Evaluation of Mobile Offloading in Home Wireless Access Market

1. Evaluation of Mobile Offloading in Home Wireless Access Market Samuel Costa Supervisor: Professor Heikki Hämmäinen Instructor: M.Sc. MichailKatsigiannis Master’s Thesis Presentation (26th June 2014) Aalto University

2. Outline • Introduction • Research Questions • Methods • Results and Discussion • Conclusion • Future Work

3. Introduction • Motivation • Growth of mobile data traffic • Mobile data traffic mainly occurs indoors • Economic benefits of mobile offloading for mobile operators • Purpose • Identify and compare indoor technical solutions for homes • Study why WiFi is the main technology in homes • Investigate how can femtocells be deployed on a large scale in homes

4. Research Questions • How can LTE femtocells compete with WiFi? • What is the impact of Femtocell-as-a-Service (FAAS) on mobile operators’ business?

5. Methods • Value Network Configuration (VNC) • To provide a good visualisation of the relationship among the actors in the home wireless access market • System Dynamics • To examine how various dynamic forces affect the deployment of femtocell networks • Expert Interviews • To discover facts and opinions to better understand the current situation and future trends about home wireless access market

6. Methods – VNCs (1) • Identifying roles (key), actors and technical components • Forming business and technical interfaces • Technical Interfaces • Black interface: A connection between technical components (general) • Blue interface: WiFiconnection • Red interface: Cellular (3GPP) connection

7. Methods – VNCs (2)indoor technical solutions • WiFi, femtocell, picocell, microcell, distributed antenna system, relays, fixed receivers Roles • WiFi usage • Devices connected to internet via WiFi • Cellular usage • Devices connected to internet via mobile broadband • Access list client operation • Devices request to connect via the home access point • Access list server operation • Responding to requests by client • Home access network operation • Connection to internet via home access point • Fixed internet access operation • Providing fixed internet access • Wide area network operation • Providing mobile broadband and coverage • Network integration access operation • Integration of home and wide area networks

8. Methods – VNCs (3)Generic configuration (mobile offloading wireless access provisioning in homes)

9. Methods – VNCs (4)WiFi access VNC (non-integrated fixed-mobile operator)

10. Methods – VNCs (5)WiFi access VNC (integrated fixed-mobile operator)

11. Methods – VNCs (6)WiFi-cellular integration access VNC (home owner controlled)

12. Methods – VNCs (7)WiFi-cellular integration access VNC (MO controlled)

13. Methods – VNCs (8)Femtocell open access VNC

14. Methods – VNCs (9)Femtocell closed/hybrid access VNC

15. Methods – VNCs (10)Femtocell-as-a-Service deployment Roles • Cellular usage • Devices connected to internet via mobile broadband • Fixed internet access operation • Providing fixed internet access • Wide area network operation • Providing mobile broadband and coverage • Femtocell network operation • Operating femtocell networks • Femtocell-as-a-Service operation • Providing FAAS • Service application provisioning • Providing services • Femtocell network service management • Managing femtocell networks

16. Methods – VNCs (11)Generic configuration for FAAS

17. Methods – VNCs (12)Mobile operator driven FAAS VNC

18. Methods – VNCs (13)Fixed broadband provider driven FAAS VNC

19. Methods – VNCs (14)End-to-End solution vendor driven FAAS VNC

20. Methods – VNCs (15)Service provider driven FAAS VNC

21. Methods – System Dynamics (1)Conceptual model of femtocell adoption (1) • Effect of femtocell subscribers

22. Methods – System Dynamics (2)Conceptual model of femtocell adoption (2) • Effect of service providers

23. Methods – System Dynamics (3)Conceptual model of femtocell adoption (3) • Effect of mobile operators

24. Results and Discussion (1)Factors influencing femtocell adoption

25. Results and Discussion (2)Factors influencing femtocell adoption • New Services and partnership with third party providers • Strong incentive (but killer application unknown) • Interference mitigation • Femtocell needs to be considered for future network planning and not as an isolated network • Backhaul • Crucial to prevent bottlenecks • Femtocell management system • Self-Organising Networks critical • FAAS deployment • Lowers the capital expenditure investments

26. Results and Discussion (3)Factors influencing femtocell adoption • Cost of femtocell access points • Needs to be lowered to better compete with WiFi access points • Multimode desirable but drives up cost • Pricing • Family tariff • Complementary technologies • Perception of end-users (differentiate by features rather than price) • Education about femtocell and usage benefits • Understand the difference between WiFi and femtocells • Target Segment • Most valuable customers • Household where everyone is under the same mobile operator • Data hogs • Bigger homes • Fibre fitted • New houses with new insulation obligations (20-30 dB attenuation)

27. Results and Discussion (4)Factors influencing femtocell adoption • Device availability • More LTE embedded objects (devices that can support video and voice) • Internet of Things • Localised management needed • VoLTE • Increases mobile data traffic • Premium voice calls • Licensed spectrum availability • Licensed Shared Access/Authorised Shared Access • LTE over unlicensed band • Using millimetre bands • Bundling of femtocell with other services • Femtocell unlikely to survive as a standalone service • Integrated WiFi-LTE access point • Reduces the number of access points but locked-in effect remains • Poor Coverage • Indoor penetration loss • Regulations to secure macro networks sites • Roll out newer generation of networks indoors

28. Results and Discussion (5)Femtocell-as-a-Service market impacts • With Femtocell-as-a-Service • New actors -> higher competition • Experiment with business models • Multi-carrier femtocells • Mobile operators share in economies of scale • Without Femtocell-as-a-Service • Mobile operators offering femtocell have full control over the core infrastructure • Ensure service continuity • Only rolled out by bigger operators

29. Conclusion • Mobile offloading to home networks is not the only driver for deployment of femtocells • Femtocells not rolled out in Finland • Good macro network capacity to meet current demand of mobile traffic • Availability of licensed spectrum • Strong incentives to get end-users interested (new services) • Good management of femtocell networks • Reduce the cost -> new applications -> new end-users • Femtocells deployed by bigger mobile operators will create femtocell presence in the market • Business model to take off is FAAS • Better suited for smaller mobile operators • FAAS could cause disruption to mobile operators’ business

30. Future Work • VNCs modelled for different segments (e.g., public locations, geographical areas, population densities) • Quantitative formulation used for examining the forces on femtocell adoption • FAAS expanded to Smallcell-as-a-Service • Examining the effects of regulations and standards to understand how these will affect market dynamics

31. ThankYou! Questions?

32. ExtraSlides

33. Methods – VNCsRelay/Microcell/Picocell/Fixed receivers (3GPP) access VNC

34. Methods – VNCsFixed receivers (IEEE) access VNC

35. Methods – System DynamicsFull conceptual model of femtocell adoption

36. Methods – System DynamicsConceptual model of unsatisfied mobile traffic management