Ericsson Brings Network Coverage, Performance to 5G Era

Ericsson has launched four new solutions to support communication service providers in capturing the business opportunities created as the 5G era moves closer.

The solutions, which will enhance wider network coverage with high performance capability, will be showcased during the forthcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016, in Barcelona, Spain, from February 22-25, 2016.

Fueled by the Internet of Things (IoTs), 5G and the cloud, telecoms service providers will see a growing number of diverse network uses, which will bring new value chains, financial models and business opportunities. To capture the opportunities ahead, service providers will have to continuously transform and adopt new ways to create value for consumers, according to Ericsson.

The networked and connectivity company said “Along with this development, net- work performance is becoming increasingly important and an increasingly challenging task. A new study, which will be published in the MWC edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, reveals that a poor video streaming experience can actually have a “double whammy” effect, since it not only leads to lower service provider brand equity, but actually helps competing brands to gain brand equity.”

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report forecasts that 90 per cent of the world´s population will be covered by WCDMA/HSPA mobile broadband networks by 2021. At the same time, more than 50 per cent of the world’s population today still lacks internet access, especially in developing countries. This provides a great opportunity for mobile operators.

In support of the vision of making mobile Internet access available to everyone, Ericsson is addressing three different challenges: enhancing network performance, improving operations efficiency and lowering cost for mobile broadband coverage.

As part of the evolution towards 5G, and to improve the performance and efficiency of today’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology while meeting the network demands created by growing data traffic, Ericsson is launching new Ericsson Radio System software and hardware. The launch supports the world’s first commercial offering of LTE 1Gbps peak data rates, in addition to hyper-scalable radio access network architecture for cloud.

The Ericsson Radio System is also being complemented with three new radio access products supporting 4x4 MIMO, and new spectrum bands. Efficiently addressing user demands for extreme app coverage will also drive requirements for multi-gigabit capacities and multi-band solutions in the backhaul, which Ericsson is addressing with new microwave additions to the Ericsson Radio System.

According to Ericsson, for subscribers, network perfor- mance and user experience are increasingly important. To support operators in becoming experience-centric, Ericsson is launching the Service Operations Center (SOC) and the Experience Management Center (EMC) functions of its Experience Centric Managed Services offering.

The SOC monitors the performance of services such as video streaming and web browsing in real time, which is translated and correlated into network performance requirements. The EMC monitors consumers’ experiences and perception through, for example, customer surveys, social media analytics, Net Performance Score studies and churn analysis, which is translated and correlated into service performance requirements.

Operators that have a better understanding of both service quality and their consumers’ perception of their experience are better able to improve by both measures, Ericsson said in a statement.