‘LAST MILE’ THREAT TO MOBILE OPERATORS’ PROFITS

Added: (Wed May 02 2001)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Radio link performance tuning holds the key to saving lost revenue


London 2nd May 2001 - At a time when mobile operators are planning new forms of wireless service, industry research indicates that up to 10% of today’s potential voice revenues are effectively leaking into the ether. Engineers claim that most losses result from inefficiencies in the ‘last mile’ radio link with subscribers - the wireless part of the mobile network that is dependent upon the finite radio spectrum available.

This situation will be exacerbated by the introduction of so-called 2.5G packet services that will make even greater demands on the existing spectrum. While some operators have already invested billions of dollars in the additional spectrum promised by the new high performance 3G system, no one can be sure when the necessary technology will be readily available. As a result many operators will move, at least initially, to a 2.5G technology called GPRS that will enable them to introduce new and enhanced services, as long as they can get them to work within the existing radio spectrum.

According to Rob Dobson, CEO of network optimization specialists, Actix Limited, mobile operators are already losing substantial potential voice revenues and they will have to maximize performance at all points on the networks, not least the radio link, before new generation services can become profitable. “Many operators are banking on existing radio spectrum to carry significantly more voice and data services in the near future. However, they are already failing to make the most of their existing network resources and unless they take great care in determining how best to use the available spectrum for GPRS, their losses and service problems could go through the roof.”

An Oftel survey of mobile operators entitled ‘Call Success Rate Survey: April - September 2000’ indicated that between April and September 2000, 95.3% of calls made in the UK were connected and completed successfully. The rates varied from 84.6% in Wales to 97.9% in Northern Ireland.

“Operators must focus on maximizing the capacity of the ‘last mile’ radio link if they are to accommodate the growth in voice traffic while satisfying demands for a new range of data services.” added Dobson. “Unfortunately, the radio link is highly complex, constrained by its finite wireless spectrum and sensitive to many independent factors such as subscriber usage patterns, radio propagation issues and interference levels."

“From the subscribers’ perspective, mobile service is likely to get worse before it gets better. The good news is that solutions do exist to enable operators to fine tune the performance of the radio links, to pinpoint problem areas and to resolve them before they turn into customer problems. For the operator, efficient management of the radio link could make the difference between profit and loss.”

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Notes for editors
Rob Dobson is available for interview and comment on this subject, which is of strategic importance to the improvement of wireless services across the world. This comes at a time when mobile phone users are beginning to question the true value of wireless communications, the cost of services, health and environmental issues, and if they really are receiving value-for-money wireless telephony. If, through network optimization, operators are able to increase their revenues from existing network resources, it may enable them to cut tariffs to the end user or, at least, maintain call charges at user-friendly levels.
If you would like to speak with Rob Dobson, please contact
Tim Guest or David Freedman on: Tel: +44 20 7881 3232.

About Actix
Actix is a privately-held company, founded in 1991, which has established an international reputation for developing market-leading performance optimization and analysis tools for all major digital and analogue mobile cellular technologies. Actix has offices and end users in the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, the Asia Pacific and the USA. The company has 60 operator clients and over 1,000 engineers use its solutions in 20 countries.

About Actix Analyzer
The Actix Analyzer solution centers on network performance optimization and decision support. It can address a wide range of applications, including: performance troubleshooting; problem diagnosis and analysis; verification; network comparison for bench-marking; and competitive analysis.
This extremely versatile, PC-based software solution gives engineers, technicians and operations management staff a transparent view of network performance, both of home and competitive networks. The latter enables operators to protect their subscriber base and exploit gaps in competitive services. The Analyzer platform analyses network performance data from all mobile technologies, including: IS-136, GSM, iDEN, GPRS, TETRA and CDMA, addressing such factors as: handover, coverage and capacity, frame error rates and dropped calls, all of which can be monitored and displayed, along with other relevant performance parameters.

For further information about Actix, visit the company's Web site at www.actix.com, or contact:

Sarah Britten Media and press enquiries to:
Actix Ltd Tim Guest or David Freedman
Tel: +44 (0)20 8735 6300 RPPR,
Fax: +44 (0)20 8735 6301 Tel: +44 (0)20 7881 3232
E-mail: sarah.britten@actix.com Fax: +44 (0)20 7730 0741
Email: timg@rppr.co.uk;
davidf@rppr.co.uk