for WiMAX

JUN 2008
ISSUE 41
JUN 2008
WiMAX Forum unveils
first certified kit vendors
Mobile TV - A great
opportunity for WiMAX
KT’s mobile WiMAX
business model
ISSUE 41
The Compact WiMAX
- Small is big
Wireless broadband
commercial application
accelerates
WiMAX heats up
Embracing wireless broadband
The communication industry is experiencing a wave of unprecedented changes. The
transformation from fixed voice and data to mobile services is driving the increasing
importance and prevalence of wireless broadband.
Sponsor:
Huawei COMMUNICATE
Editorial Board,
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Consultants:
Hu Houkun, Xu Zhijun, Xu Wenwei
Tao Jingwen, Yu Chengdong, Wan Biao
Zhao Ming, Yu Xiangping
Huang Chaowen, Hou Jinlong
Editor-in -Chief:
Gao Xianrui ([email protected])
Editors:
Liu Zhonglin, Xu Peng, Pan Tao, Xue Hua
Xu Ping, Chen Yuhong, Zhou Huajiao, Yao Haifei
Huang Zhuojian, Li Xuefeng, Zhou Shumin
Contributors: Tang Xinhong, Shao Yang, Zhu Haobing
Zhou Jianhua, Li Changzhu, Wu Hui
Xie Jingping, Lu Xingang, Xu Peizhong
Ma Fulin, Yao Zheng, Zhu Xinlin, Guo Hua
Yan Yun, Wang Zhanqiang, Zhou Guoan
Xiong Xianjun, Kim Chang, Mao Weihua
Xue Ying, Yang Guangzhao, Zhao Yahui
Hou Xinfeng, Liao Qian, Hou Yingzhen
Tel: +86 755 28780808
Fax: +86 755 28356180
Address: A10, Huawei Industrial Base,
Bantian, Longgang, Shenzhen,
China 518129
E-mail: [email protected]
Publication registration No.:
Yue B No.10148
Gartner predicts Internet data traffic will increase by over 10 times during the next
five years. Moreover, Dell’Oro forecasts that the number of global wireless broadband
access subscribers will exceed 3 million during 2008, reflecting a year-on-year increase
of 100%. By 2012, this figure will have risen by almost 100 times to 270 million
subscribers, over 90% of whom will benefit from WiMAX technology.
After WiMAX joins the ITU IMT2000 standards, a complete industry chain will be
formed that comprises chips, equipment, and systems. Currently, there are around 500
members of the WiMAX Forum, including over 30 terminal manufacturers and more
than 10 chip vendors. Owing to the relative decentralization of WiMAX IPR coupled
with the participation of numerous IT enterprises, terminals have become inexpensive
and diversified. In terms of standards and industry maturity, WiMAX forms one of the
best choices for wireless broadband provision. Indeed, it is widely expected to become
one of the mainstream standards for future mobile broadband.
At present, more and more mobile operators, fixed network operators, emerging
operators, and IT entrepreneurs are all involved in WiMAX network deployment. By
the end of 2007, approximately 200 WiMAX networks had been deployed worldwide.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa, and CIS, WiMAX has been widely
applied as a means of supplying wireless DSL services. In developed countries in Europe
and America, most operators employ WiMAX to present portable and nomadic data
services to realize differentiated competition.
Huawei has remained confident regarding the potential of wireless broadband
technology, including WiMAX, and as such has been actively stepping up related
investment. In 2001, Huawei began researching the IEEE802.16 and WiMAX
standards. Since then, it has hosted both IEEE and WiMAX forums on a number of
occasions, while greatly contributing to the TWG/NWG/16m/16j fields. In 2006,
Huawei initiated the development of IEEE802.16e products. Underpinned by a 4th
generation BTS platform, the products share OFDMA/MIMO/AAS core technologies
with LTE/UMB, thus facilitating the quick release of competitive products and end-toend solutions. In 2007, South Africa’s Vodacom, Russia’s Summa, Saudi Arabia’s STC,
Bulgaria’s TransTelecom, and America’s NextWave utilized Huawei’s WiMAX products
and solutions. As of May 2008, Huawei had deployed 19 IEEE802.16e commercial
networks and 35 trial networks.
The global wireless broadband market has leapt into a phase of rapid development.
Huawei’s innovative wireless broadband solutions are certain to assist operators garner
commercial success in the wireless broadband arena.
The information contained in this document is for
reference purpose only, and is subject to change
or withdrawal according to specific customer
requirements and conditions.
Copyright © 2008 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All
Rights Reserved.
No part of this issue may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
written consent of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Zhao Ming
President of Huawei
WiMAX Product Line
What’s inside:
P.18
P.43
Global Digest
Cover Story
01 WiMAX Forum unveils first certified kit vendors
12
WiMAX heats up
By Guan Zhenzhen & Liu Zhonglin
01 DSL substitution to drive mobile WiMAX
After years of development, WiMAX earned its place as
part of the ITU IMT2000 standards and became one of
the 3G standards in October 2007. Increasingly more
operators have gravitated towards WiMAX.
04 Huawei demonstrates innovative WiMAX
solutions at WiMAX MEGNA Forum
Expert’s Forum
05
Main Topic
WiMAX calls for a cohesive
ecosystem
19
By Mohammad Shakouri from WiMAX Forum
07
Internet goes mobile
By Ye Weichen from Intel
Wireless broadband commercial
application accelerates
By Yang Hu & Yao Zheng
23
WiMAX terminal spurs industry
development
By Han Song
09
IEEE 802.16 - The 4G pioneer
By Roger Marks from NextWave Wireless
Mature chips and diversified terminals are the catalyst
for rapid development of the WiMAX industry.
Let’s COMMUNICATE beyond technology and share understandings of the latest industry trends,
successful operational cases, leading technologies and more. Based on in-depth analysis of the
matters that lie close to your heart, we will help you stay on top in the competitive telecom industry.
P.37
P.19
Interview
25
39
Setting sail for WiMAX
P.34
Wireless broadband ushers in
a new age
By Liu Wang & Peng Hong
An Interview with Tang Xinhong, Vice
President of Huawei WiMAX Product Line
By Wang Tao from Communications World Weekly
41
How to Operate
28
KT’s mobile WiMAX business
model
Choosing the right partner for GSM
data services
By Zhang Ruizhao & Mao Weihua
By Zhao Yahui
31
Refined WiMAX 16e network
planning
43
When WiMAX meets IMS
By Wen Yulin
By Zhang Congling & Xie Guozhu
Solution
34
Mobile TV - A great opportunity
for WiMAX
Leading Edge
46
By Cao Jie
37
New enhancements in WiMAX
By Sean McBeath & Jin Lei
The Compact WiMAX - Small is big
By Zhang Youzhi
To achieve great things, an abundance of effort and
an eye for details are both prerequisite. The same
premise applies to WiMAX development.
49
Multi-antenna sharpens WiMAX’s
competitiveness
By Deng Chunmei
GLOBAL DIGEST
News
WiMAX Forum unveils first certified kit vendors
Huawei holds 2008 Global Industry Analyst Summit
the WiMAX Forum. "Certification
Huawei hosted more than 40
trends, its development direction and
gives choice for service providers
industry analysts from all over the
technology roadmaps, as well as the
and end consumers, and with
world at the company's headquarters
benefits, such as cost-savings, that the
dozens of other products in line
in Shenzhen, on April 25, 2008. The
company brings to its customers.
for certification, it is a sign of a
analysts represented 18 global market
healthy ecosystem."
research companies.
At the summit Huawei announced
that its global contract sales in 2007
For the 2.5GHz frequency band,
Huawei used the two-day event
reached USD16 billion, representing
which is used by Sprint Nextel, the
to highlight its achievements in 2007
a year-on-year growth of over 42
The WiMAX Forum unveiled the
WiMAX Forum expects certified
and to provide business updates on
percent and that 72 percent of its
first mobile WiMAX products to
mobile products to be ready in
each of its major product lines. Huawei
total contract sales were generated
receive its official stamp of approval.
the third quarter and will start
also explained its forecasts on industry
from international markets.
Eight products, manufactured
by four vendors, were announced
immediately with Wave 2, for both
5MHz and 10MHz channels.
at the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia
"By the end of 2011 we will have
2008, held in Singapore. Each of
more than 1,000 certified mobile
the eight certified products operates
products, and this is not counting
in the 2.3GHz frequency band
consumer electronics devices and
using 8.75MHz channels, which is
the hundreds of other PC products
the spectrum allocation of Korea
that are embedded with pre-WiMAX
Telecom's WiBro service, and each
Forum certified modems," said
have "Wave 1" certification status,
Resnick.
that is, they don't have MIMO or
smart antenna technology.
The WiMAX Forum reports
there are 260 commercial WiMAX
"This is a great day for the
deployments, fixed and mobile, in
WiMAX ecosystem," said Ron
more than 110 countries around the
Resnick, chairman and president of
world.
BT Italia gets WiMAX plans moving
substitution technology over the next
speeds for subscribers who are on the
five years, according to analysts.
fringe of DSL coverage in metropolitan
Juniper Research forecasts mobile
areas. We anticipate that mobile usage
WiMAX to substitute 12 percent of
will develop after initial demand for
DSL and other mobile broadband
fixed and portable services."
subscriber deployments by 2013,
Global WiMAX service revenues,
representing around 47 million
as a DSL replacement technology,
subscribers. The research house said
will grow to over USD20bn per
that the top WiMAX regions for DSL
annum by 2013. However, the
substitution will be the Far East and
research house warns that if mobile
North America, followed by Western
WiMAX is to fulfill its fixed-lined
Europe and Africa/Middle East.
potential, two factors must fall into
Juniper analyst Howard Wilcox
said: "We determined that the vast
place: availability of suitable devices,
and timely network construction.
Juniper estimates there are over 250
and network contracts which are being
trial 802.16e WiMAX networks globally,
its business customers, such as
announced almost daily will begin by
with a small but growing number of
point-to-point data services, while
providing fixed broadband. WiMAX
commercial networks in service.
WiMAX deployment.
collaboration between BT's Italian
BT Italia views WiMAX as a
operation, BT Italia, and AriaDSL, a
"must have" alternative broadband
local DSL provider that also holds
technology to DSL and fibre
3.5GHz spectrum across most of
in a country such as Italy that
Italy, will see the two companies
has a mountainous terrain and
aiming for commercial WiMAX
where customers can often be
deployment early next year.
sparsely distributed. BT Italia has a
1 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
unwired areas, but can also improve
to its offering of ICT solutions for
up time-to-market for commercial
agreement, BT Italia will use
can deliver broadband not only to
majority of the WiMAX 802.16e trials
management expertise to speed
Under the terms of the
The 802.16e mobile WiMAX
standard looks placed to be a DSL
AriaDSL's wireless services to add
AriaDSL is to use BT Italia's network
A recently established
DSL substitution to drive mobile WiMAX
15,000km fibre optic network in
Italy.
Data
Sprint spins off WiMAX unit into new Clearwire
133 million
Sprint spins off its wireless
operating system will also get a look
The WiMAX Forum, a wireless
b ro a d b a n d o p e ra t i o n i n t o a
in on future voice and data devices
broadband industry group, is projecting
partnership with Clearwire, Intel,
for the service. Sprint, Comcast,
that there will be more than 133 million
A key driver of WiMAX subscriber
Google and a number of cable
Time Warner and Bright House will
WiMAX users globally by the year
growth, according to the report,
players. This reconciliation is known
forge wholesale agreements with
2012.
will be ambitious adoption of the
as the new Clearwire, as well as the
the new Clearwire for the retail sale
The forecast, which is based on
technology in specific regions,
Xohm brand.
of mobile WiMAX services and all
an independently commissioned
especially in Asia-Pacific and the
the operators will also enter into 3G
research study, also predicts that
Americas. The expansion of WiMAX
wholesale agreements with Sprint.
around 70% of WiMAX users in
will make high-speed Internet access
Meanwhile, Intel, Google,
Comcast, Time Warner Cable and
the Internet on smartphones and
other mobile devices.
Bright House Networks will invest a
I n t e re s t i n g l y, G o o g l e a n d
2012 will utilize mobile and portable
available in many sparsely populated
total of USD3.2bn and take 22 per
Intel also have the options to
versions of the technology to access
areas for the first time.
cent chunk in the company. Sprint
enter into 3G and 4G wholesale
will hold onto the remaining 51 per
agreements with Clearwire and
cent.
Sprint respectively, potentially paving
For their individual parts, Intel will
the way for Google to become an
work with gadget makers to embed
Internet service provider. Google also
WiMAX chips into Centrino 2 laptops
cleans up with Sprint, becoming the
and other Intel-based mobile Internet
default provider of web and local
devices (MIDs), and will market
search services, as well as getting
Clearwire's service in association
several of its applications preloaded
with its notebook PC brand. Google
on Sprint mobile phones.
will participate in the development
The transaction is expected to be
of Internet services, advertising
completed during the fourth quarter.
services and applications for mobile
The new Clearwire is targeting a
WiMAX devices, as well as enjoying
WiMAX network deployment that
the position of nominated search
will cover between 120 million and
provider and preferred provider of
140 million people in the US by the
other applications. Google's Android
end of 2010.
MegaFon launches WiMAX network
Russia's third largest mobile
mobile operator is contributing to a
o p e r a t o r, M e g a F o n , s t a r t e d
burgeoning WiMAX market in the
commercial service over a large scale
country's regions outside Moscow
WiMAX network in the Samara
and St. Petersburg.
region.
The two most ambitious WiMAX
15 million
Intel has ploughed RM50 million
vendors will become WiMAX suppliers
(USD15 million) of investment into
in the Malaysian market. KT's WiBro
Green Packet, the parent company
service operates in 8.75MHz channels
Packet One Networks, a WiMAX
while the Malaysian 2.3Ghz operators
licence holder in Malaysia.
use 5MHz and 10MHz channels.
Packet One is one of four WiMAX
Although the Malaysian
licence holders in Malaysia in the
Communications and Multimedia
2.3GHz band. It is aiming to launch
Commission (MCMC) awarded the
commercial mobile WiMAX services.
four 2.3GHz licences in March 2007,
Although the 2.3GHz band is used in
not one of the WiMAX players has
Korea it is not expected that Korean
launched commercial service so far.
29
Italy’s communications ministry
Wind Telecommunicazioni, and
has received a total of 29 offers for
broadband Internet provider,
an upcoming auction of WiMAX
FASTWEB.
broadband spectrum, according to a
statement by officials.
“The presentation of 29 offers for
WiMAX frequencies is a positive and
The list of companies that intend
important premise for the auction
to bid includes Italy’s incumbent
which is about to start,” commented
telecom operator, Telecom Italia,
Italy’s Minister of Communications,
as well as mobile phone carrier,
Paolo Gentiloni.
24 billion
The WiMAX network covers a
players in Russia are Enforta and
total population of over 32 million as
Synterra. Enforta has already
As part of the restructuring of
The new deals will create more
well as businesses in a 2,500 square
announced plans to have WiMAX
China's state-controlled telecom
competition for China Mobile,
kilometre region. It operates in a
operational in 65 cities by the end
industry, mobile operator China
which is currently the largest wireless
wide frequency range - 5.150GHz to
of the year, primarily in the 5.2GHz
Unicom will acquire fixed line operator
carrier in the world with 400 million
6.080GHz - and in different channel
frequency band. Synterra plans to
China Netcom in a share swap valued
subscribers. China Unicom, with only
sizes: 5MHz, 10MHz, and 20MHz.
build "mini" 802.16e mobile WiMAX
at about USD24 billion and will sell two
160 million subscribers, has been
MegaFon began testing WiMAX
networks in 1,000 towns and cities
of its smaller wireless properties to fixed
constrained because it had to operate
in 2006 and now with its large-scale
where it has 2.5 - 2.7GHz spectrum
line operator China Telecom and its
two separate nationwide networks
launch in the Samara region the
rights.
parent for nearly USD16 billion in cash.
using different technologies.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
2
GLOBAL DIGEST
Huawei News
Named Vendor of the Year and Broadband Equipment Vendor of the Year by Frost & Sullivan
Singapore, 24 May 2008 Huawei
ranked No.1 in the global IP DSLAM
announced that it has been named
market as of the fourth quarter of
Vendor of the Year and Broadband
2007, with products deployed in
Equipment Vendor of the Year at
more than 96 countries around
the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia-
the world, and serving about 150
Pacific ICT Awards, based on its
million users. In optical access
outstanding performance in the
sector, Huawei has invested heavily
region in 2007.
in innovative and advanced End
In 2007, Huawei won many
to End Fiber to the Home (FTTH)
significant 3G/UMTS, NGN,
network solutions, which have
broadband and optical contracts
been deployed in large scale by
in Asia. In the mobile network
world leading operators, including
field Huawei works with the likes
Telecom Italia, Etisalat, China
Telecom and China Netcom etc.
of StarHub in Singapore, Optus in
Australia, NZ Communications in
Lanka, Telkom in Indonesia, Digitel
field, Huawei offers comprehensive
Huawei has established 16
New Zealand, EMOBIE in Japan,
in Philippines, and Camshin in
broadband solutions including
branch offices across Asia-Pacific,
Reliance and TATA Indicom in India,
Combodia.
DSL and optical access solutions.
with its products deployed in over
According to Gartner, Huawei
20 countries in the region.
Bharti Airtel and Mobitel in Sri
In the broadband network
Huawei and Optus join forces to open Australian Mobile
Innovation Centre
Responsive to China quake and engaged in telecom
service restoration
Sydney, Australia, 19 May 2008
Optus, one of Australia's leading
province immediately after the
Huawei has joined with Optus in
telecommunication companies, and
quake.
developing a world class Mobile
improve their future mobile network
Innovation Centre, located in
quality and performance.
In the aftermath, time very
often equals to life. To accelerate
Sydney aimed at accelerating the
E x p a n s i v e t e s t l a b o ra t o r y
the process of telecom service
adoption of high speed mobile
facilities will be a key feature of the
restoration, Huawei transports
and wireless broadband.
Mobile Innovation Centre which
emergency telecom facilities,
The Mobile Innovation Centre
will accommodate both workshop
will be equipped with the latest
and training areas. Engineers will
Shenzhen, China, 14 May 2008
Huawei next generation mobile
take products from the technical
Huawei actively participated in
and wireless broadband equipment
concept stage through extensive
the earthquake relief efforts and
In the meantime, Huawei
and technologies and will leverage
testing and development to the
reinstallment of telecom services in
pooled over one hundred telecom
the company's global leadership in
delivery of a commercial product
Sichuan, China.
experts from all over country
mobile research and development.
to be launched to market.
technical experts and engineers
using chartered airplanes, to save
as much time as possible.
A severe earthquake measured at
and set up an on-spot team to
The work executed at the Mobile
Joint Huawei and Optus teams
a magnitude of 8.0 hit Wenchuan,
work around the clock with the
Innovation Centre will help deliver
will soon begin working together
Sichuan on 12 May 2008. Afflicted
company's Sichuan Office.
new technologies and products to
on various projects that will take
areas were completely battered
The grief and sufferings of affected
and communications facilities and
people resonate deeply with
services destroyed.
Huawei. The company donated
full advantage of this new facility.
T h e Sy d n e y b a s e d M o b i l e
3 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Innovation Centre is expected to be
Huawei formed a special
CNY5 million (approximately
fully operational by August 2008 and
relief team led by the company's
USD714,200), while employees
will be a multi-million investment
Chairwoman and reached
are also busy making voluntary
into the Australian telecoms industry.
Chengdu, capital of Sichuan
donations.
Demonstrates innovative WiMAX solutions at WiMAX
MEGNA Forum
Opens Global Technical Assistance Centre in Spain
Malaga, Spain, 18 May 2008
opening, Huawei is taking an important
are able to save energy, materials,
Telefónica Group president César
new step in its growth strategy in
announced during the WiMAX
land, and labor, reduce carbon
Alierta and Huawei president Ren
Spain. Currently, Huawei has more than
MEGNA Forum that it is rolling out its
dioxide emissions by over 60%,
Zhengfei have officially inaugurated
300 professionals working in different
and reduce at least 30% of the
the Global Technical Assistance Centre
offices in the country, 60% of whom
general operation's expenditure.
(GTAC) in the Málaga Technology
are local employees.
that can deploy WiMAX with GSM,
Thus, environmental protection and
Park in Spain. The centre will provide
The presidents of Telefónica
CDMA, UMTS, HSPA, IMS, NGN and
economic profits can be achieved
technical support services to operators
and Huawei have also signed a
simultaneously.
in all Spanish speaking countries.
cooperation agreement with the aim
Dubai, UAE, 13 March 2008 Huawei
new generation WiMAX solution. The
new technology is an ALL IP solution
DSL integrated networks, and enables
At the event, Huawei also
The centre will eventually employ
of creating an Innovation Centre. This
with advanced high-speed mobile
arranged an on-site booth in which
up to 50 professionals, most of them
innovation centre will focus on fixed
broadband services.
it showcased its newest WiMAX
are engineers specialising in areas
and mobile broadband technologies,
technology. Visitors to the booth
such as wireless, broadband, data and
services, applications and software
the innovative technologies of
were able to experience a full
core network technologies. With this
and core network solutions.
highly-efficient power amplifiers,
demonstration of WiMAX and its
multi-carrier, distributed architecture
benefits. The demo includes VoIP,
and intelligent temperature controls.
VOD, Video calls and high-speed
By adopting this solution, operators
broadband services.
operators to provide its subscribers
The new WiMAX station applies
Selected by M1 to build its mobile network in Singapore
Singapore, 13 May 2008 Huawei
of the contract, Huawei has been given
has announced that it has been
the task of implementing an end-to-
chosen by Mobile One (M1) to deploy
end ALL IP network to meet M1's
all the operator's ALL IP GSM, 3G,
future requirements.
HSPA (High-speed Packet Access) and
LTE systems over the next five years.
Neil Montefiore, M1's CEO, said:
"We have chosen Huawei as a partner
Maintains worldwide No.1 position in mobile softswitches
Singapore's Mobile One (M1), one
who is in the forefront of current
of the most innovative mobile and
and new technologies and with a
Shenzhen, China, 30 May 2008
Huawei's softswitches are
wireless broadband operators in the
robust commitment to research and
Huawei has announced that it
used by China Mobile to run the
region, selected Huawei to support the
development. Their capabilities will
remains as the market leader in
world's largest ALL IP mobile
greatly support and complement our
mobile softswitches and that it
softswitch network and Huawei's
company's 3G and HSPA network that
efforts to plan ahead to deliver mobile
increased its worldwide market
comprehensive experience extends
include both the CORE and UTRAN
and other services that will meet the
share of mobile softswitches in
to all areas of the IP core network. As
whole network spans. Under the terms
future needs of our customers."
2007 from 31.2%.to 43.7%
a leading proponent of ALL IP core
future expansion and upgrade of the
According to a recent In-Stat
networks, Huawei continues to add
report ("Global Mobile Softswitch
new technologies and new features
Market 2008 Update: Big Growth,
to its solutions, such as MSC Pool,
New Value"), more than 85%
embedded IMS functions and fixed-
of newly-built cellular networks
mobile convergence capabilities.
(2G/3G) are using softswitch
Huawei mobile softswitches
p l a t f o r m s a n d a n i n c re a s i n g
provide services to 730 million
number of service providers in
subscribers in over 90 countries,
North America, Europe, Middle
more than 140 operators, including
East and Asia-Pacific have begun to
Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica,
upgrade their mobile core networks
KPN, China Mobile, China Unicom,
using softswitches.
Reliance, TATA and Etisalat.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
4
EXPERT’S FORUM
EXPERT’S FORUM
Dr. Mohammad Shakouri, Vice President of Marketing for WiMAX Forum, has 24 years’ experience in wireless systems,
microwaves, and fiber optical networks. In addition to his position with the WiMAX Forum, Dr. Shakouri is on the board of
directors for the Wireless Communications Association, and is the chairman of 2005 IEEE MTT-SVC.
WiMAX calls for a cohesive ecosystem
Without a mature industry chain, no communication technology can be rapidly developed or applied. As an open
technology, WiMAX necessitates a stable industry environment that is accessible and responsive, and that operates in an
innovative and structured manner. In these terms, WiMAX certification is intended to expedite WiMAX maturity.
By Mohammad Shakouri
Huge potential
R
esearch that we conducted in the
USA testifies that subscribers’
largest communication-based
investment will emerge to be
in wireless broadband. One of the greatest
challenges operators have encountered is
establishing ways to maximize Internetderived revenue. Unlike existing mobile
cellular systems or the Internet, mobile
Internet provides more than just Internet
access for mobile phones. In my opinion,
the advent of WiMAX will quickly bring
the mobile Internet era to global users.
In April 2008, broadband access
subscribers accounted for 350 million
of the 1.1 billion global Internet users,
which is proportionately low. In a number
of advanced and emerging countries,
broadband provision encapsulates GDP,
economic growth, and social development.
G l o b a l l y, b r o a d b a n d p o t e n t i a l i s
enormous.
WiMAX mainly operates in the 2.3 2.7GHz range, although 3.5GHz remains
its reserved band. Recently, WiMAX began
to occupy 700MHz, which provides 5 10MB channels to meet peak traffic needs.
By September 2007, WiMAX network
5 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Huawei Technologies
spectrums covered 2.7 billion people across
the world but, at present, we are seeking
to increase bandwidth resources. In South
Korea, broadband access has rapidly
developed, and fiber access can provide
a single bandwidth exceeding 100MB.
In some regions, however, operators can
provide a bandwidth of just 10MB and
urgently require higher bandwidth capacity
to respond to future service needs.
WiMAX has been swiftly implemented
on a world-wide scale, and numerous
operators remain focused on its
application. In Russia, Japan and Australia,
enterprises are proactively developing the
WiMAX service. Data indicates that in
September 2007, around 500 WiMAX
trial projects were in operation around
the world. By April 2008, WiMAX had
been successfully deployed in over 100
countries, with more than 260 schemes in
commercial use. The Asia Pacific Region
embodies the first potential market to
which WiMAX is likely to be widely
deployed. However, WiMAX is currently
in its infancy, and we are looking forward
to its evolution and, by 2010, a wide
subscriber base. In the future, WiMAX
is expected to be deployed by over 500
operators in more than 200 regions.
A cohesive ecosystem
As with any new technology, WiMAX
relies on a suitable industry chain to
realize successful, large-scale commercial
deployment. Over 20 corporations are
actively developing WiMAX terminals, and
19 have successfully developed WiMAX
chips. As an emerging industry, it requires
a competitive environment and system
openness to hasten and guarantee progress.
Furthermore, different vendors’ WiMAX
devices must possess the capability for
interconnection and interoperability.
The members of the WiMAX Forum
include numerous international vendors.
Huawei, for example, has already enjoyed
much success in terms of WiMAX
technology. Many corporations are
establishing WiMAX platforms to transport
various content and applications, and are thus
driving the WiMAX industry ahead.
WiMAX demands a professional and
precise business model, a definite means
of Internet access, and products that are
deliverable to end-users. The definition of
WiMAX, therefore, should represent more
than a type of device; mature WiMAX
deployment necessitates a diverse range
of products that spans both applications
and services. Its viability, moreover, must
be underpinned by case studies that
testify to its effective commercial usage.
An expedient business model should
accommodate subscriber needs and
facilitate a platform capable of yielding
value and benefit. A successful WiMAX
solution should adapt itself to local culture
and application environments, and form
a catalyst for society’s future development
that is both positive and beneficial.
We do not view WiMAX as a competing
technology. It possesses a different business
model from the Internet, and boasts high
potentiality. WiMAX is built on ALL IP
architecture, and its infrastructure lends an
evolutionary slant towards ALL IP. Some
technologies, including TD-SCDMA and
Wi-Fi, can be integrated into both WiMAX
and 3G. For example, WiMAX has been
integrated with Wi-Fi in Taiwan to provide
services that include medical treatment,
E-government, and remote education.
A successful WiMAX solution cannot
exist without the roaming function
that allows subscribers to use its service
anywhere, anytime. While the number
of subscribers is increasing, WiMAX
can be deployed flexibly to mirror an
actual scenario. Small and mediumsized operators can realize less expansive
schemes that cover a confined location, for
example, a ship, or smaller geographical
regions. Larger operators can in turn
approach larger regions, or nationwide
projects.
In o rd e r t o p rov i d e t h e ro a m i n g
function, WiMAX has to be integrated
with other technologies, for example,
3G or Wi-Fi. In a similar way to Wi-Fi
terminals and other cellular terminals,
most WiMAX terminals support a wide
variety of access modes. WiMAX enables
wireless access not only for portable
computers, PADs, UMPC and PAS
terminals, but also for electronic devices
that support Skype, YouTube, Facebook,
videophone and the Internet.
Certification is
accelerating
With the active support of vendors, the
WiMAX Forum has established a holistic
certification mechanism. A key aspect
heightening the momentum of WiMAX
development derives from various
certifications, including 802.16d for fixed
WiMAX and 802.16e for mobile WiMAX.
In January 2006, the WiMAX Forum
announced the first batch of 33 certified
fixed WiMAX products. At present,
the Forum is certifying products that
support both mobile and fixed WiMAX
products. In April 2008, eight mobile
WiMAX products - four BTSs and four
subscriber terminals - passed rigorous
testing and received certification. Mobile
WiMAX products operate at 2.3GHz,
and the progress of both BTS devices and
subscriber terminals will further advance
the development of WiMAX operations in
the 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz bands.
To date, several dozen mobile WiMAX
products - operating between 2.3GHz
and 2.5GHz - have been registered. It is
estimated that, by the end of 2008, over
100 WiMAX products will have been
certified, and that this figure will exceed
1,000 by the end of 2011.
Up until now, the WiMAX Forum has
established six laboratories: one in each of
China, South Korea, Spain, and the USA,
and two in Taiwan. In order to satisfy
increasing certification requirements, the
WiMAX Forum plans to build two more
laboratories in India and Japan, which are
expected to begin operating at the end of
2008.
F i n a l l y, I t h i n k t h a t o t h e r 3 G
technologies and mobile WiMAX
complement each other and can co-exist.
Integral to the rapid development of
WiMAX is an accessible, stable and mature
industrial environment. The WiMAX
market cannot achieve lift-off without close
cooperation between all its stakeholders.
WiMAX certification ensures that different
vendors’ WiMAX devices comply with
related standards and are interoperable
across a WiMAX network.
Editor: Michael [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
6
EXPERT’S FORUM
EXPERT’S FORUM
Enabling convergent billing via OCS
Dr. Ye Weichen is the CTO of Intel China’s WiMAX Program Office. Previously, he held positions with HP and Lucent. In
July 2007, Dr. Ye joined Intel as its WiMAX Program Office’s CTO under Intel China. In this post, Dr. Ye leads the WiMAX
Standardization Research Team and is responsible for promoting WiMAX technologies across China.
By Dr. Ye Weichen
What are the “killer
applications”?
D
espite differing opinions
regarding technological
d e v e l o p m e n t f o r w i re l e s s
broadband networks, the
shared and long-term goal across the
industry remains the convergence of
wireless broadband applications. At
present, divergent opinions relate to
competing technologies. The first concerns
the evolution from traditional mobile
telecom to mobile broadband, including
LTE and UMB. The second focuses
on fixed broadband Internet evolution
to mobile Internet, such as WiMAX.
Rather than giving a detailed analysis of
technological development, this article
focuses on the question crucial to any
technological genre: what are the “killer
applications” for mobile Internet?
Many current Internet applications can
be described as “killer”. Notable examples
are Amazon’s and eBay’s e-commerce
sites, Wikipedia’s information integration
platform, Google’s search engine, MSN’s
instant messaging tool, Skype’s VoIP, and
YouTube’s streaming media. The mobile
Internet, of course, also requires its own,
similar killer applications. An example is
IPTV, which has already been the subject
of numerous discussions and attempts.
However, I personally believe that the real
killer application already exists in the form
of mobile Internet itself. It embodies a “born
killer” - all applications sprout from and
thrive on the same mobile Internet platform.
Wireless broadband development
mainly faces the following challenges:
the capacity required for wide coverage;
acceptable service standards; the
coexistence of various radio signals;
the provision of simple and extendable
network structures; forward and backward
compatibility; and retail terminal models.
Among these issues, capacity and terminal
are perhaps the most pressing.
The universal application of optical fibers
in fixed broadband networks shattered the
bandwidth bottleneck, and as such revealed
the economic and market value of Internet
access. This process gave us a glimpse of the
Internet’s “killer nature”. In technological
and economic terms, “Internet” precedes
the notion of “mobile” given that the
Internet is the specific precondition for
‘mobile Internet’. Therefore, broadband
access inevitably forms the primar y
characteristic of the mobile Internet era,
and this can be regarded as its essential “killer
characteristic”.
The keys to success
Mature technologies
7 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Huawei Technologies
Table 1 A comparison of capability and tariffs for the WiBro services of Korean operators
Pricing tariff and data transmission capability comparison
Category
KT WiBro
KTF I-Plug(HSDPA)
SK Telecom T-Log In(HSDPA/WiBro)
Monthly fee
1 GB: USD10.84
Unlimited: USD21.45
1 GB: USD31.96
2 GB: USD48.22
2 GB: USD32.40
4 GB: USD48.76
Data transmission capability
Downlink: 3Mbps
Uplink: 1.2Mbps
Downlink: 1Mbps
Uplink: 0.3Mbps
Downlink: 1Mbps
Uplink: 0.3Mbps
Source:KT/KTF/SK Telecom
OFDMA and MIMO form the
cornerstones of wireless broadband
communication. OFDMA supports high
bandwidth and employs orthotropic subcarriers. These two features help improve
f re q u e n c y s p e c t r u m e f f i c i e n c y a n d
achieve high data rates. Thus, OFDMA is
particularly suitable for broadband Internet
applications. The major advantage of
MIMO lies in its high data rate capability,
and it also improves cell border reliability.
OFDMA elegantly supports MIMO, and
these two complementary technologies
bring out each other’s best features.
CDMA-based technologies such
as CDMA2000, WCDMA, and TDSCDMA mainly provide voice and lowrate data services in a way that differs from
OFDMA-based technologies, such as
WiMAX, LTE and UMB.
The comparison between TDD and
FDD is worth highlighting. TDD uses an
asymmetric mode and interactive channels,
and its interactive channels provide
effective support for MIMO. Therefore,
in terms of frequency spectrum efficiency,
TDD is superior to FDD, which uses a
symmetric mode and dedicated uplink
feedback channels. Internet applications
are asymmetric services, which grant
TDD-based WiMAX (802.16e) advantages
over FDD-based E3G.
Popularized terminals
Terminals decisively affect mobile
Internet development because, coupled
with applications, they fundamentally
distinguish business models of the
Internet from those of the traditional
telecommunication industry.
The real Internet boom arose after the
popularization of PCs, and mobile Internet
is following the same pattern. Fortunately,
mobile Internet benefits from the
popularization of fixed broadband networks,
so we will have to wait considerably less
time for the arrival of mobile Internet
compared with the transition from PC
(1981) to e-business (1997).
Imagine a mobile Internet world in
which smart phones play a key role, and sublaptops and mobile Internet devices (MIDs)
both occupy a large share of the market. In
addition to being constantly online, an MID
is larger than a mobile phone and smaller
than a laptop, and thus balances portability
with functionality. The MID has a processing
capability rivaling that of a PC, and supports
more functions than a smart phone.
Moreover, the MID is compatible with PCs
and boasts a long battery life.
The strategic breakthrough of the massmarket MID depends on manufacturingbased economies of scale. Taiwan WiMAX
industry chain is striding to achieve this,
and the MID presents new opportunities for
product upgrades. Operators need to apply
flexible market strategies to promote scale
economies in the service market. The WiBro
(mobile WiMAX) services provided by
Korean operators have demonstrated huge
advantages as low-cost and high-throughput
wireless broadband access services.
Guaranteed frequency spectra
Without doubt, a reasonable allocation
of frequency spectrum resources is another
precondition for the global success of
mobile Internet. While there is still a long
way to go before we can achieve worldwide mobile interconnectivity, WRC-07
frequency spectrum planning designed for
next-generation wireless broadband access
gives us much hope in terms of realizing
this challenging goal.
Based on technological, market, and
political factors, 2.5GHz forms the first
choice for large-scale WiMAX commercial
deployment, and this will be probably
followed by 700MHz, which has recently
been auctioned in the United States. As a
rule, the victor must ensure openness with
respect to the mobile networks that operate
under a new band. While it is too early
to fully predict the benefits that mobile
WiMAX will enjoy, mobile Internet
development will hasten considerably.
Optimal industry chain
Besides the developmental trend of
mobile Internet and the adjustment of
supervisory policies in major markets, the
success of mobile WiMAX is subject to
both the industry chain’s entry standards
and its time to market (TTM). As a
firm WiMAX supporter, Intel advocates
lowering both entry barriers and
manufacturing costs to create a win-win
situation for industry chain development,
the benefits of which can be passed on to
consumers. This intention coupled with
the wide distribution of WiMAX-related
intellectual property rights should lead to
extremely low cost IA (Intel Architecture)
WiMAX chips in comparison to
traditional non-IA WiMAX chips.
In the chip field, Intel has started to
supply cutting-edge WiMAX chip sets
and reference design platforms. These
products help customers to quickly design
and develop various types of MIDs. The
Montevina platform represents Intel’s first
laptop platform that has an integrated
Wi-Fi/WiMAX module, and will be
launched in the near future. Currently,
laptops remain the major terminal for
mobile Internet application, rendering
Montevina’s debut a key milestone in
mobile Internet market growth.
Sprint and KDDI are set to launch their
commercial mobile WiMAX services in
mid 2008 and during the second quarter of
2009 respectively. Their services will increase
momentum to the global development of
mobile Internet and stimulate the rapid
emergence of terminals and applications.
With mobile WiMAX terminals reaching
maturity, a new era of mobile Internet is
about to pervade the modern world.
Editor: Liu Zhonglin [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
8
EXPERT’S FORUM
EXPERT’S FORUM
Roger B. Marks is Senior Vice President with NextWave Wireless Incorporated, which provides high-performance 4G chipsets and multi-band RFICs along with wireless systems and software. Meanwhile, he is an IEEE Fellow and has served as
an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for seven years. Dr. Marks initiated, in 1998, the effort leading to the formation of the IEEE
802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards. He has chaired the group since its inception.
IEEE 802.16: the 4G pioneer
The mobile wireless community has become excited about 4G - the Fourth Generation of mobile communications. What is
it? When does it arrive?
By Roger B. Marks
1, 2, and 3G
I
t is generally understood that First
Generation (1G) mobile systems
were analog voice systems; these
became quite popular in the 1980s
and are nearing obsolescence in most parts
of the world. Second Generation (2G)
systems were digital ones that primarily
carried voice but supported some data
services, notably SMS; these became
extremely popular beginning in the 1990s
and remain extraordinarily so today.
It does not appear these systems were
designated as either “1G” or “2G” at the
time they were introduced. However, those
terms were brought into play later, as the
vision of Third Generation (3G) mobile
systems came into focus in the 1990s. The
initial goals were, in general, to harmonize
worldwide spectra and standards in order
to enable global roaming and economies
of scale. Later, as the attention turned
to specific technology and standards
development, industry players initiated
global coordination activities, such as
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) and the parallel 3GPP2. Unlike
9 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
1G and 2G development, the global effort
in this case was organized through the
International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), especially its Radiocommunication
Sector (ITU-R). The 3G Partnership
Projects worked with ITU-R to gain
formal international recognition for
their technology. ITU-R was partially
successful in harmonizing spectra
and technologies. In the year 2000,
ITU-R completed the first version of its
“IMT-2000” recommendation, designated
as Recommendation ITU-R M.1457.
What distinguishes these generations of
mobile systems? From a user perspective,
the most important distinction is
the service provided on the network.
However, it is not easy to distinguish the
mobile generations by means of services,
because the service provided depends on
the operator’s intended market and the
deployed equipment. The services offered
by a particular generation of equipment
vary with deployments, user equipment,
and user choice, and all of these
change with time. For example, a user’s
understanding of a “3G” service is quite
different in 2008 than it was in 2001.
Wireless system generations are best
distinguished by their fundamental
technologies. This is how the transition
from 1G to 2G has always been defined:
the transition from analog to digital is a
technology change. Likewise, the transition
to 3G was notable for the broad-based
decision to move to CDMA technology
on the radio interface. To the extent that
the development of IMT-2000 is seen as
the beginning of 3G, it is noteworthy that
ITU-R M.1457 consists of radio interface
technology specifications, not definitions
of entire networks or services on networks.
Evolution of IMT-2000
ITU-R M.1457, the ITU’s IMT-2000
standard, has been updated an average
of once a year since its original approval
in May 2000. Some of the changes have
been small. Indeed, through the first
seven versions of the standard (including
the original and six revisions), the basic
structure remained unchanged. The
document includes five formal radio
interface technologies. The three primary
o n e s a re b a s e d o n C D M A ; t w o a re
supported by 3GPP, and one by 3GPP2.
Huawei Technologies
(One of the other addresses EDGE, a 2.5G
data service used with 2G systems; the
final one represents the short-range DECT
cordless telephone.) While significant
new approaches, including those
representing HSPA and CDMA 1xEVDO, were introduced during this time,
no fundamentally new technologies were
brought into IMT-2000.
Beyond IMT-2000:
IMT-Advanced
As IMT-2000 system deployment
began, an image of a systems “beyond
IMT-2000” began to emerge. This vision
was embodied in Recommendation ITU-R
M.1645, entitled “Framework and overall
objectives of the future development
o f I M T- 2 0 0 0 a n d s y s t e m s b e y o n d
IMT-2000”. This Recommendation
draws a picture of a complex network
of interworking systems with multiple
radio interfaces. Eventually, the name
“IMT-Advanced” was coined to represent
systems “beyond IMT-2000”. In February
2008, ITU-R issued an announcement
inviting proposals, due in late 2009,
for consideration in IMT-Advanced
recommendations.
IMT-Advanced: Is this 4G?
Many observers are under the
impression that IMT-Advanced is the
ITU designation for “4G” mobile
communications. However, ITU has
attached no such label in any of its IMTAdvanced documentation, including
Recommendation ITU-R M.1645
or the IMT-Advanced development
announcements. The IMT-Advanced
program was formally instituted by
the ITU’s 2007 Radiocommunication
Assembly. The Final Resolutions of that
meeting includes 34 references to “IMTAdvanced” but none to “4G”.
There are many reasons not to consider
IMT-Advanced as the next “generation”
beyond IMT-2000. One is that IMT-2000
technology has evolved tremendously
since its 3G origins. It will also continue
to evolve, even as the IMT-Advanced
program gets underway. Since there are
no performance limitations built into
IMT-2000, the distinctions between the
two may well blur. 4G technologies will
certainly find their way into IMT-Advanced,
but not all 4G standards may end up in
IMT-Advanced. Likewise, IMT-Advanced
may include non-4G technologies. This
seems likely, given the vision expressed in
ITU-R Rec. M.1645 of IMT-Advanced as a
set of interworking systems.
When will 4G standards
arrive?
Given this discussion, what is 4G, and
when will 4G standards arrive?
Above, we mentioned the first
s i x r e v i s i o n s o f t h e I M T- 2 0 0 0
Recommendation, ITU-R M.1457. The
seventh revision (M.145707) was approved
by the ITU Radiocommunication
Assembly in October 2007. The seventh
revision was by far the most radical in the
history of IMT-2000. For the first time, an
entirely new radio interface, the sixth one,
was added. This radio interface, entitled
“IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD WMAN”,
introduced OFDMA technology into
IMT-2000. At the same time, Revision 7
included 3GPP2’s OFDMA-based UMB
technology as well as an initial framework
description of 3GPP’s OFDMA-based
“Long-Term Evolution” technology, in
two different forms. As a result, M.1457
suddenly contains, in Revision 7, six
radio interfaces, of which four include
OFDMA. These four radio interfaces
share a number of other technological
features as well, including suppor t
of packet-based (IP) networks. This
radical change of technologies, broadly
supported across a variety of independent
standards organizations, marks the global
recognition of the initiation of 4G mobile
communications. IMT-2000 has expanded
beyond its 3G origins.
IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD
WMAN and its foundation:
IEEE Standard 802.16
IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD WMAN is
the version of IEEE Standard 802.16 that
is specified in the WiMAX Forum Mobile
System Profile. A summary description
of the radio interface is provided in
document IEEE L802.16-06/031r2, with
which IEEE initially proposed the addition
of a subset of 802.16 (designated as “IPOFDMA”) to ITU-R.
IEEE Standard 802.16, the
WirelessMAN ® Standard for Wireless
Metropolitan Area Networks, has been
under development and evolution since
1999. The standard has always, as a
fundamental design principle, supported
differentiated QoS to allow a mix of
simultaneous multimedia services on a
single network. It originally supported
only “fixed” (stationary) terminals, but
it was enhanced for full mobility with
the introduction of the IEEE 802.16e
amendment, which was approved in 2005.
The WiMAX Forum <http://wimaxforum.
org> has developed the WiMAX Forum
Mo b i l e Sy s t e m Pro f i l e t o s p e c i f y a
particular version of the standard that
could be tested for certification purposes.
Certified products were announced in
April 2008.
IEEE Standard 802.16 is developed,
maintained, and enhanced by the IEEE
802.16 Working Group on Broadband
Wireless Access. The Working Group
currently has 433 members and meets six
times a year <http://WirelessMAN.org>,
with attendance recently running over
400.
I E E E 8 0 2 . 1 6 ’s e x p e r t i s e i n t h e
pioneering OFDMA technology is deep.
The Working Group introduced OFDMA
into its fixed-access standard with the
amendment 802.16a in 2003. This was
based on standardization work that
began with contributions on OFDMA
introduced into the Working Group in the
year 2000.
T h e 8 0 2 . 1 6 Wo r k i n g G r o u p i s
currently developing a revision of the
base standard and all the subsequent
amendments. Completion of this revision
draft, unofficially and temporarily
known as 802.16Rev2, is expected in
late 2008. While the revision project is
being completed, the Working Group is
continuing its progress on the developing
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
10
EXPERT’S FORUM
IEEE 802.16: the 4G Pioneer
of three further amendments:
•• Project 802.16h is developing improved
coexistence mechanisms for licenseexempt operation.
•• Project 802.16j is developing a multihop relay specification and will specify
a relay station that can communicate
with mobile terminals. This will offer a
valuable new tool to system operators
for extending range and capacity.
•• Project 802.16m is developing an
advanced air interface, as described in
more detail below.
The 802.16m project and
IMT-Advanced
Shortly after the IEEE 802.16e
amendment was completed, members of
the IEEE 802.16 community began to
consider how an enhanced version of IEEE
Std 802.16 could satisfy the emerging
requirements of IMT-Advanced. In late
2006, following a significant effort, the
Working Group was authorized to develop
the IEEE 802.16m Project, which has the
stated scope of amending the IEEE 802.16
Wireless MAN-OFDMA specification
to provide an advanced air interface to
meet the cellular layer requirements of
IMT-Advanced next generation mobile
networks while providing “continuing
s u p p o r t f o r l e g a c y Wi re l e s s M A N OFDMA equipment”.
While the ITU-R’s view of the IMTAdvanced process timeline has varied
over time, the Task Group’s view of the
802.16m project schedule has remained
mostly independent. The basic intent
of the project, and the planned 2009
completion date for the 802.16m
amendment, have remained constant.
The 802.16m Task Group has generated
a set of system requirements that reflects
the evolving IMT-Advanced requirements
but also adds unique demands. Primary
among these additions is a requirement
for support for legacy Wireless MANOFDMA systems. The 802.16m Task
Group has also developed an extensive
“Evaluation Methodology Document”.
11 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
The Task Group is currently developing
a System Description Document (SDD)
before generating the draft standard.
The primary purpose of the SDD is to
allow alternative technical approaches
to be assessed and agreed before detailed
specifications are added to the draft
standard. More information on the
802.16m and IMT-Advanced is available
elsewhere.
Flexibility of IEEE 802.16
technology
As mentioned previously, one of the
key requirements of the IEEE 802.16m
project is strong legacy support of Wireless
MAN-OFDMA mobile stations and base
stations. Fortunately, the flexibility of
Wireless MAN-OFDMA allows for the
possibility to satisfy these requirements.
This flexibility is a distinct benefit of
OFDMA technology and is a key reason
that industry has turned to OFDMA for
4G. User demands for higher-rate services
can be met partially by greater spectral
efficiency, which is a benefit of OFDMA
and of MIMO antenna technology that
can be easily supported by OFDMA.
Another way to increase throughput is
to apply greater spectral bandwidths.
OFDMA, because it subdivides the
channel into many narrow subchannels,
is extremely scalable to broad as well as
narrow channels, with little effect on
the spectral efficiency. The technology is
readily adaptable to multiple frequencies
and to both paired and unpaired bands,
using FDD and TDD duplexing,
respectively. The technology lends itself
to adaptability at the ASIC, allowing the
possibility of very adaptable devices. Some
ASIC designers are taking advantage of
these features to provide chipsets that can
operate with a broad range of channel
bandwidths, subcarrier counts, frequency
ranges, and duplex methods.
The flexibility of IEEE 802.16 also
provides new opportunities to operators
regarding the services they wish to provide.
Novel differentiating features can be
introduced using the same basic network
technology. For example, NextWave
Wireless has introduced the MXtv TM
mobile multicast and broadcast technology
that runs using a portion of the time
and frequency resources available on a
normal two-way WiMAX network. This
is another illustration of why it is difficult
to define 4G from a service perspective.
4G technology, such as IEEE 802.16,
will support a wide range of innovative
services.
4G prospects
Given the vast success of 2G systems,
the 3G market has developed relatively
slowly. Even though the original 3G
standards were developed in the 1990s,
global 3G operators typically report that, as
of 2007, fewer than 10% of the customers
are using 3G equipment. These operators
have invested heavily in 3G technologies
that are only recently beginning to fulfill
their potential. In many cases, they see
4G not as an immediate prospect but as
a long-term evolution that will require
another round of investment, not only in
the radio access equipment but also in the
core network.
On the other hand, a number of other
companies are ready to move forward
with 4G on an earlier time scale. In
general, those that are unburdened by
legacy requirements in all or part of their
spectra are more likely to see 4G as the
best investment for mobile broadband
networks. A number of these companies
worldwide are implementing IEEE 802.16
Mobile WiMAX networks in 2008 and
2009.
Conclusion
4G mobile communication systems
are based on several fundamental
technology differentiators, including
OFDMA and packet transport. 4G
mobile communications was pioneered by
IEEE Standard 802.16. The international
community has recognized the transition
to the new 4G technologies by approving
Recommendation ITU-R M.1457-7 in
October 2007. Trailblazing operators are
currently implementing 4G networks.
Editor: Joy [email protected]
Huawei Technologies
COVER STORY
WiMAX heats up
After years of development, WiMAX earned its place as part of the ITU IMT2000
standards and became one of the 3G standards in October 2007. Increasingly more
operators have gravitated towards WiMAX.
However, what is the user experience like that WiMAX offers? In this era of fastdeveloping mobile and broadband services, why has WiMAX attracted so much
attention? We can find some clues from stories about WiMAX deployment and
operation of Summa Telecom in Russia, STC in Saudi Arabia, and a mobile operator
in South Africa.
By Guan Zhenzhen & Liu Zhonglin
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
12
COVER STORY
WiMAX heats up
Summa Telecom: a preemptive strike
Troubles of a timber
businessman
I
n this case, let us begin with Mr. Wang and
his need for broadband access. Russia is a
timber-rich country. In commercial terms, this
has resulted in relatively unprofitable crude
log exports. However, wood plate exports promise
high profits, prompting the Russian government to
recently enact regulations restricting the export of
unprocessed logs.
Mr. Wang is a timber businessman
from China. In recent years, the
demand for timber in China
h a s i n c r e a s e d m a s s i v e l y. I n
response, Mr. Wang opened a
timber processing factor y in
Russia, necessary to which was
broadband Internet access.
However, local operators lacked
sufficient access resources, and
Mr. Wang’s business could
not operate. Hearing that
the new operator,
Summa
Telecom, could provide WiMAX broadband Internet
access services, Mr. Wang was bemused - he simply
wanted to solve his communication problem, and
was not particularly familiar with the associated
technology. Mr. Wang’s “have a go” approach led
him to contact Summa Telecom. To his surprise, the
company quickly gave him a broadband Internet
access service, the access rate for which was high
enough to meet his needs. Mr. Wang, as a result, was
satisfied.
Summa Telecom is a new operator owned
by Summa, a Russian petroleum consortium.
Strengthened by considerable financial muscle, the
company has obtained licenses for services spanning
data communication, long-distance transmission,
channel rental, and communication project
installation. Summa Telecom is aware that wireless
broadband services currently form the most valuable
growth model, and has as such devoted much
effort to developing broadband access services. It is
expected to seize opportunities and occupy a large
market share in Russia’s communication market.
In Russia, the telecom infrastructure is
undeveloped, and broadband penetration is low.
Recent and rapid economic development has
quickly expanded Russia’s broadband market, and
subscriber demand for wireless broadband services
has continuously risen. Russia has many mediumsized and large enterprises in the petroleum, mining,
timber, and steel industries. Enterprise subscribers
invariably possess a strong demand for broadband
access and VPNs; operators in turn regard the
Considering Russia’s vast
network infrastructure,
advantage of WiMAX’s
features for residential,
in order to expedite
13 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Huawei Technologies
broadband access market as a deep ocean
ripe for exploration.
WiMAX comes to the
rescue
In wireless broadband services, WiMAX
has attracted Summa Telecom’s attention
with its unique advantages and promising
application modes.
WiMAX achieves low-cost and
quick network construction; it features
wide coverage, high access rates, and
large system capacity. It supports both
multimedia and broadband data services.
This can help new operators such as
Summa Telecom quickly attract subscribers
and generate profit.
WiMAX supports wireless broadband
access, enterprise broadband access,
“last-mile” access, hot-spot coverage,
and data backhaul. For remote and
sparsely populated regions, and those
lacking adequate fixed communication
infrastructures, WiMAX represents the
first choice for broadband access due to its
flexibility and low cost. In these terms, it
exactly fulfills Summa Telecom’s needs.
WiMAX also benefits from a security
mechanism that guarantees subscribers
p r i v a c y. Su m m a Te l e c o m e m p l o y s
cutting-edge WiMAX wireless broadband
enterprise solutions and plans to provide
broadband wireless communication and
data services via WiMAX. In October
2006, Summa Telecom obtained its
first 36MHz bandwidth license in the
2.5-2.7GHz band. By the end of 2006
Summa Telecom was in search of suitable
partners to construct its WiMAX 16e
networks. Through strict technical
solutions’ comparison and appraisal,
Summa Telecom selected Huawei to build
Moscow’s trial commercial network.
To preempt the market
Quick network deployment
Summa Telecom is a new operator that
lacks network construction and operational
experience. As a result, the company is
reliant on Huawei to provide a range
of services covering network planning,
network optimization, site selection,
civil engineering, project installation,
and field operations. Summa Telecom of
course seeks to quickly seize its window
of opportunity through the leading
performance, high reliability, unrivalled
security, and Turnkey experience that
Huawei’s WiMAX system gives.
The system’s leading performance
guarantees high efficiency, optimum data
access rates, and proven stability. For
Summa Telecom, Huawei’s distributed
WiMAX system can provide flexible and
efficient networking modes to guarantee
wide coverage and data throughput in
key areas. The system realizes five QoS
functions, easing Summa Telecom’s
burden in terms of offering high-quality
broadband services.
territory and expanding fixed
Summa Telecom has taken
rapid network construction
commercial, and industrial areas
commercial application.
Huawei’s WiMAX system uses telecomclass AAA servers and highly integrated
and reliable ASN-GW equipment,
complemented by a BTS system that can
continue to operate for 48 hours if faced
with a lost GPS signal.
With respect to network operation,
Huawei’s solution increases billing
mode and networking flexibility. It
increases network deployment choices
and customizes subscriber service by
giving converged and independent billing
solutions including pre- and postpaid
billing, and time and traffic-based
billing. It provides abundant northbound
interfaces to fulfill BOSS system
unified management and reduce O&M
expenditure.
With robust technical capabilities and
rich engineering experience, Huawei can
provide Summa Telecom with cohesive
consultancy services and help realize
WiMAX network deployment. Summa
Telecom and Huawei are thus cooperating
to forge a large capacity ALL IP-based
trial network that is reliable, secure and of
optimum quality. Consequently, the project
has merited Summa Telecom’s approval.
Market occupation
Su m m a Te l e c o m’s m o s t p re s s i n g
issue concerns rapid service expansion
and the ability to increase subscriber
numbers. Huawei’s WiMAX+NGN/IMS
convergence solution has helped Summa
Telecom to quickly launch end-to-end
solutions to meet enterprise requirements,
and to offer wireless voice and data access
services that satisfy the market.
Considering Russia’s vast territory and
expanding fixed network infrastructure,
Summa Telecom has taken advantage of
WiMAX’s rapid network construction
features for residential, commercial,
and industrial areas in order to expedite
c o m m e r c i a l a p p l i c a t i o n . Ne t w o r k
deployment will give subscribers high
speed wireless broadband services.
In terms of service operation, Summa
Telecom is employing Huawei’s WiMAX
solutions to launch various VASs to
fully meet individual and enterprise
requirements subscribers and enhance
revenue streams.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
14
COVER STORY
WiMAX heats up
STC: boosting network convergence
Doctor Emir’s new life
Dr. Emir works in Riyadh hospital and
lives in a local villa. His schedule is full
and, even at home, nurses will call him
to deal with emergencies as they arise.
Fortunately, WiMAX broadband wireless
access allows Dr. Emir remotely access to
cure the ill. The hospital network provides
patient history in photo and film form,
and facilitates communication with nurses
via voice and video.
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has
reaped WiMAX benefits since 2006.
STC is the region’s largest operator,
deploying 2G, 3G and NGN networks
that accommodate 13 million mobile
subscribers and 4.5 million fixed
individual and enterprise subscribers.
STC provides fixed network, mobile, data,
and transmission services. The increasing
requirement for broadband access in Saudi
Arabia has led STC to focus on broadband
service development in the short-term.
Given Saudi Arabia’s special geographical
location, copper cable deployment is a
vast and expensive undertaking. Moreover,
some urban areas lack broadband access
resources, Dr. Emir’s villa included. This is
unsurprising given a national broadband
penetration rate less of less than 2%. In
places lacking access infrastructure, STC
has realized WiMAX wireless broadband
access potential, not least because of its
swift deployment time and the fact that it
does not require copper cables.
Popularizing broadband
services
WiMAX forms a wireless broadband
access technology. It features high network
capacity and wide coverage. Compared with
traditional wired networks, WiMAX has the
advantage of high speed and low network
deployment costs. Therefore, it suits Saudi
Arabia’s geographical environment and
15 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
telecommunication developmental status.
WiMAX enables fast wireless broadband
access in the regions beyond DSL and cable
coverage, thus helping operators open up
regional markets.
As an IP-based technology, WiMAX
benefits from its mobility and broadband
access features. Due to relatively low
investment compared with other 3G systems
and significant bandwidth advantages,
WiMAX popularizes broadband.
In early 2006, STC deployed an IEEE
802.16d WiMAX network with 41 BTSs
in 3 Saudi Arabian cities. The network
mainly covers enterprise subscribers and
provides point-to-point data transmission.
In 2007, STC hoped to deploy an IEEE
802.16e WiMAX network, which planned
to cover 13 Saudi Arabian cities. STC
hoped to orient its WiMAX network
towards individual and enterprise
subscribers, replace some ADSL services
with WiMAX, and hasten broadband
popularization. As such, its lead in the
Middle East would be assured.
Promoting network
convergence
Integration underpins network evolution.
Subscribers expect operators to provide
ubiquitous data, voice, video, and VAS.
Huawei’s technical advantages, stable
system performance, and rich large-scale
commercial experience culminated in its
selection as STC’s partner for WiMAX
deployment and operation. STC deployed
the first commercial IEEE 802.16e
WiMAX network in the Middle East using
Huawei’s full range of WiMAX devices,
including distributed BTSs, access gateway,
NMS, and its certification and accounting
devices. The solution provides wireless
broadband access service for three major
Saudi Arabian cities including Riyadh.
As an integrated operator, STC expects
to use WiMAX as the driver for network
integration, cross-network cooperation,
and seamless integrated provider. Thus,
STC’s competitive ability will be enhanced.
Thanks to the ALL IP advantage of
Huawei’s WiMAX solution, STC has
optimized the use of its existing network
resources and has integrated WiMAX with
its existing 2G, 3G, and NGN networks
into a platform that fully anticipates
FMC. Huawei’s WiMAX solution features
mobility, high bandwidth, and end-to-end
In places lacking access infrastructure, STC
has realized WiMAX wireless broadband
access potential, not least because of its
swift deployment time and the fact that it
does not require copper cables.
Huawei Technologies
QoS assurance. It provides first-rate VoIP, video,
and mobile broadband Internet access services for
STC, helping the company to both maintain and
develop customer groups and increase ARPU.
STC uses WiMAX as a wireless DSL solution
to deploy its network in regions beyond cable
coverage. It thus provides a high-speed, mobile,
and stable broadband Internet access service for
subscribers in these regions. STC provides the
Layer 2/3-based VPN service with a QoS assurance
that responds to a range of individual, home and
enterprise subscribers.
STC’s general manager reflects that: “2007 is
STC’s broadband year. Huawei leads WiMAX
technologies. To date, Huawei has successfully
delivered over 5,000 mobile networks. Generally,
Huawei has gained much network deployment
experience and possesses an excellent network
planning and optimization team. I hold the strong
belief that the WiMAX network built by Huawei
will bring a great broadband experience to our
subscribers.”
Extending the leadership
A future network is destined to be an IP-based,
broadband, mobile, and multimedia integrated
network. WiMAX has become a good choice
for operators seeking to step into the wireless
broadband field. Consequently, numerous
operators consider how to establish market strategy
and business models with WiMAX so as to improve
their competitiveness and extend their leading
positions.
STC has successfully done so in Saudi Arabia’s
telecom market. Firstly, STC has deployed its
WiMAX networks rapidly and cost-effectively. Due
to high spectral efficiency and wide coverage, BTS
requirements were greatly decreased in its solution. In
the Middle East, network deployment is confronted
with problems created by an extreme environment.
In response, Huawei has provided STC with new
technologies such as MIMO and high power
amplification efficiency, thus ensuring high efficiency
and low power consumption. Moreover, Huawei has
supplied innovative distributed BTSs, which share
site resources, power supply, antenna feeders and
transmission resources with the existing network. The
WiMAX network fully utilizes STC’s existing network
resources (NGN, 2G/3G, and DSL). As a result, STC
has deployed its WiMAX network rapidly and costeffectively, and has elevated its market status.
Secondly, STC has successfully built a highperformance high-speed wireless access WiMAX
network. The WiMAX solution enjoys the
following advantages: wide coverage, high access
rates, diversified application modes, and simple
network deployment. Therefore, STC provides
market-oriented voice, video, broadband access,
mobile data, and multimedia VAS, attracting more
customer groups and increasing profit-making
opportunities.
STC has increased network integration through
WiMAX. Based on the advantages of its fixed and
mobile networks, STC is striving to open up the
broadband access market through WiMAX, thus
laying a firm foundation for FMC. By complementing
different networks, WiMAX provides a ubiquitous
multi-service experience for both individual and
enterprise subscribers, and this solidifies STC’s
ability to deliver and develop services.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
16
COVER STORY
WiMAX heats up
FIFA 2010: free from worries
Currently, most parts of Africa lack a
robust communications infrastructure.
Africa is large and sparsely populated, and
mostly consists of deserts and prairies.
Fixed line deployment and maintenance
is difficult, and copper cable resources are
lacking. The penetration rate of broadband
Internet access remains low at around
3%, which falls far short of the spiraling
demand for broadband services.
The nineteenth FIFA World Cup in
2010 will be hosted by South Africa. Some
doubt that the nation’s communications
infrastructure can meet the needs of
football fans throughout the world.
However, there is little cause for concern.
Operators in Africa have been making
thorough, long-term preparations.
After research and repeated tests to solve
the broadband access coverage problem,
WiMAX network deployment has already
begun. Football fans will be able to enjoy
World Cup news, images, and videos via
WiMAX phones, laptops, and PCs, and
upload exciting moments to the Internet
or share them with friends.
WiMAX suits Africa’s
needs
Why WiMAX has been chosen in
Africa?
As the latest high-speed wireless access
technology, WiMAX is a multi-service,
ALL IP, mobile, and broadband platform.
Embodying high-speed mobile Internet,
WiMAX is inexpensive and features easy
management, wide coverage, seamless
handovers, and smooth upgrade potential.
It enables African operators to quickly
deploy networks, cut construction costs,
and reduce OPEX. In addition, WiMAX
supports various coverage modes to fully
cover sparsely populated areas and densely
populated hotspots. Given Africa’s vast
17 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
landmass and low population density, weak
fixed communications infrastructure and
budget limitations, WiMAX represents an
optimal choice for operators to minimize
investment and maximize subscriber
numbers.
WiMAX delivers a theoretical access
rate of up to 70Mbps. Its guaranteed high
access rates provide operators with an
apposite tool to launch high-rate mobile
Internet services. WiMAX is applicable in
five scenarios - fixed, nomadic, portable,
simple mobile, and full mobile. Its
networks can be integrated with 2G/3G
mobile networks to enrich both 2G and
3G ser vices. Operators with 2G/3G
mobile networks can thus raise their
service convergence capability and enhance
their overall competitive ability.
The operator highly regard Huawei’s
R&D capabilities and advanced product
planning in the wireless field. Huawei’s
unified hardware platform for WiMAX,
GSM, UMTS, and LTE represents a
platform that, for it, effectively protects
investment and forms the backbone for
future smooth evolution in a way that
reduces both investment and risk. The
strategic alliance between it and Huawei
will deliver an effective solution for
commercial WiMAX 16e construction
that is customized for the needs of both
operators and Africa.
Enhancing
competitiveness through
WiMAX
Partner with Huawei
The CEO of one mobile operator in
Africa believes that “We must be able to
present something different to remain in
a leading position” given the steady rise
of operators entering the newly emerging
African market.
The operator can capitalize upon
WiMAX to deliver differentiated services
and proactively seek dominance in the
wireless broadband market. WiMAX
network planning and construction requires
the right strategic partner. To this end,
the operator scoured the globe to find the
equipment provider capable of providing its
required solution.
WiMAX’s increasing prominence has
gradually matured the industry chain
in recent years. Compared with other
equipment vendors, Huawei stands out
with its state-of-the-art end-to-end WiMAX
solutions that have arisen from years of
experience coupled with a solid telecom
foundation.
WiMAX is inexpensive
and features easy
management, wide
coverage, seamless
handovers, and smooth
upgrade potential.
It enables African
operators to quickly
deploy networks, cut
construction costs, and
reduce OPEX.
Huawei Technologies
Integrated mobile broadband
solution
The operator successfully adopted
Huawei’s end-to-end WiMAX solutions
to realize WiMAX and existing 2G/3G
network convergence. The service diversity
has been greatly improved, which has
helped guarantee a leading position of its
network infrastructure in Africa.
For the operator, the legacy 2G and 3G
networks and its integration methods with
WiMAX form a key concern of the company.
Huawei’s mobile broadband solution
integrates its legacy systems with WiMAX
to yield high-speed access, low cost, and
maximum efficiency. The solution produces
complementary results - the 2G/3G networks
are used for voice services and low-speed data
services, and the WiMAX networks are used
for wireless broadband services. In this way,
competitive ability is greatly improved via a
moderate investment. The solution inherits
existing services and conveniently provides
rich broadband multimedia services and highspeed mobile Internet access. The operator
can meet the increasing demand for seamless
high-speed access, provide service variety, and
raise ARPU.
The solution features site and
transmission resource-sharing between
the new and legacy networks. WiMAX
distributed BTSs are both flexible and
convenient. Existing sites basically meet
installation requirements, and network
construction is economical and fast.
Huawei unifies service platforms, core
networks, verification, billing, and
authentication. The operator can minimize
construction costs, O&M expenditure and
OPEX by using existing equipment such
as AAAs and DHCP servers. The standard,
abundant northbound interfaces provided
by Huawei’s WiMAX NMS suppor t
interconnection with the existing NMS to
realize unified network management.
Excellent performance ensures
competitiveness
Thanks to cutting-edge technologies such
as MIMO, OFDMA, and HARQ, WiMAX’s
spectral efficiency and network coverage are
significantly improved. This reduces BTS
numbers and increases network stability. With
Huawei’s WiMAX solution, the operator
can increase power amplification efficiency
by 25%. This means that they can use fewer
resources to enlarge network coverage and
minimize electricity consumption, reducing
TCO by at least 30%.
WiMAX networks can raise wireless
data access rates for subscribers - the
downlink and uplink rates can reach
8Mbps and 2Mbps respectively. This
greatly boosts data service provision
capability.
To guarantee high-quality broadband
data services, great importance is attached
to WiMAX’s QoS features. WiMAX can
provide connection-oriented telecom-class
services with excellent QoS features to
meet subscriber demands.
In addition, WiMAX’s fine mobility
enables subscribers to enjoy broadband
access services even when moving at speeds
of up to 120km/h.
Outstanding network performance
brings the operator more subscribers.
M a r k e t s h a r e , p r o f i t a b i l i t y, a n d
competitiveness are all thus elevated.
Wi t h t h e s t ro n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n
support provided by WiMAX, we have the
very reason to believe that the FIFA2010
will be free from worries, for both end
users and operators.
Editor: Gao Xianrui [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
18
MAIN TOPIC
MAIN TOPIC
Business Intelligence empowering your brain
Wireless broadband
commercial application
accelerates
By Yang Hu & Yao Zheng
19 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Huawei Technologies
Joining the 3G family
S
ubscribers always expect mobile
broadband services to provide
personalized and uniform
multimedia ser vices that are
available anytime, anywhere, and via
any terminal, plus the services should be
secure, reliable, and inexpensive.
To meet these expectations, operators
and equipment providers need to supply
seamless network coverage with a series
of solutions for the fixed and wireless
networks convergence. We should also
provide diversified, personalized, and lowcost broadband multimedia services to
attract and retain subscribers and boost
our competitiveness in the marketplace.
In the past five years, introduction
and applications of various wireless voice
and data services have spread like wildfire
with end users fanning the flames. Since
WiMAX leads the pack of current wireless
communications technologies, it may
very well become the technology that can
maximally satisfy diversified consumer
requirements.
In October 2007, at the Radio Assembly
in Geneva, WiMAX officially became one
of the 3G standards. This as a milestone
has greatly thrust forward WiMAX’s largescale network deployment and cohesive
development. Increasingly more operators
and equipment manufacturers now have
to seriously consider appropriate business
models for developing WiMAX.
Two mainstream
applications
Fr o m t h e b e g i n n i n g , W i M A X i s
widely known for its high flexibility in
frequency distribution (2.3GHz, 2.5GHz,
and 5.8GHz), channel bandwidth (1.25
- 20MHz), and application scenarios
(wireless bandwidth, mobile bandwidth,
and transmission of BTSs and Wi-Fi).
However, flexibility also brings questions
to WiMAX operators such as: In what way
should it be used? What business models
should be adopted?
A better understanding of the
application scenarios is necessary when
researching business models. Up until now,
wireless broadband and mobile broadband
have been the only two mainstream
WiMAX application scenarios. There is
no definitive difference between these two
types of broadband. A commonly accepted
distinction is whether or not it can support
speeds up to 120mph.
Here in this article, wireless broadband
is defined as the broadband access of
large-screen terminals (such as desktops
and portable computers), and mobile
broadband is for small-screen terminals
(such as mobile phones, PDA, UMPC,
and CED).
Two business models correspond to the
two application scenarios. One is a DSLlike business model based on wireless
broadband with the typical features of
open access. The operators adopt the
pipeline operational mode, and income
derives from the increase in the subscriber
numbers. Another is a 3G-like business
model based on mobile broadband.
Operators can get higher profits by
providing value-added services, yet need to
meet higher requirements and enhance the
value chain, third party cooperation, and
the multimedia service platform.
Besides the business models above,
no other ones have been proposed for
WiMAX so far. However, when more
versatile CED terminals are released,
hopefully a great many brand new and
creative business models will emerge.
It is worth noting that the business
m o d e l d o e s n’t r e m a i n u n c h a n g e d .
Different phases might require different
business models. Even in the same phase,
different models should be adopted for
different areas. Selection of a business
model should be based on the operator’s
core competitiveness, business expansion
capacity, consumer demand, market
environment, and product availability.
Business models
Presently WiMAX portable devices that
support mobile broadband applications are
still small in number. The WiMAX Forum
is still certifying mobile WiMAX products,
and the large-scale commercialization of
WiMAX for mobile broadband access
cannot be realized in the short run.
Therefore, the business model of wireless
broadband is a realistic choice.
Market orientation
Different markets and customers
see WiMAX differently in respect of its
orientation.
Fixed network operators should first
raise the broadband coverage rate, using
WiMAX as a complement to DSL to
make up for dead zones caused by difficult
deployment and aging copper cables, and
achieve universal services. For example,
Sw i s s c o m u s e s W i M A X t o p r ov i d e
broadband access in remote mountainous
areas.
Second, since broadband service is a
cash cow for fixed network operators,
they should provide diversified broadband
access (such as DSL/Wi-Fi/WiMAX) to
enhance their strength in broadband and
prevent mobile operators from occupying
Table 1 Two application scenarios of WiMAX
Wireless broadband
Mobile broadband
Services
Broadband access, VoIP, VPN
Mobile data, mobile VoIP
Terminal
CPE, data card
Mobile phone, data card
Coverage
Hot zone
City zone
Advantage
Speedy deployment, nomadic
High capacity
Weakness
Limited by capacity
Limited by coverage
Business model
Similar to fixed network
Similar to mobile network
Revenue source
Subscriber growth, multiservice provided
Subscriber growth, multi-service provided, revenue
sharing with 3rd party
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
20
MAIN TOPIC
Wireless broadband commercial application accelerates
the market with data cards. BT is a good
example.
Third, traditional fixed operators choose
WiMAX in order to enter the mobile
market and expand profit areas. Moreover,
they need to make room for FMC and
garner new profits from multimedia
terminals.
Mo b i l e o p e r a t o r s i n g e n e r a l a r e
relatively less interested in WiMAX, but
in areas with low penetration rates some
of them may seize the opportunity. For
example, Vodafone provides the wireless
broadband access service in Malta. As
HSPA develops, the spectrum becomes
limited and cell splitting faces difficulty in
obtaining sites, while WiMAX is capable
of balancing the traffic load in areas with
high volume usage.
2G operators without 3G licenses
can use WiMAX to compete with 3G
operators, remain competitive, and like all
mobile operators, hope to earn more from
multimedia terminals.
For relatively new operators, WiMAX
provides a stepping-stone to expansion.
These newly players include: Enterprises
first setting foot in the 2G/3G eras such
as Internet service providers (ISPs), who
have regular customer resources and
rich experience in channel construction.
Content providers such as television, news,
and new service developers, who provide
telecom value-added services, and are
not satisfied with the fact that traditional
operators draw high commissions based
on rich customer resources. ISPs with
many Wi-Fi hotspots, who hope to use
WiMAX to make up for the coverage
insufficiency of Wi-Fi. Representatives in
newly developed fields, such as oil-rich
tycoons with deep pockets, see the profit
margin and hope to develop WiMAX to
supplement their major services.
After all is said and done, under the
wireless broadband mode, WiMAX can
provide ultimate mobile broadband
services with limited mobility, especially
for large-screen terminals.
Target customers
In terms of wireless access, WiMAX
customers mainly consist of household
subscribers and small and medium-sized
21 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
enterprises (SMEs).
Households that have not been covered
by traditional fixed networks should be
target customers. Many modern families
become ‘mobile only’ because they live
in small houses and are in areas with a
high mobile penetration rate. They do
not want to be restricted by fixed lines.
In addition, the IDC estimates that in
2008 269 million PCs will be sold and
delivered, including 110 million notebook
computers or 41% of total. The sharply
increasing number of portables means
that more people will choose portable
broadband.
As one of the most active sectors of
the economy, SMEs are inclined towards
choosing easily installed mobile access and
IP-bound voice services.
‘Floaters’ are loyal subscribers to wireless
broadband. For example, many students
and other young people in Australia,
live in rental units and study or work in
Sydney or Melbourne. In response to this,
Unwire launched targeted services for this
customer segment, and has attracted over
80,000 WiMAX subscribers (ranked No. 3
worldwide) to date.
Products and prices
Service modes for wireless broadband
indicate mainly high-speed network access
and VoIP. High speed network access
provides a downlink rate of 1 - 2Mbps
and an uplink rate of 256 - 512Kbps.
Operators mostly adopt flat-fee charges
without traffic restrictions, though in
some markets there are certain restrictions
such as a 5GB limit. As for VoIP services,
operators mainly adopt flat-fee charges
also. Price is always a prime consideration,
and the price of WiMAX service currently
is somewhere between DSL and 3G.
Although provided ser vices are
simple, bundling offers differentiation.
Clearwire for example, provides two
types of bundling. One is the bundling of
broadband access and voice services, which
attracts ‘mobile only’ households and SME
subscribers. The other is the bundling
of modems and PC cards, which helps
Clearwire get more customers from cable
and DSL operators. A customer survey
conducted by Clearwire last year showed
that most of its customers were former
cable and DSL subscribers (33% for cable
subscribers and 26% for DSL subscribers).
In a market with very low network
penetration rates, a long waiting list means
higher prices and greater profit margins
for new product designs. In April 2008,
Orange Cameroon launched the Livebox
service over WiMAX network, offering a
download speed of 512Kbps. individual
prices range from USD86 to USD245 and
2008 is a crucial year for WiMAX
development. Operators will have
more options for creative and
successful business models with
increased sophistication and largescale commercial WiMAX application.
Editor: Pan Tao [email protected]
Huawei Technologies
enterprises pay at least USD500.
traffic.
Network construction
Terminal devices
Compared with cellular 2G/3G networks, the
early phase of WiMAX construction does not
have high requirements for nationwide coverage.
Ho u s e h o l d s a n d e n t e r p r i s e s g e n e r a l l y n e e d
broadband access only for their daily activities
in areas like homes, offices, and common areas.
National roaming is clearly an added valued area for
these customers, but is not a must in the early phase.
Like DSL, we can cultivate subscriber base while
constructing the WiMAX network. An Indian
operator with only one WiMAX BTS increased
their subscriber base in coverage areas and had a
positive cash flow within a short time. However, the
construction modes of WiMAX and DSL are not
totally the same.
For cultivating PC card subscribers, limited
mobility needs to be taken into consideration.
Therefore, constructing a WiMAX network based
on a city-by-city business model is a good strategy.
Clearwire for example, has been successful by
gradually expanding their network. In the early
phases of construction, most cities can get a positive
EBITDA within two years.
Coverage area priorities depend upon the
locations of different operators. For the location of
the DSL-complemented WiMAX network, suburban
and residential areas should be first considered. For
the 3G-complemented WiMAX network, resources
should be integrated into urban areas with heavy
Wireless broadband terminals are mainly CPE,
PC card, and USB Dongle devices. CPE usage is
targeted at less mobile scenarios such as houses and
SMEs, and divided into indoor CPE and outdoor
CPE.
In the 16d era, most terminals were outdoors,
prices of which were relatively high and technicians
were required for installation. Luckily, coverage
requirements are lower than that for other terminals.
In the 16e era now, the mainstream CPE is indoors.
In areas with poor coverage, an additional outdoor
antenna can be installed to enhance signal quality.
One feature of wireless broadband terminals is
that current subscribers do not have a strong demand
for personalization or appearance and another is that
the channel between the terminals and subscribers is
similar to that of DSL. Before a notebook computer
with a built-in WiMAX module is on the market,
most terminals are provided through subsidies or
rented from operators to end users.
2008 is a crucial year for WiMAX development.
Operators will have more options for creative
and successful business models with increased
sophistication and large-scale commercial WiMAX
application. Smart WiMAX operators surely will
grab this once in a lifetime opportunity to produce
successful products and services and implement
innovative business models.
Editor: Xu Ping [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
22
MAIN TOPIC
WiMAX terminal spurs industry development
WiMAX terminal
spurs industry development
Mature chips and diversified terminals are the catalyst for rapid development of the WiMAX industry.
By Han Song
The booming WiMAX terminal
industry
E
nd user equipment is becoming diversified
and universal, bringing great momentum to
the maturity of communications industry.
The role that the GSM terminal has
played in industry evolution is a striking example.
Similarly, the maturity of the WiMAX
terminal is a necessity for the WiMAX to
be successfully commercialized.
The market applications of
WiMAX can be classified into two
types. The first type is the indoor fixed
terminal based on 802.16e that can
be installed by users themselves, like
customer premise equipment
(CPE), PCMCIA,
EXPRESS, and the
USB modem. This
type of access service
can be provided for
both enterprise and
household users. The
second type is the laptop
computer with built-in
chips based on 802.16e,
like the MID, UMPC, PDA,
and multi-mode phones. This type of
mobile broadband data service is aimed
23 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
at individual users.
Leading chip manufacturers like Intel, Fujitsu,
Samsung, Sequans, Runcom, and Beceem have
already rolled out WiMAX terminal chipsets. TI and
Freescale are investing more in R&D and will soon
release WiMAX terminal chips as well. Moreover,
Intel, as a leader and major promoter of the WiMAX
industry, is about to release and globally promote
the laptop/UMPC/MID with built-in WiMAX
module using their own chipsets. Intel has not only
established a strategic partnership with Huawei, but
also has actively cooperated with the Sprint project
participators, Motorola, Nokia, and Alcatel-Lucent,
to spur the maturity of the WiMAX terminal
industry chain.
Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia have released
many types of WiMAX terminals. Samsung has
developed terminals such as the CPE, PCMCIA
card, and USB modem. It has also released the miniPDA SPH-M8100, featuring a foldaway keyboard,
and the SPH-P9000 with a mini-display. Motorola
is researching and developing WiMAX portable
terminals. In April 2008, Nokia officially released
the portable terminal WiMAX N810 Internet Tablet
at the CTIA exhibit in America.
In addition, numerous companies in Taiwan,
like AlphaNetwork, Quanta, ASUS, Tecom, USI,
Gemtek, ZyXEL, have released CPE, PCMCIA /
EXPRESS cards, and USB modems.
As the WiMAX industry develops and customer
requirements for the terminal diversity grow,
Huawei Technologies
Indoor terminal
Average selling price
Outdoor terminal
Compact commercial
USD600
Lower prices will definitely stimulate
WiMAX’s global takeoff.
Source: WiMAX Forum
We open for cooperation
500
400
300
200
100
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010 year
Fig. 1 Trend of the WiMAX terminal prices
customized terminal sales are gaining
popularity with WiMAX operators and
will undoubtedly be the leading trend in
the WiMAX era.
Huawei has been developing and
releasing a series of WiMAX terminals
to remedy the deficiency of cooperative
manufacturers’ terminal functions and
performance, and to provide customers
with diverse and customized terminals.
Huawei’s self-developed WiMAX terminals
aim to provide competitive, cost-effective
solutions, with remote unified NMS, and
enhanced functions.
Diversity and low cost
are the key
In the WiMAX industry value chain,
diversity and low cost will get the WiMAX
industry off the ground and into the air.
As leaders in the WiMAX industry
chain, operators should decide, based
on their promoted services, what type
of terminals they need, say CPE, USB
modems, PCMCIA card/Express cards,
laptops, or portable terminals. Meanwhile,
operators should clearly communicate
with other link enterprises in the
chain to capitalize on service provision
opportunities.
The terminal plays an essential role in
the entire process as it is closely connected
to end-users. Its role is two-fold: providing
basic communications functionality and
support for increasingly more diversified
services and user experiences.
Cu r re n t l y, No k i a , Sa m s u n g , a n d
Motorola are hard at work to fulfill the
need for innovative and low cost terminals
for the Sprint Nextel WiMAX network.
Intel states that it will integrate WiMAX
into consumer electronics products
like game players, digital cameras, and
music players in order to provide mobile
broadband access services, and shape a new
market. The diversity of terminal types will
promote operator services, attract more
customers, give them more choices, richer
service experiences and guarantee the
large-scale commercialization of WiMAX.
In terms of price, chip and equipment
manufacturers are trying to reduce the
cost of end user equipment and network
equipment. The WiMAX Development
Center of Alcatel-Lucent in India is
attempting to cooperate with the local
government to produce CPE at a price
point around USD100 or less.
Taiwan has released the WiMAXfocused project, “m-Taiwan”, in hope
of inheriting its superiority in PC
manufacture, to become a global supply
base of WiMAX terminal products. The
move will enormously reduce the cost and
price of WiMAX terminals and accelerate
the maturity of the industry chain.
A t p re s e n t , t h e p r i c e o f a s i n g l e
WiMAX chipset is about USD20. It
is expected to drop to USD10 or even
cheaper. Compared with the prices of
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and WCDMA
terminals, that of the WiMAX CPE is
very competitive. On the WiMAX Forum,
it is predicted that the price of the CPE
will drop to USD100 with USB modems
and PCMCIA cards dropping to USD90.
Huawei is an essential link in the
WiMAX chain and committed to
p r o m o t i n g t h e i n d u s t r y’s g r o w t h ,
maturity and global applications. As the
WiMAX terminal chip is maturing, the
interconnection and interoperability work
between the terminal chip manufacturers
and system equipment manufacturers
intensifies. In order to provide more
diversified and multi-level terminal
s o l u t i o n s , Hu a we i h a s a d o p t e d t h e
Interoperability Test (IOT) strategy in
cooperation with many terminal chip
manufacturers and terminal companies.
Huawei’s first WiMAX IOT Center
opened in early 2007. It has already carried
out the IOT with chip manufacturers such
as Intel, Fujitsu, Sequans, Runcom, and
Beceem. In addition, it has conducted,
or is still conducting IOT with terminal
manufacturers such as ASUS, ZyXEL,
Quanta, AlphaNetwork, Informark, USI,
Tecom, and Gemtek. Huawei issues the
IOT certificate for the partners who have
already completed the IOT, recommends
their products and provides necessary
assistance.
Huawei’s second WiMAX IOT Center
has been completed in Hong Kong. After
a three-month pilot period, it is now
officially opened to global partners. This is
another significant move for Huawei. The
aim is to make sustained investment in
WiMAX terminals, meet the requirements
of different operators and realize
complementary advantages for Huawei
and its partners; ensuring development
and mutual prosperity to drive the mature
commercialization of WiMAX.
The multi-operations strategy will
vigorously accelerate cohesive development
of the WiMAX industry chain and further
strengthen Huawei’s capacity of working
out integrated end-to-end WiMAX
solutions for operators worldwide, to
provide mobile broadband network
services that are operational, profitable,
and sustainable.
Editor: Pan Tao [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
24
Setting sail for WiMAX
An Interview with Tang Xinhong, Vice President of Huawei WiMAX Product Line
By Wang Tao, Deputy Editor-in-chief of Communications World Weekly
T
he CTIA Wireless 2008 Show
in Las Vegas, Nevada attracted
around 1,200 wireless network
suppliers, developers, and
manufacturers from dozens of different
industries in more than 80 countries.
At the show, the new 4G-oriented
technologies, such as LTE and WiMAX,
attracted the most attention. The
WiMAX Forum presented an integrated
industry chain and reported that 260
operators from 110 countries are currently
developing WiMAX networks. Concurrent
with these statistics, the number of
WiMAX subscribers is expected to exceed
133 million by 2012.
As a leading telecom equipment
supplier, Huawei demonstrated an entire
series of IP-based mobile products and
solutions, including WiMAX end-to-end
solutions.
While Huawei may have been perceived
as a follower in the 2G arena, the company
has now emerged as an undisputed
leader of the WiMAX era, advancing the
development and overall maturing of
the industry. So, what significance does
WiMAX have for the industry, and for
Huawei? How does Huawei view and
promote the development of the WiMAX
industry? What role will Huawei play?
Tang Xinhong, Vice President of Huawei’s
WiMAX Product Line was interviewed at
the company’s CTIA booth and offered
the following insights.
A promising future
Interviewer (I): Good afternoon, Mr.
Tang. All indicators show that 2008 will
25 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
be a crucial year for the development of
WiMAX. How does Huawei view the
prospects for WiMAX?
Mr. Tang (T): Considering transition
trends from fixed voice services to mobile
voice services, we predict that in the field
of data services, wireless data services will
definitely play a more important role.
After a decade’s development of
technologies such as GPRS, EVDO,
HSPA, and Wi-Fi, the market for
wireless data services has expanded, with
corresponding consumer growth. Among
the technologies currently available, the
OFDMA/MIMO-based WiMAX features
high frequency spectrum efficiency, low
cost, simple network structures, and speedy
network deployment. These advantages
make it the top choice, and increasingly
more operators agree.
In contrast with the early growth pains
encountered in 2006 and 2007, WiMAX
has now entered a period of significantly
more mature and less impeded growth.
In 2008, more spectrum resources for
WiMAX will be allowed for commercial
use. Chips will evolve, the cost of
terminals will be reduced for end users,
INTERVIEW
more equipment manufacturers will
provide system equipment authenticated
by Wave1/Wave2, and more operators
will deploy networks on a large scale
with successful operations and business
models. We firmly believe that WiMAX
will inevitably move into a golden age and
garner a large share of the wireless/mobile
broadband data services market. Huawei
is highly confident about the prospects
for WiMAX, and will readily invest added
resources to realize this potential.
I: As a principal manufacturer of
3G/4G and WiMAX equipment, how
does Huawei view the relationship
between WiMAX and 3G?
T: They complement each other. In
terms of data services, 3G is targeted
at environments with a wide coverage,
high mobile rate, and medium data
bandwidth, while WiMAX is targeted at
metropolitan areas with a medium mobile
rate and high data bandwidth. In terms
of the frequency spectrum, 3G uses FDD
and WiMAX uses TDD. In respect of
operators, 2G operators with 3G licenses
tend to construct 3G networks. 2G mobile
operators, fixed network operators, and
new operators without 3G licenses tend to
choose WiMAX.
Huawei is fully committed to providing
competitive 3G and WiMAX solutions to
meet different customer requirements.
I: For operators, constructing a
new WiMAX network is a significant
decision. What are their key concerns?
T: The great challenge that 2G
operators face is increasing subscriber base
while decreasing ARPU value. Naturally,
wireless data services have emerged as a
newly cultivated growth point. For fixed
network operators, as fixed voice services
evolve into mobile voice services, it is
inevitable that these operators will also
enter the mobile voice and data market.
ISPs and TV/broadcast operators with rich
content and exclusive users have gradually
realized that expanded content and more
consumers using mobile communications
provide a new business opportunity. They
are actively entering the field of mobile
data.
Presently, WiMAX is the overall No.1 choice
because of advanced technologies, low-cost
spectrum auctions, and low-cost equipment.
Convergence,
broadband, green, and
evolution
I: Thank you. “Convergence,
broadband, green, and evolution” are
the current buzzwords among operators.
Focusing on WiMAX solutions, what
strategy is Huawei adopting?
T: Huawei’s approach to WiMAX is
based on our sophisticated solutions to
wireless communications, transmission,
core networks, data communications,
and applications software. Our solutions
are convergent, evolutionary, green and
broadband-based to maximally meet
operator requirements.
The solutions provided by Huawei
enable WiMAX networks to seamlessly
converge with CDMA/GSM/UMTS
and easily connect with NGN/IMS/
DSL to meet the different convergence
requirements of operators. Since the
WiMAX network uses the 4G BTS
platform, WiMAX 16e networks can be
smoothly upgraded to 16m networks with
upgraded software. In terms of green,
our WiMAX solution features low energy
consumption and a high coverage rate.
Environmentally considerate and efficient
alternate energy sources, such as solar,
wind, and firedamp, can be used to reduce
the emission of carbon dioxide. For a 1000
BTS network, 4 million kWh can be saved
every day. Meanwhile, from the BTS to
the core network, ALL IP design is used
from core management to interfaces in
order to provide non-blocking broadband
throughput and guarantee the QoS of
Huawei’s end-to-end solutions. In this way,
flexible mobile broadband services can be
quickly deployed.
I: You have just mentioned
“convergence”. Regarding the
convergence of WiMAX and 4G
technologies, how does Huawei see this
trend evolving?
T: WiMAX and 4G technologies
have the same DNA: OFDMA and
MIMO. Huawei has developed such key
technologies as OFDMA, MIMO, highefficiency power amplification, RRM,
RTT, and TRM, so it is relatively easy
to share them between BTSs using LTE,
UMB, WiMAX and also the 4G mode.
What’s more, our WiMAX network uses
the 4G BTS platform. Software and
hardware platforms can be shared to the
maximum, so the WiMAX BTS can evolve
into the 4G BTS.
Standards, terminals,
and business models
I: The standards of WiMAX are still
under development and being improved.
What efforts has Huawei made to
promote WiMAX standards?
T: WiMAX standards involve the work
done by two international organizations:
the IEEE 802.16 Working Group and
the WiMAX Forum. The IEEE 802.16
Working Group is the constitutor of the
standards, and the WiMAX Forum is the
promoter of IEEE 802.16.
In 1999, IEEE set up the 802.16
Working Group to specialize in researching
the standard for fixed broadband wireless
access technology. Its aim was to establish
a globally uniform standard for broadband
wireless access. By the end of 2001, the
IEEE 802.16 Working Group had released
the first set of standards, IEEE 802.16.
Huawei, as a core member of the IEEE
802.16 group, holds the positions of
16Netman task group president, editor of
the 16h task group, and ad-hoc president
of the 16m group. Huawei’s involvement
in all the 802.16 task groups has brought
forward many competitive proposals, and
has had a significant impact on discussions
regarding standard technologies.
As one of the leaders of NWG
standards in the WiMAX Forum, Huawei
successively assumed the presidency of
four subgroups in the NWG. They are
CSN, MM, ND&S, ROHC, and ND&S
Evolution. Huawei is also working as
the editor for many subgroups, having
submitted a total of 568 proposals to the
WiMAX Forum NWG. The number of
submitted proposals ranks number two
and the coverage rate of R1.5 is 81.25%.
In 2007, the presidents of two subgroups
represented Huawei in accepting the
Excellent Contributions Award from the
WiMAX Forum 2007.
As a core member of the TWG R1.x
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
26
standard, Huawei assumes the leadership
of one WI group. Moreover, Huawei
products cover 5 of the 6 SGs. Huawei is
leading research in strengthening VoIP and
is one of the top three manufacturers of
H-FDD and Wi-Wi WI.
Since starting research on fundamental
WiMAX technology in 2000, Huawei has
already devoted over 150 people to the
pre-research and the standards for WiMAX
technology, continuously promoting
the development of WiMAX standards.
Huawei is a major participator in the IEEE
802.16 group and the WiMAX Forum,
with successful experience in holding
many conferences, including the 55th
802.16 Conf. in May 2008.
I: As to the challenges of chips and
terminals, what views does Huawei
hold?
T: For a new industry chain, chips
with a low cost and excellent performance
and terminals that have various types and
are payable to users provide the crucial
links. At present, terminal, chip and
equipment manufacturers are speeding
up interconnectivity and interoperability
in order to provide diversified choices
for operators and guarantee large scale
commercial application. WiMAX 16e
terminal chips are becoming sophisticated,
and commercial terminals are already
widely used throughout the global
marketplace.
Since 2004, Huawei has committed
to cooperating with WiMAX chip and
terminal manufacturers and established
two open IOT labs in Shenzhen and Hong
Kong. These labs have performed IOT
tests for many chip manufacturers such
as Runcom, SEQUANS, GCT, and Intel,
plus dozens of terminal manufacturers
like ZyXEL, SEWON, ASUS, InfoMark,
and more. Meanwhile, large-scale
implementation has been seen in many
Huawei commercial networks.
Huawei’s terminal division has also
initiated research on the WiMAX terminal,
and in early 2008 released the first CPE,
USB Dongle terminals that satisfy Wave2
requirements. Our strategy is aimed at
promoting the maturity of WiMAX
chips and terminals, and providing more
diversified choices for operators.
I: A well-executed business model is
27 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
vital for the successful development of
any industry. What kinds of business
model do you think are necessary
for WiMAX to evolve as a successful
industry chain?
T: For the developed countries with
sophisticated cable broadband networks
like in Korea, Japan and the United States,
we can start with wireless broadband access
to deploy a hotspot coverage network
first. In turn, this will cultivate USB and
portable equipment users and define
user habits. Operators can accumulate
experience and return early investment,
and then further perfect the network
coverage to gain more mobile broadband
users and provide portable equipment like
UMPC, and MID to high-end users.
For developing countries with immature
cable broadband networks, such as Africa
and the Middle East, WiMAX networks
are mainly used as a substitute for DSL.
Therefore, the target can be fixed CPE
households and enterprises.
Also, WiMAX has a high data
throughput and adaptable proportions of
downlink and uplink sub-frames so it is
very suitable for applications such as video
backhaul for TV journalists and security
video monitoring. Therefore, the concept
of constructing a WiMAX network for
a specialized industry and developing
industry specific applications in itself
represents a series of new business models
for operators.
Full and continuous
dedication
I: Huawei has tremendous in-depth
knowledge of this industry. Is it true that
Huawei has invested heavily in WiMAX?
T: Absolutely. Huawei WiMAX adopts a
globalized development strategy. Presently,
the BTS R&D team has over 1200 staff
members, which will grow to 2000 in
late 2008. Our R&D professionals are
employed globally at the research institutes
in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi’an, Chengdu,
the U.S.A., Sweden, Russia, India, and
elsewhere around the world. To forge the
world’s top products and solutions, we
commit considerable funds to R&D and
to attracting the most outstanding talent
to our WiMAX teams.
In addition, Huawei has been striving to
promote the development of the industry
chain. As early as in 2005, Huawei and
Intel formed a strategic alliance to push
forward network construction, plus chip,
terminal, and equipment development.
I: It is reported that Huawei has
signed many commercial contracts with
WiMAX operators all over the world.
What key factors do you consider
essential for Huawei to succeed in the
global marketplace? How will Huawei
strengthen and build on its dominant
position?
T: By the end of March 2008, Huawei
signed 17 commercial contracts for 16e,
with commercial applications in some
networks. There are several essential
factors for Huawei to rapidly increase
market success. First, Huawei’s solutions
for GSM, CDMA, UMTS, and fixed
networks have been sold to more than
100 operators from 70 countries, many of
which have requirements for developing
WiMAX. With hands on experience of
operator needs, Huawei is best positioned
to anticipate, appreciate and respond to
customer requirements and then respond
with optimal solutions for each differing
scenario.
Second, WiMAX is a technology
combining wireless with IP. It involves
end-to-end IP networking, end-to-end
QoS, security, wireless network planning,
marketing and development experience
of fixed broadband network. Based on
over 10 years’ development of wireless
technologies, IP, and fixed network,
Huawei is capable of integrating optimal
resources to provide the most competitive
solutions.
In the latter half of 2008, Huawei will
be introducing solutions in the form of a
series of BTSs, terminals, and integrated
core networks. By enhancing competitive
strength, Huawei’s dominant position in
the market will be further strengthened.
In the latter half of 2008, Huawei is
going to roll out the solutions in a series
of BTSs, terminals, and integrated core
networks. By enhancing competitive
strength, Huawei’s dominant position in
the market will be further strengthened.
Editor: Xu Ping [email protected]
HOW TO OPERATE
Huawei Technologies
KT’s mobile WiMAX business model
By Zhao Yahui
From the earliest days of WiMAX, Korea Telecom (KT) has been one of the
foremost advocates and a trailblazer in WiMAX application. KT’s success as a
telecom operator and as a WiMAX pioneer has attracted worldwide attention.
The following insights are taken from a speech by Dr. Hyun-Pyo Kim, Director of
the WiBro Business Unit at Korea Telecom. (WiBro: Wireless Broadband, Korean
brand name of mobile WiMAX.)
providers. To provide reliable and true
mobile broadband service (Mobile 2.0), KT
WiBro has now committed to establishment
of a mobile WiMAX network.
The mobile WiMAX network will
accommodate three trends in modern
communication development: IP-based,
mobile, and broadband. The main features
of Mobile 2.0 service based on mobile
WiMAX will deliver: (1) An open platform
supporting complete Internet browsing,
(2) User-generated contents (UGC), (3)
High speed delivery, and (4) Low cost
functionality and operation.
Learning from success
K
orea Telecom pioneered the
world’s first mobile WiMAX
ser vice in 2006 and, since
then, has continued to rapidly
deploy innovative WiMAX-based services.
Neighboring countries, with similar
hinterland such as Malaysia and Taiwan,
are expected to develop similar WiMAX
models. With global relevance in mind,
this article is focused on KT’s marketing
strategy, business achievements, and
practical experience obtained in a region
and economy highly suited to WiMAX
deployment.
Responding to changing
lifestyles
Enhanced communications and the
mobile Internet have changed the life of
Koreans. However, current mobile Internet
based on cellular network cannot support
heavy traffic and can only support Mobile
1.0 service. Mobile Internet is expensive in
any economy, and evolving needs make it
no longer the optimum technology to meet
the multi-service/multi-platform demands
of today’s customers and their source
As a WiMAX pioneer, KT WiBro
has accumulated a literal treasure trove
of operational experience. KT has
determined optimal end-to-end equipment
applications, including terminal equipment
for end users. For customers the company’s
pricing studies have resulted in competitive
but affordable pricing for WiBro services.
From a corporate standpoint the pricing
strategies are equally attractive - while the
promotional price for 1G services is only
USD10, KT still realizes increasing profits.
KT has also achieved the best network
quality. When compared with other 3G
networks, the WiBro service demonstrates
clearly superior uplink and downlink
rates. Again, this plays to customer
satisfaction and increased applications by
users and service providers. Finally, WiBro
provides convergent services such as an
open platform based on an IP network to
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
28
HOW TO OPERATE
KT’s mobile WiMAX business model
support a mobile triple play service.
Phase-by-phase network deployment
Following the granting of KT’s license in early
2005, the mobile WiMAX network was deployed
in selected regions for a two-month trial period in
May 2006 - with some equipment being tested with
commercial application. After the trial period, KT
launched soft commercial service for this region.
The full commercial service provision for Seoul
formally commenced in April 2007, and KT has
continued to expand the coverage phase by phase.
Subsequently, KT’s network will soon be able to
support MIMO, which is expected to enhance
network performance even more.
K T ’s m o b i l e W i M A X n e t w o r k g o a l s a r e
to provide seamless services based on existing
infrastructure. Complimenting mobile WiMAX
network, KT already has a Wi-Fi network covering
densely populated hotspot areas, and a subsidiary
company KTF (Korea Telecom Freetel) providing
nationwide 2G/3G networks. Through these
networks and multiple technologies together, KT
provides seamless data services for subscribers across
the entire Korean market.
In response to market demand, KT is gradually
expanding its network capacity and, in the process,
has deployed many different types of repeaters.
For instance, optical fiber or RF repeaters are used
according to differences in coverage requirements with optical fiber repeaters being generally used in
the areas with weak signal strength such as buildings
or in areas without signal coverage.
BS equipment is mainly categorized into indoor/
outdoor BS and KT uses ASN gateway equipment
to manage connections. In terms of the NM system,
KT has different charging systems and charges
different rates according to subscription condition.
Following initial network deployment, KT
conducted tests and trial operations to assess
effectiveness. The average download and upload
29 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
throughput on the mobile WiMAX network was
greatly increased, compared with HSDPA network.
Wide variety of terminals
KT designed a diverse range of terminals to meet
varying needs. For the mass consumer market, KT
provides USB dongles for laptop users, and mobile
WiMAX embedded laptops. Also, to meet the
needs of those who want to bring one terminal, KT
developed compact multi-mode smart phone which
integrates CDMA and mobile WiMAX functions.
For vertical market, KT provides user devices with
special business application to each market segment.
Currently, the USB dongles have gained a
majority of the nationwide market share. Covering a
wide instance of use, KT is going to offer additional
mobile equipment and electronics products, such
as digital cameras, which are also embedded with
WiMAX chipset. These product applications fall into
three categories.
The first category is card equipment. During
soft commercialization in 2006, mobile WiMAX
PCMCIA card was first released. In 2007, three
types of external USB dongles were released.
The first was dual-mode supporting both mobile
WiMAX and HSDPA. The second was single-mode,
which supported only WiMAX. The last was also
dual-mode equipment, supporting mobile WiMAX
and Terrestrial DMB (T-DMB). In Korea, T-DMB
is a mobile TV service. All these products have
proven popular in the diverse Korean marketplace,
and continue to be evolved with the intent of
maintaining existing users while attracting new
subscribers and increasing overall use.
The second category of terminal includes the
smart phone and the PMP. Currently there are three
types of smart phones available. These are produced
by Samsung and LG. These products are triple-mode
equipment, supporting mobile WiMAX, CDMA,
and T-DMB. All three types of smart phone have
been commercially released.
Huawei Technologies
Subscribers access CDMA network to
make voice call or access mobile WiMAX
network to use WiBro services. The same
units allow broadcast TV through the
T-DMB system. The PMP with mobile
WiMAX chipset embedded is also dualmode equipment. It supports WiMAX
and T-DMB, enabling convenient web
browsing.
The third category of terminal is the
laptop or UMPC embedded with mobile
WiMAX chipset. Samsung has developed
mobile WiMAX embedded UMPC with
unique feature, such as foldaway keyboard.
Focusing on core services
WiBro services fall into three categories,
core services, competitive services, and
differentiated services. Core services
reinforce WiBro’s unique style of service
provision. KT ’s core services include
UGC, Web Mail, My Web, PC Control,
a n d Mu l t i - B o a rd s e r v i c e s . W h e n a
subscriber connects a cell phone or a PC
to the mobile WiMAX network, these
services become available.
•• UGC
The UGC service enables the subscriber
to upload personal video clips or photos
to the UGC portal. When the subscriber
enters the UGC interface, they can access
their personal contents on the typical
portal website, which is fully integrated
with the UGC.
•• Web Mail
This is an integrated e-mail management
service provided through smart phones.
KT integrated three portal websites that
are frequently used. Usually, when people
want to check all of their e-mails, they
might need to log in to different portal
websites using different accounts. With
the KT Web Mail service, multiple portal
websites are integrated into a smart phone,
so the subscriber just needs to click one
icon to check all mail. A list of the portal
websites, with sent and received mails is
displayed when the subscriber clicks on
the corresponding icon. Downloads and
queries become much easier.
•• My Web
T h e K T My We b s e r v i c e a l l o w s
subscribers to exchange information
through a fixed website. Users can view the
desired information without visiting every
URL. Target website destinations can be
preset and categorized. Then the subscriber
can click the icon of My Web to open each
website category page. After entering a
category, the subscriber can immediately
locate all the preset websites.
•• PC Control
The PC Control service integrates a
subscriber’s home PC, office PC, mobile
equipment, and network storage media
into a smart phone. Through the PC
controller, the subscriber can remotely edit
any document or play MP3 files.
•• Multi-Board
The Multi-Board service serves as
a h i g h - q u a l i t y, m u l t i - c h a n n e l , a n d
multimedia conference platform.
Subscribers can use smart phone to
participate in a video conference. What
really interests KT’s subscribers is the
ability to share web pages at the same
time, watch video clips together, or handle
business matters simultaneously.
•• Customized services
Some subscribers require customized
services, such as news, everyday
information, popular video clips, T-DMB
mobile TV, and portal websites. Back
in April of 2007 when these services
were newly launched, only around 5000
subscribers signed up. However, when
all commercial services were provided,
the subscriber numbers exploded. The
growth ratio was ten times greater than
experienced on launch of initial services.
As network coverage is improved, KT
anticipates an even faster increase in
subscriber numbers.
Flexible marketing strategies
With powerful products and a wide
variety of terminals, KT has developed
several killer applications and binding
products. Price: The current pricing strategy
is a partial flat rate that can be widely
accepted. Promotion: KT has conducted
various promotional activities with varied
orientation. For example, college students
are major customers, so KT has conducted
student-specific price plan. KT has also
conducted joint promotional activities
together with the company’s commercial
partners. Last, but not least, are distribution
channels. Sales distribution for KT ’s
products is performed through its subsidiary
companies, dedicated channels, and online
tools.
KT provides four levels of standard
prices for the partial flat-rate subscribers. It
also provides two service packages, namely
the Saver and the Free packages to spur
the development of WiMAX service. As
mentioned earlier, The Saver package costs
only USD10 for up to 1GB. In addition,
for Saver subscribers who require large
throughputs, KT provides the Fun, UGC,
and Life packages. For an additional
three dollars, subscribers can enjoy all
of the three content packages without
limitation or impacting the 1GB already
purchased. The promotional price of the
Free package is no more than USD20, and
the promotion runs until the end of 2008.
KT also provides WiBro+Megapass
(Fixed Broadband) and WiBro+Show
(WCDMA) package products.
WiBro+Megapass is a package consisting
of mobile and fixed broadband services.
KT’s broadband fixed services have over
50% of the domestic market share, making
KT the leading operator in Korea. These
two package products afford major price
advantages.
Communicate anywhere
The vision of KT is to be a market leader
in the Mobile 2.0 era and provide advanced
broadband rich service for subscribers so
that they can communicate, not only when
in one place, but also when they are on the
move. It is also KT’s goal for subscribers to
be able to enjoy real-time and personalized
broadcasts created by other remote users.
Ultimately, KT believes Korea’s WiBro
service is providing good examples and
business cases to help operators build a
world with networks everywhere, allowing
people to access the Internet anywhere,
anytime, and through any terminal.
Editor: Xue Hua [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
30
HOW TO OPERATE
Refined WiMAX 16e network planning
Refined WiMAX 16e network planning
By Zhang Congling & Xie Guozhu
operation expenditure (OPEX); minimize
inter-system interference; and ensure
sufficient indoor and outdoor coverage.
Huawei’s rich 2G/3G network planning
experience has proved invaluable in the
development of its WiMAX 16e network
planning solution. The solution features
innovation in frequency planning, multiantenna technology, interference control,
and network planning tools. Moreover,
Huawei is able to customize multi-scenario
indoor coverage solutions for operators’
specific needs and thus help them
enhance the value of WiMAX 16e’s core
competitiveness.
Maximizing spectral
efficiency
A strong relationship exists between a high quality WiMAX network and
refined network planning. The key technologies and applications specific
to WiMAX 16e pose a range of new network planning challenges.
W
iMAX technology
attracted considerable
industr y-wide interest
from the moment of
its inception. It effectively combines
broadband data into mobile technologies,
and its flawless integration capability
is able to satisfy strong subscriber
demands rapidly for mobile broadbandbased network access, operators in turn
benefit from a highly efficient platform
through which to deliver competitive
and differentiated services. Subsequently,
identifying methods to achieve coste f f e c t i ve Wi M A X c o n s t r u c t i o n h a s
emerged as a key research area.
31 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
The widely and randomly distributed
WiMAX 16e frequency bands are 2.3GHz,
2.5GHz, and 3.5GHz. The frequencies
of traffic channel bandwidth are 5MHz,
7MHz, 10MHz, and 20MHz. Sub-carrier
allocation modes span: Partially Used SubCarrier (PUSC), PUSC with all SC/Fully
Used Sub-Carrier (FUSC), and Fractional
Frequency Reuse (FFR).
Planning a WiMAX 16e network
presents a wide range of challenges in
terms of securing effective implementation
methodologies. Deployment needs to
optimally utilize an operator’s frequency
re s o u r c e s ; re d u c e BTS n u m b e r s t o
decrease capital expenditure (CAPEX) and
In a WiMAX 16e network, the
common sub-carrier allocation modes are
PUSC, “PUSC with all SC/FUSC” and
FFR.
Under PUSC, each sector employs only
a third of the available frequency resources,
and neighboring sectors utilize subchannel resources without mutual conflict.
As a result, interference is relatively small.
Limited power resources are centrally
applied to partial sub-carriers, yielding
an extremely high downlink coverage
distance. While the PUSC mode features
good coverage, its spectral efficiency is
lower than that of both the “PUSC with
all SC/FUSC” and FFR modes.
Under “PUSC with all SC/FUSC”,
all sub-channel resources are utilized and
BTS and sector throughputs are relatively
high. This mode boasts the least network
interference and is easy to implement, but
it consumes comparatively more frequency
resources.
Un d e r F F R , t h e l e v e l o f s e c t o r
throughput is between that of the other
Huawei Technologies
two modes. The entire network employs
only one frequency point and delivers
the highest spectral efficiency, but system
interference is relatively high.
The three allocation modes all possess
advantages and disadvantages. We need
to select the most suitable sub-carrier
allocation mode based on an operator’s
specific frequency resources and network
deployment requirements.
Fo r e x a m p l e , i n a 3 . 5 G Wi M A X
project in Georgia, the operator obtained
paired frequency bands, both of which
are 40MHz. According to the existing
frequency resources of the operator,
Huawei has proposed a “10MHz channel
bandwidth + PUSC with all SC 1 x 4 x
4” solution. The entire network adopts
a BTS as a reuse cluster for frequency
planning. Each BTS is configured with
four sectors, and there are four frequencies
for networking. The proportion of uplink
to downlink sub-frames is 31:15.
The solution maximizes the operator’s
frequency resources. The downlink and
uplink per sector peak rates are above
20Mbit/s and 5Mbit/s respectively. The
sector spectral efficiency is twice or three
times greater than that of other mobile
communications systems. The maximum
throughput per BTS reaches 100Mbit/s,
which meets subscriber requirements for
ultra-broadband mobile access services.
With these features and benefits, the
solution was welcomed by the operator.
Reducing BTS numbers
Multiple Input Multiple Output
(MIMO) technology is the key to reducing
both BTS numbers and CAPEX.
Compared with Single Input Single
Output (SISO), MIMO generates coverage
gains of 4 - 6dB using transmit diversity
technology’s Matrix-A 2 x 2, which
significantly extends coverage distance.
When the pre-coding MIMO-Beam
Forming (MIMO-BF) technology is
employed, MIMO generates an additional
coverage gain of 3 - 6dB. With MIMO2T4R technology, MIMO extends the
uplink coverage range by an additional 2.5
- 3.5dB, which translates as a radial gain of
25%.
Based on the characteristics of
different scenarios, we can select the most
appropriate multi-antenna technology
solutions. This can considerably extend
network coverage, minimize BTS numbers,
and reduce network CAPEX & OPEX.
In August 2007, Huawei and the
operator, JCOM, jointly performed an
outdoor field test in Tokyo to evaluate
MIMO Matrix-A application. The results
exhibited a 4 - 6dB coverage gain.
Disabling MIMO in an urban area gives
a 1.1km coverage radius when the terminal
is configured with a PCMCIA card. After
enabling MIMO, coverage increases by
45% to 1.6km, and the number of BTS is
reduced by 50%.
Minimizing inter-system
interference
Interference is a major problem in
mobile communications systems. In an
area where different operators’ WiMAX
T D D s y s t e m s e m p l oy n e i g h b o r i n g
frequencies, inter-system interference is
inevitable, especially if two systems are
not synchronized. The increasing number
of WiMAX commercial sites makes it
more difficult to obtain new site locations.
Therefore, WiMAX needs to be co-located
with other systems such as GSM, CDMA
or UMTS. In such cases, inter-system
interference exists.
Huawei has managed to solve the
issue of coexisting WiMAX systems that
operate in one area and use neighboring
frequencies. Huawei “co-location +
synchronization” solution mitigates intersystem interference by synchronizing
WiMAX systems and adopting an identical
proportion of uplink and downlink subframes to eliminate inter-BS interference.
Conjoined deployment can help reduce
negative system impact from the farnear effect. An operator can optimally
exploit frequency resources to maximize
system throughput without reserving an
additional guard band.
When two operators’ WiMAX systems
cannot be co-located or synchronized,
Huawei provides a customized BTS
narrowband filter solution. This adopts
closer frequency reuse mode, for example
FFR, and reserves certain guard bands
such as 5MHz. The solution maintains
inter-antenna isolation, reduces intersystem interference between neighboring
frequencies, and guarantees optimal
equipment and system performance.
To realize WiMAX co-location with
other systems, Huawei’s extensive research
and practical tests have culminated
in a solution that isolates vertical
or horizontal space for inter-system
antennae installation. Doing so minimizes
interference between WiMAX and other
systems.
For a 2.5G WiMAX project in Japan,
Huawei proposed a customized medium
n a r r ow b a n d f i l t e r s o l u t i o n f o r t h e
operator. By adopting FFR to obviate the
interference between several operators’
n e i g h b o r i n g f r e q u e n c i e s , Hu a w e i
successfully delivered a highly efficient
WiMAX 16e commercial network.
Guaranteeing the
network quality
Comprehensive network planning
tools
Effective network planning tools are
crucial to guaranteeing network quality.
In orientation to customer requirements
for mobile network planning, Huawei
incorporated its 10-plus years’ network
planning and optimization experience to
develop a GENEX portfolio tools solution.
The series of GENEX tools comprise:
GENEX U-NET (a mobile network
planning platform), GENEX Probe and
GENEX Assistant (drive test systems),
and GENEX Nastar (a mobile network
performance monitoring and optimization
system).
The GENEX U-NET enhances mobile
network planning by implementing
coverage and capacity planning, planning
verification, auto-site selection, and
propagation model self-calibration.
Moreover, U-NET can simultaneously
support several types of networks. It allows
for the impact of multiple factors on
coverage and capacity, including service
requirements, MIMO, the permutation
zone, sub-carrier allocation, modulation
mode, and coding repetition times.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
32
HOW TO OPERATE
Refined WiMAX 16e network planning
For a new network, U-NET suggests
h i g h - q u a l i t y n e t w o rk c o n s t r u c t i o n
methods. For an overlay network, it seeks
to optimally utilize existing network
resources and minimize the impact of new
sites on the existing network.
T h e G E N E X Pro b e a n d G E N E X
Assistant are mainly used for network
construction and maintenance. The
GENEX Nastar represents the trump card
in terms of network optimization. The
solution can perform seamless association
analysis by importing GENEX Probederived drive test data into the U-NET for
model calibration. Nastar is also able to
verify U-NET planning results.
To date, GENEX portfolio solutions
have been successfully applied by the
leading global operators worldwide,
including Leap in America, TATA in India,
and BT in the UK.
Multi-scenario indoor coverage
The existing frequency bands used for
WiMAX are higher than those found in
other mobile communication systems,
causing greater space propagation losses.
WiMAX services, meanwhile, are mainly
used indoors. Therefore, appropriate
indoor coverage solutions for diversified
scenarios are crucial to the WiMAX
network quality.
•• xDSL replacement solution
When WiMAX replaces xDSL, an
operator must focus on identifying lowcost construction methods, while catering
to the network access requirements of
household users, and small and mediumsized corporate subscribers.
In these scenarios, outdoor customer
premise equipment (CPE) or windowmounted CPE are used to facilitate indoor
coverage. Outdoor CPE is equipped
with high-gain outdoor antennae, which
i n c re a s e c ove r a g e r a d i u s by 3 0 0 % .
Window-mounted CPE is an attractive
option for operators due to its ease of
installation and “window-against-antenna”
design.
The STC WiMAX 16e network forms
Huawei’s first Middle Eastern WiMAX
commercial network. It adopts numerous
window-mounted CPEs, and successfully
33 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Commercial WiMAX 16e
networks are being quickly
deployed throughout the
world. Underpinned by
a customer-first ethos,
Huawei is dedicated to
constructing top-grade
WiMAX 16e networks with
its professional, customeroriented, and refined
network planning.
elevates the quality of indoor coverage
signals by using the same number of sites.
•• Small-to-medium capacity solution
We recommend the low-cost Pico BTS
+ Distributed Access System (DAS) indoor
coverage solution for areas characterized
by small-to-medium capacity demands,
such as shopping plazas or residential
areas. Smaller and lighter than a macro
BTS, the Pico BTS is the same size as a
portable computer and is thus applicable
to a variety of indoor environments.
Moreover, several systems can easily share
the antennae system through this indoor
coverage solution.
•• Large capacity and wide coverage
solution
Our “distributed BTS + DAS” solution
responds to areas that necessitate large
capacity and wide coverage capabilities,
such as gyms, airports and exhibition
halls. Based on mature HSPA distributed
BTS technology, the WiMAX distributed
BTS describes a compact, high capacity,
multi-band networking unit. It is easy to
install, enables rapid network deployment,
and dramatically reduces costs associated
with site location, equipment rooms, and
auxiliary equipment.
•• Large capacity and centralized
coverage solution
A luxurious mansion provides an
example of a site that requires large
capacity and centralized coverage. In
such a case, we recommend the “indoor
Distributed BS System (iDBS)” solution.
The iDBS offers high capacity, wide
coverage, high receiver sensitivity, and
low expenditure in terms of project
implementation and maintenance.
Additionally, it realizes cell splitting,
and facilitates capacity expansion via a
simple data configuration adjustment,
negating the need for costly and complex
engineering reconstruction.
•• When indoor distribution system
cannot be deployed
In buildings where special regulations
apply, for example in buildings protected
by cultural heritage laws, it may be
impossible to deploy indoor distribution
system if its construction parameters
cannot be satisfied. In this instance, an
outdoor BTS antenna can be sharply
up tilted or down tilted. Mobile signals
directly penetrate the building to achieve
indoor coverage, without the need for a
designated indoor distribution system.
This solution removes project
implementation difficulties, while reducing
the indoor coverage CAPEX.
We are ready
By March 2008, Huawei has held talks
with more than 100 operators worldwide
regarding WiMAX standards, network
planning, and network construction.
In the Asian-Pacific, Middle Eastern,
African, European, North American,
and Latin American regions, Huawei has
already constructed over 30 trial systems
and has been awarded 17 WiMAX 16e
commercial contracts.
With the completion of interoperability
verifications and the sustained decline
in terminal prices, commercial WiMAX
16e networks are being quickly deployed
throughout the world. Underpinned by a
customer-first ethos, Huawei is dedicated
to constructing top-grade WiMAX 16e
networks with its professional, customeroriented, and refined network planning.
Editor: Li Xuefeng [email protected]
SOLUTION
Huawei Technologies
A great opportunity for WiMAX
Mobile TV
Notable for its enormous potential,
WiMAX Multicast Broadcast Service
(MCBCS) is emerging as the most viable
technology for mobile TV, a new service
that looks poised to become hugely
important for the mobile industry.
By Cao Jie
Great market potential
M
obile Internet is now integral to our
modern life. There are generally
three major mobile data customer
groups, and each is characterized by
different needs and tastes. Communication (e-mail,
messaging, conferencing), Entertainment (games,
video, music), and Information management
(databases, documents, note-taking) delineate
the main categories, although they possess some
overlapping features.
Mobile TV & video presently account for one third
of the mobile Internet market. Based on falling prices
due to increasingly mass application and consumption,
this figure is destined to rise dramatically. Gartner
statistics indicate that mobile TV users - including
unicast - will reach 1 billion by 2012.
This prediction is consolidated by existing,
widespread commercial deployment trends. In 2004
NTT DoCoMo launched the world’s first mobile
TV service based on unicast technology. This was
soon followed by SKT in 2005 and by Verizon,
who provide mobile TV via DMB broadcasting and
Media flow technology respectively. To date, around
30 countries have deployed mobile TV networks,
and this number is rising on a monthly basis. It’s
believed that mobile TV will start to boom in the
2008 - 2009 timeframe.
Leading WiMAX MCBCS
technology
Competition promotes mobile TV
The rapid evolution of mobile technology
supports higher capacity networks, and as such is
both enabling and accelerating the popularity of
mobile TV. Originally voice formed the successful
driver for 2G networks and, today, video and TV
underpin 3G deployment. The evolution from 3G
to 4G is set to be stimulated by services that offer
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
34
SOLUTION
Mobile TV - A great opportunity for WiMAX
enhanced quality. Quality indicators
span increased bandwidth, elevated
sophistication in terms of large-scale
information provision, and improved
customization capabilities. The maturity
of key 4G technologies such as OFDMA,
MIMO, and optimized MAC scheduling
algorithms realize a range of desirable
features. These include enhanced handover
and mobility, major infrastructure design
re q u i re m e n t s t h a t p ro m o t e a r a p i d
response, elevated session rates, increased
capacity, reduced user charges, swift
return on investment (ROI) for operators,
and simplified autonomous terminals.
WiMAX, in this context, describes a
leading choice for pre-4G technology. Its
rapid time to market provides an ALL IP
flat network solution that can complement
existing 2G/3G networks so as to deliver
mobile TV and video services with a
guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS).
Based on the mobile access methods
mentioned above, Table 1 details a variety
of competing technologies that are
available for mobile TV service provision.
The three main categories cover mobile
and broadcast networks, and DVB-SH
for satellite. The availability of multiple
broadcasting technologies offers operators
more options to choose from, and vendors
richer experiences in mobile TV solutions.
Additionally, the competition between
different technologies is necessary to
promote the development of mobile TV.
WiMAX MCBCS:
the right choice
Given that 3G networks are currently
under utilized, some mobile operators are
offering streamed TV and video content
at highly attractive prices to encourage
consumers to adopt and use their services.
WiMAX is based upon a
2-layer ALL IP network
architecture and is widely
regarded as a cost-effective
means to provide VoIP and
data services. The WiMAX
Forum is committed to
enabling MCBCS with
minimal changes to
existing networks in order
to support mobile TV &
video.
However, the capacity of a typical voicecentric WCDMA network tends to quickly
reach its limit when accommodating
increases in both traditional voice and data
applications. WiMAX neatly sidesteps this
capacity issue.
WiMAX TDD, which operates under
a duplexing mode, is best suited for
data applications and advanced antenna
technologies. The rapid scheduling of
uplinks and downlinks realizes bandwidth
requirements for different applications.
Flexible and diversified mobile TV
and video service business models are
facilitated, which results in maximized
profit margins for operators.
The WiMAX Forum MCBCS sub
team has been aggressively pursuing
related standard development. The team
has completed the first draft for MCBCS
Stage 2 base line text and finalized it at
the Taiwan FtF meeting in October 2007.
MCBCS is expected to be fully issued by
Q2 2008.
In terms of network deployment,
operators are broadly concerned with
economic development, rapid ROI coupled
with a long-term evolution potential that
protects investment, device availability,
appropriate pricing, and smooth upgrade
capabilities can accommodate nascent
applications.
WiMAX is based upon a 2-layer ALL
IP network architecture and is widely
regarded as a cost-effective means to
provide VoIP and data services. The
WiMAX Forum is committed to enabling
MCBCS with minimal changes to existing
networks in order to support mobile TV
& video. Mobile WiMAX has enjoyed a
long-term and smooth transition route
towards 802.16m, which allows a network
to support peak data rates with at least
6.5bps/Hz for downlinks, and 2.8bps/Hz
for uplinks. Particularly with 802.16m,
a dedicated carrier will be allocated for
MCBCS. Optimized switching between
broadcast and unicast services can be
achieved, and the maximum MCBCS
channel reselection interruption time is 1
second for intra frequency and 1.5 seconds
for inter frequency. All these features
give WiMAX operators a considerable
advantage in terms of MCBCS adoption
and a tangible lead with respect to mobile
TV & video service provision.
The above analysis underpins our belief
that 3G-based enterprises should boost
ARPU by taking advantage of the unused
capacity and availability that can be found
in multicast broadcast technology. This
can fulfill the needs of mobile TV &
video service users who form a third of
the mobile Internet market. However, we
Table 1 The competing technologies that promote Mobile TV development
TV Centric
Telco
DVB-H
T-DMB
M-FLO
Commercial launch in Italy,
Finland, South Africa etc;
terminals available
Commercial launch in
Korea and Japan; terminals
available
Commercial launch in US
etc; terminals available
35 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
MBMS
Satellite
BCMCS
MCBCS
DVB-SH
CDMA
WiMAX standard to be
published in mid 2008
Standard was published in
11/2007; no terminal available
experiments
Huawei Technologies
both mass and specific user groups.
R2
ASP
Coherent partnership-based
development
NSP
R6
R3
Internet
R1
Air interface
ASN-CW
MS
Home agent
AAA
R4
MBS
controller
IP
encapsulator
Content
server
Nodes porvided by NextWave
Fig. 1 WiMAX MBS solution
are aware that both unicast and multicast
based on a 3G network are cost prohibitive
in a mass market context.
High levels of investment are necessary
for the deployment of proprietary mobile
TV technologies based on satellite
networks. The cost per subscriber is
expedient, but applications are unable to
be personalized. Satellite, therefore, is only
a temporary or complementary choice to
broadcast architectures.
WiMAX MCBCS, however, renders
multicast cost-competitive with broadcast
technology, and it is scaleable to serve the
mass market. Thus, it forms a long term
solution for the mass consumption of
mobile TV & video applications.
An innovative approach
The WiMAX mobile TV solution
With this vision in mind, Huawei
has partnered with NextWave, a global
provider of mobile multimedia and mobile
broadband technologies, to announce a
strategic agreement that seeks to jointly
develop the market advanced WiMAX
broadcast solutions for mobile operators
worldwide. This collaboration will bring
WiMAX solutions to the market more
rapidly, and offer a cost effective way to
meet the growing need for mobile TV and
broadcast services.
WiMAX MBS solution features simple
design and ALL IP flat architecture, as
illustrated in Fig. 1. On the access network
side, there are base stations (BSs) and
a gateway. In the core network, a MBS
Controller (MBSC) is connected to the
content server that can operate under the
control of an operator or a third party. AAA
is employed to perform authentication and
authorization with appropriate user profile
information, collect billing information,
and then send it to the Business Operation
Support System (BOSS). To provide this
solution, NextWave is working on the
IP Encapsulator and MBSC. Huawei is
providing the following network elements
and associated functionalities: ASN-GW,
BS, and AAA.
The two ways to provide mobile TV
are through unicast and broadcast, and
they differ in three basic aspects: channels
(dedicated or common), requirements
(individual or general), and tariffs (high or
low). Mobile TV services usually embody a
basic service need in the form of programs
with mass appeal. Examples include live
sporting events and real-time news. Payto-view prime time programs target a
given user group with specific interests,
and these are not necessarily live programs.
Therefore, we suggest using broadcast
for basic services and unicast for targeted
services. Given this, the Huawei/NextWave
solution delivers a flexible business model
that responds to the varied demands of
As a key player in the WiMAX Forum,
Huawei has been notably proactive, and
currently enjoys a leading position in
MCBCS development. In January 2007,
Huawei proposed the first complete
MCBCS technical solution (MXtv) to
the WiMAX Network Working Group
(NWG), and this now forms the base for
proposal integration. NextWave finalized
MXtv, and by doing so realized a milestone
in a process that has given the company
a wealth of experience in the mobile TV
field. NextWave is continuing to closely
liaise with Huawei regarding the formation
of a standardized technology.
In April 2007, Huawei successfully
demonstrated its WiMAX solution for
real-time monitoring to China Mobile
and, as such, was selected to provide the
mobile broadband network to support
mobile video applications for the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing.
Huawei’s rich experience in next
generation broadband networks has
positioned it as a leader in a range of
telecommunication fields, including IP
and mobile transmission. Furthermore,
we are active in discussions with other
companies concerning the provision of
chipsets and related solutions.
During CTIA 2008, Huawei showcased
the fruit of its partnership with NextWave
by demonstrating the extremely well
received mobile TV solution. We thus
anticipate a robust end-to-end WiMAX
mobile TV solution that will be available
for commercial launch by the second half
of 2008.
Embracing the spirit of partnership that
By
Gao Lei & Li Chun
is central to cohesive development, Huawei
is currently working with over 100 global
operators to progress WiMAX deployment
and applications. To date, we have been
awarded 17 WiMAX contracts and over 35
trials, which are serving to accelerate the
future development of mobile TV. We are
certain that mobile TV represents a great
opportunity for WiMAX.
Editor: Joy [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
36
SOLUTION
The Compact WiMAX - Small is big
The Compact WiMAX
Small is big
By Zhang Youzhi
Early concerns
M
To achieve great things, an abundance of effort and an
eye for details are both prerequisite. The same premise
applies to WiMAX development.
37 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
any countries worldwide
are currently deploying
WiMAX networks.
During the initial stage
in a network construction project, what
concern operators most are: seeking to
minimize investment; guaranteeing rapid
implementation; simplifying O&M;
providing carrier-class applications; and
facilitating seamless, future-oriented
capacity expansion and evolution.
These requirements can be divided
under capacity, network, and service
development.
In terms of capacity, an increase in
subscriber base is natural. A WiMAX
network, therefore, requires smooth
expansion capability, although the initial
number of subscribers is few. During initial
network deployment, operators focus
on key area coverage as low subscriber
throughput requires low network capacity.
With respect to the network,
operators expect rapid construction and
commercialization in order to keep CAPEX
as low as possible. This is coupled with the
need to minimize cabinet numbers, assure
effective O&M and service development,
and lower OPEX. Integral to the network
is its ability to evolve in line with mobile
Huawei Technologies
technology development, and reuse
existing network broadband NEs to avoid
repeat investment.
With regard to service development, an
operator firstly considers the development
of broadband Internet access services.
These primarily comprise fixed-broadband
access and VoIP services, and VPN services
for enterprise subscribers. Moreover,
a WiMAX network must possess an
operational billing capability that contains
billing and end-to-end QoS assurance.
The Compact WiMAX
solution effectively meets the
requirements of small-scale
and first-stage commercial
application, and enables
operators to explore the
market quickly and easily.
Moreover, the addition of
Compact WiMAX answers cabinets facilitates smooth
the call
capacity evolution and
larger-scale commercial
At present, small scale commercial
trials of WiMAX networks are taking
application.
place around the world. In order to help
operators rapidly deploy an economical
network and quickly gain subscribers,
Huawei provides its Compact WiMAX
solution.
With a 50,000-subscriber capacity
and a 1Gbit/s throughput, the solution
consists of multiple NEs including ASNGW, M2000, AAA, DNS, and BOSS. All
are integrated into one compact cabinet,
which is convenient to transport, install,
and maintain. Moreover, its speed of
deployment greatly expedites network
planning.
The Compact WiMAX solution
effectively meets the requirements of
small-scale and first-stage commercial
application, and enables operators to
explore the market quickly and easily.
Moreover, the addition of cabinets
facilitates smooth capacity evolution and
larger-scale commercial application.
High integration
The Compact WiMAX provides the
same services as an ordinary solution,
while all NEs are easily housed by one
cabinet, which occupies only 1/3 or 1/4 of
the area of an ordinary cabinet. Excluding
broadband and VPN services, the
Compact WiMAX solution enables NGN/
IMS connections in order to realize VoIP,
which accelerates market access.
The Compact WiMAX solution
integrates the future-oriented ATCA
platform with the AAA, M2000, BOSS,
and DNS. The ASN-GW employs
the cutting-edge NE40-4 platform to
guarantee 99.999% reliability. Using the
switching function, the ATCA platform
shares disk array and tape drives with other
related products, and simplifies the NE
backup mechanism.
Better service experiences
The Compact WiMAX solution
delivers high-speed, economical, and
stable Internet services to subscribers via
portable and mobile terminals. Evolution
to and integration with an IMS network
allows Compact WiMAX to provide richer
services, WiMAX-based VoIP, and seamless
handover between voice and data services.
It should be noted that the Compact
WiMAX network uses an ALL IP
infrastructure that shares a platform
with the Huawei HSPA/LTE/UMB.
The WiMAX network derives multiple
multimedia applications from the
IMS network, and the two networks
share mechanisms for unified network
management, subscriber management,
and subscriber authentication. Shared
applications and services include voice
and multimedia, push-to-talk, voice call
continuity (VCC), multimedia video
conferencing, convergent Centrex, and
CRBT. The system supports prepaid,
postpaid, and multiple billing policies.
Sharing site resources, antenna feeders, and
transmission equipment with existing 2G
networks, the WiMAX network reduces
network construction costs and eliminates
repeat investment. Subscribers can obtain
a service experience quality that matches
that of a traditional network.
Flexible billing policy
A BOSS system is embedded in
t h e C o m p a c t Wi M A X c a b i n e t t h a t
implements independent number
allocation, comprehensive billing, and
supports time/traffic based, and prepaid/
postpaid billing policies. The BOSS system
uses a Web interface that achieves customer
service center access, and provides an array
of interfaces for expansion, and standard
interfaces that interoperate with existing
BOSS systems. Moreover, subscriber
information is uniformly managed, and
the solution supports flexible billing
method customization. It can provide
basic billing functions for individuals,
and supports VPN billing for enterprise
subscribers, traffic-based billing and
monthly fee modes.
Simple maintenance and
reduced TCO
Every NE in the Compact WiMAX
solution is managed through the M2000.
The Compact WiMAX solution realizes
remote management, simple and convenient
operating processes, and the reduction of
O&M costs by at least a third.
Operators can flexibly and smoothly
expand capacity by adding cabinets to
the Compact WiMAX solution via the
solution’s combined cabinet mode. AAA
can use the distributed database, and the
new generation BS employs an advanced
ALL IP platform. This enables smooth
evolution from 16e to 16m, and integrates
flawlessly with multi-standard BSs.
It is impossible to take a thousand
steps without first taking one. Compact
WiMAX deployment represents the first
step to success. The solution is certified
and endorsed by industry experts, and
proven to be the right choice for more and
more operators.
Editor: Xu Peng [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
38
SOLUTION
Wireless broadband ushers in a new age
Wireless broadband
ushers in a new age
By Liu Wang & Peng Hong
A
ccording to a recent report from
Juniper Research, the growth of
WiMAX services will accelerate
from 2009 to 2011. Projections
s h ow t h a t b y 2 0 1 3 , t h e n u m b e r o f
WiMAX subscribers will increase to
47 million and the annual revenue of
WiMAX ser vice will exceed USD20
billion. WiMAX is clearly the emerging
new wireless broadband technology that
promises a new era of wireless broadband
services.
Broadband on the move
OVUM predicts that there will be 420
39 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
million broadband subscribers by 2010.
For many of us, the Internet has become
an integral part of our day-to-day routines.
It provides rich information, services, and
applications that enhance communications
and our lives, both at work and play.
At present, three common wired
broadband service access technologies
are available: Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL), Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC), and
Ethernet. Wired access limits mobility and
cannot provide broadband access services
anytime, anywhere and with any terminal.
So the question is, how to provide wireless
broadband access services while assuring
ample bandwidth for the subscribers?
In some countries, even the deployment
and maintenance of fixed lines is difficult,
copper cable resources are scarce, and
broadband Internet access remains low.
These areas are well suited for WiMAX
deployment to meet broadband service
requirements.
As an emerging new wireless broadband
technology based on IEEE 802.16,
WiMAX can help overcome the obstacles
caused by fixed lines, and increasingly
more operators are seeing the light.
WiMAX: a prime choice
WiMAX offers broadband ser vice
operators a golden opportunity with these
Huawei Technologies
advantages:
First is rapid network deployment and
obvious cost advantage.
WiMAX is a wireless access technology
that doesn’t require huge infrastructure
investments such as routing and requires
very low license expenditures. Featuring
low cost, easy management, wide coverage,
seamless handover, and smooth upgrades,
WiMAX lets operators quickly deploy
a network with minimal CAPEX and
OPEX.
WiMAX is best suited for broadband
Internet access in areas with weak fixed
line infrastructure and strict cost controls.
The low cost and fast deployment of
WiMAX networks allows new operators
to quickly deploy a network, provide
differentiated services and be first in their
respective markets to do so.
Second is high-speed access and rich
service experiences.
Theoretically, WiMAX supports up
to 70Mbit/s access rate, providing highspeed broadband access experiences
resembling ADSL. Also, WiMAX can be
integrated with IMS to provide abundant
IP multimedia services, and broadband
operators can become service providers
instead of simple pipeline suppliers.
Third is abundant application scenarios
and convergent services capability.
WiMAX networks can be applied to
abundant scenarios in fixed, nomadic,
portable, simple mobile, and full mobile
access modes. It can also be integrated with
2G/3G mobile networks to enrich 2G/3G
services and enhance the entire network.
Ready to deploy a WiMAX
network?
Huawei can provide state-of-the-art,
end-to-end WiMAX broadband access
solutions, including access equipment,
core networks, service networks, bearer
network, terminals, professional services,
network planning and optimization,
engineering and maintenance services,
and expert consultants to meet any and all
implementation requirements.
Select a suitable network
deployment mode
Here are some different WiMAX
network deployment solutions and
different application scenarios:
Scenario 1: For the new operators
without broadband resources in the
existing network, Huawei recommends
an independent WiMAX networking
solution, which includes the WiMAX
BS, ASN-GW, AAA/HA, plus network
management and billing system.
Scenario 2: For operators that have
fixed DSL resources and broadband
networks, Huawei recommends integrating
the WiMAX network with the fixed
DSL network. By hybrid networking,
the operators can reuse the BRAS, AAA,
network management system, and billing
system of their existing network and need
to deploy only WiMAX BS, ASN-GW,
and HA.
Huawei’ WiMAX broadband solutions
provide maximum flexibility and
convenient high-speed wireless broadband
access services for your subscribers. The
WiMAX broadband solutions support
IP-CS and ETH-CS features and
provide Layer 2 and Layer 3-based VPN
applications, and can meet the diversified
requirements of both individual and
enterprise subscribers. Based on the ETHCS feature, the WiMAX solutions support
the Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
(PPPoE) service mode exactly the same as
that supported by ADSL. Subscribers can
have exactly the same service experiences;
operators can cut promotional costs and in
a short time gain a larger market share.
Optimal cost and fastest speed
Adopt diversified billing modes
To reduce initial operator investment
and to speed up commercialization,
Huawei has innovative schemes such as a
compact WiMAX cabinet, distributed BS,
and equipment reuse.
The compact WiMAX cabinet scheme
adopts the advanced ATCA platform,
which integrates the ASN-GW, AAA,
EMS, DNS, DHCP, BOSS, and Firewall
into one cabinet. Only a compact cabinet
and the BS are required to rapidly deploy
a high performance operable commercial
network.
The distributed BS scheme reduces
the difficulty in obtaining site resources,
consumes less electrical power, and requires
less man-hours, space and transmission
resources. It can reduce the TCO by more
than 30%. The 35% efficiency of the
power amplifier enables the RRU to be
installed without a fan on the tower and
reduces the feeder loss by 2 - 3dB. An
output power of up to 20W per sector
enlarges the coverage area by 20 - 30%
and reduces the number of sites.
The equipment reuse scheme is
applicable to the operator that has fixed
bandwidth resources. It optimally utilizes
the existing network equipment and
resources, reduces investment, and ramps
up network deployment time.
In Hu a w e i’s Wi M A X b r o a d b a n d
solution, the AAA comes with the
prepaid function built in. It supports the
independent prepaid service mode without
traditional IN support. Investment and
operational costs for the IN are saved and
network deployment time is shortened.
Provide stable and flexible
services
In addition, the AAA can interoperate
with the BOSS system that is embedded in
the compact cabinet or the existing BOSS
system to support the postpaid service
mode. Huawei’s WiMAX broadband
solution now supports time-based and
traffic-based billing solutions. In the future,
it will support content-based billing to
help the operator further profit by selling
content services. It also supports flexible
call rate settings, such as discounts, allowing
the operator to offer different call rates
according to different market segments.
Thanks to WiMAX, we will be able to
enjoy convenient and fast network services
anytime, anywhere, with any terminal to
enhance any lifestyle. From basic voice
services to brilliant multimedia services,
from work to entertainment, and from
downloading to social networking to personal
show creation - The future is here and
WiMAX will boldly lead us into a new world
of ubiquitous wireless broadband services.
Editor: Pan Tao [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
40
SOLUTION
Choosing the right partner for GSM data services
Choosing
the right partner for
GSM data services
By Zhang Ruizhao & Mao Weihua
Mobile data services stretch
GSM networks
A
research by Forrester Research into
23 global telecom operators evidences
that mobile broadband services are
destined for rapid development. These
mobile services include music, Internet, Email,
TV, and online gaming. However, the widely and
globally deployed GSM networks are only capable
of providing low rate data services. High rate
multimedia services remain firmly beyond the grasp
of GSM.
Many GSM operators are focusing on mobile
broadband service development as their way out.
However, limited 3G licenses have restricted
operators’ 3G options and insufficient spectrum
41 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
resources have intensified competition. Many
operators were frustrated with what appeared to be
a mission impossible, and so the race to develop
alternative solutions began.
One of the viable options has emerged as GSM/
WiMAX integration. Fully using existing resources,
this combination of GSM/WiMAX technologies
possesses the capability to deliver mobile broadband
data services.
Why WiMAX?
As a mobile broadband access technology,
WiMAX adopts some of the key 4G technologies
including OFDMA and MIMO, and supports a rate
of 75Mbit/s over the air interface. The core network
employs a flat IP-based structure, which follows the
current network development trends for reducing
Huawei Technologies
deployment costs and time-to-market.
Not only does WiMAX achieve both,
but it also features end-to-end QoS, a
robust security mechanism, and abundant
multimedia IP services. These services
include high-speed Internet access,
operable VoIP/VT, VoD, and Mobile TV.
The TDD used by the WiMAX system
adapts to the uplink-downlink asymmetry
of data services, which in turn promotes
system resource usage.
The system supports multiple frequency
bands and variable channel bandwidth,
giving operators access to low-cost
frequency resources. Cost benefits are
further afforded as the WiMAX operation
license is relatively inexpensive and easy to
obtain. In the future, moreover, WiMAX
16e will develop into the superior WiMAX
16m, which will assist operators further
achieve a competitive edge.
GSM operators who choose to combine
the WiMAX system with their GSM
networks are positioned to provide a
range of high speed mobile data services,
while guaranteeing voice service QoS.
This creates a fresh opportunity for
business growth, satisfies their sustainable
development demands, and increases their
competitive abilities.
Voice and mobile
broadband convergence
When establishing a WiMAX network,
GSM operators must fully utilize existing
resources. A step-by-step, structured
approach is essential to establish a network
and achieve convergence, and to successfully
complete system transformation.
Fully reusing existing resources to
provide hotspot coverage
When conditions are suitable, WiMAX
base stations should be installed at GSM
BTS sites, with both sharing an equipment
room, power and transmission systems,
and antenna feeders. Coexisting BTSs
allows operators to achieve WiMAX
coverage for hotspot areas or cities, and
provide both fixed and nomadic data
services after only a small investment. In
non- hotspot areas, the GSM network can
still be used to provide voice services, and
the promotion of data services can attract
new subscribers and realize greater profits.
WiMAX equipment management is
included in the existing centralized NE
management system to achieve the unified
m a n a g e m e n t o f G S M a n d Wi M A X
equipment. This reduces deployment
and O&M costs, and related personnel
can gradually increase their WiMAX NE
management skills and experience.
Providing continuous coverage
through convergence
Converged networking brings operators
and subscribers many advantages
compared with independent networking. A
subscriber usually prefers a single account
number, password, bill, and a unified
service platform that offers seamless service
switching between different systems. Data
service development has forced operators
to step up investment on their GSM
network-based data networks. To this end,
the dual-mode BTSs that support both
GSM and WiMAX can be used to achieve
capacity expansion and holistic network
regrouping, implement continuous
WiMAX network coverage, and provide
data services in full mobile and roaming
modes.
IMS technology is unrelated to
network access, and can be introduced
to the core network to further enhance
network potential. WiMAX supports
seamless access to the IMS network, which
enhances QoS control and guarantees, and
elevates system resource utility. Moreover,
IMS can support a wealth of SIP-based
services such as whole-network VoIP,
video telephony, converged IP Centrex,
multimedia meetings, emergency calls, and
location-based services. Subscribers can
use any terminal that supports WiMAX
to access converged services anytime,
anywhere. The IMS’s service and control
layers are separated, giving operators the
option to provide an open service platform
for third-party SPs/CPs to jointly develop
additional WiMAX+IMS based services.
Therefore, freedom is given to operators to
construct new business models, and raise
competitive ability.
As many GSM/WiMAX dual-mode
terminals are emerging, the authentication
of SIM cards and subscriber information
management can be unified. One SIM
card can be used to deliver both voice
and data services, and the network can
offer VCC between WiMAX and GSM.
Operators can provide continuous voice
services for subscribers and achieve the
complementary interworking of GSM and
WiMAX networks. The GSM/WiMAX
combined network supports both pre-paid
and post-paid services. Through the BOSS
system, operators can unify bills for GSM
and WiMAX services. Therefore, OPEX
is reduced and customer satisfaction
enhanced.
Evolutionary development and
value-added networks
Data services will hit the mainstream
during the latter stages of data network
development. Current trends promote
upgrading to WiMAX 16m technology
given that it offers stronger mobility and
higher bandwidth support capabilities.
Based on telecom and Internet
convergence, WiMAX yields greater
multimedia service potential, positioning
mobile operators at the core of the business
chain. Mobile operators can reconstruct
upstream service and content resources to
fully utilize their well-established network
and management platforms. Through
this, they can develop new commercial
cooperation modes and value-added
services, further raising their competitive
advantages.
For GSM operators, WiMAX
broadband wireless access can satisfy
their future development demands in
part and help them overcome the current
bottleneck in GSM networks. They
should seize the opportunities brought
about by rapid data service development
by employing WiMAX to implement
mobile broadband services. This could
help operators create new business growth
points and gradually complete the service
transformation. WiMAX can assist GSM
operators achieve sustainable development
and respond confidently to a market that
is characterized by its increasingly fierce
competitive environment.
Editor: Chen Yuhong [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
42
SOLUTION
When WiMAX meets IMS
When WiMAX meets IMS
By Wen Yulin
WiMAX features wide coverage, high
bandwidth, easy deployment, and is applicable
to fixed, roaming, and mobile scenarios. WiMAX is one
of the best existing high-speed wireless broadband access
technologies to cover areas not reached by wired broadband access,
plus offers radio access bearers (RAB) for various IP-based services.
As an internationally recognized and future-oriented core network architecture, the
IP Multimedia Subsystem - IMS is integrated with IT and communications functions to help
operators quickly provide abundant multimedia services. The IMS can be carried over several
broadband access technologies to provide an open service environment, help operators to rapidly
introduce new services, save operational costs, and lay a foundation for FMC.
43 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Huawei Technologies
WiMAX+IMS convergence solution
M
Being an
industry-leading
equipment vendor in the
field of ALL IP transformation,
Huawei offers a complete product
line from terminal to access network, core
network, service system, and BSS/OSS. Moreover,
Huawei has in-depth WiMAX and IMS convergence
knowledge. Huawei’s WiMAX+IMS convergence
solution incorporates the advantages of WiMAX and IMS
networks to provide rich service experiences for subscribers.
ost WiMAX operators today are
newcomers who focus on Internet access
and VoIP services, and emphasize the need
for reducing initial TCO and carrying
out smooth expansion based on service requirements.
Huawei’s WiMAX+IMS convergence solution is based
on in-depth experience and a thorough understanding of
operator needs.
The solution optimizes and integrates WiMAX and
IMS network architecture. Both the CSN (Connection
Service Network, including AAA, EMS, BSS/OSS, and
DHCP/DNS) of the WiMAX network and the core
components of the IMS network are based on advanced
telecom computing architecture (ATCA), featuring high
integration, fine scalability, and high reliability.
Apart from the BTS, all of the components (GW, CSN,
and networking equipment) on the WiMAX network side
are integrated into one cabinet, whereas all the components
on the IMS network side are configured in two cabinets. The
BSS/OSS, EMS, and DNS/DHCP can be shared between
WiMAX and IMS networks.
According to actual network topology, the BSS/OSS
of the existing network can be connected and the existing
DNS/DHCP can be reused. This helps operators to
quickly deploy a network and launch services, reducing
the CAPEX. The solution further reduces the OPEX with
unified network management, a small floor space, and
low power consumption. Capacity for 50,000 subscribers
with 1Gbit/s throughput at the initial phase of network
construction can be realized. When there are more than
50,000 subscribers, network capacity can be increased by
adding subracks and gateways.
In later versions of the convergence solution, the
integration will be further improved with all the
components integrated into one cabinet and the provision
of Internet access services; the solution also decreases
CAPEX and OPEX, while offering even richer multimedia
services for subscribers.
Key features
Support network convergence
The WiMAX+IMS convergence solution supports
SIM/USIM-based certification. In the SIM/USIM-based
certification solution, the WiMAX access certification
adopts the EAP-SIM and EAP-AKA, whereas the IMS
access certification uses IMS-AKA. Operators and
subscribers only need to maintain the same certification
indicator (SIM/USIM). The SIM/USIM-based
certification solution can reuse the existing equipment
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
44
SOLUTION
When WiMAX meets IMS
(HLR/HSS) and operational processes,
which proves to be particularly suitable for
mobile operators.
In the near future, the solution will
support data center sharing. At that time,
the certifications among the AAA, HSS,
and HLR will allow data sharing, and the
convergence between WiMAX+IMS+GSM
and WiMAX+IMS+UMTS will be complete.
For convergent charging, the
convergence solution supports SCP-based
pre-payment. A subscriber can enjoy
both Internet access services and VoIP
services through the AAA and IN interface
and the operator has the convenience of
convergent charging.
Later versions of this solution can
support service flow-based charging rules
through PCC architecture. By transmitting
the charging indicator between entities,
the charging correlation between the
application level and the service flow level
can be realized. The correlated charges
can then be sent to the billing center for
convergent charging.
The Huawei WiMAX+IMS convergence
solution supports the charging based
on traffic, duration, traffic+duration,
and events. The flexible charging modes
guarantee charging policies from the
technical support perspective.
In terms of convergence network
management, the network equipment
of WiMAX and IMS can share the same
EMS system. The EMS system supports
standard northbound interfaces for
connecting the existing or the third-party
NMS system.
Presently, Huawei’s iManager M2000
supports unified management of WiMAX
and IMS network equipment, and unified
terminal maintenance. Soon, operators
will be also allocating dynamic services for
terminals, upgrading batches of hardware
and software, monitoring and diagnosing
status and performance, and managing the
CPE Intranet terminal equipment.
Provide E2E QoS assurance
The Huawei WiMAX+IMS convergence
solution can provide end-to-end QoS
assurance and can deploy static QoS and
dynamic QoS solutions in different phases
according to the QoS requirements for
45 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
carried services.
The solution offers end-to-end QoS
features for carried services. At the air
interface on the access side, the BS and
MS support five types of priority services
(UGS, ertPS, rtPS, nrtPS, and BE) that are
defined in the 802.16e standards. On the
network side, the BS and GW support the
mapping between the priority of the air
interface and that of the IP bearer network
(DSCP and 802 1p/Q), and then perform
QoS classification and labeling, traffic
monitoring, traffic shaping, congestion
avoidance, and congestion management
through the DiffServ model.
Currently, the solution supports static
QoS. When terminals access the network,
the solution presets ser vice flows to
establish transmission channels for services
and guarantees end-to-end QoS. Because
the static QoS solution does not impose
high requirements on the network and
does not require the PCC architecture,
it can quickly support triple-play
applications. However, due to the limited
number of static service flows, resources
need to be reserved, causing relatively low
resource usage.
The dynamic QoS solution is based
on the PCC architecture of the WiMAX
Forum. It can dynamically set up, modify,
and release relevant service flows according
to requirements, enhance resource usage
and guarantee QoS for dynamic IMS
services. Furthermore, it can be correlated
with the WiMAX bearer network charging
and IMS service network charging during
t h e s a m e s e s s i o n t h ro u g h t h e P C C
architecture and provide flexible charging
policies.
Deliver abundant multimedia
services
Huawei’s WiMAX+IMS helps operators
to provide high-speed Internet access
services and abundant IMS services to
end users at anytime and anywhere with
any type of terminal (mobile, fixed, PC
etc.). Additionally, end users can freely
customize or cancel terminal services,
personalized Ring Back Tone services, and
Multimedia Messaging services through
the unified Web Portal on the Internet
and cater to the interactive ser vices
development trend.
Vo I P s e r v i c e b a s e d o n Hu a w e i’s
WiMAX+IMS enables subscribers to enjoy
the same service experiences as those using
traditional communications technology.
New telecom services of high reliability,
high security, and high quality can be
introduced to the Internet.
The convergent IP Centrex solution
directly supports enterprise-level group
services such as group calling and web
calling. For example, when a subscriber
receives an email through web calling and
wants to call the sender, he or she only
needs to click on the Call button on the
email toolbar.
The combination of WiMAX highspeed wireless broadband access and IMS
convergence features make applications
of video services such as advertising,
video monitoring, and multimedia video
conferencing much more convenient and
wider in scope.
B a s e d o n t h e Hu a w e i v o i c e c a l l
c o n t i n u i t y ( VC C ) s e r v i c e a n d t h e
subsequent voice/video call continuity
(V2CC) service, the convergence solution
guarantees a seamless switchover of voice,
video and data ser vices between the
UMTS/GSM/PSTN network and the
WiMAX+IMS network. More importantly,
ser vices are not affected during the
switchover, and subscribers can make or
receive cost-effective and convenient calls.
Huawei is constantly striving to ramp
up the development of WiMAX+IMS
c o n v e r g e n c e s t a n d a r d s . Pr o p o s a l s
pertaining to WiMAX+IMS convergence
solution-based P-CSCF detection
p ro c e s s e s , P C C a rc h i t e c t u re - b a s e d
mobile enhancement functions, static/
dynamic preset flow handling processes,
and the charging correlation between
the bearer network and the application
layer have been approved. Additionally,
Huawei has applied for several patents on
WiMAX+IMS convergence.
In June 2007, Huawei established a
demonstration center for its WiMAX
+IMS convergence solution to present
services such as video calling and
videoconferencing. By doing so, Huawei
has provided a genuine service experience
platform for its customers.
Editor: Xu Ping [email protected]
LEADING EDGE
Huawei Technologies
Sean McBeath is a senior member of the IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is
currently working in the wireless advanced research and standards group at Huawei Technologies in Plano,
Texas, USA. His research spans wireless communications, resource allocation, scheduling, and VoIP. He has
published numerous scientific papers and has over 40 patents granted or pending.
New enhancements in WiMAX
By Sean McBeath & Jin Lei
H
uawei is fully committed to WiMAX development and has made
significant contributions to the development of IEEE 802.16 standards.
Currently, there are two major ongoing projects in the 802.16 group:
Revision 2 and 802.16m.
So far, Huawei has submitted more than 30 contributions regarding persistent
scheduling, H-FDD, and WiMAX - Wi-Fi coexistence for 802.16 Rev. 2: the nearterm evolution of IEEE 802.16. In the long-term evolution of IEEE 802.16
(802.16m), Huawei has presented over 30 contributions for frame structures,
control channels, pilot structures, and more.
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
46
LEADING EDGE
New enhancements in WiMAX
802.16 standards
evolution
The WiMAX industry is embracing a
unique opportunity in the marketplace, as
it represents the only major commercialized
MIMO OFDM based system.
IEEE 802.16e-2005 was developed
before other beyond-3G standards, such as
3GPP LTE and 3GPP2 UMB, and there
are a few key areas where the performance
of 802.16 systems can now be improved.
The Rev. 2 project in IEEE 802.16
was not only initiated to incorporate all
of the available addendums, but was also
designed to address these key areas. The
commercial IEEE 802.16 Rev. 2 system is
expected to be available sometime in 2009
- 2010, which is still earlier than the time
frame for LTE based systems.
Task Group m (TGm) of IEEE 802.16
is working to develop the 802.16m system
to address long-term industry requirements
for marked performance improvements.
A key target of the 802.16m system is to
meet the IMT-Advanced requirements.
Based on IEEE 802.16e-2005, they are
expected to exceed twice the throughput
of current WiMAX systems. An evolved
802.16m system is required to provide
s u p p o r t f o r l e g a c y Wi re l e s s M A N OFDMA equipment, including mobile
stations (MSs) and base stations (BSs).
The 802.16m system is also required to
support green-field deployment by turning
off the legacy support feature.
Fig. 1 provides a high level timeline of
the standardization activities associated
with 802.16 Rev. 2 and 802.16m.
The maintenance task group is working
on developing the 802.16 Rev. 2 system, and
most of the standardization is complete except
for adding additional details and clarifying
new features. The projected completion
date for the standardization process is in
September 2008. One more important aspect
of this project is that Rev. 2 is meant to be the
basis of other amendments, such as 16h, 16j,
and even 16m.
To date, the TGm has passed two major
milestones. First, the group approved
the System Requirements Document
(SRD). The 802.16m standard is targeted
for submission to IMT-advanced, and
47 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
the SRD describes a set of requirements,
which, if met, would meet the IMTadvanced requirements.
TGm has initiated the process of
developing the system description
document (SDD), which is a Stage 2
description of the 802.16m system and
expected to be completed in November
2008.
Once the SDD is complete, TGm
will develop the 802.16m Amendment,
which is the Stage 3 standards description.
At the same time, TGm will also work
on the proposal for IMT-Advanced,
which is expected to be adopted by the
International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) during January through October
2009. The 802.16m Amendment should
be completed in March 2010.
Rev. 2 improvements
VoIP improvements
Mobile communications networks are
converging to ALL IP services, and Voice
over IP (VoIP) service is an essential service
for operators. Mobile packet data networks
such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA)
and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO also support
voice services more efficiently than circuit
switched mobile networks. As new mobile
systems are developed, there will be
continued interest in further improving
the VoIP capacity.
The VoIP performance of mobile
systems is considered much more
important now than it was when IEEE
802.16e was initially developed. Voice
services revenue continues to be the major
revenue source for operators and 802.16
expands its usage to the mobility scenario.
One of the focus areas for Rev. 2 is
the expansion of VoIP capacity. The VoIP
capacity of a mobile communication
system is inversely related to the associated
ove r h e a d . O ve r h e a d i s p a r t i c u l a r l y
important for VoIP applications due to the
frequent transmission and small packets
for VoIP.
In the 802.16e system, much of the
overhead associated with VoIP traffic
occurs in the MAP mes sages, since
dynamic scheduling is used to support
VoIP. To reduce this overhead, IEEE
802.16 Rev. 2 introduces the concept
of a persistent assignment, where the
periodically recurring resource and
modulation/coding assignment is signaled
once or infrequently to the user. Persistent
assignments reduce the MAP overhead
by 40 - 50% for VoIP only traffic, which
results in a bidirectional VoIP capacity
increase of 15 - 20%.
The 802.16 system uses asynchronous
HARQ, meaning that the BS can schedule
a particular HARQ retransmission at
any time. In order to establish a unique
relationship between a particular
initial transmission and the associated
2007
2008
2009
2010
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Maintenance
Task Group
802.16 Rev.2
System
requirements
Evaluation
mathodology
Task Group m
System
description
document
Sep'O8
Sep'O7
Jan'O8
Nov'O8
802.16m
amendment
Fig. 1 Schedule of 802.16 standardization activities
Mar'10
Huawei Technologies
HARQ Chnnel:2
HARQ Chnnel:3
20 msec
HARQ Chnnel:4
20 msec
HARQ Chnnel:5
20 msec
HARQ Chnnel:2
20 msec
DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL
retransmission, the persistent assignment
includes a set of HARQ channel identifiers
which cycle in an implicit manner, as
depicted in Fig. 2.
Referring to Fig. 2, the BS can schedule
retransmissions for a particular packet
during the interval between successive
occurrences of a particular HARQ channel
identifier. This cycling uses a scheme
consistent with 802.16e, meaning that
the BS can schedule retransmissions
for persistent assignments with legacy
messages.
Since retransmissions are dynamically
scheduled, the BS can fill resource holes
with either new persistent allocations or
retransmissions. In some cases, it may be
necessary to relocate some users in the
time-frequency space to fill resource holes.
Pe r s i s t e n t r e s o u r c e a l l o c a t i o n
d r a m a t i c a l l y re d u c e s t h e ov e r h e a d
associated with VoIP traffic and improves
overall VoIP capacity by an estimated 1525%.
Huawei is the persistent allocation
editor within the Technical Working
Group (TWG) and persistent allocation
rapporteur within the IEEE, and has
presented more than 10 contributions
to TWG and IEEE regarding persistent
scheduling. These contributions have
included key elements such as implicit
HARQ channel cycling and the MAP
ACK channel.
FDD improvements
The IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard is
optimized for TDD deployments, but not
for FDD systems. However, FDD systems
provide an enormous market opportunity
for the WiMAX industry. In order to
effectively compete, ease implementation
concerns, and reduce time-to-market, Rev.
2 development has focused on half duplex
Fig. 2 Implicit ACID cycling
FDD (H-FDD) systems. In H-FDD
systems, the MSs do not simultaneously
transmit or receive, while the BS
continually transmits and receives in a fullduplex mode.
To maximize UL utilization, the Rev.
2 system defines two groups of H-FDD
MSs.
The size of each H-FDD group can
change from frame to frame using a
configuration parameter in the MAP
message. In a typical deployment, it is likely
that the size of the two H-FDD groups will
be approximately equivalent and static.
Huawei had more than 15 contributions
to TWG and IEEE related to H-FDD.
These contributions included key elements
such as basic frame structure, frame
partition signaling, group switch signaling,
network entry, and handover.
WiMAX - Wi-Fi coexistence
When WiMAX was integrated with
Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, the associated RF
interference had the potential to severely
degrade performance, and could not be
resolved by using RF filters. A MAC layer
solution was introduced in Rev. 2 to remedy
the situation. By modifying the definition
of sleep mode, 802.16 Rev. 2 can efficiently
support integrated WiMAX and Wi-Fi.
To support high QoS service and the
large throughput requirements, the sleep
mode was implemented according to MAP
relevance, so that the listening and sleep
intervals follow the MAP relevance. The
scheme is effective especially for high QoS
service and services with a high throughput
requirement.
Hu a we i t o d a t e , h a s p re s e n t e d 8
contributions to TWG and IEEE regarding
WiMAX - Wi-Fi coexistence, including
key elements such as dual-frame structure
and sleep mode with MAP relevance.
802.16m
The 802.16m system is being developed
to improve spectral efficiency, improve voice
capacity, reduce latency, improve support
for location-based services, and improve
multicast broadcast services. The development
of 802.16m is in its early stages, and the
following section provides an overview of the
current work and future plans.
At the May 2008 IEEE 802.16
meeting, 802.16m developed a complete
system, with each meeting cycle covering
several technical topics. The recent May
2008 meeting has focused on DL MIMO
schemes, UL control structure, UL pilot
structure, UL physical resource allocation
unit, preamble, and HARQ timing. As
decisions are made, they will be added to
the system description documentation.
The first task undertaken by 802.16m
was to define a frame str ucture. In
802.16e, the 5msec frame duration is a
limiting factor for scheduling, HARQ
latency, feedback, micro sleep, etc. To
address these issues, 802.16m converges
on a frame structure, where each frame
is divided into 8 subframes, and each
subframe has a duration of 6 OFDM
symbols (approximately 0.625msec).
In addition, to reduce control channel
overhead, the 802.16m frame structure
will use a super frame concept, where 4
frames are defined as a super frame.
Huawei has taken a leading role in
the development of the 802.16m frame
structure, downlink control structure,
MIMO pilot structure, and channelization.
To date, Huawei has presented more than 30
contributions to IEEE on these topics and
provided comprehensive simulation results
to illustrate the performance of proposed
downlink control structure and MIMO pilot
structure.
Editor: Joy [email protected]
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
48
LEADING EDGE
Multi-antenna sharpens WiMAX’s competitiveness
Multi-antenna sharpens
WiMAX’s competitiveness
Technical gains
S
Shannon’s information theory contends that there
is an impassable upper limit to the capacity of a
single-antenna system. This is due to restrictions
in bandwidth, received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),
frequency resources, and operational expenditure
(OPEX). An alternative is necessary to address this
capacity problem, and multi-antenna technology has
emerged as the sole effective solution.
By Deng Chunmei
49 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
ignals are generally transmitted
and received through multiple
antennas in a multi-antenna
system. By adopting appropriate
signal transmission forms and receiver
designs, multi-antenna technology can
elevate capacity without significantly
increasing the cost of a wireless
communications system. Multi-antenna
technology yields the following technical
gains across a system:
Power: If x antennas are used for
transmission, x transmission channels are
available. Thus the total transmission power
of a multi-antenna system is x times that
of a single-antenna system. This achieves
power gains of 10log(x) dB. Although an
increase in transmission power can also
be realized in a single-antenna system, the
requirements on the power amplifier are in
turn raised, which increases both technical
difficulty and cost.
Array: The array gain refers to the
increase in the average SNR at the receiver
end coupled with unchanged total
transmission power. Various multi-antenna
systems obtain array gains via the coherent
combination of signals. Therefore, multiantenna technology can raise received SNR.
Space diversity: Given the fading
feature of radio channels, signals in a
single-antenna system are prone to deep
fading. In multi-antenna technology, the
distance between antennas is sufficient to
facilitate independent fading among the
signals received by different antennas. The
SNR of the received signal fluctuates little
after its integration, and the quality of the
Huawei Technologies
received signal is strengthened.
Co-channel interference reduction: In
a cellular mobile communications system,
frequency reuse raises the issue of intercell interference. Interference signals are
colored noise rather than white noise. At
the receiver end, suitable multi-antenna
space weighting is performed to combine
expected signals and suppress interference
signals, thus improving the average
received SNR.
Spatial multiplexing: This relates
t o i n c re a s e s i n d a t a t h ro u g h p u t o r
transmission rate, with transmission power
and bandwidth remaining unchanged.
Spatial multiplexing gains can be acquired
if different antennas are used to transmit
multiple parallel data streams on the same
time-frequency resources.
Application in WiMAX 16e
The WiMAX 16e system uses
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple
Access (OFDMA) technology, which
overcomes multi-path fading and can
be easily integrated with Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology.
The WiMAX 16e system supports the
following multi-antenna technologies:
Downlink open-loop MIMO
The WiMAX 16e protocol defines
three open-loop MIMO transmission
matrixes that use space-time coding:
matrixes A, B, and C. Matrix A employs
a transmission diversity structure to
achieve diversity gains; Matrix B uses a
space multiplexing structure to realize
multiplexing gains; and Matrix C utilizes a
diversity and multiplexing hybrid structure
in order to accomplish both diversity and
multiplexing gains.
According to the protocol, space-time
coding cannot be used for the downlink
common channel. In this case, the Cyclic
Delay Diversity (CDD) technology can
be used to obtain diversity gains. CDD
technology allows different delayed
copies of the same data stream to be
transmitted through different antennas.
Multi-path diversity is realized, and the
common channel coverage is enlarged.
For data channels, CDD can be used in
conjunction with Matrix A or Matrix B to
further enhance diversity performance or
diversity and multiplexing performance.
Downlink BF
During beamforming (BF), the
transmitter assigns weights to the
data prior to transmission. A narrow
transmission beam is formed to focus
energy on the target terminal. Thus, the
demodulated SNR of the target receiver is
raised, and terminal throughput efficiency
at cell borders is enhanced. BF delivers
gains in array, diversity, and multiplexing.
BF can be implemented via MIMO-BF or
DOA-BF.
In MIMO-BF, channel messages are
used to assign weights to transmitted data
in order to form a beam. MIMO-BF has
two modes: open-loop and closed-loop.
The open-loop mode uses uplink
channel information to assign weights to
transmitted signals. It is unnecessary for
the receiver to send channel information
back to the transmitter. Instead, the
transmitter estimates channel information
through the uplink channel. Open-loop
MIMO-BF effectively raises coverage
and throughput. However, uplink signals
are required for weight estimation for
downlink transmission, which causes
long delays. This mode is applicable only
to low-rate scenarios. Moreover, openloop MIMO-BF technology utilizes the
reciprocal features of both uplink and
downlink channels, and as such the system
needs to calibrate all transceiving channels.
In closed-loop MIMO-BF, the terminal
has to send channel information such
as the codebook to the transmitter,
which then uses channel information to
assign weights to the transmitted signals.
Feedback delays mean that a closed-loop
BF only guarantees high performance in
low-rate scenarios. Since it is affected by
feedback precision, the performance of
a closed-loop BF is inferior to an openloop BF. However, the advantages of
the closed-loop BF comprise its ease
of implementation and the fact that
calibration of antenna transceiving
channels is not required. The current
industry practice employs only open-loop
BFs in TDD systems and closed-loop BFs
in FDD systems.
In the DOA-BF, the system estimates
the direction of arrival (DOA) of signals
and uses the DOA information to generate
transmission weights. The main beam
lobe is targeted through an optimal path.
Compared with MIMO-BF, DOA-BF
features the following characteristics:
(1) DOA-BF requires a short distance
between antennas in the antenna array.
Generally, the distance should be shorter
than a carrier’s wavelength. In areas where
multiple paths exist on a large-scale, DOABF is relatively ineffective. In Non-Lineof-Sight (NLOS) areas, performance may
decline due to inaccurate DOA estimation.
Therefore, DOA-BF is not appropriate for
densely populated urban areas, and is more
suitable for rural and suburban locations.
Unfortunately, due to low traffic volumes
in rural and suburban areas and high costs,
DOA-BF is not a particularly practical
solution.
In MIMO-BF, the distance between
antennas is large, and multi-path search
capability is strong. This mode is suitable
for densely populated urban areas where it
raises system capacity and reduces network
construction and expansion costs.
(2) DOA-BF has high requirements
for consistency between antenna array
elements. The system needs calibration of
both transceiving channels and antennas.
If calibration results are not ideal, system
performance will drop, thus increasing the
complexity of realizing DOA-BF.
At present, not many cases of successful
DOA-BF application exist. However, the
entire industry is confident with respect to
MIMO-BF deployment. Huawei is one of
the leading equipment manufacturers who
have realized MIMO-BF technology.
Downlink MIMO+BF
I n B F, o n l y o n e d a t a s t r e a m i s
transmitted at a given moment, and there
is no gain in multiplexing. To further
increase throughput, we can integrate BF
technology with space-time coding to form
the BF plus Matrix A or BF plus Matrix B
structures. These are collectively known as
MIMO+BF.
Uplink multi-antenna diversity
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
50
LEADING EDGE
Multi-antenna sharpens WiMAX’s competitiveness
Uplink reception diversity is the most
commonly used multi-antenna technology.
At the base station side, coherent
combination is conducted on the signals
received by multiple antennas to achieve
array gains.
Uplink CSM
I n u p l i n k C o l l a b o r a t i v e Sp a t i a l
Multiplexing (CSM) technology, the
terminals that correspond to two single
transmission antennas are scheduled on the
same time-frequency resources, and uplink
capacity increases through multiplexing.
When choosing cooperative terminals,
we must ensure orthogonality between
the signal channels of different terminals,
which imposes high requirements on the
scheduling algorithm.
The above multi-antenna technologies
possess their respective merits and defects,
and their performances are closely related
to actual situations. We need to consider
various factors when selecting technologies.
Adaptive shifting between different MIMO
technologies should be guaranteed to allow
a system both to cope with the constantly
changing radio environment and to
maximally realize throughput or coverage.
Performance advantages
Expanding system capacity
The simulation test results deriving
from Huawei and the WiMAX Forum
demonstrate the effects of multi-antenna
technology in terms of expanding system
capacity. Both the open-loop MIMO
2x2 and 1x2 antenna configurations are
adopted for self-adaptation between Matrix
A and Matrix B. In comparison with the
“1x2” mode, “2x2” improves the spectral
efficiency by between 55% and 60% on
the downlink, and by approximately 35%
on the uplink.
If we use BF or BF and MIMO together,
system capacity can be further expanded.
Compared with open-loop MIMO 2x2,
MIMO-BF 4x2 and the “MIMO+BF” 4x2
can respectively raise the downlink spectral
efficiency by about 10% and 60%. Evidently,
the joint use of MIMO and BF heightens
performance to an even greater degree.
51 JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
Mu l t i - a n t e n n a t e c h n o l o g y a l s o
contributes much to achieving system
capacity improvements on the uplink.
Compared with the “1x2” mode, “1x4”
offers a performance gain of about 30%
through uplink reception diversity. If
CSM multiplexing is used on the uplink,
spectral efficiency will exceed 50%.
The above data demonstrates that
multi-antenna technology can enhance
spectral efficiency; it therefore forms an
effective solution to capacity problems.
Raised peak rates significantly boost user
experience and create favorable conditions
for service operation. This helps operators
to construct profitable business models,
and paves the way for the holistic and
continuous development of the WiMAX
industry.
Improving network coverage
In a WiMAX system, coverage
restriction is generally encountered on the
uplink side. Multiple antennas can be used
to improve uplink coverage. When two
antennas are used for reception diversity,
uplink coverage is improved by over 3dB,
compared with single antenna reception.
When four antennas are utilized for
reception diversity, uplink coverage can
be further enhanced by 1 to 2dB. On the
downlink, BF can be used to focus energy
on target terminals to improve terminal
throughput at cell borders.
It is clear that multi-antenna technology
dramatically improves network coverage
and reduces the number of base stations
(BTS).
Lowering CAPEX and OPEX
Multi-antenna technology greatly
increases system capacity. During the
early stages of network construction,
it is unnecessar y for an operator to
deploy multiple carrier frequencies, and
thus capital expenditure (CAPEX) is
drastically reduced. Moreover, the flexible
configuration of antennas meets network
construction requirements in different
areas. In densely populated urban areas,
the 4T4R configuration can be used to
meet capacity requirements. In suburban
and rural areas, the 2T4R configuration
can be used to meet coverage requirements.
The excellent coverage performance of
multi-antenna systems reduces the number
of sites, and fixed network operators
without mobile licenses can invest less in
equipment and site rental or construction.
Multi-antenna systems require multiple
antennas without obviously placing
higher requirements on rooftops. Two bidirectional antennas can be employed in
a unified package. On a given rooftop,
only one installation position is necessary.
Deployment and maintenance are
convenient, and OPEX is lowered.
High quality multi-antenna
technologies broadly increase spectral
e f f i c i e n c y, l o w e r c o s t p e r b i t , a n d
effectively improve user experience.
The technologies also expand network
coverage, increase subscriber throughput in
cell borders, reduce BTS numbers, and cut
network CAPEX and OPEX. For the new
generation of wireless communications
systems such as WiMAX, the performance
of multi-antenna systems forms one of
the key factors that can increase the core
competitiveness of related products.
Quality derived from
technology
Huawei has been conducting multiantenna technology R&D since 1999. By
the end of 2007, Huawei had applied for
over 100 core patents related to multiantenna technology. Now, Huawei is
positioned as one of the globally leading
suppliers of WiMAX BTSs. Huawei’s
WiMAX BTSs support a complete suite of
multi-antenna solutions, including openloop MIMO, uplink 4-antenna reception
diversity, uplink CSM, and downlink
4-antenna MIMO-BF.
To meet various networking requirements,
Huawei provides a series of BTSs including
macro, micro, remote RF distributed, and
Pico. The antennas support configurations
such as 2T2R, 2T4R, and 4T4R to adapt
to different situations and realize flexible
networking at minimized costs. Huawei will
continue to provide robust, low cost, and
stable multi-antenna products and solutions
for global operators.
Editor: Li Xuefeng [email protected]
Huawei Technologies
JUN 2008 . ISSUE 41
52
At Huawei, we know that simple ideas can lead to big things. In much the
same way a tiny acorn can grow into an oak tree, we strive to realize your
full potential through innovative products and solutions.
We devote 48% of our entire staff of over 68,000 people to R&D, which is
just one of the reasons why the world’s top telecom network operators
choose us as their partner.
We are committed to looking after your needs every step of the way. B y
putting you first, we grow your business to be as lasting and enduring as the
oak tree itself. That’s why at Huawei, we help you realize your potential from
the simplest of ideas, to ultimate success.