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Networks & Infrastructure
Telenor's ambitious mobile upgrade to include Next-Gen OSS
Telcordia's wireless OSS selected to enable efficiencies and speed services to market
by Telecom Newsdesk
Telcordia announced today that its Next Generation Operations Support Systems (NGOSS) was selected by the globe's seventh largest operator, Telenor, who last fall announced a far-reaching upgrade of its mobile network.
Mark Greenquist, President of Telcordia, lauded the deal. "The potential of mobile broadband can only be fully realized if supporting systems and processes can manage the increased complexity," Greenquist said. "Our win at Telenor demonstrates that we not only understand the incredible possibilities at the frontiers of mobile, but more importantly, what is required to make them real."
Ray Bariso, Executive Director of Operations Solutions for Telcordia, said the deal solidifies the New Jersey based company’s stature as a global player in wireless OSS. With 15-20 customers in each region of the world, approximately 20 of those already use NGOSS.
Bariso said, "If you look at the problems of mobile operators in the world today, they're going from a period of pretty steady growth to a slowing of growth. Voice ARPU is declining, data ARPU is a major source of their revenue stream going forward, but it's not at the same rate of growth that voice has been. So now for the first time after growing for 20 years of continually increasing and growing every year, they actually have to focus more on operational efficiency than ever before.”
According to Principal Analyst Ronald Gruia, from Frost & Sullivan's ICT Practice, Telenor is among a small group of "avant garde" operators with an intention to invest heavily in OSS. The Telenor announcement is important, he said, because of the scope of the transformation.
Telenor supports more than 170 million subscribers across 14 countries in Europe and Asia. Telcordia's NGOSS will support the replacement and operation of Telenor’s entire mobile broadband services infrastructure, spanning 2G, 3G/UMTS and 4G/LTE technologies in Norway.
The major upgrade, announced in last November, reflects Telenor's core market vision and ambition to meet growing demand for high-quality, high speed mobile services for its customers. The network is expected to deliver downstream speeds of 21Mbps.
Given the projected timetable for Telenor's upgrade, six years, it provides some sense of the scope and scale of such a project. Gruia said that most service providers who have expanded network capacity, have not included OSS upgrades, and instead choose to integrate new services by leveraging service brokers. "Different players are going to try to milk the cow for linger with legacy systems," he said.
There is a danger, Gruia noted, in an early adoption strategy. Vodafone, for instance, learned a lesson by being ahead of the curve on 3G investments, only to see prices for the equipment and services come down later. Given the expense, the enormity of the networks and the diversity of the markets they serve, he said we are witnessing and evolutionary, not revolutionary dynamic in the market place.
Indeed, investments in OSS systems can be prohibitively expensive for operators, and it is the exception to the rule when one of them opts for a "forklift" upgrade such as this, according to Gruia. The planned upgrades will include the implementation of IP connectivity and a common register for GSM, 3G and LTE (4G) access from NSN, who will deploy its Flexi Multi Radio Base Stations providing HSPA+ capability on Telenor's network. NSN is also expected to provide network management systems, project management, and optimization services.
Bariso said the extent of the network investment by Telenor makes this a particularly exciting deal for Telcordia. The planned upgrades will include the implementation of IP connectivity and a common register for GSM, 3G and LTE (4G) access from NSN, who will deploy its Flexi Multi Radio Base Stations providing HSPA+ capability on Telenor's network. NSN is also expected to provide network management systems, project management, and optimization services. In November 2009, Huawei and Starent Networks announced contracts for 2G and 3G equipment.
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