The benefits of intelligence

The phenomenal growth in mobile data traffic since the launch of the first 3G networks a decade ago has been well documented. This surge in usage has only accelerated as networks and connecting devices have grown in sophistication and processing power, and Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) is a firm believer that intelligent management of mobile broadband infrastructure is necessary for operators to fully maximise the opportunities

Marko Teivas is Senior Solution Manager, Packet Core Sales Team, NSN

Mobile operators already suffer the effects of radio network congestion as they live through a signalling storm that on average witnesses signalling increasing 50 per cent faster than throughput. Operators also have to exist in an environment that consists of multiple cores, where the traffic profile, user behaviour, and content consumption for data is continuously changing.

NSN has identified a number of telecom industry challenges related to ways in which mobile operators can best deliver high-quality content, with the technology provider offering a portfolio of solutions to overcome such issues. There is, for instance, a lingering misconception that the Internet is not ideal for high quality services, or that global content providers do not fully consider the impact of their services on operators’ networks.

“A central theme in today’s mobile broadband-dominated world is for operators to understand their customers, and provide them with the best service possible while prioritising customers and services that generate the highest revenue,” says Marko Teivas, Senior Solution Manager, Packet Core Sales Team, NSN. “Important and time-sensitive services such as streaming, and Voice over LTE, together with VIP users need priority, and a network has to be intelligent enough to identify such services and customers and assign them the correct importance,” Teivas adds.

He continues: “Operators need to contain the congestion of the network as much as possible. Prioritising services and users is one of the most effective tools in this respect, and it comes from understanding end-user experiences and end-user behaviour well.”

NSN believes operators can benefit significantly from policy enforcement of network quality of service (QoS) as part of its Intelligent Broadband Management solution, given the core network is technology driven while it is the gateway that touches upon customer experience. NSN’s Flexi Network Gateway (NG), for example, allows operators to prioritise important customers and/or services, thereby better allocating network resources to the sources generating the most income.

The addition of increased granularity to policy enforcement through added features such as location, devices, and VIP vs. non-VIP customers further heightens network operators’ ability to link revenues to the customers or services that produce them, generating the correct priority level.

NSN has identified a number of telecom industry challenges related to ways in which mobile operators can best deliver high-quality content, with the technology provider offering a portfolio of solutions to overcome such issues

Content optimisation, especially video optimisation, is another area in which Intelligent Broadband Management can be highly effective in improving user experience and generating incremental revenues. Operators are advised to build up intelligent criteria that will help them identify the type of content being sent over the network and be able to tailor the response to such accordingly.

“Congestion-aware content optimisation offers the ability for best-effort users to be degraded first, ahead of VIP customers and services,” explains Teivas. “Content caching is another tool that is also being used in localised regions more, as it helps alleviate some to the load on the international gateway thereby offering end-users faster access to content, while also opening opportunities to operators to partner with OTT players.”

Customer Experience Management (CEM) is a well-established area that has been gaining significant momentum with the rise in mobile digital services, and NSN has developed an impressive portfolio of solutions to assist operators harvest the benefits from understanding their networks and end-user behaviour better.

“With the growth in the consumption of digital services it is critical that operators are able to quickly react to changes in user behaviour patterns and understand the impact of such in the network,” Teivas concludes. “CEM solutions allow operators to cooperate more effectively with OTT players and help with the monetisation of services, which do not always relate just to the exchange of money between the two parties.”