Introduction:

Managed services and outsourcing of wireless and wireline network operations has become an emerging trend in the global telecom industry. 

Here are a few recent examples:

-Last year, Embarq outsourced its Network Operation Centers (NOCs) to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN).
-In a blockbuster deal announced a few months ago, Sprint announced it will pay Ericsson as much as $5 billion over seven years to manage its CDMA and iDEN wireless networks as well as its fixed-line network.
-Alcatel-Lucent has joint ventures with Indian operators Reliance and Airtel for mobile and fixed networks, respectively.
-Light Reading stated this week that Huawei has made significant strides in its managed services provisions in India. The Financial Times reports that BT will outsource the upkeep of its local phone network to a joint venture of Carillion and Telent, in a £1bn deal expected to be agreed in the next two months.
-WiMAX rural operator Open Range today announced an agreement with IP backhaul vendor Harris Stratex to run its NOCs for five years.
-Bharti Airtel signed a managed services deal with Comviva, making it the first telco in the world to have a managed services agreement for all its value-added services portfolio.

Rajeev Suri, Director of NSN’s managed services business unit says the global managed services is a $277 billion market.  Which carrier will be next to outsource its operations? Will that make them more competitive and profitable? And how much new managed services business will traditional network equipment vendors get?  We focus our attention on the new managed network players in this article.

The new kids on the Managed Network block include Huawei,  Carillion and Telent joint venture, and Harris- Stratex. 

For the complete article, please go to:   http://viodi.com/2009/08/22/outsourcing-managed-services/

Opinion:  The newer, greenfield operators that don’t have any experience in managing networks or operations might be better off by outsourcing network operations and/or managed services/ NOCs.

What’s your opinion?  Do you think Clearwire would do well by outsourcing its network maintenance and management services to another vendor?

Mobile Internet Data Traffic Trends and  Implications for the Wireless Industry

Can the growth of mobile data live up to the hype given the current capacity of wireless networks? Interview with Andrew Odlyzko, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota and expert on internet traffic patterns and growth.

Introduction:

Due to the success of smart phones, app stores, and open platforms, a strong consensus now holds that mobile data is creating the next telecom revolution.  The volume of data transmitted over mobile wireless networks is skyrocketing, growing at rates over 100% per year. 

But is that growth rate sustainable? Bandwidth per user will continue to be limited by overall 3G-network capacity.  Moreover, considerable CAPEX would be required to upgrade mobile networks to 4G.  Also, most subscribers are unwilling to pay rates in excess of $50 or even $70 per month, which most mobile operators need to get a reasonable ROI .  Yet wireless data growth conjures up "visions of sugar plums" for many telecom professionals and wireless industry stakeholders.

To examine the hype vs.  reality of mobile Internet data growth, we checked in with Professor Andrew Odlyzko – a former AT&T Researcher who exposed the myth of exponential (wireline) Internet traffic growth back in 1998 – just prior to the dot com bust and optical networking melt down.  Odlyzko has been tracking Internet traffic trends for over 12 years.  During most of that time period, the actual traffic growth did not live up to the over-hyped projections.
 

To read the rest of this fascinating interview, please go to:
http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2009/august-2009/mobile-internet-data-implications-for-the-wireless-industry-0816

http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2009/august-2009/why-cellular-carriers-have-not-delivered-on-the-promise-of-the-mobile-internet-0806

Article #2 has been published at:

http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2009/august-2009/how-the-mobile-internet-can-be-realized-through-new-technologies-applications-0810

Here’s the lead-in:Realizing the Mobile Internet- new functions, technology and innovative applications

Abstract:

In the second article resulting from our in depth interview, Siavash Alamouti, CTO of Intel’s Mobile Wireless Group comments on the roadmap, potential new applications, functions, and technical requirements for 4G mobile networks. Specifically, he envisions several intriguing mobile Internet applications and value added services, delineates major performance and feature upgrades for 4G (it is not an evolution from 3G as many think), identifies several technical issues/ problems to be resolved, and explains why LTE is not the panacea many believe it to be.
 

Introduction