Abstract
The need for mobile backhaul networks to undergo the same circuit-to-packet
transition that is underway throughout the wireline network and in the core of
mobile networks is well understood. With the rollout of mobile broadband
standards such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Evolution-Data Optimized
(EVDO), and with Long Term Evolution (LTE) expected to be commercially
deployed in volume within three years, time-division multiplexing (TDM)
circuits no longer provide the capacity, flexibility, and crucially, the
cost-per-bit metrics that are needed to enable the mobile industry to make a
profitable transition from a voice-dominated business model to a
data-dominated business model.
Carriers have been experimenting with different packet backhaul solutions for
three or four years now. But with HSPA and EVDO usage driving mobile broadband
traffic volumes to increase by a factor of ten year-over-year in many cases,
there is an urgent need for real-world insight into just how much real
progress carriers - and by implication, their vendor suppliers - are making
in executing on this transition.
Packet Backhaul: Carrier Strategies & Real-World Deployments examines
how much progress has been made in deploying packet backhaul at cell sites
worldwide, using information from 50 highly detailed examples of live packet
backhaul deployments submitted by nearly two dozen of the world' s leading
backhaul equipment vendors. The report provides the first insight into what
today' s live packet backhaul deployments really look like - where they are,
what architecture they conform to, what technologies they use, and critically,
how many cell sites were actually in live service as of the second quarter of
2009. By presenting and analyzing this first large and reliable sample of live
packet backhaul deployments, this report provides a unique and timely
perspective on whether mobile operators are reducing their backhaul costs at
the rate they need to as they make the transition from voice-centric service
and revenue models to data-centric models.
For this report, Heavy Reading conducted the first survey of its kind among
equipment vendors active in the packet backhaul equipment space. Vendors were
asked to provide as many as three account references anywhere in world where
they have backhaul equipment deployed and where that equipment is in live
service with packet backhaul to the cell site.
Vendors were also asked to provide the following details about each packet backhaul deployment:
- Region
- Type of carrier (i.e., integrated, pure-play cellular, or pure-play
wireline)
- Cellular technology or technologies supported
- Whether the deployment is "hybrid" or "pure packet"
- Whether the initial packet interface at the cell site is supported in the
base station itself or in a dedicated transport device serving as a cell site
gateway
- Layer 1 technologies involved in the deployment (fiber, copper, or
microwave)
- Number of cell sites in live commercial service in packet mode as of April
2009
Responses were received from 22 leading equipment vendors, covering a total of
50 packet backhaul deployments worldwide.
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