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

Outline Introduction Research Questions Methods Results and Discussion Conclusion Future Work

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

Research Questions 1.How can LTE femtocells compete with WiFi? 2.What is the impact of Femtocell-as-a-Service (FAAS) on mobile operators’ business?

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

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: WiFi connection  Red interface: Cellular (3GPP) connection

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

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

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

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

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

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

Methods – VNCs (8) Femtocell open access VNC

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

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

Methods – VNCs (11) Generic configuration for FAAS

Methods – VNCs (12) Mobile operator driven FAAS VNC

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

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

Methods – VNCs (15) Service provider driven FAAS VNC

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

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

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

Results and Discussion (1) Factors influencing femtocell adoption

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

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)

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

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

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

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

Thank You! Questions?

Extra Slides

Methods – VNCs Relay/Microcell/Picocell/Fixed receivers (3GPP) access VNC

Methods – VNCs Fixed receivers (IEEE) access VNC

Methods – System Dynamics Full conceptual model of femtocell adoption

Methods – System Dynamics Conceptual model of unsatisfied mobile traffic management