If last year's emphasis on WiMAX seemed attenuated, this year it was downright anorexic. In fact, LTE and 4G were so often used synonymously that a layperson might be confused into thinking there is no other 4G technology. Unless you spent some time with Sprint, that is. The company demonstrated its multiple 4G WiMAX devices for the press, while revealing the details of its long-term network strategy. In a word: LTE. “Every single cell site Sprint has will have LTE... we plan to have 12 devices with LTE in the next year,” said a Sprint rep at a press breakfast.
This prompted obvious questions of obsolescence; if all of the cool 4G devices in Sprint's M2M catalog were WiMAX, were they multi-mode? No. So what happens in 2012, when Sprint is all-LTE? The short answer I received is buy a new device. Maybe this has something to do with Sprint's falling stock price.
One of the hottest topics at the show this year was “small cells;” it was hard to sit through a session or keynote without hearing the phrase mentioned. In order to handle the capacity crunch, operators are increasingly turning to distributed networks of small cells, and this trend will only grow over the next five years. Carriers Sprint and Verizon both emphasized their dedication to small cell rollouts, with Sprint's Bob Azzi commenting that “we clearly think small cells are the future.” Verizon spoke of using pico cells in high traffic areas as part of a heterogeneous network, or Het Net. Small cells offer many advantages, from lower power to faster and easier deployment, and we'll be taking a closer look at the technology in the January issue of Pipeline.
Next to small cell, CEM was probably the second-hottest topic. Faced with competition from OTT and flat-lining service revenues, carriers are increasingly looking at quality of experience as a key competitive metric, so the Yankee Group put together a day-long summit dedicated to CEM. “They [service providers] have the customer; they need to make sure they don't let go...they need to differentiate based on service,” explained Yossi Zohar, Customer Management Marketing Director, Amdocs. As I've noted in the past, there are clearly many definitions of CEM, but at its core, it represents a different way of looking at a business process.
It's no surprise, then, that numerous vendors, from Alcatel-Lucent to Amdocs, had CEM solutions to announce or display, and the acronym was in constant use. Nokia Siemens Networks even took CEM to social media, revealing a Facebook application that enables customers to manage their telecom services and improve engagement within Facebook. Amdocs is incorporating social media into their proactive and predictive customer experience management tools by identifying potential, emerging customer care issues based on keywords and companies and feeding that back into service centers. Laurence Alexander, Tektronix, listed CEM as a top growth area for the company. “Traditionally, we've been in the business of saving operators money,” he said. “Now we're moving into making them money.”
Pipeline met with a number of other technology solutions and software providers including: Aricent, Netscout, Pegasus, Pitney Bowes Insight (PBI), JDSU, Tekelec, Benu, Broadhop, and Tektronix. Aricent is continuing their innovative approach to OSS/BSS by promoting their M2M solution, including producing a new report exploring how mobile money is being used in Afghanistan. Netscout, PBI, and Tektronix are squarely focused on improving the customer experience through better use of networks, network data, and leveraging subscriber and campaign information. While companies like Amdocs and Pegasus are focusing on improving customer experience by empowering CSRs with more intuitive desktops, access to information, and innovative trouble-shooting tools. JDSU's solution, recently implemented by Telfonica, offers deep visibility into service delivery platforms, core and access networks, and the home network. Other vendors, like Mavenir, are focused on enabling carries to deliver new services across multiple devices to facilitate a seamless user experience.
With the proliferation of devices and mushrooming mobile data demands front and center, policy control was also a key topic at 4G World. Tekelec was on hand to discuss their policy server, which has been deemed the industry standard and has been rolled out by Verizon on their LTE network. The Tekelec policy server enables operators to deliver greater personalization, create and manage data plans, and monetize OTT services.
The emphasis on LTE over WiMAX at 4G World was likely a result of the buzz surrounding LTE deployments or planned deployments in North American and European markets. Clearly WiMAX still has a place in other markets around the world, and M2M as well. Pipeline met with WiMAX carrier Velatel, a small upstart comprised of seasoned industry vets that launched a 4G network in Peru—from scratch—in six months. Their most recent news surrounded a 4G deployment in China, and their innovative application of real-time billing to offer personalized services and up-sell incentives. We also met with Alvarion, who offers connectivity solutions that support WiMAX broadband penetration into new verticals, including smartgrid, energy, and mining.
