Voice over LTE. We make ICT strategies work

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1 Voice over LTE The Telecommunications industry faces a crossroads in its evolution as revenues decline, capacity requirements increase and Over the Top players (OTTs) gnaw away at traditional telco services. The response from telecommunications industry stakeholders needs to be bold, swift and decisive. VoLTE is the solution to tackle future market needs, monetize LTE investments and significantly enhance customer experience. This article takes a look at the levers that are driving the technology strategies for operators. As Detecon we look at considerations for technology strategy as well as share some insights from our journey / 06 Author: Michael Mudau & Lemine Bedi, Detecon CASA We make ICT strategies work

2 bandwidth Voice over LTE the cutting edge of Next Generation Network (NGN) technology Why VoLTE? The Telecommunications industry faces a crossroads in its evolution as revenues decline, capacity requirements increase and Over the Top players (OTTs) are taking over traditional telco services. The response from telecommunications industry stakeholders needs to be bold, swift and decisive. VoLTE is the solution to tackle future market needs, monetize LTE investments and significantly enhance customer experience. What is Voice over LTE (VoLTE)? VoLTE is a network architecture based on the LTE access technology, a variant of mobile networks. VoLTE allows you to place a call over a high-speed data connection thus allowing a user to keep their current data connection active, while placing a call simultaneously. In areas with no VoLTE coverage or in legacy networks, Circuit Switched (CS) technology is used. This type of CS call interrupts data connections to establish and maintain calls. CS calls in addition require more spectrum to fulfil commensurate voice service obligations. What is driving the uptake of VoLTE? LTE is becoming the access technology of choice as smartphones penetrate the market. However as operators continue to invest more in broadband networks all the more improving connectivity, overthe-top providers become more enabled and claw away even more at operator revenues. VoLTE is currently the solution of choice for operators to tackle future market needs, monetize investments in LTE access networks and achieve greater customer experience. As of November 2015 there were more than 360 LTE networks launched with 33 of them having gone a step further to launch VoLTE. There are two main drivers for this evolution towards LTE, spectrum scarcity and revenue decline. As mobile traffic continues to increase it is necessary to make more efficient use of spectrum through spectrum re-farming as LTE has the greatest spectral efficiency of all the radio technologies currently Spectral Efficiency and Costs *number of voice users in a 5 MHz bandwidth Step-by-step Spectrum Refarming Goal is the complete migration of 2/3G to GSM UMTS HSPA+ 35 VoIP HSPA 86 VoIP LTE VoHSPAVoLTE Circuit Switched OTT IMS VoLTE achieves the most efficient spectrum utilization for voice calls: 7.8x more than with GSM. 3G 2G capacity mid term 3G long term Providing native voice service on a single technology () across all frequency bands maximizes LTE investments. Source: Migration to VoIP over Mobile Networks: Technical Challenge, IEEE, 2010 The costs and benefits of voice over mobile Senza-Fili Consulting, 2012 available. As revenues face downward pressure within the industry it has become necessary to reduce voice production costs to remain profitable. Operators are focusing on achieving greater CAPEX efficiencies Detecon International GmbH

3 on their networks in an attempt to circumvent these developments. In addition as networks become better, customers of OTT providers tend to benefit as the experience with the OTT substitution service provides service quality close to that of the operator. The figure below looks at some key levers driving Cost-Saving Converge multiple platforms Reduce footprint/space Virtualization and use of COTS hardware Reduce utility expense Reduce staff Cost-Saving Competition VoLTE Future-Proof NGN Replacement Competition Protect market share IMS is the accepted global standard for providing voice services over LTE. Open up new emerging markets Improve time-to-market for innovative services Replacement Product end-of-life Capacity/capability limitation In-efficiency Aging Can easily interface to Quick call set up other IP based services No need to install a client Offers enhanced voice quality Handover between packet- and by HD voice circuit-switched domains the evolution of the networks towards VoLTE. The VoLTE solution provides very tangible impacts on the bottom line as well as the business model of the operator. What are some of the lessons learnt along the way? As with any technology the deployment of LTE and in particular VoLTE comes with a host of challenges which need to be skilfully navigated if success is to be achieved. From a technical perspective the single biggest challenge is integration of VoLTE with legacy 2G/3G networks. The capability to allow voice call continuity when leaving LTE coverage and handing over to 2G/3G poses the greatest integration challenge. This feature while useful requires a disproportionately large amount of effort to realise and in reality the solution is only close to seamless. Secondly the IMS, which is the core network solution for VoLTE as well as user handsets have not reached full maturity. IMS, in particular, has experienced interoperability challenges as 3GPP standards have been interpreted differently by vendors. This makes the implementation of a multivendor solution particularly cumbersome as well as costly. A large amount of effort is required to realise a stable multi-vendor VoLTE solution thus causing delays for commercial launches. Lastly many operators have focused on service replication in migrating from legacy 2G/3G networks to IMS. The technical effort required for certain features is often not considered and money is spent unnecessarily on costly but unimportant services. This strategy usually culminates in the costly and complex integration with legacy service execution platforms like the Intelligent Network (IN). The aim of implementing VoLTE should be to completely retire the 2G/3G network to realise full benefit.

4 Is VoLTE right for us? What factors should we consider? The successful realisation of VoLTE requires that an operator keenly examine their unique situation and determine a best fit strategy. While no prescriptive solutions exists there are important points that each must consider as a baseline for their self introspection. Firstly VoLTE along with alternative solutions must be evaluated against operator situation and future goals to determine if there is appropriate fit. Some operators have chosen to go in alternative directions and partner with OTTs while focusing on connectivity. Secondly if VoLTE is chosen, success largely depends on correct timing of implementation. If the solution is sought too early before decommissioning of 2G/3G, deployment costs can quickly escalate with the need to integrate the IN for service enablement and SR-VCC for handover between access technologies. These potential costs will be offset by spectrum re-farming and saving on maintenance costs. However the business case must be carefully evaluated to ensure profitability. The operator also needs to consider the maturity of the market as well as the propensity to adopt the VoLTE enabled devices in that target market. It is also worth noting that there are specific instances where an as fast as possible realisation of VoLTE is justified. For example in instances where access network spectrum utilization is close to capacity limits or where VoLTE is a Greenfield network rollout. What work has Detecon done in the area of VoLTE? Detecon has been consulting leading solution providers and operators in this area for the past ten years in engagements spanning multiple geographies. We offer the complete value chain from strategy and design to rollout management and launch. Our experience has taught us that success requires a comprehensive understanding of the technology and the local market conditions. Unfortunately though, even this is not enough. A robust technology roadmap designed to fit the operator, an ability to read the evolution of technology and interoperability standards, a solid business case and impeccable timing are some of the additional ingredients required. The figure below shows selected projects that Detecon has participated in.

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