Metro Wi-Fi plus mobile VOIP
Craig Cameron looks at where the $$$$ is in terms of deploying metro-Wi-Fi.
Voice sells
For the last 100 years, more money has been spent on voice calls (whether fixed line or cellular) than on data. If you look at cellular networks around the world today, more than 80% of operator revenue from those networks is voice, not data. If a metro Wi-Fi network could offer a mobile voice service that had comparable quality to a cellular network at a much lower price than the cellular network, this would represent a major incentive for a service provider to roll out large-scale metro Wi-Fi networks.
High-speed mobile Wi-Fi works today
Mobile voice across a metro Wi-Fi network does have some significant technical challenges. Unless a metro Wi-Fi network has an architecture and technology that supports mobile voice, metro Wi-Fi will be challenged to offer an alternative to cellular networks. The right architecture is integral to producing a low latency network with fast hand-off for a seamless roaming experience. Robust backhaul with voice traffic prioritization is also a must.
Mobile Wi-Fi handsets-a-plenty
We are now seeing some low-cost, high-quality mobile SIP phones coming onto the market, and virtually all major cell phone manufacturers have commitments to supply dual mode Wi-Fi/2.5G or Wi-Fi/3G phones in the next six months.
A number of major carriers are adding significant support to mobile Wi-Fi by endorsing an emerging standard - UMA Technology - that supports the coexistence and seamless handoff between Wi-Fi and traditional cellular networks.
Metro Wi-Fi as low-cost infrastructure
In the same way that the largest cellular networks are now in developing countries, the greatest need for metro Wi-Fi networks supporting high quality mobile voice will be in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa.
Metro Wi-Fi provides the lowest cost means of rolling out voice services to those communities that have little or no existing telecommunications infrastructure. This, of course, does not mean that there will not be significant metro Wi-Fi networks built in developed markets. Metro Wi-Fi networks and large campus hotzones are being deployed by large telecommunications service providers as a complement to their existing 2.5/3G networks.
Voice sells
For the last 100 years, more money has been spent on voice calls (whether fixed line or cellular) than on data. If you look at cellular networks around the world today, more than 80% of operator revenue from those networks is voice, not data. If a metro Wi-Fi network could offer a mobile voice service that had comparable quality to a cellular network at a much lower price than the cellular network, this would represent a major incentive for a service provider to roll out large-scale metro Wi-Fi networks.
High-speed mobile Wi-Fi works today
Mobile voice across a metro Wi-Fi network does have some significant technical challenges. Unless a metro Wi-Fi network has an architecture and technology that supports mobile voice, metro Wi-Fi will be challenged to offer an alternative to cellular networks. The right architecture is integral to producing a low latency network with fast hand-off for a seamless roaming experience. Robust backhaul with voice traffic prioritization is also a must.
Mobile Wi-Fi handsets-a-plenty
We are now seeing some low-cost, high-quality mobile SIP phones coming onto the market, and virtually all major cell phone manufacturers have commitments to supply dual mode Wi-Fi/2.5G or Wi-Fi/3G phones in the next six months.
A number of major carriers are adding significant support to mobile Wi-Fi by endorsing an emerging standard - UMA Technology - that supports the coexistence and seamless handoff between Wi-Fi and traditional cellular networks.
Metro Wi-Fi as low-cost infrastructure
In the same way that the largest cellular networks are now in developing countries, the greatest need for metro Wi-Fi networks supporting high quality mobile voice will be in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa.
Metro Wi-Fi provides the lowest cost means of rolling out voice services to those communities that have little or no existing telecommunications infrastructure. This, of course, does not mean that there will not be significant metro Wi-Fi networks built in developed markets. Metro Wi-Fi networks and large campus hotzones are being deployed by large telecommunications service providers as a complement to their existing 2.5/3G networks.
posted by DC at 11:27 AM
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