A trend towards flat rate pricing, combined with the introduction of devices like the iPhone and USB dongles have enhanced the mobile broadband user experience to the point at which it can really be seen as a competitor to fixed line DSL/cable type services. However, it must be remembered that the mobile operator’s infrastructure is optimised for voice, not data, with network capacity fundamentally limited by spectrum.

According to a new study by ABI Research, in 2014, the volume of mobile data sent and received every month by users around the world will exceed the total data traffic exchanged during the whole year in 2008. Unfortunately, operator revenues are not increasing at the same pace as the data traffic on their networks, and networks are reaching their limit of capacity. This collision of technical, financial, and strategic factors means that operators need to focus upon lowering the cost of data delivery, therefore making bandwidth control and policy management a major priority.

With the increasing popularity of online video streaming and peer to peer file sharing applications, it has truly never been more critical for operators to act as more than just a ‘dumb pipe’, if they are to avoid compromising the end-user experience of their services. Accordingly, this shift in user behaviour has created a need for operators to respond imminently by investing in traffic and network resource management platforms such as DPI and policy control systems, which can be either be sourced as part of broader end-to-end systems from the large equipment vendors or from specialist vendors.

According to the recent Heavy Reading report, "Policy Control & DPI: The New Broadband Imperative," "policy control tools and DPI are probably most widely deployed in cable MSO networks today, but in the medium term wireless cellular and WiMAX telcos will be the biggest market for policy tools." The report continues: "Nearly every vendor we spoke to noted that wireless telcos are scrambling to protect networks as they deploy flat-rate broadband service packages based on HSPA and EVDO, wireless telcos tend to see continuing control over customers as a big priority."

However, as operators are making progress with deploying traffic management solutions, a few of the early innovators have found themselves victims of a consumer backlash and facing a PR nightmare, thus demonstrating the need to manage subscriber perceptions at the heart of traffic management decisions. As if this weren’t challenging enough, all of this has taken place against a vociferous backdrop of net neutrality and lawful intercept regulation…

Attend the world’s first dedicated Broadband Traffic Management event to meet the challenge head on and position yourself at the forefront of the global operator community before it’s too late. Learn from real policy management/bandwidth control solution deployment experience from the world’s leading operators, including Vodafone, TalkTalk, Yoigo and SingTel. Don’t risk getting left behind with your capacity strategy - If you only attend one conference this year, you need to make it this one!   

Look forward to seeing you there!

Helen Ponsford, Conference Manager
Broadband Traffic Management 2009