1March 24, 2011

Smartphones Can Assist Efficient Use of Network ResourcesÖmer MubarekSenior Member of Technical StaffAdvanced Technology, Research in Motion, Ltd.

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Overview of Network Capacity Crunch

• Average smartphone usage doubled in 2010.*

• Global mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015.*

• Mobile video traffic will exceed 50% of total mobile data traffic in 2011 reaching two-thirds by 2015.*

• Video user consumes 15 times more bandwidth compared to web user.**

• A high-def YouTube video at 2Mbps: as much bandwidth as 200 voice calls.**

• YouTube videos delivered to mobile devices tripled in 2010, reaching 200 Million views per day.*

• AT&T reports 30-fold growth in traffic from 3Q 2009 to 3Q 2010. Telecom Italia 15-fold from 2007 to 2010.*

Sources: * Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2010 - 2015 ** Mobile Broadband Capacity Constraints and the Need for Optimization, Rysavy Research

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Capacity Will Run Out Soon

Note – Data are based on an operator’s busy market

Source: Mobile Broadband Capacity Constraints and the Need for Optimization, Rysavy Research

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Strategies• Extensive Methods

• Introduction of new spectrum• New cell sites / spectrum reuse• Offloading data to WiFi and Femtocells• New technologies which are spectrally more efficient

than current ones (WiMax , LTE and Evolved EDGE)• Intensive Method – Efficient use of capacity

• Handsets can assist• Lower network cost• Greater number of users supported in the same amount

of spectrum• Lower monthly bills for usage-based models• Reduced radio resources signaling between handset and

network

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RIM Infrastructure Optimizations

• Utilization of highly optimized protocols and methods of compression, trans-coding and rendering

• Benefits for carriers from spectral efficiencies:• better capacity utilization• reduced capital expenditure requirements on wireless infrastructure,

• For the end customer, spectral efficiency can result in • reduced latency, • better battery life, and • lower-cost data plans and roaming charges

• Sample comparison results from two experiments for e-mail and web

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E-Mail EfficiencySuperior text compression algorithms twice as efficient as common approaches as GZIPEfficient file viewers user can view only portions of the file without downloading the whole file

BlackBerry Smartphone 1 Smartphone 20.05.0

10.015.020.025.030.035.040.045.0

UL Data Usage (KB) Comparison - E-Mail

Plain Text E-MailE-Mail + ImageE-Mail + Document

UL

Dat

a U

sage

(KB

)

x8.4 x9.6

x1.7

x5.9

x1.9 x8.8

BlackBerry Smartphone 1 Smartphone 20.0

200.0400.0600.0800.0

1000.01200.01400.01600.01800.02000.0

DL Data Usage (KB) Comparison - E-Mail

Plain Text E-MailE-Mail + ImageE-Mail + Document

DL

Dat

a U

sage

(KB

)

x8.3

x6.3

x1.5

x7.2

x6.2

x1.5Comparison with competitionText only: up to 9.6 timesw/ Image: up to 8.8 timesw/ PDF: up to 1.9 times

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Web Efficiency

BlackBerry Smartphone 20

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

UL and DL Data Usage (KB) Comparison - Web Browsing

ULDL

Dat

a U

sage

(KB

)

• Includes Web browsing as well as 3rd Party apps (Facebook, Twitter, etc)

• Advanced image compression algorithms: more efficient than JPEG and GIF image compression

• Device type-specific trans-coding• Users can specify image quality – original image

quality is unnecessarily high in many cases

BB x 1.8

BB x 1.5

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Video Trans-coding• Smartphone screen resolution is smaller than a monitor• If transmitted video resolution is higher than device display

resolution, the extra bytes are wasted• Appropriate trans-coding adjusted to device screen improve

efficiency dramatically.

360p 480p 720p 1080p0

5

10

15

20

25

30BlackBerry Curve

360p 480p 720p 1080p0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0BlackBerry Torch

Content designed for PC monitor

Handheld requires only this much for the same user experience

Rest of the transmitted bytes are wasted

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Using Technology with higher Spectral Efficiency

• LTE• Infrastructure upgrade to LTE LTE capable handsets• [Spectral Efficiency]LTE ≈ 2 x [Spectral Efficiency]HSPA or

EVDO

• Evolved EDGE• Increased spectral efficiency using higher order

modulations• [Spectral Efficiency]EGPRS2-A ≈ 1.7 x [Spectral

Efficiency]EDGE• DL throughput further improved - doubled - by

introducing a second receiver on the device

  EDGE EGPRS2-A EGPRS2-A

Feature Single Carrier Higher Order ModulationsDownlink Single Carrier

Higher Order ModulationsDownlink Dual Carrier

Modulation GMSK and 8PSK

UL, DL: GMSK,8PSK, 16QAM DL: 32 QAM

UL, DL: GMSK,8PSK, 16QAM DL: 32 QAM

Max throughput 296 kbps 492 kbps 982 kbps

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• There are today > 4B GSM/EDGE users worldwide• approximately 0.5B WCDMA/HSPA users

• Even in mature 3G networks it is not cost-effective to provide coverage outside urban centers• EDGE/Evolved EDGE needed for low cost service

continuity

3G/4G Network with Complementary 2.xG Support

Purple = GSM/EDGEYellow = WCDMA/HSPA

Source: Map from GSMA (2009)

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Why Does RIM Pursue Evolved EDGE?

Seamless fallback from 3G to 2G Introduced in Rel 7 of 3GPP – most recent 2G technology Complementary to 3G – not a competitor

Evolved EDGE

3G / 4G

Thro

ughp

ut

EDGEGPRS

Seamless fallback from 3G to 2.5G

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Summary

• Network operators are working hard to increase capacity to match highly growing demand for mobile data

• Handsets can assist networks by using the available resources more efficiently

• Aggressive compression and trans-coding algorithms can reduce network resource consumption dramatically while delivering same user experience.

• It is essential to use high spectral efficiency technologies both for 4G as well as 2G

• Network efficiency is further increased by reducing radio resources signaling between handset and network.

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THANK YOU