LTE a global success story

LTE 4G technology offers mobile operators great potential to deliver a superior mobile broadband experience to their customers, but the stakes are high. Success in LTE means getting to market quickly, with services that offer subscribers something more than they have today, as cost-effectively as possible. Ericsson has long highlighted the importance of taking a holistic, end-to-end approach to mobile network deployment in order to get the best possible performance. The experience the company has gained over many years of deploying end-to-end 2G and 3G networks is even more relevant in the successful roll-out and development of LTE.

A key reason for this is that user expectations of availability and performance have risen significantly since mobile broadband was first introduced. With their LTE 4G networks, operators need to deliver an even better mobile broadband experience, faster than ever before, at lower cost per bit than ever before.

By being able to address the entire LTE ecosystem – including everything from devices and device interoperability testing, through radio, backhaul and core networks, to applications, operational support systems and services – Ericsson is helping operators meet these expectations with LTE networks that perform well from day one.

This ability to address the whole ecosystem consistently becomes even more important as new capabilities like LTE Advanced, IPv6, Self-Organizing Network (SON), Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) solutions are introduced into LTE.

Getting the most out of LTE networks is all about understanding the contribution of every component, and ensuring that they work together in a synchronized and consistent way to optimize performance.

A case in point is the Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR) feature – which for many operators is the first step in the implementation of SON solutions. Managing neighbor cell relations to ensure optimal traffic handling for user devices is one of the most labor-intensive activities mobile operators must undertake, and the introduction of LTE multiplies the effort needed.

By automatically setting up necessary neighbor relationships based on actual network conditions, ANR prevents failed hand-overs caused by ‘missing’ neighbors. It continuously secures and improves network performance, and reduces the need for manual planning and establishment of neighbor relations.

Ericsson’s ability to drive developments both in the radio network and in the LTE device ecosystem has been instrumental in ensuring the availability and

success of ANR in live 4G networks. ANR has been shown to deliver a 90 percent reduction in overall network planning effort, by eliminating initial planning and optimization, along with 100 percent hand-over success thanks to accurate and timely addition of neighboring cells.

What does this ability to address the entire ecosystem mean in the real world of actual LTE user experience? Independent analysts are providing some of the answers. In its September 2011 report, ‘Mother of all Network Benchmark Tests’, Signals Research Group found that in one major US city, Ericsson’s LTE network was found to outperform another vendor’s significantly in both downlink and uplink throughput performance. Extensive drive tests showed that the Ericsson-delivered LTE network offered more than 20 percent faster median download rates and three times faster median upload rates than the competitor’s.

So when it comes to delivering an enhanced mobile broadband user experience, it seems overall LTE performance really is more than the sum of its parts.

Consistently good user experience demands an end-to-end ecosystem

LTE performance: more than the sum of its parts

Rolling out a new mobile network technology is never a simple task. When that new technology needs to interwork seamlessly and efficiently with existing radio technologies, the task is even more complex – especially when commercial pressures to deliver a superior user experience are so intense.

This is why operators deploying LTE are turning to Ericsson not only for the new network technology itself, but also for a number of services that encompass market-leading experience and expertise in getting high-performance LTE services to market on time and on budget.

Ericsson services for LTE include everything from consulting, through systems integration and managed services, to network deployment and integration, education and support services.

We established market-leading expertise in rolling out a new LTE network when it built the world’s first live LTE network with Telia in Sweden, beginning in 2009.This gave us a head start in understanding the real-world issues of deploying LTE in tandem with a live commercial network. The early knowledge gained around the processes, methodologies and tools required to get the technology up and running successfully has been encompassed in the services that we now offers to operators around the world.

One of the first operators to take up managed services for LTE from Ericsson was TDC in Denmark, in 2010. By tapping into Ericsson’s existing experience and expertise in LTE deployment, TDC was able to save potentially many months of preparation work in establishing new skills and processes within the company.

Other operators, such as Verizon and MetroPCS in the USA, are benefiting from our expertise in optimizing LTE to work successfully with their existing 2G and 3G networks to deliver a seamless user experience. Getting all three networks to work in harmony requires detailed end-to-end knowledge and skills that few operators have the resources to develop in-house.

To support MetroPCS in its goal to be the first operator to offer a feature-rich 4G network in the USA, Ericsson worked with the operator

to establish new ways of working to ensure the right tools, processes and resources were available to roll out LTE in a timely, cost-efficient way. This included setting up a dedicated Network Integration Center to provide 24/7 remote integration support.

For Metro PCS, the result has been the timely launch of LTE in 12 regional markets within one year, along with simplified network architecture that has driven down costs. Malcolm Lorang, CTO and co-founder of MetroPCS is happy with the results so far: ”The responsiveness we see from the Ericsson staff is greatly appreciated. They are willing to work with us and go the extra mile. It’s a very valuable partnership for both of us.”

Another way Ericsson’s services for LTE help deliver excellent user experience is through smartphone audits: the company regularly works with device manufacturers to ensure that new models perform to their best in tandem with new network features, for example.

Delivering a consistent user experience of LTE is not just about the handsets and radio network, of course. It also requires end-to-end understanding of how various IP nodes across the network interact.

Ultimately, Ericsson’s services for LTE provide one essential ingredient for successful commercial roll-out and superior user experience: confidence.

Experience is invaluable in getting high-performance commercial LTE networks up and running

Services for LTE: confidence on tap

Since its inception in 2004, LTE has become the fastest-developing system in the history of mobile communication. LTE is now accepted as the global standard for the fourth generation of mobile broadband (4G), and is supported by all major players in the industry. From the very first commercial roll-out of LTE in late 2009, the number of people with access to the technology has soared from zero to more than 200 million people, with 40 live LTE networks in 24 countries (as at December 2011).

What is behind this global success story, and where is it heading? Its origins can be traced back to decisions made back in 2004, when Ericsson first started collaborating on a research project with NTT DoCoMo – the world’s most advanced 3G operator at the time – on a concept for ’Super 3G’.

The deployment of various 3G technologies was in full swing at the time. However, the research partners recognized the desirability of a technology that would not only make use of any new radio spectrum to deliver significantly higher mobile broadband data

rates, but also enable the use of paired and unpaired spectrum through a combination of frequency- and time-division duplex (FDD and TDD) technologies.

Having examined a variety of radio technologies to fulfill this role, Ericsson, NTT DoCoMo and other research partners settled on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology and standardization work got under way.

Over the years, other technology pretenders to the 4G crown – including Mobile WiMAX, Flash-OFDM and Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) – came along and were often loudly hyped in the media. While some of these offered superior speeds to LTE in the laboratory, the reality was that LTE had already won the backing of major industry players and standardization work was progressing rapidly.

A key reason for this was a recognition that creating a successful global mobile standard is as much about developing an ecosystem as it is about developing advanced technology.

LTE has been deliberately designed to work flexibly across paired and unpaired, FDD and TDD spectrum with as much system commonality as possible – using bands ranging from just 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz – as well as to work seamlessly with 3G technologies. The aim has always

been to encourage participation on a global scale, and drive down production costs.

As 3G technologies continued to advance and deliver ever higher data rates, LTE developers had the ’space’ to think creatively about how LTE could deliver an even better mobile broadband experience. This is particularly evident, for example, in the way the LTE uplink has been designed to deliver maximum data rates with minimal drain on battery power.

LTE also benefited from the development of advanced automation techniques, which have made deploying, and now optimizing and tuning, the technology a virtual ’plug-and-play’ activity. The immediacy and quality of information available from LTE management systems also mean continuous improvements can be made with a high degree of certainty.

With feedback from live LTE networks showing how much people appreciate the speed advantages that the technology offers – and with the best brains in the industry working to improve the experience even further – confidence in the future of LTE has never been higher.

How did LTE get to be the game-changing technology it is today?

LTE: a global success story

As LTE networks enter commercial service, the main advantages noticed by end-users are its super-fast speed – especially how quickly new connections are established, how fast web pages load and how much more responsive applications feel – and its reliability in delivering this high performance throughout the coverage area. These advantages are no accident: Ericsson’s LTE program has focused on ensuring they are delivered from day one.

During 2011, mobile broadband subscriptions grew by more than 60 percent year-on-year to reach the one billion milestone. This rapid growth looks set to continue and Ericsson predicts there will be close to five billion mobile broadband subscriptions by the end of 2016, driven by the rapid rise in the use of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices.

These new subscribers will not only expect mobile broadband to work wherever they go: they will expect it to work faster and better than ever before. And they will expect to be able to use sophisticated mobile apps and cloud-based services without a hitch, in any location.

For most operators, the priority today is to deliver higher peak rates and capacity in order to provide a better user experience of mobile broadband, as well as lower cost per megabyte – in effect, getting the most bang for their buck.

This is why Ericsson’s strategy for LTE has been – first and foremost – to deliver a high-speed, responsive network that delivers significantly better user experience from day one.

A significant element of Ericsson’s LTE program is to ensure that features to support this requirement are included in global standardization efforts. At the same time, we focus on providing ‘proof-points’ for operators by measuring, quantifying and demonstrating the promised performance benefits of LTE, not just in the lab, but also in field trials and live networks. Our own live measurements, as well as those from independent bodies, demonstrate a clear performance advantage for Ericsson LTE networks compared with our competitors’.

There are examples of performance-enhancing features in every aspect of LTE. One prime example is the way LTE enables very high peak rates to be delivered through flexible use of available radio spectrum. LTE can use carriers ranging in size from 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz, with the option of carrier aggregation to deliver even higher peak rates. Peak rates, coverage and capacity can also be enhanced through the use of multiple antenna branches per sector – going from two to four per sector can double downlink peak rates, for example.

Reliable end-to-end performance of LTE, from user device to server, is also very important in delivering excellent user experience.

Key areas that Ericsson has focused on here include high-performance backhaul solutions that can match the enhanced capacity in the radio network, as well as end-to-end policy control solutions that enable operators to differentiate their mobile broadband service offerings and prioritize traffic accordingly.

Through our device interoperability testing program, Ericsson also helps ensure that new LTE-capable devices can take full advantage of new radio features as soon as they are rolled out in the network.

As mobile broadband grows in popularity, people will appreciate the value of excellent connectivity more and more. Operators with the highest-performing LTE network will have a significant competitive advantage.

How LTE can deliver excellent user experience from day one

Getting performance right first time

While the origins of LTE go back as far as the early 1990s, the technology is not standing still. Ericsson’s LTE research and development team is still working hard to improve the technology further, based on leading-edge work in the lab as well as input from live networks around the world.

Ericsson has a long history of mobile technology innovation. With more than 27,000 patents to our name, Ericsson is the largest holder of standard-essential patents for mobile communication across 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. The company is a net receiver of licensing royalties and has more than 90 patent-licensing agreements in place.

Our highly active R&D program means we are continuing this leading position in patents into LTE, in which Ericsson holds around one-quarter of all standard-essential Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) – making us the largest single holder of essential patents for the technology.

Ericsson has been at the forefront of standardization efforts for LTE. An analysis of Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings reveals that Ericsson has influenced the released LTE specification more than any other company.

Our influence in the standardization process goes hand-in-hand with a highly active R&D program, which benefits from early participation in standardization groups. In addition

to this, Ericsson interacts regularly with our customers to ensure efforts are being made in the right places.

This works in two ways. First, we hold regular workshops with senior technology representatives from our customers to ensure we understand what they are looking for. Second, we put some of our best R&D engineers – and maintenance and support engineers – to work alongside customers on long-term secondment to get hands-on experience and understanding of live commercial network environments.

Currently, the key areas these R&D engineers are looking at are things like traffic and signaling load patterns: developing models and feedback methodologies for network testing and optimization. Another key area is to look at changing user behavior, and the effect on the network, as new smartphones and other devices are introduced.

The goal is to complement high-quality lab-based work with real-life fieldwork to arrive at the smartest possible solution. We believe this kind of teamwork is vital not only to gain a deep technical understanding of LTE networks, but also of how different customers use features in different ways.

Getting this end-to-end and top-to-bottom view of how LTE works in the field – and continuously feeding this information back into the design, implementation and testing process – has helped create the highest-performing and most stable LTE platforms on the market.

Our LTE research and development team is always learning

Continuous improvement

The content of this document is subject to revision without notice due to continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use of this document. © Ericsson AB 2012