Nokia Siemens Networks

Taking advantage of the

convergence of
Wi-Fi and 3GPP

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The changing role of Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has suffered a chequered image over the years. From being seen as a
niche technology with little to offer cellular mobile services, the industry now
generally regards Wi-Fi as essential for delivering mobile broadband. For
example, Signals Ahead says: Some operators view Wi-Fi as an interim
solution until small cells are deployed, although we believe Wi-Fi will be an
integral part of operator networks for a long time to come.1
The turning point for Wi-Fi came with the explosion in the take up of smart
devices, virtually all with the technology built in. According to mobile analyst
Bango, by early 2011 Wi-Fi was being used to connect more than 50% of
mobile users to the Internet, more than double the proportion of a year
earlier.
A year later, in early 2012, it could be argued that widespread Wi-Fi
deployments will not be needed because of the accelerating roll out of LTE
networks that offer higher bandwidth and essential quality control
mechanisms lacking in Wi-Fi. However, the almost ubiquitous presence of
Wi-Fi in smart devices and the lead time needed for a wide variety of
commercially-available LTE-capable handsets to penetrate the market mean
that Wi-Fi has a healthy future.

Why Wi-Fi makes sense for cellular operators

According to Bernstein Research (April 2012): Aggressive deployments of
carrier grade Wi-Fi technologies can be rapidly achieved at relatively low
cost and can provide a decisive competitive advantage in the short term that
will then be turned into denser WCDMA and LTE networks.
Wi-Fi is a cost-effective way to build capacity to help alleviate congestion on
macro-cellular networks. It also offers the opportunity of partnering with
established third-party Wi-Fi networks to gain rapid access to widespread
coverage, especially indoors. Wi-Fi is also a mature technology widely
supported by the industry and used worldwide by customers familiar with its
characteristics.
Furthermore, Wi-Fi is a constantly developing technology that will offer new
opportunities for operators through initiatives such as HotSpot 2.0 by the
Wi-Fi Alliance, and Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) by the Wireless
Broadband Alliance (WBA). These programs aim to support interoperability
between Wi-Fi and cellular networks to enable seamless worldwide roaming
without the need for additional authentication.
The opportunity can already be addressed by the Nokia Siemens Networks
Smart WLAN Connectivity solution that turns Wi-Fi networks into seamless
extensions of the cellular network and makes Wi-Fi an integral part of the
mobile broadband experience. The solution re-uses existing packet core
service infrastructure for Wi-Fi access, for example charging policy control

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and deep packet inspection, providing capital cost savings and harmonized
traffic handling for both cellular and Wi-Fi access.
A concern for operators, though, is Wi-Fis use of unlicensed spectrum,
making it difficult to control the quality of experience for subscribers. In
particular, the issue of interference can damage data transfer rates with as
much as half of all data over Wi-Fi in the 2.4 GHz band being retransmitted
packets. The 5.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands, however, continue to offer large
bandwidths of relatively uncluttered spectrum.

Wi-Fi rollouts cannot wait

Nokia Siemens Networks believes that Wi-Fi integrated with cellular
technologies will have an important role for mobile broadband operators as
one component of heterogeneous networks. It therefore makes sense for
those operators that do not yet have a Wi-Fi presence to start rolling out a
network as early as possible, especially as suitable sites are in short supply
and there is likely to be growing competition for them.
According to Signals Ahead: There is a race to grab hotspot real estate by
many operators to increase their footprint. Part of this land grab has also
included increased deployments of managed (indoor and outdoor) Wi-Fi
networks by operators, especially in Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Three steps to Wi-Fi integration

Nokia Siemens Networks advocates a three-stage strategy for operators to
take advantage of the opportunities that Wi-Fi presents.
1. Establish a Wi-Fi presence: Operators that have yet to deploy a
significant Wi-Fi network or to partner with an existing Wi-Fi network
operator are advised to begin this process as soon as possible. Without
doing this, an operator risks being unable to gain the required sites or enter
important partnerships as a way to establish significant coverage that can be
leveraged to capture new opportunities at a later stage. If deploying Wi-Fi,
then consideration should be given to rolling out dual-band access points
using 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrum to avoid potential congestion on the
lower frequency band.
Nokia Siemens Networks is able to support this process using advanced
tools to identify where current cellular capacity is lacking and recommend
the most suitable Wi-Fi sites for development to ensure that Wi-Fi
deployment makes sound business sense in its own right.
2. Integrate Wi-Fi and cellular networks: Crucial for a good customer
experience of mobile broadband is seamless connection over different
access technologies, in short making Wi-Fi just another radio access
technology.

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Integration must ensure harmonized traffic handling for both cellular and
Wi-Fi access with over-the-air (OTA) settings configuration, automatic
preferred Wi-Fi network selection and transparent user authentication. By
delivering 3G-like usability and security for customers accessing services via
Wi-Fi networks, operators can protect their positions in the data services
value chain and control Wi-Fi traffic and the customer experience.
Nokia Siemens Networks enables this integration through its Smart WLAN
Connectivity Solution supported by expert services for core network
integration.
3. Upgrade Wi-Fi access points to LTE: The third stage of the strategy is
to leverage the operators investments by upgrading Wi-Fi access points to
multi-technology Wi-Fi/3G/LTE capability. This is an extremely cost-effective
way to build 4G capacity and coverage because the installed Wi-Fi sites will
be located in high-density traffic areas and already have in place the
required power and backhaul connectivity, as well as working landlord
agreements. Upgrading will also deliver additional voice coverage
(especially indoors) through Voice over LTE (VoLTE) when this becomes
widely adopted.
Key to the success of upgrading is the proper planning of the Wi-Fi and
cellular access layers to ensure effective mobility management. Nokia
Siemens Networks Flexi Zone access points provide the multi-technology
capability required and is supported by intelligent Self-Organizing Networks
(iSON) to ensure small cells interwork with the macro layer, even in a
multivendor environment.
The intelligent use of core network resources is also important. For example,
Flexi Zone can support data offload of over the top traffic to a local internet
connection, reducing the core networks capacity requirement.

The HetNet future

Growing demand for low-cost mobile broadband connectivity is driving the
development of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) in which different radio
access technologies and Wi-Fi will all co-exist. However, such
heterogeneous systems will be significantly more complex to manage than
todays networks.
The Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Zone suite is a 3G+LTE+WiFi-capable
cellular solution engineered to offload traffic from the macro network and
increase capacity by providing coordinated underlay networks at a street
and indoor level, thus supporting the development and operation of HetNets.
Such a unified approach to managing HetNets is essential to achieve the
necessary flexibility and cost-efficiency while delivering the kind of seamless
broadband connectivity that consumers increasingly demand. It is also vital
to prepare networks for future technology evolution.

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The development of Wi-Fi under the forthcoming 802.11ac standard is

expected to enable the technology to deliver data throughputs of 500 Mbps
for a single link and above 1 Gbps from multiple base stations, all using the
5 GHz band. In addition, the development of the 802.11ad standard will take
WiFi into the 60 GHz band, promising very high throughput of around
7 Gbps.
Meanwhile, the solid roadmap for the evolution of LTE to LTE-Advanced will
offer capabilities beyond 1 Gbps within a few years, and further evolution of
the standard is predicted to make LTE technology even more capable.
Developing a strong Wi-Fi presence as soon as possible and quickly
integrating it perfectly with cellular access is vital in order to take profitable
advantage of these future developments of both Wi-Fi and LTE
technologies.

1 Cellular and Wi-Fi: A Match Made in Heaven? Signals Ahead, March 2012

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Nokia Siemens Networks

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Copyright 2012 Nokia Siemens Networks.
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