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Today, over a third of the world’s population depends on mobile devices. By the end of 2006, wireless revenues accounted for approximately 49% of all telecommunications services revenue and are expected to grow to 55% of all industry revenue by 2010.
There are two primary ecosystems in the wireless industry: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) / Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Although GSM has a much wider adoption worldwide, there are still about 300 million subscribers on various CDMA networks.
Today, voice still accounts for the majority of overall cellular traffic, with wireless data exceeding more than 10 percent of mobile operator ARPU. Mobile operator ARPU is under pressure due to price and technology competition from both wireline (for example, voice over IP) and emerging services (for example, voice over Wi-Fi). Although mobile operator ARPU for voice services is declining, the ARPU for data revenues is growing at a healthy rate. In the U.S., during 2006, Verizon Wireless and Cingular both reported data ARPU figures in the range of $5 to $6 per month with healthy growth rates at around 45% per year.
Globally, more and more mobile operators are deploying mobile broadband data services such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA)2 in UMTS networks and Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO) in CDMA networks, and as a result are becoming viable competitors in the wired world of DSL and Cable Broadband. HSPA provides higher data rates (up to 14 Mbps in the downlink and 5.8 Mbps in the uplink) that enable operators to offer new applications and an improved user experience (for example: SMS; rapid download of video clips, music tracks, and large high-resolution files; gaming; email; IM; Push-to-talk over cellular). With the availability of these technologies, it is possible to offer simultaneous voice and data services using the same spectrum allocation.
To further their investments in HSPA networks, various operators are intensifying their work with standards bodies such as 3GPP in driving the development of enhanced HSPA (also called HSPA+). This is expected to lead to development of Long Term Evolution (LTE), which aims to achieve peak rates comparable to fast Ethernet rates in the wireline world. The CDMA (3GPP2) contingent has similar development plans involving a technology known as Ultra mobile broadband (UMB). Time Division-Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA) is other variant of 3G development, specifically driven in the Chinese market. It uses the same core network as UMTS. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of interoperable technologies being developed by IEEE and the WiMAX Forum. Higher data rates, wider coverage, and cost-effective wireless broadband service are some of the key drivers for WiMAX. It is publicly endorsed by various carriers such as Sprint Nextel in US and KT in South Korea. Although WiMAX has a standard development lead as compared to LTE/UMB, it has to resolve some critical issues before large scale deployment is possible—for example, uniformity and availability of the spectrum across the globe.
Regardless of the various options, overall mobile architectures are are becoming more data-friendly. Juniper has developed strategic working relationships with leading radio vendors. Our use of open interfaces and our work with partners to develop joint, end-to-end solutions are essential to Juniper’s current and continued success in enabling mobile operators to build highly efficient converged IP/MPLS next-generation core networks.
Standards bodies such as 3GPP (for GSM networks) and 3GPP2 (for CMDA networks) are actively involved in driving the development of a next-generation wireless system. The high level objective is to create high-speed broadband and IP-based mobile systems featuring network-to-network interconnection, feature/service transparency, global roaming, and seamless services independent of location.
3G (third-generation) mobile systems are defined by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) specification IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000), a radio and network access specification. 3G is the successor of 2G—the existing and hugely deployed digital mobile system. 2G is the successor of 1G, the original analogue mobile system. GSM is the most predominant choice for 2G deployments.
As highlighted in Figure 2, though voice remains the primary method of mobile communication, a new generation of wireless technologies is now offering higher speed data and multimedia capabilities.
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