So Much Demand So Little Time

Jeff Thompson Towerstream CEO

Jeff Thompson, CEO Towerstream

• Towerstream is a leading 4G service provider delivering

high speed wireless Internet access to businesses. • Jeff has over 10 years experience building wireless

networks.

• Jeff co-founded Towerstream in December 1999 and serves as President and CEO. Thompson has overseen Towerstream’s growth establishing robust wireless networks in 11 US cities including Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, among others.

Current State of Wireless

• Smartphones made up 42% of all U.S. handset sales in the second quarter of 2010, up from 28% in 2009 - NPD • By 2014 smartphones will generate more than 87% of total mobile network data traffic for US operators. - ABI Research • By 2014, mobile will be bigger than desktop Internet and half of Americans’ Web browsing will be done on mobile devices - Morgan Stanley • New devices, media content and applications continue to stretch the limits of today’s 3G mobile networks. As smartphones and data-intensive tablets continue to see huge spikes in user adoption, sub-par 3G and 4G networks are no longer sufficient to handle this massive increase in data transfer.

Broadband Adoption

• IP-based services driving exponential data traffic growth

• High focus on rich user experience and service delivery

• Carrier focus on revenue growth and opex reduction

– Average revenue per mobile user (ARPU) growing slower than average amount of data consumed by user

• According to ABI Research, year 2015 projection for wireless traffic:

– Video: 67%

– Web browsing: 17%

– Voice/other: 14%

Backhaul is the Bottleneck

• Most cell sites have insufficient bandwidth behind them to

handle 3G/4G data • Wireless networks are already running hot due to

smartphones

• Alternative networks need carrier class backhauling capacity A new report from In-Stat states that mobile operators are

expected to spend nearly $117 billion by 2014 on last-mile backhaul, including line leasing, new equipment, and spectrum acquisitions.

Wi-Fi Based Offloading

• Newer smartphones are built with Wi-Fi support – Provides a means for scalable offloading model

• Key Questions:

– How seamless it is to the end user? – Is it secure? – Can service providers monetize?

• Service providers should be able to maximize the use of their Wi-Fi hotspots and manage the user experience

• Support public WLAN/hotspots that work well with mobile network – Unified/easy authentication – Seamless switching between Wi-Fi and cellular networks – Fee schedule integrated into regular mobile billing

Femtocell Based Offloading

• Service providers deliver the equipment or work with DSL/Cable modem makers to include Femtocell support

• Although there has been a lot of venture capital invested in Femtocell technology, deployment has been slow and cost remains high

Wi-Fi vs. Femtocells

• Femtocells vs. Wi-Fi? = Let’s Discuss the Facts - Femtocells failed as a consumer device so far

- Require additional equipment

- Significant costs associated

• The more bandwidth that wireless networks can handle, the more people will use it.

• Offloading via Wi-Fi is the best option for carriers to support the staggering amount of data traffic associated with the increased adoption of data intensive smartphones.

How Does the Offload Work?

•Data traffic offload via Smart Wi-Fi •Smart Wi-Fi backhaul •Buffered authentication and roaming transactions •Flexible, dynamic tunneling options

Pilot Wi-Fi Network in New York City

Coverage – Covering approximately 40% of NYC

– Powering up to 60% of the data used in NYC

Capacity – Network has 20 times the capacity of

proposed LTE network of 2013

Mobile VoIP – Network can allow your phone to work like a

phone not just a Wi-Fi hotspot, with Carrier

class Quality of Service (QoS)

Results

Initial test measured volume of connections from subscribers of popular Wi-Fi services

• Majority of users access via handsets

• 21 million connections in Q2 (mostly from handheld devices)

• Roughly 250,000 connections per day

• One terabyte of data transfer daily

• Peaks of 70,000 unique visitors per day

Possible Revenue Models

Wholesale Offload to CELCOS

– Advantage of speed to market

– Robust backhaul already installed

– Alleviate Network Congestion today

Advertising platform

– Free access for watching 30 seconds of ads

– Product for screen placements