Addressing the Capacity Crunch with Any-G, All-IP Mobile Backhaul

Packet-based solutions are the most efficient and scalable means of adding backhaul capacity and these are being used more and more as service providers transition to all-IP networks. While capacity is the motivation for backhaul upgrades, service providers need to consider key market trends and the network environment when planning their backhaul deployments. In particular, they need to consider the new communications patterns that are emerging in the market as mobile broadband networks become the predominant means for customers to access content and services. They also need to consider the effect the diversity of technologies used in the network itself might have on their backhaul needs.

Results from a May study published by the UMTS Forum yield a new characterization of the traffic growth carriers can expect. The firm predicts that total annual voice and data traffic on mobile networks will reach 127 exabytes in 2020, which is 33 times the traffic experienced in 2010. The growth will be driven by the widespread use of tablets, dongles, smartphones, M2M communications and the market's increasing consumption of rich social networking, video and TV content.

The changing types of traffic that these products and services will introduce, and the particular mixture of traffic carried over a network, must be taken into account when planning and deploying a backhaul solution.

"Along with booming traffic, the complexity of the traffic has also increased dramatically," stated the research firm Gartner in a February analysis of mobile backhaul trends. "Nowadays, the traffic environment for mobile networks is just as complicated as for fixed networks."

The widespread adoption of mobile video, which is taking on a greater and greater share of the network and lessening the relevance of voice, will affect all networks. Gaming is another application that will have an impact. These applications will not only consume bandwidth, they'll have quality of service expectations and gaming, in particular, has strict latency requirements.

"The domination of video that we saw on the wireline side of the industry from IPTV and other video services is now happening on the wireless side of the industry," said Gary Holland, director for High Leverage Network^TM marketing at Alcatel-Lucent. "It's that huge growth of video that is really going to start to hit on the backhaul side of the network. In fact, it already has."

Tablets will be responsible for much of these new usage patterns. According to Alcatel-Lucent research, tablets will become the primary device consumers use to access the web, the primary device consumers use for personalized high-definition video consumption, and the preferred gaming device for a significant proportion of users. Tablets will also become the primary device used in the enterprise to unify office communications and media. 

Although many tablet users prefer to access the web via Wi-Fi and fixed networks in the home or office, a significant number prefer the mobility that 3G services provide, increasing the burden on mobile backhaul networks. According to a Yankee Group study published in January 2011, half a million tablets on AT&T Mobility's network alone had active 3G connections in September 2010. Yankee Group predicts tablet sales will grow at a CAGR of 31 percent, from around 8 million units in 2010 to 30 million units by 2015.

In addition to meeting the complex traffic demands that these new types of devices and services introduce, backhaul solutions will also need to accommodate an increasing mixture of transmission protocols and access technologies that will be used in all-IP wireless networks. While the industry is shifting to IP/Ethernet-based solutions to transport IP packets and fiber infrastructure wherever possible to support their 4G LTE radio networks, a typical operator's network will continue to use a combination of technologies for some years to come in order to support 2G, 3G and 4G LTE services. Backhaul networks will use copper, fiber and microwave transport media and ATM, TDM as well as Ethernet protocols.

"Independent of Ethernet as a topic in mobile backhaul, the most apt phrase for the problem of mobile backhaul is that one size does not fit all," said Michael Howard, cofounder and principal analyst at Infonetics. "There are multiple RANS, multiple physical technologies and multiple protocols used for backhaul and any single operator might be using several of them."

Service providers are also pursuing opportunities to share IP backhaul infrastructure, especially fiber, by outsourcing their backhaul to third party firms or using managed wholesale backhaul services to reduce implementation costs.  Companies pursuing these implementations will want to make sure the network has the flexibility to backhaul a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G LTE traffic and the intelligence to understand traffic patterns and guarantee quality of service for their customers, Holland said.

"As different operators have different requirements and are at different stages of deployment, the need for a single cost-effective backhaul solution that can accommodate different technologies and approaches becomes critical," Holland said.

Mobile backhaul implemented via MPLS provides a common platform that can support the multiple types of technologies carriers have in their networks and it has the low latency and quality of services capabilities needed to deliver video, gaming and multimedia apps.

Alcatel-Lucent's MPLS-based Mobile Backhaul Transport Solution supports "Any-G to LTE" mobile networks; IP and Ethernet transport technologies as well as legacy ATM and TDM systems; and fiber, microwave and copper infrastructure. Operators can use the solution to evolve to an all-IP network as part of a High Leverage Network^TM. More than 150 customers worldwide have selected Alcatel-Lucent for their mobile backhaul solutions.