The effects of mobile video on traffic & policy management

Mobile Video Conference, London, 18th October 2011

dean.bubley@disruptive-analysis.com

Mobile data myth #1

Index
Mobile broadband traffic

Revenue

Oh no! Video consumes a lot of bandwidth. Its going to lead to congestion & network meltdown! We need complex videospecific policies & plans!

Time

October 2011

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Congestion? Whats the problem, exactly?

A) Specific devices?

B) Specific users?

C) Specific traffic types?

D) Specific times?
October 2011

E) Specific locations?
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F) Specific apps?

Its not as simple as that..

Index
Mobile broadband traffic

Oversimplified analysis

Revenue

Time

Need for more sophisticated measurement, metrics, analytics & policy: busy cell / busy hour dynamic congestion-awareness uplink vs. downlink signalling traffic device & user application / use-case

October 2011

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Mobile broadband traffic management options

Tuning TCP/IP & contention mgmt & RAN optimisation
Macro radio network upgrades & optimisation Policy-based traffic-shaping Capped & tiered billing

$
Compression, content optimisation, pacing & transcoding

Core

Internet

X. Y. Z

Device-based solutions

Local offload (WiFi / Femto)

Caches / CDNs

Transport / core offload

Congestion APIs, analytics & monitoring

And video-specific solutions like pushed channels, adaptive bitrate streaming etc
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Multiple departments involved = politics!

Often not networkaware Low capex / integration needs Conservative, powerful Wary of complex x-silo integration. Want to avoid congestion & control costs Long cycles

In-house apps & content

Strategy Legal

Radio network

Mobile video

Marketing
Close collaboration Revenue-driven Wants stuff NOW Interested in new plans & billing approaches, also QoE

Looking at use cases for new all-IP EPC. Torn between cost-control & new revenue Wariness of pushing policy down to RAN (& device) unless controllable & standardised
October 2011

IT Core network
Mix of collaboration & rivalry over policy

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Phases of policy management evolution

Phase 1: Flat MBB Efficiency

P2P throttling Fair use Counters No device element

Phase 2: Align policy & tariffs

Caps & tiers On-device fuelgauge Post/prepay Speed tiers

Phase 3: Congestionbased
Busy-cell/hour Map to SIM / user App-based throttle DPI v2

Phase 4 RAN-based? Device-based? Offload-centric?

October 2011

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Mobile video & WiFi = many propositions

Operator offload WiFi client / app or automated logon Home broadband take-away WiFi

Contentprovider dedicated WiFi

3rd-party Telco OTT Onload WiFi
October 2011

Plus enterprise WiFi, loyalty WiFi, device vendor WiFi etc

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Is WiFi offload the answer?

WiFi onload

Traffic over other operators WiFi

Extra Elastic WiFi WiFi offload 3G Data Traffic over contracted operators WiFi or roaming

3G Data
Private WiFi Smartphone data today
October 2011

Private WiFi Smartphone data with operator WiFi

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Myth #2: Seamlessness is the endpoint

The best-tailored products have seams for a reason

October 2011

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QoS vs. QoE: any real value in network QoS?

Operator B

NNI Radio

Network QoS

Mashup

End-to-End QoS
Quality of Experience
October 2011

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Myth #3: Video traffic can easily be monetised

The hype: Operators can monetise OTT video by prioritising traffic, guaranteeing QoS, providing data to content cos
The reality:

Network coverage/capacity deficiencies are a showstopper Billing & OSS integration is another showstopper Telcos dont know how to sell QoS; video cos dont know how to buy it Mid-mile QoS is small % of overall QoE Has to work around WiFi, optimisation, ABR, device issues etc. etc. Mashups & app evolution mean its getting harder to define video YouTube, BBC etc arent interested. And what about adult content?
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October 2011

Neutrality where are we? Controversial Arguable Accepted

Blocking or degrading 3rd-party apps (eg Skype, YouTube) Upstream-paid web priority Modifying content (eg ad insertion) Operators VoIP & IPTV priority Limiting P2P throughput User-chosen priority (eg VPN) Throttling to lower IP transit cost

Anti-DDoS / severe congestion Illegal content Emergency / health traffic

October 2011

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Mobile video network/policy solution maturity

General (neutral) data caps & tiers Core/Gi interface optimisation (transparent) Adaptive bitrate streaming WiFi /femto offload of video traffic On-net CDNs & consentbased optimisation RAN optimisation (caching, adm. control) Pre-caching pushed content channels Video-specific data plans & caps (user-paid) Enhanced-QoS / sponsored data paid by content co.
October 2011

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2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012

2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013

2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014

2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

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Dumb pipe, or happy piper?

Should telcos be more scared of under-the-floor players than over-the-top?

October 2011

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www.disruptive-analysis.com disruptivewireless.blogspot.com @disruptivedean

dean.bubley@disruptive-analysis.com +44 (0) 7941 100016

October 2011

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