Mobile Network Capacity

One of the major themes of 3GPP Release 12 (due for completion in 2014) is enhanced support for small cells in LTE. With mobile network traffic expected to increase dramatically over the coming years, the ability to reuse spectrum many times in dense usage areas will make small cells crucial. In a previous post on… Read more

I welcome Ofcom’s new report, published today, which provides excellent measurement data on the state of the mobile broadband market in the UK. This type of extensive measurement programme has been long overdue. At last, the industry and consumers have access to independent data. While the results may not be a surprise to the many mobile… Read more

In his wireless blog, Mark Heath expresses his concerns at Ofcom’s plans for a statutory report to the UK Government on the UK’s communication infrastructure. The UK Government’s Digital Economy Act 2010 gave Ofcom a new duty to provide a report to the Secretary of State every three years on the state of the UK’s… Read more

In his wireless blog, Mark Heath, of Unwired Insight, explains how available 3G capacity per device is falling. As mobile users increasingly migrate from 2/2.5G to 3G networks, the available 3G network capacity is being shared among a greater number of users. By 2014, a typical incumbent mobile network operator would see its 3G capacity… Read more

Mark Heath of Unwired Insight provides analysis of 3UK’s 3G traffic. While many mobile network operators remain tight-lipped about the growth in data traffic on their 3G networks, 3UK has been relatively open about it. It has also been open about the traffic shaping that it has had to apply. This is despite 3UK having… Read more

Not a week goes by that I don’t come across a raft of complaints in online forums about the quality of 3G mobile broadband services in the UK, with criticism levelled at all operators. Acision and YouGov have just published research of the experiences of mobile broadband users, and found 84% of the users surveyed… Read more

In his wireless blog, Mark Heath of Unwired Insight discusses the latest LTE speeds reported by mobile network operators. Am I the only one that gets frustrated by all the hype surrounding LTE speeds and LTE performance? Many in the industry are seeing LTE as the means of avoiding the looming 3G capacity crisis, as… Read more

Mark Heath of Unwired Insight discusses how 3G offloading will be needed to protect 3G capacity as 3G traffic levels continue to rise. With widespread deployment of LTE networks many years away, and with wireless traffic volumes continuing to increase, 3G offloading is becoming a necessity for mobile operators, to protect 3G capacity. Dedicated broadcasting… Read more

In order to provide high quality of service to their customers, 3G operators must have sufficient network capacity per user, or 3G device, to support our forecast traffic volumes per 3G device. Following the launch of 3G services by a 3G operator, the total available 3G network capacity has only to be shared among a… Read more