Multiple Options but No Clear Winner for Voice and SMS over LTE, Finds Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, December 17 - Despite the fact that data traffic is growing exponentially, mobile
operators are witnessing a divergence of data revenues and traffic load
curves due to flat rate price models. Thus, network efficiency must improve
in order to ensure that the cost-per-bit to deliver a service is attained at
a bare minimum in comparison to the existing cellular technologies. Many
opine that the next generation long term evolution (LTE) technology can
achieve these goals, with the technology currently being trialled by several
operators worldwide.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.wireless.frost.com),
Multiple Options but No Clear Winner for Voice and SMS over LTE, notes that
due to the economic crisis, many operators are currently unwilling to deploy
LTE that is service-limited - in particular on services that are cash cows
i.e. voice and short message services (SMS). Hence, the value of deploying
LTE and then limiting the users to basic 2G/3G services is pointless.

"Regardless of the operator timelines for LTE deployment, there are
several pending issues plaguing LTE, including lack of support for voice and
SMS, incremental costs for backhaul capacity to support LTE data traffic,
lack of sufficient spectrum allocation (a minimum of 20MHz) and a consensus
of a globally harmonised frequency band for LTE deployment," notes Frost &
Sullivan ICT Programme Manager Luke Thomas.

SMS was never an intrinsic part of LTE (though all the current cellular
broadband technologies support SMS) despite EU regulations for SMS
requirements for roaming and to support customer-based service messages to
avoid "Bill Shock". As SMS is used as the primary mechanism for advertising,
remote device management and configuration updates, it will be quite a
challenge for operators to deploy LTE without supporting SMS.

"Of all the concerns over LTE deployment, the lack of support for voice
and SMS over LTE should be addressed first, as these segments currently
constitute nearly 85 percent of global mobile service revenues," advises
Thomas. "Key participants of the mobile and wireless industry, in particular
mobile operators, should band together to resolve the existing fragmentation
of voice and SMS delivery over LTE, so that it benefits all the stakeholders
involved."

Otherwise, the lack of consensus could be an impediment to the
large-scale roll out of LTE, thereby allowing alternative technologies such
as Mobile WiMAX to take advantage of the situation, and significantly
penetrate the European market.

This Frost & Sullivan study focuses on six options that are provided by
various industry participants to resolve the voice and SMS issues over LTE,
so that operators do not undergo the risk of deploying LTE networks without
being able to realise the promised cost-per-bit efficiency in delivering next
generation value-added services. The various options considered in the study
are Circuit-switched fall back (CSFB), Voice over LTE via generic access
(VoLGA), Fast Track solution, Mavenir and Acme Packet's MSC TAS/IMS Solution,
Voice and SMS over IMS (VoSoIMS), and One Voice Profile.

If you are interested in more information about this study, please send
an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at
joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title,
telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and
country.

Multiple Options but No Clear Winner for Voice and SMS over LTE is a part
of the Market Insights - Mobile Communications subscription, which also
includes research on U.S. Mobile Financial Services, Global Mobile VoIP
Market, North American Mobile Messaging Markets, E-Healthcare in Western
Europe, among others. These Market Insights are part of Frost & Sullivan
Growth Partnership Service.

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Multiple Options but No Clear Winner for Voice and SMS over LTE

9838

    Contact:
    Joanna Lewandowska
    Corporate Communications - Europe
    P: +48-22-390-41-46
    E: joanna.lewandowska@frost.com

www.frost.com

Joanna Lewandowska of Frost & Sullivan Corporate Communications - Europe, +48-22-390-41-46, joanna.lewandowska at frost.com