Sagem my429x

Sagem Launches UMA-Based my429x Phone

Sagem quiety launched its second UMA-enabled dual-mode handset recently. The my429x is available to subscribers of Orange's unik service that is based on UMA. As Orange continues to drive the dual-mode handset market with its demand, Orange unik subscribers now have more than 12 dual-mode handsets from which to choose.

The Sagem my429x weighs 95 grams and measures 106X46X15 mm. It has the latest multimedia features and joins an ever-growing line-up of other UMA-enabled handsets.

This is Sagem's second UMA-enabled dual-mode handset. Its first, the my419x, recently won a UMA Innovation Award for best dual-mode handset, feature phone

T-Mobile takes 50%

T-Mobile, notoriously quiet about the HotSpot @Home service, is starting to talk about how successful the offer really is.

In an article out today, [Link update: click here] T-Mobile US marketing vice president David Beigie states that nearly half of the subscribers who sign up for the dual-mode handset service are new to T-Mobile. Frankly, that’s a stunning success in the competitive US mobile market.

Orange had originally stated that 15% of Unik subscribers were new to the company. But as the incumbent fixed and mobile provider in France, this makes sense.

As a competitive provider, and the fourth largest provider in the US, T-Mobile is always looking for ways to win new subscribers, and a 50% attraction rate is tremendous.

Cinci Bell: Telecom Innovator

There's a good article in Forbes about John Cassidy, CEO of regional fixed/mobile/broadband provider Cincinnati Bell. The article calls Mr. Cassidy "the most honest man in telecom."

It also refers to Cincinnati Bell's dual-mode handset (DMH) service called "Home Run".

In talking about the service, the author makes an interesting comment:

"Wi-Fi will nick Cassidy's traditional businesses, but the technology is too logical to ignore."

I agree that "Wi-Fi is too logical to ignore", and wish more operators considered it the same way. However, Wi-Fi doesn't actually "...nick [Cincinnati Bell's] traditional business..."

An investor pitch from Orange dated December, 2007 (slide 20) highlights how Orange has seentheir dual-mode service actually increase the lifetime value of subscribers who take the service. Rather than 'nicking' the business, Wi-Fi is actually increasing the value of a subscriber to the operator.

Rumor mill: Sony/Ericsson phone close?

Several independent sources have been talking about new UMA-enabled handsets from Sony/Ericsson. There are rumors that the units are in test at different operators. Unfortunately, this typically means they are likely to be 3 to 6 months away from commercial availability.

Sony/Ericsson is the largest handset manufacturer without a UMA device. We can only assume that the pressure from operators offering dual-mode handset services has 'convinced' S/E to jump into the game.

All we can say is "Welcome, the more the merrier!"

Four Out of Five Agree: UMA for Femtocells

Before MWC, I wrote about the incredible amount of UMA-based femtocell news, calling it a ‘femto frenzy’ of activity.

Within the world of femtocells, there are a chosen few committed to the existing 3GPP UMA/GAN standard. All of the other systems/solutions are proprietary. The “UMA-enabled Femtocell” world consists of many key players:

- Solution provider NEC
- Solution provider Motorola
- Femtocell provider Ubiquisys
- Femtocell provider Motorola
- Femtocell provider Netgear

So, let’s count the number of announced operator femtocell trials and see where UMA is involved:

1. During MWC, pan-European mobile operator O2 announced they were conducting a femtocell trial with NEC.

2. Also during MWC, Scandinavian provider Telia announced a femtocell trial based with Motorola.

3. Then just this week, an article from Fierce Wireless editor Brian Dolan suggests that T-Mobile International will be trialing Ubiquisys femtocells with NEC.

4. Softbank in Japan has announced trials with nearly every supplier on the market, including Ubiquisys, NEC and Motorola.

5. The only other announced trial I’m aware of is Vodafone Group’s announcement to trial Alcatel/Lucent and Huawei, clearly not a UMA-based trial.

Unless I’m mistaken (which I’m sure you’ll to tell me if I am):

Four out of five femtocell trials include a UMA-based system.

This reminds me of the old Trident gum ad where “four out of five dentists agree…”

I attribute this to a couple of reasons:

- It works. Novel but true. UMA has been commercially deployed for more than two years.

- Operators actually want a standard interface. As much as Alcatel/Lucent, Huawei, and even Nokia/Siemens are trying to push their own proprietary approaches, the operators have had enough. They want an open, public standard interface for femtocells.

- UMA does more than one thing. After deploying a femtocell service, a mobile operator may want to add a fixed line VoIP service (like T-Mobile US). The same UMA infrastructure supports that, or dual-mode phones, or softmobiles.

Next, let's see if we can get to 9 out of ten...

[UPDATE MARCH 20] Good posted on ThinkFemto about a similar topic. I have a bit more detail. For some reason, ThinkFemto decided to throw in a bunch of picocell wins that ip.Access got, but they aren't femtocells.

Apple vs Blackberry in the enterprise? RIM has the edge.

Last week Apple made noise about opening the iPhone up to developers to support more enterprise oriented applications.

UMA’s standard position on applications is “If they work over GSM, they’ll work better/faster/cheaper over Wi-Fi and UMA!” It’s a good (and easy) position to be in.

Given UMA technology is basically agnostic to applications running above it (even SIP), why would UMA Today weigh in on an enterprise applications battle between the Blackberry and Apple?

Frankly, it’s because UMA gives RIM an edge.

Let me explain.

These heavy duty devices are always struggling with power usage. One of the banes of ‘smart phones’ with big screens and lots of features is battery performance, and it’s here, deep inside these enterprise devices, that UMA gives RIM the edge.

Consider how UMA works:

When a UMA-enabled device moves within range of Wi-Fi, the handset establishes a direct IP tunnel to the mobile core network using the Wi-Fi radio. Once in place, all mobile services (voice, SMS, MMS, …) are tunneled to the phone over IP. Because the GSM/3G radio is no longer used, it is put into a hibernation mode. In effect, only one RAN radio is powered on concurrently with UMA. That’s pretty efficient.

Compare this with how an iPhone, or any non-UMA dual-mode phone (think Nokia E and N) works. When the iPhone moves into Wi-Fi coverage, the Wi-Fi radio powers on. But there is no connection from the Wi-Fi radio to the mobile core network. Therefore, for users to receive cellular services (ie 'a phone call'), the GSM radio must remain on, concurrently with the Wi-Fi radio.

That sucking sound you hear is the battery on the iPhone draining…

That’s not fair, it’s not specific to iPhones, it’s the same with any dual-mode E or N series from Nokia that doesn’t have UMA.

This is a fundament advantage over any non-UMA dual-mode handset. Any time you see or hear someone complaining about ‘Wi-Fi battery life’, you can be sure they are talking about a non-UMA device.

Ono!?! Definitely Oh Yes!

Spanish quad-play operator Ono is the latest to launch a dual-mode handset service based on UMA technology. Ono’s service, called “io”, offers consumers the same rate on calls to fixed and mobile lines 24 hours a day.

From Wi-Fi, it is a rate of 0.0€/minute on calls to other Ono mobile or fixed lines, and just 0.11€/minute on calls to other Spanish operators.

Outside the home, it is still 0.0€/minute on calls to other Ono mobile or fixed lines, and a flat rate of 0.15€/minute on calls to fixed and mobile lines in Spain.

Currently Ono offers Samsung and Nokia products, with more phones in the works.

Ono is a quad-play competitive provider in Spain, offering mobile, fixed, broadband and television services.

VCC?!?! Still??? Really???

VCC, or voice call continuity, seems to still be hanging around in parts of the industry. I must say I continue to be shocked that anyone would even consider it.

First, it must be getting close to done, but for some baffling reason is not completed yet. I think VCC started back in 2005, the same as UMA. If you recall, UMA was actually ratified by the 3GPP in April 2005 (2G) and has since added 3G support, all in the same timeframe that VCC is still languishing.

My position has been and continues to be that VCC is for fixed operators. They have SIP core switches (a VCC requirement) and no direct connection to the mobile service core. I think dual-mode service for fixed operators is a tough sell for many reasons far beyond technology.

Of course, UMA is a 3GPP technology, therefore CDMA networks don’t have an equivalent approach. Some have suggested that these operators may opt for a dual-mode handset/VCC offer, but I think mobile operators in general are too smart to fall for the vendor community’s push on VCC.

VCC offers a different set of services to subscribers when on Wi-Fi than what’s available on the macro network. This is because the handset connects to the SIP core when on Wi-Fi, and to the MSC when on cellular. Different core networks support different services. It’s inconceivable to me that any mobile operator would attempt to roll out a service which didn’t work the same across the entire network.

Frankly the CDMA operators are simply going to do femtocells for their ‘home zone’ service offers. Witness Sprint and Airave. They must have a response to Wi-Fi-based home zone offers like T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home, and femtocells are a viable alternative.

UMA is the only viable technology for dual-mode services. Period.

GAN Iu-Mode Stage 3 Complete

At the 3GPP meeting two weeks ago, the GAN/UMA working group ratified the Stage 3 requirements for Iu-mode support. It's done. Now... how to get the femtocell community to use an existing standard rather than creating something new from scratch...

TelecomTV Gets UMA/GAN

In a rather odd bit of coverage, TelecomTV today posted a piece on UMA/GAN. Remarkably, the post correctly positioned the technology as supportive of both ‘that dual-mode thing’ as well as femtocells.

Now that’s a refreshing surprise. I must say I’m getting sick and tired of the ‘UMA vs Femtocell’ articles. I thought by now everyone knew that UMA is the leading technology powering femtocells. If we need a comparison, let is be ‘Wi-Fi versus femtocells’.

To that end, I think the video interview TelecomTV did on Wi-Fi versus Femtocell was more interesting (in the clip titled ‘broadband down the toilet’, at the 2 min mark).

Anyhow, I suspect the piece came from the announcement that Iu mode was finalized in the GAN working group. But after reading the piece, I think the goal was point out that consumers don’t buy technology or acronyms. Okay then.

T-Mobile Goes VoIP!!!

In one of the worse kept secrets in the UMA industry, on Thursday T-Mobile US announced a new “Talk Forever” fixed line home phone service. The service uses the existing UMA network infrastructure to provide fixed line VoIP service in the home.

The application is similar to Vonage, where subscribers port their fixed-line number to a new provider (previously Vonage or now T-Mobile). The subscriber gets a terminal adaptor for the home. The terminal adaptor is used to connect to the existing fixed line/cordless phone in the home and route calls over IP and broadband.

For T-Mobile, this is an extremely low cost way to drive more fixed-mobile substitution (FMS). For a variety of reasons, there continues to be consumer preference for fixed line phones in the home. A mobile-only operator would typically be locked out of providing fixed line services. Now with the flexibility and investment protection of UMA, T-Mobile is able to extend their existing mobile core network to provide fixed line VoIP.

Certainly for Vonage, this is a bit concerning. Unlimited calling plans from Vonage are $25/month. T-Mobile is dramatically undercutting the market with a $10 offer. And just recently I signed up for a flat rate fixed line service from ATT for $40/month. Even Comcast, the ‘leader’ in fixed line VoIP in the US is offering an introductory rate of $29.99/month (normally $39.99).

As pointed out in several articles, T-Mobile now offers a LOT of calling for very little money. With a $40/month mobile plan (which offers 1,000 mobile minutes, plus unlimited nights/weekends), it is possible to add unlimited mobile calling from Wi-Fi (home, office, international) for $10 (HotSpot @Home). Or for $10 add unlimited fixed line calling from home. Or bundle it all together for $60 and get more calling than one person could ever use! Is this why AT&T and Verizon Wireless launched ‘unlimited’ mobile calling plans?

PS – the service uses the Linksys WRTU54G gateway/router.

PPS – will they add a UMA-based soft mobile client as well?

Congratulations T-Mobile.

3G 'dual-mode' phones are on the way

As the dual-mode handset (DMH) market continues its explosive growth, the focus for devices in 2008 has started to shift. With nearly 20 UMA-based dual mode 2G phones, there’s now solid demand for UMA-based 3G devices.

One of the most exciting announcements at the Mobile World Congress this year was platform support for UMA-enabled 3G/2G/Wi-Fi handsets. I guess we can’t call them ‘dual-mode’, perhaps we’re going to have to move to ‘multi-mode’ devices.

There were two 3G platform announcements:

First, NXP, a long-time supporter of UMA-enabled platforms announced support for a 3G/UMTS version of their Nexperia product line. NXP is supplier to UMA-device powerhouse Samsung, so look for 3G handsets from them in the future.

Second was an announcement that Qualcomm and Kineto have developed a UMA-enabled version of their 72xx series platform. Qualcomm’s market position makes this a very strategic announcement, opening up the potential for UMA-enabled devices from many different handset manufacturers.

This is a 'rolls down hill' type of business. Operators decide what they need. They put pressure on their handset suppliers. The handset suppliers turn to their platform suppliers to get platforms to meet those requirements. The platform suppliers work with the component providers to develop sub-systems to meet the need.

It's clear that demand from the top continues to be strong for UMA-enabled handsets.

UMA-based Femtos on Trial

One of the big news items of this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) was femtocells. As reported here, there was a ‘femto frenzy’ building in the market. Then on Monday, two UMA-based femtocell trial announcements hit the wire.

The first was O2, announcing they are trialing a femtocell system from NEC. This was on the heels of NEC announcing their femtocell solution.

Second Telia announced plans for a femtocell trial to complement their Home Free dual-mode handset service. I recommend clicking through on the link, it’s an excellent way to work on your Swedish. Telia has been very aggressive in rolling out Home Free across Telia properties and has used a UMA-based solution from Motorola for some time.

I think UMA is starting to have an effect on the femtocell market. Clearly operators see the advantages (fastest time to market, fastest time to standards, robust, proven, investment protection for new FMC applications) and I’m certain there will be more UMA-based femtocell announcements to come.

Motorola #2

The rumored Motorola ‘Marco’ handset has come to life! Now known as the Z6w, this is the second UMA-enabled Motorola handset. No word yet on which operator will be the first to put it into commercial deployment, but T-Mobile is a good guess.

This is a welcome development for UMA. Motorola has been languishing in the dual-mode/UMA market and this is a stylish offering. With any luck, there's more where this came from.

UMA Innovation Awards

One of the highlights of the Mobile World Congress was the UMA Today Innovation Awards. The response from the operator and vendor community was stronger than expected and really put the pressure on the judges to sort out the winners.

The program was sponsored by Orange and UMA Today. Orange further agreed to host the presentation ceremony on their stand at the MWC. Done with typical French flair, Orange made the event a classy affair with champagne, hors d’oeuvres (or was it cava and tapas?) and great hospitality.

Awards were presented to leaders in the UMA market. In the end, Orange was honored as “Most Influential Company”, and I can assure you it wasn’t simply because of the champagne!

Congratulations to all the winners. And for those who didn’t win or didn’t enter, don’t worry, there’s always the 2009 program.

Acme joins the UMA team

A trend in the industry is to integrate higher level security capabilities (VPN tunnels) into network interface points such as Session Boarder Controllers (SBCs). Picking up on this trend is Acme Packet who announced earlier this week a new line-up of products to meet the security needs of a UMA-enabled network. The products blend Acme's traditional SBC with the functionality of a UMA security gateway (SeGW).

Unfortunately, due to the late announcement, we weren’t able to get them on the list of UMA companies at MWC, but stop by to see them in Hall 4.

Femto's frenzy

In the drive up to Mobile World Congress, there has been ‘femto frenzy’ of press releases. A large chunk of the news has been from UMA-based femtocell players.

Sensing an opportunity to play a significant roll in the market, UMA-based femtocell manufacturers have been aggressive about making the case for UMA as the ‘most viable’ path to standardization of a RAN Gateway/ ‘Iu-over-IP’ architecture.

There are rumors that there may be some operator announcements at MWC regarding UMA-based femtocell trial activities. We’ll be sure to update the site as the news comes in.

1. NEC and Kineto propose approach for rapid femtocell standardization
2. Motorola announces a family of femtocell solutions
3. NEC and NETGEAR team to develop an integrated 3G access point for femtocell solution
4. Kineto ready to support commercial femtocell rollouts
5. NETGEAR and Kineto to showcase 3G femto home access solution at MWC
6. NEC announces trial of femtocell solution with mobile operators
7. Kineto and Ubiquisys announce successful interoperability testing between Zonegate and UNC
8. Femto Forum steps up drive for harmonized network integration

As one insider told me that only "...relentless evidence of practical deployments and practical challenges overcome" will convince the market that UMA is the most viable technology for a femtocell /network integration standard. This looks like the start of some relentless-ness.

Fusion fizzles

[UPDATE] As they say, the rumors of Fusion's demise were exaggerated, prompting a story titled "BT Forced to Defend Fusion" from Total Telcoms. I do believe that BT has some challenges related to Fusion, but I'm glad BT continues to work through them.

Two years ago I wrote a post called “Why Fusion hasn’t fused”.

Here we are, two years on, and it looks like BT is coming to a similar conclusion. As reported in the Daily Mail, BT will stop marketing Fusion to consumers.

Many will want to jump to the conclusion that this signals the demise of dual-mode handset (DMH) services in general. Absolutely not, DMH is on fire and continues to expand. I happen to think that this action simply confirms what we’ve all known, that DMH services which focus on the fixed network are doomed from the start.

Let me explain.

Fundamentally DMH is about fixed-to-mobile substitution (FMS). But as a fixed operator, what you really want is MFS, or to pull minutes *off* the mobile network and on to the fixed network. It's fighting the tide.

In the case of BT, any voice minute that moved onto the mobile network cost them more because it was carried through their Vodafone MVNO rather than their own discounted fixed line network.

The value proposition and the service objectives of DMH are completely mis-aligned for fixed operators. Another reason why VCC, primarily for fixed operators, will never get off the ground.

After that, there are several reasons why fixed operators in general will always have a very tough time with DMH:

- No retail presence. Who buys a phone today without first picking it up and touching it (I guess about 45,000 people in the UK!). Last year I think BT did develop a retail push with a UK outfit, but if you're not 'retail savvy' already, the mobile market is extremely competitive place to learn.

- Because they have 0% mobile market share, none of the handset manufacturers would do any custom/special work for them. Again a problem for all fixed operators (I'm thinking cable companies now, not so much a problem for an integrated operator like AT&T). Therefore, they never got leading edge handsets. Orange can push Nokia or Samsung to develop DMH product, but BT, no way.

- BT is not considered a 'mobile' company. But DMH is a mobile phone service. So they had a giant market perception problem to work through, trying to convince consumers that given the choice of getting mobile service from Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and BT, that good 'ole BT was the right choice. This is going against the grain of years of existing market perception, it's a billion $$ public relations campaign, not a couple of bill inserts and some print advertising.

I think these are all the same reasons why DT's T-One flopped. I think this is why we don't hear a word about Embarq's service in the US.

Notice none of the problems are attributed to technology. I think we all know UMA works.

I think any DMH service which caters to the fixed side of the house is doomed from the start. This is about FMS.

Unfortunate, but not surprising.

Samsung stays on a roll with the new P220

This week Orange began selling Samsung’s latest UMA-enabled handset, the P220. This sleek candy-bar model is the seventh model from Samsung. All the models are based on NXP’s highly optimized UMA/Wi-Fi platform which delivers stellar Wi-Fi performance (battery, range).

Samsung continues to roll as the leading supplier of UMA-enabled devices. At last check, 25% of the Samsung models for sale on the Orange/France website were UMA-enabled.

Orange Hits 9 with UMA-enabled Pearl

Quietly over the holiday break, Orange added the UMA-enabled RIM Pearl (8120) to its line-up of UMA-enabled handsets.

This brings Orange to 9 devices available for the Unik service. With devices from Samsung, Nokia, LG, Sagem and RIM, Orange continues to push handset manufacturers to support Wi-Fi and UMA technology.

2008 will bring a flood of new devices with an eye towards 3G-based Wi-Fi-enabled handsets with UMA.

FMC Services Top Light Reading List

In wrapping up the year’s top 10 operator service stories from 2007, Light Reading named an unprecedented two (out of ten) UMA-based services to the list. Congratulations to Orange (#7) and T-Mobile (#4) for their noteworthy and visionary dual-mode service offers.

Look for more innovations in 2008:

7. At FT, FMC spells UNIK
It's our first entry for France Telecom SA (NYSE: FTE - message board), which has taken a very Gallic approach to fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) by giving its service a name that sounds great in French but plain weird elsewhere.

That service is UNIK (or YOUNEEK, if you live in Paris). And it's a winner for le grand porteur's domestic business, Orange France (Paris: OGE - message board).

In June we reported: "Orange France has left other European operators in the dust when it comes to fixed/mobile convergence." (See Orange Doubles FMC Customers.)

Those others include some pretty big names, too. (See Deutsche Telekom Cancels FMC Service and BT's Flat Fusion .)

The service has proved popular in France because it has been well marketed and, er, it works. It even got a namecheck from FT's CEO when the carrier reported a leap in profits for the first half of 2007. (See Emerging Growth Pumps Up FT.)

With solid growth continuing towards the end of the year -- 468,000 dualmode WiFi/GSM handsets sold for its unlicensed mobile access (UMA)-based service by the end of September -- the carrier is now planning a 3G version of the service. (See Orange Builds on FMC Base and Unik 3G.)

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=141946

4. Born in the UMA
OK, so we've already had one FMC entry, but we make the rules, and we've stuck another one in.

This time it's T-Mobile USA 's HotSpot @Home service, launched in June this year. (See T-Mobile Launches UMA in USA.)

What's really special about this service is that subscribers not only get to hook up to their WiFi connections at home for cheap calls, but they can make mobile calls through any of the operator's 8,500 hotspots around the U.S. for just $10 a month.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=141946&page_number=2

Samsung's P180

We here at UMA Today work hard to keep up with all the new UMA devices. But they are coming out so fast now that apparently we missed one.

In early December, LifeAtMost.com, a tracking site for devices, ran a sneak peak of the new Samsung P180 mid-tier feature phone. The device is targeted at the European market. We haven't seen it for sale yet, but expect it to be available shortly.

That brings the total count for UMA-enabled handsets to 16 devices.

Home (Zone 2.0) for the holidays

The home is the most competitive location for providing telecommunications services today. Fixed, cable, mobile and VoIP providers all work aggressively to provide a full range of personal communication services (voice, instant messaging, email, social networking) to consumers, with a primary goal of winning additional mind (and wallet)-share from consumers when at home. Many within the industry have termed this fierce competition as the “battle for the building.”

For mobile operators, one of the most successful weapons in the battle for the building is the deployment of Home Zone services. A Home Zone service is based on a mobile operator defining a service area around a subscriber’s home where the operator can aggressively price service.

For example, when a subscriber is within his or her Home Zone (i.e., the subscriber is being served by the cell tower nearest to home), mobile calls are charged at land-line rates. Introduced in a number of Western European countries, these first-generation Home Zone services have proved popular with consumers.

Unfortunately, as these services are based on using the macro radio access network (RAN), they also present a number of significant challenges for mobile operators.

Revenue Leakage: As a subscriber’s “Home Zone” is based on the cell tower(s) that services their home, in many situations a subscriber could be served by the same tower throughout their day, whether at home, work or in transit.

Shrinking Margins: As the Home Zone service uses the macro RAN, an operator’s cost of service delivery remains the same. As a result, operators are directly sacrificing service margins.

Poor Performance: Unfortunately, the home is often ill-served from the macro RAN, as it is plagued by poor indoor coverage, particularly with high-speed 3G technologies.

To address these cost and performance challenges, mobile operators are beginning to launch the next generation of Home Zone services, known as “Home Zone 2.0” (HZ2.0). HZ2.0 services are defined by two primary characteristics.

First, they use a low-power femtocell or Wi-Fi access point deployed within a subscriber’s home to address revenue leakage and poor performance. The low-power access points overcome wireless service coverage issues. Moreover, micro radios improve the performance of the handset in the home because the radio resource is closer to the device. The signal is stronger and as a result, data rates are typically higher. Finally, offloading voice and data traffic to the micro radio access point frees up valuable macro network spectrum for outdoor mobile service delivery.

With a relatively small coverage radius (typically within the home), low-power access points constrain the home ‘zone’ and address the revenue leakage issue of alternative approaches. This improved Home Zone resolution helps operators keep the benefits of the HZ2.0 service confined to the home, where competition is most intense.

Second, HZ2.0 services use a subscriber’s existing home broadband access connection for backhauling mobile services. Broadband penetration in developed markets ranges from 35-60% of households. For mobile operators, broadband represents an ultra-low cost transport network that improves the margins for voice and data service delivery.

Also, a wired broadband network provides fast, reliable IP transport for new revenue-generating mobile data services. When delivered through high-speed 3G femtocells or Wi-Fi connections, subscribers get a true broadband mobile data experience.

Home Zone 2.0 is not just a concept; operators have begun to deploy services today. ABI Research recently published a report projecting the number of HZ2.0 (femtocell and dual-mode handset (DMH)-based) subscribers to reach more than 250 million worldwide by 2012.

Orange’s multi-national Unik/Unique HZ2.0 service offer, based on DMH and Wi-Fi, is among the most successful worldwide. Deployed for more than a year in France Orange’s Unik service has delivered a 10% increase in ARPU, and 15% of subscribers who take the service are new to Orange mobile.

In more recent months, the US has seen the industry’s first femtocell-based HZ2.0 offer. Sprint’s Airave service is currently in limited production, available in just two cities, but offers a promising glimpse at a femtocell service offer. The femtocell is available for a one-time fee of $49.95. For an additional $15/month, subscribers receive unlimited calling when in their Home Zone. This offer compares very favorably with competitive unlimited calling packages. Vonage, for example, offers unlimited in-home calling for $25/month.

Mobile operators have begun to realize the strategic imperative of HZ2.0. The home is an extremely competitive telecom location and represents an enormous growth opportunity. However, the existing macro radio network does not meet the cost or performance requirements to win the ‘battle for the building’.

Micro radio networks (femtocells and Wi-Fi) offer advantages for mobile operators to address indoor mobile radio performance. By leveraging broadband and IP as a backhaul network technology, operators can dramatically lower the cost of delivering services.

HZ2.0 services relying on broadband access and low power access points (femtocells and Wi-Fi) are being deployed by operators today. UMA is the technology that powers HZ2.0.

"This is like deja vu all over again"

Three years ago, when the concept of dual-mode handsets was just getting started, technology battle lines were drawn. There were two camps for providing seamless mobility in dual-mode handsets.

On one side was the ‘pragmatic’ UMA approach: UMA leverages the operators existing network elements and connects to the mobile core as a RAN gateway through standard interfaces.

The other side was a combination of IMS, SIP and VCC.

Constant battles were fought pitting UMA versus IMS (a RAN technology versus a ‘journey’ to an all IP core network); UMA versus SIP (a RAN technology against a session layer signaling protocol); and UMA versus VCC (a 3GPP standard RAN technology for mobile operators against a still-incomplete, almost-standard for fixed operators to connect the SIP core to the GSM mobile core).

In the end, UMA prevailed. It provides full-service transparency, security and scalability with a modest impact on the mobile core. If a mobile operator wants to roll out dual-mode service today, UMA is the only way.

As we enter 2008, a similar battle is shaping up around femtocells. The protocol for connecting the femtocell to the mobile core network has been divided into two camps.

On one side are the more pragmatic “Iu-over-IP” approaches. UMA, the only 3GPP standard Iu-over-IP approach, is leading the charge, but there are vendor specific approaches from Nokia/Siemens, ip.Access and others.

On the other side is some combination of IMS and SIP…again. Some have even erroneously thrown in VCC as a way to connect a femtocell to a mobile core.

As Yogi Berra famously said, “This is like déjà vu all over again!”

Will the SIP/IMS team be successful this time? It may be too early to say, but there are powerful forces behind the push for Iu-over-IP/UMA. Mobile operators do not want to burden the femtocell business case with new SIP/VoIP infrastructure. Many are drawn to the service transparency and relative simplicity of an Iu-over-IP/UMA approach. In the end, UMA is a proven, deployable technology.

2008 will be the year the two approaches duke it out. But if history is any indication, ‘pragmatic’ wins every time.

2007 Predictions: How did I do?

In December 2006, I wrote my predictions for UMA technology and markets in 2007. As we close out the year, it’s time to look back. All in all, it’s been an excellent year for UMA.

Prediction 1: Dual-mode handset models will more than double.

Reality: Correct! Reality surpassed our expectations.

At the close of 2006, there were just three models commercially available: the Samsung T709, P200 and the Nokia 6136.

As of today, there are many more devices: Samsung’s T409, T739, P260; Nokia’s 6086, 6301; RIM’s 8820, 8320; Sagem’s my419; and LG’s brand new KE520.

The Motorola A910, announced in 2006, became available for sale from BT this year. Given the Nokia 6136 and Samsung P200 are still available, the industry will close out the year with 12 commercially available handsets; a four-fold increase over 2006. Excellent progress.

Prediction 2: Subscriber count will go through the roof.

Reality: Half correct, we don’t have comprehensive reports.

Orange had suggested they would have about 1m users in France in 2007. It appears that they will be quite close to that mark. Unfortunately, reporting of numbers is sporadic. At the end of April, Orange reported 175,000 units. The last number, announced in September, was 468,000 handsets sold, with one phone from Samsung, Nokia, and Sagem each.

Going into the holiday season, the Orange handset line-up currently includes the hot-selling Nokia 6301, the new LG KE520, and the extremely popular RIM 8820. We won’t know the final tally until February or so, but I think they could round out the year with close to 1 million units sold.

While Orange publishes at least some numbers, T-Mobile US and Telia have been silent about the uptake of their services. We have lots of anecdotal and confidential information that subscribers are taking their dual-mode handset services, but there are unfortunately few public numbers to reference.

Prediction 3: More operators will launch UMA service.

Reality: Correct.

T-Mobile US, Cincinnati Bell, Telia Sweden, and NetCom Norway all announced service in 2007. There are now 12 service offers in nine countries. Dual-mode services continue to grow. While I was hoping for more, four new operators offering UMA service is a great accomplishment.

Prediction 4: VCC will actually be understood by the market.

Reality: Correct.

VCC has so many holes in terms of features and capabilities, no mobile operator will deploy it. The company that was leading the charge, Bridgeport, has all but abandoned it’s mission. The industry organization founded to promote VCC, MobileIGNITE, has been dead for months. No major handset vendor supports it. The standard is still not completed in the 3GPP, and there are no actual VCC deployments in the market. I think the market understands the UMA is the 3GPP standard for convergence and that VCC is a non-starter. Enough said.

Now, what’s in store for 2008…

TI Changes Horses

As reported by Unstrung Wednesday, Telecom Italia (TI) has shelved its UMA-based Unica service offer in favor of a ‘home grown’ SIP-based solution.

The article goes on to say that TI is re-launching Unica using a SIP client available on one phone, the Nokia E65. Ironic since the UMA-based Unica service was thought to have a ‘limited availability of handsets.’

The new service is part of TI’s quad-play push. My Italian is a bit rusty, but after reviewing the web site, I believe that subscribers of the new Unica service must have TI Mobile (TIM) GSM service, as well as TI’s fixed-line VoIP service Alice.

The new Unica service is about putting Alice on the E65 device.

It’s not the same

I believe this is a key element that was overlooked in the article and in TI’s decision. UMA-Unica and SIP-Unica are actually very different services.

The UMA version of Unica was about delivering mobile services over IP and broadband -- make the mobile service work better and cost less when the subscriber is indoors and connected via Wi-Fi. UMA is a mobile centric service for fixed-mobile substitution.

The SIP version of Unica is about putting a fixed-line VoIP service (Alice) on a handset. The subscriber ends up with two services on one phone. One is the traditional GSM service; the second makes the E65 behave like an in-home cordless phone for the Alice service. You won't find this service marketed on the Telecom Italia Mobile site, it's only on adsl.alice.it.

In the end, the SIP-Unica service has no technical barrier to entry. Any user can download any SIP client onto any E65 device. TI has chosen to package this up into a service. This is the same business model as Truephone. From a regulatory perspective, any operator (actually any person) can provide the same service.

It’s clear the UMA and SIP versions are different services and will appeal to subscribers with different needs. The UMA-Unica comes from the mobile division, the SIP-Unica from the fixed division.

The bigger question is: what type of demand is there for a mobile phone with a fixed-line VoIP client? We all remember how successful T-One was.

A final thought

It’s clear UMA technically works and operators are deploying it successfully (Orange, T-Mobile, Telia,…). The problems with the UMA-Unica were not technology based. The issues with Unica were internal. Those watching the mobile market saw countless articles this year about TI’s unfortunate political struggles.

Changing the underlying technologies of the Unica service won’t solve the politics. In fact, putting the fixed division’s service on the mobile division’s device is likely to make things even more contentious.

What do you think?

LG's new KE520 For Sale at Orange

The much anticipated UMA device from LG is available commercially from the Orange France web site.

The KE520 is a well-featured, tri-mode slider handset that includes 802.11 b/g and UMA.

With a non-contract price of 199€ (or just 1€ with contract), the KE520 is once again showing that Wi-Fi-enabled handsets are not necessarily expensive.

Rumor: Blackberry Pearl

As reported on MobileBurn, the FCC web site recently published information about a new Blackberry Pearl (8120).

In keeping up with RIM CEO’s Rick Balsillie’s comment that there is “unbelievable” potential in Wi-Fi, this new handset is reported to have UMA/Wi-Fi capability as well.

RIM sees “unbelievable” potential in Wi-Fi and UMA

The Canadian Press today reported on RIM’s co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, comments about the current state of the market. Quoting from the article:

[Balsillie] sees “unbelievable” potential in Wi-Fi technology and UMA – unlicensed mobile access, a system allowing seamless roaming between local area networks and wide area networks, delivering voice, data and Internet access to mobile devices.

This convergence, Balsillie said, is “incredibly positive to a carrier that thoughtfully embraces it.”

It sounds like we can expect more UMA-enabled devices from RIM.

UMA/GAN standards adds Iu-mode (3G) support

At last week’s 3GPP meeting in Vancouver, the GERAN working group approved the CR (change request) that adds Iu-mode support to the UMA/GAN Stage 2 specification.

The addition of Iu-mode support to the UMA/GAN specification now also enables the development of UMA-enabled devices (dual-mode handsets, femtocells) that can leverage the 3G (Iu-CS/Iu-PS) interfaces into the core mobile network.

UMA started as a 2G technology and now supports both native 3G and 2G interfaces. The standard continues to evolve with mobile RAN.

Bluetooth over Wi-Fi?

In a little noticed announcement last week, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has agreed to develop a fast version of Bluetooth running over Wi-Fi. As reported by Peter Judge at TechWorld, the article talks about the SIG’s disappointment in the delivery of Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) support in handsets.

John Barr, chairman of the Bluetooth SIG and director of standards realization at Motorola commented: “Delays in ultra-wide band have caused Motorolato switch its focus. There is an increasing demand for Wi-Fi in mobile devices.” There was no comment on Motorola’s plans for UMA-enabled handsets.

This might put the problem of side-by-side Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support in phones to rest. Wi-Fi can do it all.

Samsung T739 to T-Mobile

As reported by Engadget, the Samsung T739 should be available at T-Mobile Dec 3. How does Engadget know?

This brings the number of HotSpot@Home phones to four (Nokia 6086, T409, T739, RIM). Not bad.

Sonus Touts VCC

Vaughn O’Grady, editor of the GSM>3G Vision newsletter, published an interview today with Andy Odgers, vice president of wireless technologies with Sonus. The article is titled “Networks: the VCC version.”

I believe this was in response to an interview Vaughn and I did some weeks back which was (surprise, surprise) very UMA-centric. To be fair and balanced, Vaughn interviewed the ‘other side’, Sonus, who touted VCC as the path to convergence.

As readers of this blog know, I predicted that 2007 was the year that the industry would realize the short comings of VCC and begin to turn against it. UMA is the clear technology choice for mobile operators, whereas fixed operators, who have invested in SIP VoIP switches, are the only operators to potentially benefit from VCC.

Yet VCC has three major short comings:

- There is no data session continuity. As the title clearly states, it’s about VOICE call continuity. Start a streaming data session when on Wi-Fi, walk out the front door, and the session drops. Excellent.

- There is no support for supplemental mobile services. I can’t imagine that SMS wouldn’t be carried forward, but capabilities like MMS, ring tone downloads, over the air updates, or any other mobile application beyond voice is not supported. Again, the name clearly states VOICE CALL continuity, no continuity for anything other than voice calls.

- VCC is still not a standard. I honestly don’t know why this is. UMA went from proposal to the 3GPP in September 2004 to ratification in Release 6 in April 2005. VCC was introduced at least 2 years ago and it’s still not completed.

Perhaps Bridgeport, one of the biggest early VCC supports, was the proverbial canary in the coal mine. They shifted away from dual-mode and VCC more than a year ago. Their industry venture MobileIgnite is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Something is definitely not right in VCC land.

Yet Sonus has recently decided that VCC is the path forward for the mobile network.

I think the misunderstanding about UMA is common for people from the SIP world. He suggests that because networks are moving to IP and that “...as handsets become SIP-enabled – which they are supposed to be in the IMS model, eventually – you’ve solved your [mobility] problem.”

For some reason, simply saying “SIP” immediately implies mobility.

UMA is a RAN technology, akin to 3G. SIP, of course, is NOT a RAN technology. In fact, SIP has no knowledge of the actual transport layer. So why would putting SIP on a handset suddenly make it capable of moving from the 3G network to a Wi-Fi network? It wouldn’t.

In fact, it’s UMA that will keep SIP blissfully unaware of the underlying transport (Wi-Fi, 3G, GSM,...) and free from that complex mobility issue. Put a SIP client on a UMA handset and SIP gets full mobility between networks today, not “...eventually...”.

But I think it’s this comment that really highlights the issue:

“UMA is an interim that has no future; it doesn’t really fit in with an IP core.”

UMA is the structural foundation for mobile operators to use broadband and IP as *the* low cost RAN technology for service delivery in the home and office. It is the future.

Suggesting that a RAN technology like UMA doesn’t fit with an IP core is like suggesting that 3G doesn’t fit with an IP core. It comes down to a lack of understanding.

Femtocells get 'boring'

Yesterday, Michelle Donegan with Unstrung posted a story about her experiences with installing and setting up a femtocell. In a word, the story was ‘boring’.

I say it was boring because there was no drama, no complex settings, no difficult radio resource planning, no back end configurations.

Michelle was with the folks from Ubiquisys. And as advertised, she simply plugged in the femtocell and started to use it. She had a relatively boring ‘plug and play’ femtocell experience.

In this ever complex world, a 'boring' femtocell solution is exactly what we need.

Unfortunate UMA’s role in making the femtocell plug and play was left out.

Ubiquisys uses UMA as the femtocell to core network protocol. One of the reasons why it was ‘plug and play’ is that UMA already contains a robust femtocell ‘discovery’ procedure. The femtocell can automatically determine the appropriate UMA Network Controller based on location.

Also, UMA already contains detailed ‘access control’ policy management, so the operator can determine if the femtocell should be enabled for service, and then if a specific handset can use that specific femtocell to receive services.

This is not to take anything away from Ubiquisys. Certainly the RF planning is a very difficult and complex task which they have clearly been able to handle better than most. As Will Franks from Ubiquisys says in the article, “It costs a lot of money to build a box with no buttons.”

But Ubiquisys’s decision to leverage UMA is also part of their plan for simplicity. With UMA, so many of the basic protocol elements such as discovery, access control, security and scalability which are so critical for making a ‘technology’ into a deployable ‘service’ have already been addressed.

Ubiquisys is ready to start selling millions of femtocells way before any of their competitors. This is in a small part to the fact that their back end solution, UMA, already works as advertised.