Problems in Mobile Communication Industry – Sri Lanka

summary applied science is an essential p cunning of any agate line and and then precedeprises should have genuinely clear understanding of their engine room of necessity and opportunities. Sri Lankan diligent Operators ar in a better position in depot of technology. Objective of this report is to analyze current technology level of expeditious wheeler dealers, their problem and the way of finding solutions using technology. Currently bustling talk assiduity is in a hazy situation. Although technology levels of mobile operators be comparatively spunky certain technologies behind be apply to shake rid of present problems of the industry.Here in this report such proficient problems argon discussed and upstart technologies argon proposed. Deploying mentioned technologies mobile operator will be adequate to oercome technological barriers as advantageously as a nonher(prenominal) issues of the industry. i List of skirts and foretells knave hedges circuit car d 2. 1 public tele conversationmunication Technologies????????????????????????? 4 Table 2. 2 Technology Comparison of Sri Lankan unsettled Operators??? 6 strains visualize 1. 1 mobile Subscriber harvest-festival (1991 2009 June)???????????????? 1 Figure 4. 1 Typical caseful pocketbookd Mobile profits???????????????????????????? 0 Figure 4. 2 HSPA Technology Roadmap???????????????????????????????????????? 11 Figure 4. 3 spheric Telecom Emissions 2002 2020????????????????????????? 12 Figure 4. 4 Envelope Curve of Mobile Technologies ???????????????????????? 14 Figure 4. 5 judge Growth of Mobile information manufacture??????????????????????? 14 ii List of Abbreviations BTS CDMA rim GPRS GSM HSPA HSPA iDEN IP LTE PDC SDH SHF TDM TDMA TRCSL UMTS WCDMA ? Base Transceiver Station ? code Division Multiple Access ? Enhanced Data rates for GSM ontogeny ? General Packet wireless Service ? Global System for Mobile ? highschool Speed Packet Access ? High Speed Packet Access ? Integrated digital Enhanced meshing ? Internet Protocol ? Long Term evolution ? Personal Digital Cellular ? Synchronous Digital Hierarchy ? highly High oftenness ? Tme Division Multiplexing ? Time Division Multiple Access ? Telecommunication convention Commission of Sri Lanka ? Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ? Wide exercise set Code Division Multiple Access iii Table of Contents Summary .. List of Tables and Figures ii List of Abbreviations iii 1 Introduction 1 1. 1 Objectives.. 1. 2 Methodology 2 2 Technology take of Mobile attention. 4 2. 1 History . 4 2. 2 Assessing Technology Level . 4 2. Bench Marking 6 3 Technology Problems 7 3. 1 Capacity Limitations .. .. 7 3. 2 creator Issues 3. 3 Frequency Spectrum Issues . 8 3. 4 BSC/MSC Boarders 9 3. 5 rise Loading . 9 4 Proposed Technologies .. 0 4. 1 part Based Transmission 10 4. 2 IP RAN .. 11 4. 3 EDGE Evolution for GSM . 11 4. 4 kB Technologies .. 12 4. LTE .. 13 5 6 Future of Mobile conversation industry . 15 Conclusion . 17 References .. 8 iv Mobile communication labor in Sri Lanka 1 Introduction Technology plays a snappy component part in todays business environments. Enterprises with appropriate technology are having a definite advantage everywhere the others in the competitive business environment. Therefore enterprises should have very clear understanding of their technology emergencys and opportunities. Many telecommunications service providers in the world are in the center of undergoing technical and structural changes, whilst at the same time experiencing major ontogeny.Competition and fast technological advancements drive the present telecommunications industry. In Sri Lanka Mobile discourse industriousness is rapidly ontogeny. More than 12 million Mobile social occasionrs are in Sri Lanka. Following figure shows the mobile subscriber growth. Cellular Subscriber Growth (1991 2009 June) 14,000,000 12,000,000 C u m u l a t i v e N o . o f S u b s c r i b e r s 10,000,000 8,000,000 Subscribers 6,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 0 Year Figure 1. 1 Mobile Subscriber Growth (1991 2009 June) computer address TRCSL Page 1Mobile parley perseverance in Sri Lanka Under a misty worldwide stinting cloud Sri Lankas economy grew in recent couple of eld, just like a shot at a low-pitched rate. The economy having achieved sustained growth over three decades averaging nearly 5% per annum, in conjunction with a modest population growth in comparison to other South Asiatic countries crossed the USD 2000 mark in per capita income. Notwithstanding conditions of uncertainty, coronation in al-Qaida modernizement continued at the macro level and Mobile converse industry has achieved a considerable growth.The economic realities and impudent food market developments during the run low year turned out to be a stress nookievas for in all mobile knell operators in Sri Lanka. Ruptures emerged and the industry had to search for ready(a) but durable fixes to rebriny viable. The entry of the fifth mobile ring operator, early in the year set the new reference impairment and forced a d declareward revision of pricing by all mobile operators. This ca employ a sharp reduction of the reference price by approximately 50%. Further to cutting prices, emulation in the industry intensified and this resulted in a sharp rise in denote and promotional activity.The combined effect of a significant cancel in prices and high promotional comprises compelled most industry players to consider life-threatening adjustments to their business models and structures, a process that led to job losses in the industry. Leading operators recorded s well-offly growth in business record in a growing market, but declining margins eroded r eveue animals prima(p) to operate losses. 1. 1 Objectives Main objectives of this repot are 1. Assess Technology Level of Sri Lankan Mobile Communication Industry 2. Identifying main technology issues in the industry 3.Proposing technological solution for those issues 1. 2 Methodology Literature value was done regarding the Sri Lankan and world Mobile communication industry. In the second stones throw responsible staff members were interviewed representing all five mobile operators. Their views and information store from literature survey Page 2 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka were analyzed. In addition to above Mobile communication equipment vendors were contacted for convocation information about new technologies and trends. Page 3Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 2 Technology Level of Mobile Industry In direct to examine the technology level and capability, framework developed by cat bear and Ramanathan (1995) can be physical exercised. This framework is base on the value arrange concept, which identifies the primary and support activities of a telecommunications service provider, and uses abuse by? step procedure to analyze the technological capabi lity removes in these activities and to develop indicators to measure the extent to which such technology capabilities have developed. 2. 1 HistoryAlthough telecommunication has a history of more(prenominal) than 150 years in Sri Lanka, the islands mobile communication history extends to less than 25 years. Mobile phone technology for the first time evolved in 1946 after the Second World War. The first Mobile net income was established in North America. After 42 years, mobile technology was introduced to Sri Lanka. The first private mobile operator to enter the market in 1989 was Celltel Lanka confine, which was later known as Tigo. In 2009 Tigo was acquired by Etisalat Middle East telecom giant. The first mobile operator based its operate on the E?TACS technology which offered basic voice services to Sri Lankan subscribers. Between 1989 to 1994 the Government took measures to introduce competitive cubicleular services by granting license to three mobile operators OTC Austral ia (Pvt. ) Ltd, presently known as Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd, MTN Networks (Pvt. ) Limited, commonly known as duologue GSM, and Lanka Cellular Services (Pvt. ) Limited currently known as Hutch. In 2009, the Government introduced more competition to the market by granting license to a fifth mobile operator, Bharathi Airtel which is an Indian telecommunication giant.From 2004 to 2010 Mobile communication industry in Sri Lanka had an annual growth of around 35? 40%. 2. 2 Assessing Technology Level World Technologies in Telecommunication is shown in Table 2. 1. It can be seen in the world still there are internet operating mobile technologies of 1st generation, 2nd Page 4 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka generation and 3rd generation. By looking at the subscriber percentages belong to the networks it can be concluded that 1st generation technology networks will not last much longer as already it is 0. 01 percent of world subscriber base.Technology GSM CDMA2000 1x WCDMA CDMA2000 1x E V? DO Generation 2G/2. 5G 2. 5G 3G 3G Subscribers portion (%) (millions) 3700 80. 42 455 7. 7 240 6. 32 112 2. 8 WCDMA/HSPA 3. 5G 57 1. 52 iDEN 2G 28 0. 74 CDMAONE 2G 6. 95 0. 18 PDC 2G 6 0. 18 CDMA2000 1x EV? DO? Rev A 3. 5G 3. 2 0. 08 TDMA 2G 2. 19 0. 06 Analog 1G 0. 3 0. 01 Table 2. 1 World Telecommunication Technologies Source http//www. telecomindiaonline. com/global? telecom? market? regional? and technology? distribution? at? telecom? india? daily. html GSM is the prevailing technology used all round the glow.It has been introduced in 1992 as a 2nd generation technology but by 2010 its fire with development of GPRS and EDGE technologies. As still GSM technology has more than 80% of world subscriber base and GSM is enhancing with support technologies it is expected to last more years. 3G/3. 5G (WCDMA/HSPA) are most modern commercially available technologies. Its seen that these technologies are capturing the market rapidly. consort to related surveys, more than 96% of WCDM A networks have deployed HSPA, with the majority (over 52%) supporting a peak downlink information capability of 7. Mbps or high. With 22% of HSPA network operators committed to HSPA Evolution (HSPA+). Page 5 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 2. 3 Bench Marking Technologies used by Sri Lankan Mobile Operators and the world technologies are mentioned in the following Table 2. 2. According to the table Dialog and Mobitel have latest technologies comparing to other operators. When comparing with the World status Sri Lankan Operators are using nation of art technology. Sri Lankan Operator Airtel Dialog Etisalat Hutch MobitelTechnologies used GSM/GPRS/EDGE WCDMA/HSPA GSM/GPRS/EDGE WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ GSM/GPRS/EDGE GSM/GPRS/EDGE GSM/GPRS/EDGE WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ World Status GSM/GPRS/EDGE are 2G/2. 5G everyday technologies in world WCDMA/HSPA are growing 3G/3. 5G technologies HSPA+ is commercially available now LTE is emerging as a 4G technology in the world Table 2. 2 Technology C omparison of Sri Lankan Mobile Operators Sri Lanka is the first country introduced GSM, EDGE, WCDMA (3G) and HSPA (3. 5G) technologies. too Sri Lanka is the first country which demonstrated HSPA+ in South Asia. Page 6Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 3 Technology Problems Recent years were belike the most challenging for the mobile communication industry in its history. stinting and industry turbulence heightened and industry leaders were forced to absorb the shocks in telling proportions while weaker operators were rendered vulnerable. The mobile communication industry deserves commendation for living trying economic, industry and regulatory challenges and for riding the tide. However, the cumulative effect was an good mobile communication industry reporting operating losses.Following are some performance data of Mobile Operators in year 2009. Dialog assembly reported negative NPAT of 1159 mill. Without recurring comprises. In operation Etisalat reported a loss of app roximately 1600 mill. Hutch turn over was decreased by 61. 9% Mobitel reported a net loss of Rs. 395 mill. As margins learn narrower and narrower operators are needful to find new opportunities in sound out to enhance revenue. nevertheless some(prenominal)(prenominal) technological problems are there as barriers for growing Mobile Communication Industry. 3. 1 Capacity Limitations In Mobile communication data traffic demand is rapidly increasing.Major bottle neck in providing high(prenominal) data rates is limitations in transmission networks. Currently Mobile operators have not island wide optical roughage networks in order to provide higher capacities. Also to provide higher aptitude at low cost, traditional TDM based access networks are a barrier. So IP based networks need to be deployed. For this huge investments are needed but current financial status of all mobile operators is not healthy generous for that. Currently it is not manageable to provide higher data rates when users move from UMTS (3G) reportage area to GSM/EDGE coverage area.Page 7 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka Currently the come in of users can be issueed by one cell has become a issue in mobile industry, because if there are more than possible no of users in the same cell, Users experience the congestion situation and as a result this cell need to be further brake in to two cells or covered by an umbrella cell to cater the capacity. When doing so diverse frequencies need to be assigned to the different cells and this will increase the interference to the users and quality would be dropped. 3. 2 null IssuesIn agrestic villages in Sri Lanka, electricity is either not available or is available only in limited quantities. As a result, even if battery fend forup is provided for the Base Stations (BTS), the batteries do not choose fully charged. Further, due to frequent interruptions in the world-beater supply, the life of these batteries gets shortened, which in turn increases the operational cost to run services in rural areas. Unavailability of reliable originator in semi? urban, rural and out-of-door areas increases operational costs further because sufficient backup systems have to be maintained.Therefore sustainable green heftiness sources are essential to have need in future. But still in Sri Lanka Green Technologies like solar energy and malarky power energy are not touristed in Mobile industry. Also be such technologies are not able-bodied of successful operation of base stations. Unavailability of commercial power in rural areas is also affected to mobile operators to expand their coverage. optional power sources are needed to expand coverage in slim time duration with minimal cost. 3. 3 Frequency Spectrum Issues In Sri Lanka Super High Frequency (SHF) Band is highly polluted.SHF band includes frequencies between 3GHz and 30 GHz. In this band more than 10000 Microwave Links are currently operating. Especially in urban areas it is difficult to deploy new back bone microwave cogitate due to interference. This has highly influenced for providing enough data capacity for Mobile Broad Band customers. Page 8 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka TRCSL has not allowed stop to Multi? Point backhauling technologies for telecom operators. With this technology number of microwave links need to be installed can be curbd and operators can easily deploy their back hauling networks. 3. 4 BSC/MSC BoardersIn early mobile systems, outback(a) base station sites were controlled by the MSC or mobile switching center. But with current systems under 2. 5G GSM network BSC Base station restraint controls the outside Base stations and under 3G network RNC Radio Network controller controls the remote node B sites, because of this scenario, It is a must to have several BSC/MSC boarders in the network and when users are moving via this boarders, the probability of drop of the imposes are vey high reducing the network quality in those areas. For example, multitude in the boarder areas always experience call drops and bad call quality etc.Therefore improvement for this is necessary via the advancement of the technologies. It may be high capacity MSCs or BSCs or some other solutions. 3. 5 Tower Loading Microwave links are used as the main means of backhauling in mobile industry in Sri Lanka and these microwave links need to be fixed on pillars with having line of sight. Usually from each one tower connects with more than one tower therefore always several links are need to be installed on a tower top. If its a hub site this number may increase to 10? 15 even more than 50 sometimes. Microwave antenna comes with 0. 6/1. 2/1. /2/2. 5m diameter therefore this is a big equipment. Also it has a larger wind shield area, because of this big size and area and cant operators need high strength large towers to be implemented. If the antenna sizes and cant of this microwave links can be decreased it would be preferably advantageous for the operators. Else new technologies like laser links, IR Links or smaller antenna sized IP links technologies can be developed to be able to guarantee the same level of availability. and then operators would be able to replace heavy microwave and use light equipment types. Page 9Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 4 Proposed Technologies 4. 1 Fiber Based Transmission Fiber based transmission is not a new technology in the industry. In Sri Lanka SLT and Dialog have their own fiber based networks. Fiber based transmission can cater quite high capacity data transmission. It can be used to implement either TDM/SDH based network or Packet/IP based network. Although SLT has a island wide fiber network, Dialog fiber network is still not widely spread. In fiber based solutions fiber cables are drawn from midpoint network sites to the remote Node? B/BTS sites.Usually a ring topology is used and it goes via hub sites, from hub sites fibers are drawn to remote sites. Figure 4. 1 Typical Fiber Based Mobile Network The problems with Fiber based transmission is the high initial capital investment cost and the time taken for the implementation. Most of the operators are not capable of affording such investment for their own fiber based infrastructure. Page 10 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka If a fiber network can be used for providing transmission for base stations, increasing data traffic demand can be easily fulfilled.Another option is to need fiber networks capacity from already deployed SLT or Dialog network. But leasing cost need to be highly considered. 4. 2 IP RAN Implementation of IP RAN (IP Radio access network) is the key to provide higher capacity. An IP ran with higher capacity to remote sites can constitute higher speeds with currently available HSPA+ like technologies. Figure 4. 2 HSPA Technology Roadmap According to the roadmap shown in Figure 4. 2, with the enhancements of HSPA+, Wimax /ADSL speeds can b e passed or equalized with HSPA in the years to come.The IP radio access networks (IPRAN) consist of end to end (Remote sites to the core network nodes) transmission with IP/Ethernet networks. Easiest way to implementation of such a technology is fiber based IP network where higher capacity and less complexity can be achieved. 4. 3 EDGE Evolution for GSM Current 2G networks are inadequate for providing data speeds of GSM/EDGE networks. EDGE Evolution quadruples threadbare EDGE network speeds, promising downlink data Page 11 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka rates of 1. 2Mbit/s, though the model has headroom for up to 1. 9Mbit/s.Similarly, uplink data rates of 474kbit/s are expected, although the standard specifies 947kbit/s. 3GPP standardized EDGE Evolution in 2007 (3GPP Release 7). 4. 4 Green Technologies Maintenance costs of networks in rural areas are high compared to urban areas, because of several factors such as poor transportation systems, difficulty in supply of s pare parts and non? availability of skilled workforce. Due to omit of reliable power in rural areas, there has been a meaty increase in the usage of diesel for running engine alternators to arrest telecom switching centers, transmission equipment and BTS s up and running.Currently more than 5000 Communication towers are there in Sri Lanka. This increases costs substantially. In spreading the reach of telecommunications in remote areas, renewable energy should be used to power relay towers in remote areas. By replacing diesel generators with solar panels in cell phone towers, tons of ascorbic acid emissions could be prevented from entryway the atmosphere. Global Telecom emission in 2002 and estimated values in 2020 are shown in Figure 4. 3. Figure 4. 3 Global Telecom Emissions 2002 2020 Source The Climate Group and Global e?Sustainability Initiative Page 12 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka Solar is a loot and effective way of harnessing energy. Also, the maintenance cost for the operation of solar equipment is comparatively lower as compared to diesel generators operated BTS towers. Solar generators have no carbon emissions and also help in preserving the environment for sustaining life on earth. It concentrates global warming, as carbon emissions are null in solar devices. The manpower needed for the operation and maintenance for solar equipment do not require extra skill.The telecom majors in world have started operating mobile repeater and relay stations, which harness solar and wind energy with the wind turbines foisted on the telecom towers. The hybrid systems, involving solar photovoltaic systems and wind energy installations for this application assure uninterrupted supply of 2. 8 kilowatts of power daily. A master control installed at the site acts as a voltage stabilizer, while a generator has been kept as a back? up for charging the batteries in case of emergency. Though the diesel generators are the lifelines of telecom towers, the y contribute to significant carbon emissions. discharge green and pushing the use of alternative energy sources like solar, wind and bio? fuel is the need of the minute of arc the government should provide high subsidies to help the telecoms taking this step, quickly and easily. Going solar is the way forward. Therefore as we can see above technologies are the candidate technologies for future enhancement of Mobitel network. According to the study these technologies can solve the main issues that were identified in this chapter. Therefore a system and a roadmap are required for timely implementation of the technologies in the network. 4. 5 LTELTE (Long Term Evolution) is a 4G technology which is emerging in the world now. When existing technologies are becoming obsolete, investments need to be done on new technologies. It is assumed that 2G will become obsolete in near future. Page 13 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka Figure 4. 4 Envelope Curve of Mobile Technologies Figu re 4. 4 shows the envelope mold of mobile communication technologies. It can be seen the technology is mainly modify focusing the deliverable capacity. See Figure 4. 5. Figure 4. 5 Expected Growth of Mobile Data Industry Mobile broad band services provide new opportunities for Mobile Operators.With LTE customer demands can be satisfied easily. Page 14 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 5 Future Industry of Mobile Communication Current monthly operational cost of Mobile Networks is several folds higher than revenue which is the case in many technology introductions. By introducing green technologies operational cost can be reduced. Therefore a huge advantage can be taken in current price war. With low cost IP based technologies and Point to Multi Point Backhauling technologies can be reduce operation and maintenance cost also.Going for Fiber Networks can help to reduce operational cost by reducing huge TRCSL license charges need to be pay annually for Microwave Links. With those technology improvements turn over can be improved and hence investments can be advance because huge investments are needed in near future as Core Mobile Technologies are evolving day by day. Government need to be given intensives for investments in Mobile Technologies as it can agitate the economy in return. Above mention technologies can reduce the environmental problems raised by Mobile Industry. Some of such issues can be listed as follows.Carbon Emission of more than 5000 Base Stations island wide Radio Frequency Pollution Currently Mobile Industry has influenced in purification also. Wide spread of pornographic contents is a major issue. direct recently all mobile operators have been agreed to implement technological measures to filter out such contents. Therefore by introducing mentioned technologies mobile operator will be able to overcome technological barriers as well as financial issues, marketing issues and environmental uses etc. Although Sri Lankan Mobile tari ffs are the lowest in the region, customers are not satisfied with the service in general.This bad customer images Page 15 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka regarding mobile operators can be eliminated from the heart of the customers by introducing state of art, sustainable and low cost technologies. Page 16 Mobile Communication Industry in Sri Lanka 6 Conclusion Technology plays a vital role in any industry in todays world. Mobile Communication industry is not an exception. Mobile Technologies are evolving very rapidly and customer expectations are also at sky level. In Sri Lanka 5 Mobile Players are operating in the industry and they use most popular and