out to a remote site, microwave radio products might be a solution. Yet, if you need to extensively evolve your entire backhaul network to keep up with new 3G and 4G demands – more data, in more places, with more sophisticated applications – a real solution must include be more than a single point product. At a minimum, it needs to include wireless and fixed-line products at the cell site, access layer, aggregation layer and metro core…, ideally with a management solution and professional services that touch all of these products.
- LTE Launches vs. LTE Solutions. No doubt, the focus on mobile backhaul over the past few years has been driven by an expectation that LTE launches would be taking place starting towards the end of 2009. Right on cue, vendors announced commercial availability of LTE kit from the 2nd second quarter of 2009 and operators (a few) began talking up service launch plans in the 2010 timeframe. Logically, most vendors led with their LTE base station launches, with a few pointing to application and core network assets. Any operator seriously looking at the technology, however, will need new transport tools – making them a critical part of any credible LTE “solution.”
- Dumb Pipes vs. Application Aspirations. As wireless services become more and more sophisticated, operators need to do more than simply deliver basic voice and unfettered access to the Internet; they need the tools to differentiate their services. This is more than a service issue. It’s a basic revenue issue; network operators looking to be more than just a “dumb pipe” want to earn money from an ability to deliver functionality such as service differentiation, policy enforcement, traffic shaping, and deep packet inspection to support third-party or in-house applications. What does this mean for backhaul? Where these functionalities can be integrated into the transport layer, any operator with deep application aspirations should welcome them.
- Near-Term CapEx vs. Long-Term CapEx. Amidst all the hype around LTE, HSPA, EV-DO and sexy iPhone applications, it’s easy to lose sight of a larger market reality – we’re in the middle of a global economic meltdown. This doesn’t mean that operators are going to shut down their network spending. It does mean that they’re going to re-evaluate their network spending plans – determining which investments are likely to pay dividends in the near-term (in terms of OpEx savings and new revenues) vs. more speculative expenditures. Where does packet-based backhaul fit in? Fairly nicely to the extent that it can help shave costs from of 2G and 3G network operations while paving the way for 4G tomorrow.
- Fixed-Mobile Convergence vs. Fixed-Mobile Investments. As operators start thinking about how they’ll allocate their CapEx dollars over the next year, now is probably not the time for operators to be thinking about building out a nifty new packet-based mobile backhaul network alongside a new high-capacity business network and a new high-value residential broadband network. What better time, instead, to make a single strategic CapEx investment that not only reduces future outlays, but has the potential to radically change the OpEx side of the equation tremendously. To be sure, it’s not always easy to get multiple business groups together to agree on this type of grand vision. Where a single policy-driven, service-aware transport network can help to radically impact TCO radically, it’s worth the effort – a message vendors need to evangelize.
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