From traffic offloading to LBS service: ongoing operation-level Wi-Fi stories

Wi-Fi technology, which has long been regarded as the "Ugly Duckling" in wireless technology, is rapidly developing into a necessary strategic tool for mobile operators. However, regarding the role of Wi-Fi in the operator's business, whether Wi-Fi can exist as a separate business model still needs to be combined with existing mobile services, but there is controversy between operators.

The simple story of using Wi-Fi as a low-priority mobile data traffic bearer method is being rewritten because operators expect to use this technology to promote and improve service differentiation.

A recent research by Analysys Mason, a market research firm, shows that service differentiation is more important for carriers to adopt Wi-Fi technology than data (shunting) offloading. However, although mobile data offloading is relatively easy to understand and quantify, it is not that easy to differentiate mobile services by using Wi-Fi.

O2 UK companies and retailers promote their own models

Gavin Franks, managing manager of O2 UK company Wi-Fi, stressed that a recognized model for building a Wi-Fi network is undergoing fundamental changes. "The Cloud and BT's Wi-Fi networks in The UK need to be updated. These business models have been focused on providing Internet access only to laptop users sitting in a cafe ."

Franks said that O2 British companies saw how smartphones triggered a mobile revolution and decided to put Wi-Fi at the forefront of customer experience as a related technology. Efforts in this area involve close cooperation with department stores, hotels, entertainment venues and other owners. By providing Wi-Fi services for owners, they can communicate with their users, and increase its value.

"Retailers are aware that the pressure from online sales on their sales is growing, which is a driving force to provide differentiated experience for customers in the store ." Franks said.

"We do not provide free Wi-Fi, which is a very B2B2C proposition ." He added. "The site owners pay us and then they provide free services to their customers. In exchange, we agree to create value by providing them with deep insight into their user behavior ."

Chris Nicoll, analyst at Analysys Mason, said that this capability allows site owners to better understand their customer behavior is partly provided by the ability to track consumer locations through Wi-Fi networks, the nearest trace distance is 50 meters.

"This will enable the owner to analyze the traffic of people throughout the venue and have higher insights into what is happening in shopping malls, railway stations, exhibition halls, and other places ." He said. "If a consumer is near a retailer to provide services, the promotion will be more effective ." Nicoll said. "These opportunities may not be so easy. This requires different ideas from mobile operators ."

Battle for Wi-Fi sites

This approach of focusing on providing Wi-Fi services to site owners is driving carriers to become the exclusive suppliers that can provide more valuable location information.

Andy Baker, CEO of BT's Wi-Fi department, said new entrants are aware of locations that are critical and a battle for a site disk has been underway. "As a venue owner, I don't know why I need multiple Wi-Fi providers on my site ." He said. "Whether it's a coffee shop or a large department store, the owner only wants a login page, so I think there will be only one Wi-Fi solution for each venue ."

Baker said operators that want to occupy part of the Wi-Fi market are scrambling to catch up. "But they encountered obstacles because they started from scratch. The Cloud and O2, our closest competitors, already have about 15 thousand Wi-Fi hotspots, And we have 4.5 million (including Fon access points ). In the past two or three years, we have significantly accelerated our UK Wi-Fi network expansion ."

Steven Glapa, senior marketing director of the Wi-Fi equipment supplier Ruckus Wireless, said operators had accelerated their efforts to acquire key locations since about a year ago. "The obvious high-value Wi-Fi site is a railway station ." He said. "The first service provider can gain a dominant position and expand its network value ."

Glapa dismissed the idea of using LTE in the venue and claimed that Wi-Fi has a spectrum advantage in achieving high density and capacity.

"We can see that the LTE small cell is used outdoors, but when you transfer the target from coverage to capacity, LTE will become more expensive than Wi-Fi ." He said. "A railway station may need about 100 femtocells to achieve the required capacity, which may be very expensive when using licensed spectrum ."

Integrate Wi-Fi with mobile services

This idea is different from that of Yves Bellego, the strategic and technical director of France Telecom. "We believe that public Wi-Fi will not exist as an independent activity with a dedicated business model ."

Bellego said that the macro network and small cell for Indoor Coverage provide the best voice service. "But with the increase in indoor data usage, Wi-Fi is becoming a good supplement to mobile networks and has become an effective technical solution, provides capacity and performance at a low cost."

However, Bellego insists that the customer experience is not 2G, 3G, LTE or Wi-Fi. "The operator's role is to provide a good experience by adopting a set of correct technologies and deployment (solutions ." He said. "That's why we think that the seamless mobility between mobile networks and Wi-Fi is necessary, and standardization is the way to have these mechanisms ."

Now there is a closer plan to integrate Wi-Fi with the mobile network ecosystem, but it is not completely holistic. At present, Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), Wi-Fi Alliance, 3GPP and other industrial institutions are promoting cooperation between Wi-Fi and mobile infrastructure in a nearly seamless manner.

"Carriers especially want to unload video data traffic on their mobile networks in high-density urban areas ." Said Nicoll of Analysys Mason. "By building new Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz range, the channels will not overlap and will achieve better performance. Wi-Fi provides a great opportunity to retain the operator's network traffic and remove it from expensive and limited mobile spectrum ."

Nicoll said that heavyweight operators involved in such initiatives include AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, uk ee, Telecom Italia and NTT DoCoMo. They are all looking for solutions to mobile communication problems in the real world, such as spectrum depletion, indoor coverage, and capacity.

In terms of licensed spectrum, Wi-Fi provides answers to some of these key issues, such as data traffic and proper splitting, it also provides a secure and seamless experience for its users.

In any case, the increasing participation of these international operators may determine the speed and direction of Wi-Fi in the near and mid-term.