Saudi Integrated Telecom Company: Fixed and Nomadic LTE Services Dr. Liang Wu CTO, SITC Technology Consultant, PCCW
KSA Market Overview KSA General: has a population of approx. 25 million. a high GPP per capita Market has been slower to develop so leaving opportunity for growth. Key information 40% of population under age of 14 end of 2007. 27% of population expatriates end of 2008. Saudi Arabia is becoming open to the world winning in 2005 admission to World trade organisation (WTO) Saudi Arabia, Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, Paul Budd Communications Ltd, July 2009 4
KSA Telecommunications Market - Potential Fixed / Data / Mobile Voice A growing population, a high proportion of youth, low spending on Telcos and high disposable income in Saudi Arabia make the market attractive. Total KSA Telecom Targeted Market Potential is expected to grow from 48 BSR in Year 1 to 62 BSR in Year 7 (CAGR 4.4%) Targeted KSA Data Telecom Market is the fastest growing with CAGR of 8.6% High interests in LTE to allow capturing of revenue shares from all three market sectors The analysis above targeted telecom revenues generated within KSA only 5
Fixed (Non Nomadic) and Nomadic Wireless Access LTE is chosen to provide indoor fixed broadband access (1, 2 or 4 Mbps, guaranteed QoS) and USB dongle roaming service (best effort, no handoff) to satisfy fixed license requirement Rural Voice Microwave link Microwave link WiMAX LTE Base Station Nomadic Internet VPN Transport network GE switch City POP City POP Outdoor unit WiFi router Service Platforms GE switch City POP Metro DWDM ring LTE WiMAX Base Station router Indoor unit Transport Backhauling WiMax 4G LTE access Built-in wimax LTE modem Urban customers 6
2.5GHz Spectrum Allocation SITC plans to use 2x10 MHz blocks to provide LTE service in FDD mode and use the remaining two 10MHz blocks for TD LTE Spectrum suitable for LTE FDD (10 x 2 MHz) SITC s fixed license includes 40 MHz of TDD in 2.5GHz band The spectrum was intended for WiMAX (not yet a standard band for TD-LTE) Two of the 10 MHz blocks allocated (2550-2560MHz, 2670-2680MHz) happen to line up with 120 MHz offset and become suitable for FDD operation Since FDD is a special form of TDD, it still complies with the TDD license requirement 7
Business Driver for LTE From a marketing perspective, LTE will allow the network to address the mass market of handheld devices (so address a wider market including the mobile market); LTE may enable SITC to offer to Mobile Operators wholesale or dualmode MVNO services where mobile service providers could off load their capacity onto the SITC LTE network; As 3GPP R8 standard, LTE will facilitate smooth roaming with the existing 3G networks From an investment perspective, LTE will be more attractive to a wider range of investors so as an exit strategy mobile service providers will see a benefit in acquiring what will essentially be a 4G network; 8
LTE s Revolutionary Architecture LTE s flat IP network architecture allows introduction of triple-play via simple application servers; no need to rely on NGN or softswitches 2G/3G: Legacy Architecture LTE: Flat Architecture MSC/SGSN/GGSN SAE-GW SAE-GW BSC RNC Network IP Network enodeb enodeb BTS BTS BTS BTS enodeb LTE is all-ip flat structure, Compared with the 2G/3G,the BSC and RNC is not necessary 9
LTE Logical Network Architecture LTE enodeb cost is only a small fraction of the total cost; IP backbone and service/control must be shared by fixed services to make business case viable Access Aggregation Core Service/Control FTTx Subsystem MDU BRAS SAE-GW SBC IMS Subsystem VDSL CPE GPON SDU P2P SDU GPON/P2P OLT UPE Metro IP PE-AGG /NPE P Router IP/MPLS Core CSCF IPTV Subsystem LTE Subsystem Metro DWDM national/dwdm BTV Head end VOD Server ISP Subsystem Network Subsystem enodeb AAA DHCP Portal 10
WiMAX vs. LTE - Coverage Planning Comparison LTE provides better uplink performance than WiMAX Wireless System Service Terminal Cell Radius (km) Dense Urban Urban Sub-Urban WiMAX 0.45 0.71 1.79 VoIP and Data Service PCMCIA/USB Dongle LTE 0.46 0.71 1.92 Wireless System Network Configuration Average Throughput per Site (Mbps) DL UL WiMAX PUSC with all SC 1*3*3 5MHz 25.30 7.54 LTE 10MHz bandwidth (SFR 1*3*1) 57.51 31.59 11
WiMAX vs. LTE - Coverage Planning Comparison The below table shows planning site number based on indoor coverage requirement similar to mobile; the site number could be reduced depending on the coverage requirement City Site Number WiMAX LTE A 399 385 B 167 159 C 266 256 Base-station numbers are coverage dominant in early years and later by capacity 12
RF Planning & Network Economics Indoor Coverage planning criteria determine the cost of the radio network as well as services that can be offered. Achieving better than 90% indoor coverage with 2.5GHz band Requires 10% more base stations than 3G Allows offering of USB dongle and handheld device services to compete directly with 3G/HSPA and fixed-line services Penetration of first walls only (room with views) Can reduce up to 50% of the base stations required for coverage Relies on dual-mode WiFi/LTE routers for indoor coverage Similar to most mobile WiMAX service, compete with fixed-lines. Hot-spot only Can reduce up to 80% of the base stations required For traffic off load of 3G/HSPA traffic Require dual-mode 3G/LTE devices for off load and compete with 3G/WiFi off load solutions, small incremental revenue 13
WIMAX migration to LTE Some vendors provide WiMAX equipment that can be upgraded to LTE Software Upgrade to LTE MME New MME added enodeb WiMAX BS Software Upgrade to SAE-GW AAA IP Bearer Network CSN Software Upgrade to LTE enodeb WiMAX BS ASN-GW SAE-GW DHCP server Only software upgrade to protect investment. ASN-GW just need software upgrade to evolve into SAE-GW 14
LTE Advantages LTE targets at low latency on user services and signaling, this gives fast service setup time and time critical services such as voice and online game etc. To reduce power consumption and cost of handheld devices, SC- FDMA (single carrier FDMA) provide lower PAPR (peak to average power ratio) which benefit uplink transmit power efficiency. QoS class (QCI) ensure end to end bearer QoS can be carried in LTE network. Multi-antenna system improve received SNIR for cell edge users, thus better throughput. Robust to traffic demand e.g. at least 200 active users per cell per 5 MHz channel. Allow operators to approach fixed mobile convergence services and co-existence with GERAN/3G. 15
Conclusions LTE appears to be an improvement over WiMAX in providing better uplink coverage, QoS, roaming compatibility, and spectrum flexibility. LTE s flat IP network architecture provide a simple framework for introducing triple-play applications, but support infrastructure (OSS, BSS, SMS, FSS, MME, ENUM, etc.) needs to be laid out carefully to allow integrated fixed and mobile application. Availability of handheld devices that bundle triple-play applications such as ipad and allow mobile roaming will be the crucial success factor for LTE. 16
Technology, Strategy and Development PCCW Limited 40F PCCW Tower Taikoo Place Quarry Bay HONG KONG Tel +852 9127 0880 Emails: liang-tai.wu@pccw.com liangtwu@gmail.com 1 7 17 17