KDDI's Broadband WiMax and Wi-Fi Municipal Network - Ruckus's Japanese Flight of the Navigator

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see

Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.

Tennyson, Lockslet Hall

Friday July 1^st 2011AD is not only the Fourth Anniversary of the Apple iPhone, the smartphone which defined and changed the Mobile and Tablet industry as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone and Hardware Quality - The Count of Monte Cristo Hard Knock Life”. It is also a more important anniversary of greater relevance to Telecoms Engineering people worldwide.

No, it is not International Reggae Day, for which little support was forthcoming, as stated in the article “Funding International Reggae Day: not an easy road says conceptualiser Andrea Davis”, published Friday, July 01, 2011 by Cecelia Campbell-Livingston Observer staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Reggae and Dancehall Artiste as well as Broadcast Media in the form of Free-to-Air Radio and Television as well as subscriber Cable Television got their present in the form of the imposition of a JA$15 million fine for payola as documented in my blog article entitled “Broadcasting Commission's JA$15 Million Payola Fines - Show Me The Money on The Road to Damascus”.

The best present they could have, as it is a strong incentive for Reggae and Dancehall Artiste to improve the quality of their music or face problems locally and abroad due to the low quality of Music the airwaves and the intolerance of Authorities in foreign countries to their rabble-rousing ways.

Rather, Friday July 1^st 2011AD marks twenty (20) years since the first GSM (Global Systems Mobile) call was placed on Monday July 1^st 1991AD as stated in the article “First GSM call was made 20 years ago today”, published Jul. 1, 2011, 9:15am PT by Om Malik, GigaOM.

That first GSM call was placed by Harri Holkeri, the then Prime Minister of Finland, who made that first call over Finnish Telecom Provider Radiolinja's newly built GSM Network built by  Telenokia and Siemens on one of the first model GSM phones, the car-based and very bulky Nokia 1011.

Telenokia and Siemens became what we now know as Nokia Siemens Networks. GSM went on to become a global Telecoms Standard, with more than five billion (5,000,000) plus subscribers worldwide, according to GSMA (Global Systems Mobile Alliance) Statistics Page.

I make mention of this, as the next generation of Mobile Networks have Data at its heart. There is a General worldwide push towards 4G, represented by the competing sister protocols LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) being undertaken by older more established Telecom Providers such as Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and 4G - Green Lantern Core”.

The debate as to which is better rages on among supporters of both Platforms, of course, captured beautifully in my blog article entitled “LTE vs WiMax 4G - Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors”.

Favours to bestow in the form of contracts are usually codenamed For Your Eyes Only (1981) by Telecoms Providers and it is swinging clearly in the LTE direction, as Telecom Providers are specifically requesting such gear from Telecom Equiptment Suppliers.

This as being as many Telecom Providers are already members of GSMA and an LTE upgrade, for the most part, is a software upgrade from WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) Networks.

Increasingly, however, these older Telecom Providers of the same age as Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon are realizing that people are making less Voice Calls and using more Data Services.

A phenomenon peculiar to the Developed World as the ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for Voice is on the decline and Data is steadily rising, projected to break even in 2013AD as stated in the article “It’s Official: Voice Is Worthless”, published February 9, 2011, 2:28pm PT by Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM, which the below graph so vividly illustrates:

It is yet to begin occurring in the Developing World countries such Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. This as the current build-out of HSDPA+ Release 7 Networks by Telecom Provider LIME and HSDPA+ Release 7 and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) by Telecom Provider Digicel announced in May 2011AD in Jamaica and the Caribbean is geared for US and EU Tourists initially as opined in my blog article entitled “LIME and American Tourist Data Avalanche - The US$80 Million Dollar CannonBall Run”.

Even the slated completion date eighteen (18) months into the future, which coincides with the start of the Winter Tourist Season in 2012AD is more than just coincidence. Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom Provider Digicel have plans to upgrade to LTE later, by which time Locals should be excited and enthused about using Wireless Data services.

This as HSDPA+ Release 7 is part of the LTE roadmap and would allow current users of 3G to continue using their mobile devices without having to change them, as would be the case with LTE, which uses a WCDMA but with differ rent hardware. Not surprising, considering that 3G may be popular and still in use even up to 2015AD, according to the statistics of Wireless Intelligence, best expressed in the below graph:

• 500 million WCDMA powered HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) connections during June reaching 5 billion subscribers
• WCDMA is the fastest growing wireless Broadband protocol worldwide
• HSDPA is 47% of all Wireless Broadband connections
• 5.5 billion Total world connections by the end of the Second Quarter
• HSDPA has grown by one hundred and fifty seven million (157,000,000) new Broadband Additions.

So this new information as it relates to APRU puts the build-out in the US of A into better perspective: they are trying to avoid the dreaded coming of The Dead Zone (TV Series 2002–2007) as opined in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and SMS - The Dead Zone”.

It now explains too, why Telecom Provider Verizon is pushing the idea of mobile smartphones in which Voice and Data are meaningless distinctions namely their much vaulted VoLTE (Voice over LTE) Network as described in my blog article entitled “Verizon's LTE Network and VoLTE - The Dead Zone meets The Machine Stops”.

Telecom Provider Verizon is effectively encouraging people to buy into the idea of mobile phones that use Data Services to have a Voice conversation, assuming people still talk in the future. Thus, they can still keep making money from Metered Voice Inter- and Intra-LATA (Local Access Transport Area) Calling and Data usage such as streaming Data at the same time!

Telecom Provider AT&T most likely has similar plans to preserve its Voice ARPU, as it cannot be the case that they will give up the still lucrative Local and International Voice Calling revenue to VoIP companies such as Google Voice, Skype and Fring after the acquisition of Telecom Provider T-Mobile as noted in my blog article entitled “AT&T-T-Mobile and Digicel-CLARO Comparisons - Alice Through the Looking Glass The Day After”.

For newly built Telecom Providers, (as in built completely from scratch from 2010 till now), however, the choice is simpler. They do not have to build a Voice Network, merely a Data Network.

Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1 Tech Services Ltd are examples of such Telecom Providers recently built as stated in my Geezam Blog article entitled “Dekal Wireless: Broadband for the Masses”.

Their Data-Centric nature and the common-ness of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) in an awful lot of UE (User Equipment), means that Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks can do both Voice and Data!

They have the option of building Mesh Networks that enable Voice Calling when a phone with Data Service enabled is close to their Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks as stated in my blog article entitled “Digicel and Wimax 4G Mobile - the Great Australian Outback” and the article “Telecom Providers 4G vs Wi-Fi Calling - Galaxy Rangers”.

But a more fascinating proposition is for the marriage of Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks and Traditional Telecom Providers who have a Data Network, specifically in the form of seamless Revenue sharing Cross-Platform roaming. This would solve future congestion problems and make Data and Voice truly seamless.

That is to say, people who have Laptops, Netbooks and smartphones capable of using the Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Network and seamless transitioning to the 3G or LTE Network in much the same way a GSM Voice call hands over from Cell Tower to Cell Tower while the person is in motion, with no input from the user.

Heterogeneous Networks such a Japan’s KDDI are attempting to do just that for the first time. Data demands by their customers means that they will have the capability to seamlessly hand over between a Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Network and a WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d,e) Network by March 2012AD as stated in the article “Wi-Fi: It’s the other cell Network”, published July 1, 2011, 8:30am PT By Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM.

Thus offloading traffic from congested Network to another Network while maintaining billing is achievable on KDDI, thanks to an implementation by Telecom Equipment Provider Ruckus Wireless, who had demonstrated this very same concept as being possible as stated in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers, 4G and Wi-Fi Roaming - Ruckus Wireless and the Firestarter”.

This was a concept I had suggested for utilization between Telecom Provider Digicel and Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1 Tech Services Ltd, as albeit they are competing, it would be of mutual benefit to both Telecom Providers to continue making Data Revenue when customers roam from one Network to another.

Effectively Data Roaming, much in line with WiMaX Roaming Agreements signed with Telecom Provider Sprint as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel and WiMax 4G Mobile - Sprint, My Brother's Keeper”.

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) will be common in many devices in the future. Such handover capabilities should be standard on Telecom Provider Networks as a means of offloading excessive Data Traffic as well as artificially expanding their Network size and make revenue from devices that have both a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n)  and 3G, LTE or WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) chipset.

Ruckus Wireless has gone ahead into the future in deploying this Heterogeneous Network, first of its kind for KDDI in a Japanese Flight of the Navigator (1986).