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Interview: Ericsson CEO on the role of Wi-Fi in mobile

Kevin Fitchard — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:43:04 +0000

Earlier this month, I wrote about a new study penned by former industry regulator and economist Richard Thanki, which proposed that unlicensed technologies like Wi-Fi no longer be viewed as just supplemental to 3G and 4G mobile broadband networks. Instead he proposed they become the core focus of carrier mobile data networks.

The post generated a lot of discussion on GigaOM and at the Center for Internet and Society conference that followed, building on Wi-Fi’s growing popularity as a mobile offload technology. But the CEO of the world’s largest mobile infrastructure maker Ericsson thinks that Wi-Fi’s biggest boosters might be viewing the problem of mobile bandwidth through the rose-colored glasses of the first world. In an interview, Ericsson’s Hans Vestberg told GigaOM that Wi-Fi has a big role to play in the future of networks, but it can’t be the end-all of mobile broadband.

“There are few countries in the world that have that luxury,” Vestberg said, referring to the density of Wi-Fi in developed markets. “In the U.S., we’ve built up a very strong infrastructure where not just Wi-Fi is strong but also cable broadband.”

That cable penetration is key because ultimately those cheap last-mile links provide the capacity any large-scale Wi-Fi deployment requires, Vestberg said. And while cheap residential and business broadband is common place in North America, parts of Asia, and – to a lesser extent – Europe; in many developing markets mobile broadband from new 3G networks is the only broadband most people have access to.

Even in developed markets, Wi-Fi can’t supplant cellular, Vestberg said. “If it was possible it already would have happened,” Vestberg said. Wi-Fi only devices like Apple’s iPod Touch have been on the market for years, but they haven’t made a dent in smartphone – or even iPhone – sales. Wi-Fi-only tablet sales may surpass those of 3G/4G-connected slates, but the tablet has by no means replaced the smartphone as consumer’s primary mobile data device. Issues of coverage, interference and security prevent Wi-Fi from usurping cellular’s role even in the most Wi-Fi-plentiful countries.

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg

As a manufacturer or highly specialized cellular equipment, you would expect Ericsson to have a dimmer view of Wi-Fi — a much cheaper technology with a much broader range of equipment vendors. But Ericsson is among the most pro-Wi-Fi vendors of its peers. While every major mobile equipment maker has included Wi-Fi in some form in their network portfolios, Ericsson has taken the additional step of buying BelAir Networks, a specialist on outdoor carrier-grade Wi-Fi gear.

Vestberg said that Ericsson is bullish that Wi-Fi will eventually add enormous quantities of capacity to mobile networks, but he said that Wi-Fi will only be one component among many in a future mobile architecture called the heterogeneous network, or HetNet (a topic Vestberg discussed in length in a previous interview with GigaOM).

Today Wi-Fi is being used to create the first small cell networks, where a dense layer of access points is used to add capacity in the most high-traffic areas. Eventually, though, small cells using carrier’s licensed airwaves will assume much of the Wi-Fi’s capacity load, Vestberg said. Wi-Fi will by no means disappear, he added, but our future devices will have multiple connections to chose from and will even be able to connect to multiple networks simultaneously.

Whether Vestberg’s more cautious view of Wi-Fi proves true, there’s no doubt Wi-Fi is growing astronomically as carriers look to relieve their cellular networks and consumers look to avoid expensive mobile data fees. Carriers like Iliad’s Free Mobile in France and Republic Wireless in the U.S. are making Wi-Fi offload a key component of their mobile data strategies (and offering dirt cheap rates in the process). Wi-Fi access point and hotspot aggregators like Boingo, Fon and Devicescape are seeing their businesses rejuvenated by the smartphone and carrier partnerships. Some operators like AT&T and Japan’s KDDI are investing heavily in their own Wi-Fi infrastructure.

Wi-Fi is here to stay. It’s just a question of whether it and other unlicensed spectrum technologies will supplant cellular in our mobile devices, rather than merely enhance it.

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Congress, please don’t kill white spaces

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:25 +0000

The spectrum bill that passed the House last night will make any technologist weep. I know the tech community is upset over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), but this bill represents a somewhat geekier threat–killing more unlicensed spectrum. So Silicon Valley may want to get active over this one too. The House version of the bill will ensure that none of the airwaves auctioned off from the digital TV band will be used for unlicensed wireless, where services such as Wi-Fi or white spaces broadbandexist.

Free airwaves are good for innovation.

Unlicensed spectrum are the free airwaves that any company can use as long as the it meets certain FCC guidelines. The 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz bands that Wi-Fi currently works in are unlicensed, as are the 900 Mhz bands used by baby monitors and cordless phones. But under the bill passed last night, none of the megahertz the government gets back from TV broadcasters will be set aside for such use, and instead would end up getting auctioned off to licensed users, such as a network operator.

That’s bad for a variety of reasons, specifically because some of those bands are supposed to be used for delivering Super Wi-Fi or white spaces broadband. Readers might recall efforts by Google, Dell, Microsoft and others to create a wireless standard that could be used to deliver long-range fixed wireless networks. Companies are still moving forward on plans for the radios, networks and databases needed to build out such a network, but without airwaves to transmit the signal, plans for white spaces are pointless.

So far this bill eliminates more unlicensed spectrum, which is a problem as our demand for more mobile data threatens to push mobile operators into the red. But in many of the predictions of a looming data tsunami the importance of Wi-Fi, (which relies on unlicensed airwaves) goes understated. But, instead of focusing more on delivering licensed airwaves to handle the demand for mobile broadband, the industry, FCC and Congress should be looking at ways to prioritize what types of traffic need to run over licensed airwaves.

Sometimes, you don’t need a license to surf.

This is perfect for Wi-Fi.

Thus, my YouTube videos or maybe even Netflix watching on my iPad could rely on Wi-Fi, while my glucose monitor and important voice or business video calls travel over a licensed network with a carrier providing me a guaranteed level of service. If we start thinking of wireless broadband in thse terms, then the House’s spectrum bill is akin to putting your toddler in a leopard-skin coat. You could, but it’s overkill, rare and expensive to boot. Why not instead let your toddler run around in a snow suit from Target (Tar-jay if you feel fancy).

This best-network-for-the-job mindset helps policymakers see that unlicensed spectrum could be just as valuable as licensed spectrum, which would make this bill untenable. If the prohibition on unlicensed wireless isn’t enough, this bill also seeks to restrict how the FCC can allocate spectrum and plan the auction. The FCC wouldn’t be able to set rules around who could bid on this spectrum or set parameters that would keep the existing spectrum kings of AT&T and Verizon from buying these airwaves. Thus, it might lock up more airwaves in the hands of the existing top mobile operators.

Of course those free airwaves do have a cost … lost revenue for the feds.

FCC Chairman Genachowski testifying before Congress.

In the end this could cost consumers, in the form of higher mobile broadband bills, and stymie the mobile app ecosystem as bandwidth becomes more expensive and is controlled by carriers. In general Congress isn’t trying to utterly crush the tech industry, but it is hard for it to give up the potential billions that auctioning off that spectrum to the highest bidder would entail. As taxpayers, we too should ask ourselves if unlicensed spectrum and more players getting licensed airwaves is worth the loss of a few billion in potential revenue in the government coffers. Unfortunately, few people will think of the debate in these terms.

The Federal Communications Commission is not pleased by this bill, with FCC chairman Julius Genachowski issuing a statement that says:

“One important example is the legislation’s seeming limitation on the Commission’s ability to accommodate new technologies, including those that use unlicensed spectrum, like super WiFi or machine-to-machine Internet connected devices. I encourage Congress to leave no doubt that the FCC can continue its policies to promote unlicensed spectrum use alongside licensed uses.”

The FCC is also likely upset at the overall limitations this places on the agency’s ability to regulate spectrum policy, but the threat to unlicensed here is real and shouldn’t go unnoticed by the tech community. The bill is likely to continue on its merry way unless the Senate decides to push its own version of a spectrum auction bill, which could lead to compromises that preserve unlicensed wireless. So, Silicon Valley, while you’re calling about SOPA, maybe you want to mention this spectrum bill too.

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White spaces standards are here. Next up: devices!

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:12:45 +0000

Another hurdle was removed today for “Wi-Fi on steroids,” as the IEEE published a wireless standard that could bring high-speed broadband to rural areas. The 802.22TM-2011 standard will be used on frequencies that were used by analog television channels, but were freed up when the U.S. transitioned to digital television broadcasting over the air. Known as “white spaces” technology, the wireless standard supports transmissions speeds topping out at 22 Mbps per channel, with a range of up to 100 kilometers.

With the new standard now approved, hardware manufacturers have a blueprint to begin designing and building products that can use the upcoming wireless networks. Unlike the frequencies used by cellular network operators, the white spaces use unlicensed spectrum (just like today’s Wi-Fi networks), so a wide range of compatible devices are expected from many companies. This would make it far easier and cheaper for those in remote areas to gain faster Internet access, for example.

Schools and enterprises could use the technology to deploy campus-wide wireless networks more easily due to the extended range white-space networks could bring. Google and other companies interested in smart grids can benefit from intelligent, connected meters that shoot data directly to power distributors. And carriers could even supplement their current Wi-Fi offloads, which are very limited in range, with white-space networks. For more details on the potential uses of white-spaces, see our recent “everything you need to know” article.

On a more personal level, individual devices could gain a much greater range and connect directly to homes. I currently use a mobile broadband connection to manage the lights and temperature of my home, for example. But I’ve held off on adding some webcams for security and monitoring for package deliveries, simply because transmitting such video over a 3G or 4G connection will have me hit my data caps too quickly. With white-space devices and support, however, I could be miles from home and still keep an eye on things without worrying about monthly data caps.

We’ll be talking more about such connected devices and the networks they use at our two-day Mobilize event in September; with the new wireless standard now ratified, white-space networks are sure to factor into our conversations.

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