Network-infrastructure and -outsourcing business functions, such as networks and mobile content, are gaining traction as operators seek to control opex and capex budgets. On the outsourcing front, strategies that only a few years ago might have been considered risky will be adopted by operators of all sizes. Network-equipment vendors will push managed services in the hope of creating predictable revenue streams from multiyear service contracts in an unpredictable and highly competitive market.
WiMAX is at a crossroads. Deployments are taking off in emerging markets with low wired broadband penetration and limited competition from alternative wireless and mobile broadband systems. But the case for WiMAX in developed markets is still not proven, which makes the launch and early performance of Clearwire/Sprint in the US critical to its future.
Mobile operators’ access and backhaul networks are coming under strain as a result of a surge in data usage from smartphones and laptops, forcing them to invest in high-capacity backhaul.
Network sharing, spectrum refarming and the launch of femtocells and next-generation networks are among the options available to operators to boost capacity while staying within capex and opex budgets.
The widespread success of mobile broadband services is sparking a data-traffic boom that will revive the struggling mobile-base-station market starting in 2011.
LTE will see a frenzy of activity in 2009, with interoperability testing and field and precommercial trials. But plenty of issues still need to be addressed with regard to devices, operator rollout strategies and developing an evolved packet core for LTE via the System Architecture Evolution part of LTE.
Initial femtocell hype is being replaced by slower evolution as operators’ trials progress and they choose vendors. Some operators will deploy femtocells for coverage, but the majority of tier-1 mobile operators might choose to wait for mature Iu-h-compliant products to hit the market before they start investing.
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