Mobile broadband Internet is helping to close the digital divide while Web 2.0 applications such as social networking are driving its use, so content providers, operators, equipment suppliers and communications network integrators must come together to make this happen.

However insufficient capacity in the backhaul -- namely, the connections between the distributed base stations and the base station controllers (BNC) or radio network controllers (RNC) – can be a bottleneck as the volume of data increases.

A BNC controls base stations used in GSM 2G networks, while an RNC is its counterpart in UMTS 3G networks and both provide the front-end interface between the core network switching and routing equipment and the base stations.

“A Pyramid Research study found that fewer than 10 million households in South-East Asia have broadband access, while the potential addressable market is over 40 million households,” Ericsson Malaysia president Krishnakumar Guda told the media on 2 April. “Furthermore, 50% of PC owners in Malaysia don't have broadband access which presents a huge opportunity for mobile broadband and high-speed broadband (HSBB), he added.

“For example, Maxis has over 195,000 mobile broadband users, while Celcom has over 230,000 and there are around four million mobile Internet users in Malaysia who use their phones for Internet access, while it's estimated that around half of new broadband users access the Internet using HSPA-USB modems,” said Krishnakumar.

Mobile broadband over efficient High Speed Packet Access cellular radio access will enable broadband to be available everywhere, while fibre and VDSL (Very High Bitrate DSL) will enable increased capacity, efficiency and bandwidth.  Operators will see revenue growth from  broadband over ADSL (Asymmetric DSL) and cable begin to slow, growth in revenue from mobility and increased broadband coverage will grow steadily, while growth in revenue from high bandwidth services and services with guaranteed QoS (quality of service) – ie. Performance will ramp upwards.

Also, the growth of overall data traffic in South-East Asia will be huge and data will comprise 90% of all network traffic by 2011.

According to Ericsson figures, the total fixed and mobile traffic across South East Asia was 5,000 terabytes per month at the end of 2007 and fixed and mobile voice made up 75% of that. However, in 2010/2011, total traffic across the region would be 78,000 terabytes per month, of which 90% is fixed and mobile data and the rest fixed and mobile voice, and of total data, mobile data will make up about two-thirds, while fixed data the rest.

“Data will be driven by 3G and HSPA as there are few restriction on wireless capacity, while applications such as MNC Wireless' Elven Legends will drive 3G data usage, and Ericsson is in a strong position to address this phenomenal growth through our complete end-to-end solutions and,” said Krishnakumar.

For example, Ericsson and Singapore Telecom unveiled a demonstration of a 21 Mbps HSPA service in Singapore, in conjunction with the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Singapore and the service will be progressively rolled out in Singapore, while rival StarHub began public trials of a 21 Mbps HSPA service on 27 March using competitor Huawei's equipment.

“However, the backhaul into the core network is the issue and we see significant potential in the transport network, while Malaysia will be Ericsson's regional hub for broadband,” Krishnakumar added.
 
End-to-end solution

Ericsson's end-to-end solutions for broadband wireless access from homes and offices all the way to the core network begin with 2G, 3G or LTE base stations providing the final kilometre subscriber access.

The backhaul links from these base stations to first aggregation point can be via microwave, fibre or copper.

“Microwave, which is mostly used in Malaysia,  lets operators have their network up and running fast and to realise a return on their investment withing four months and profitability after 12 months,” said Don McCullogh, Ericsson AB head of product marketing, broadband networks.

Fibre on the other hand is the best way but usually is more expensive, while copper – mostly T1 lines – is the norm for backhaul in the United States. A T1 line has a capacity of 1.54 Mbps.

The next leg from the first aggregation point to the BSC, RNC or AGW radio controllers which are in turn connected to the core network, is a dual fibre ring which uses Ethernet over Multi-Protocol Label Switching – Transport Profile  (MPLS-TP).

The dual fibre rings provide redundancy so that if one fibre is cut or breaks, traffic can be routed over the other and Ericsson's equipment can change over within 50 milliseconds in the event of a break.

MPLS-TP is a particular profile of MPLS which is being standardised by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is an extension of work begun by transport network experts of the International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunications sector (ITU-T).

MPLS is used in high-performance telecommunications networks and it directs and carries data from one network node to the next. It makes it easy to create "virtual links" between distant nodes and can encapsulate packets of various network protocols.
 
In an MPLS network, data packets are assigned labels and packet-forwarding decisions are made solely on the contents of this label, without the need to examine the packet itself.

This allows operators to create end-to-end circuits across any type of transport medium, using any protocol, with the primary benefit that it eliminates dependence on a particular data link layer technology, such as ATM, frame relay, SONET or Ethernet, and eliminate the need for multiple Layer 2 networks to satisfy different types of traffic.
 
 MPLS-TP aims to make packet transport in communications service provider networks more efficient and reliable and it targets lower end-to-end bandwidth cost.
 
Another key advantage of MPLS-TP is that it ensures quality of service over all IP networks which having been originally designed to carry data, are traditionally prone to delays and bottlenecks which are tolerable with data but intolerable with voice-over-IP communications or videoconferencing where such delays are noticeable and can spoil the conversation or viewing experience.

Ericsson's end-to-end broadband solutions include its Mini-Link range of microwave equipment and dish antennas, its Marconi OMS 1410 and Marconi MHL 3000 optical transport which enables legacy TDM (Time Division Multiplex) to all-IP migration, and its EDA 1200, EDA 1500 and ECN 430 equipment which  provide high-speed copper, fibre to the home (FTTH), Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) and point-to-point communication.

Ericsson had acquired Marconi early in 2006 and on 1 November that year, Ericsson Malaysia had completed the integration of Marconi Malaysia's business into its own.

The EDA 1200 is used in Singapore, Spain and elsewhere to deliver High-definition TV (HDTV) to homes.

The Marconi OMS 1400 is a family of compact, energy-efficient multiservice and packet optical transport solutions. Being  optimised for use in metro access networks it provides carrier grade Ethernet and TDM services interworking with metro and core networks based on SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy), Ethernet or IP/MPLS.

The OMS 1400 family is use at high capacity customer sites, in fixed or mobile backhaul/radio acces network aggregation and transport, and it's a migration solution enabling a fioxed mobile converged network.

The MHL 3000 is a multi-reach DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) platform for metro and core applications and it's designed to be highly flexible when deploying network infrastructure.

DWDM can transport 80 different colours (wavelenths) of light per fibre, which means that it a single fibre can be used to carry 80 different bit-streams instead of one.

The MHL 3000 provides protocol-independent transport of SDH/SONET (Switched Optical Network), Ethernet and SAN (Storage Area Network) services ranging from 100 Mbps to 40Gbps and is ready for 100GBps.

Its flexible node configurations and wide range of transmission formats satisfy any network requirement for present and future traffic needs.

The Ericsson SPT 2700 is a packet optical transport product with highly scalable switch and port capabilities. It offers network operators and service providers with ultimate flexibility and best value evolution to packet networking.

It features integrated packet, WDM (Wave Division Multiplexing, including ROADM/WSS), TDM and OTN switching functionality.

WSS or Wavelength Selective Switching uses micro-electronic mirrors on a chip to deflect light in nine different directions, similar to how a disco light directs the beam around the disco.

The SPT 2700 provides carrier-grade, connection-oriented transmission, which is vital for all types of broadband services with guaranteed end-user experience in residential IPTV, Internet, VoIP, as well as enterprise or mobile applications.

Ericsson has enabled Telekom Malaysia to increase its optical capacity nationwide, Hanoi Telecom in Vietnam to in its network modernisation, M1 in Singapore to modernise its mobile broadband backbone, Telstra in Australia in its 40Gbps backhaul trial, Axis Indonesia in its network equipment and services expansion, while other broadband and optical expansion initiatives are in progress in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.