Two new services from Nokia will help operators deliver a differentiating customer experience without the need for capital investment. Nokia Pop-up Network is delivered as a service and provides up to three times more uplink speed and capacity at popular outdoor events; Nokia Geo-Data as a Service enriches 3-D geolocation data to reveal customer behavior and the performance of devices, applications and networks to help operators improve their network planning, sales and marketing.
Both solutions are provided as a service to make it easy for operators to enjoy the benefits of flexibility and scalability, without the capital outlay. Pop-up Network entails Nokia professional services experts deploying a temporary high performing LTE network, and the operator only pays for the capacity needed during the event. Geo-Data as a Service is available under license to support a wide variety of operator business functions and is accessed from a secure virtual cloud via a web browser.
The new on-demand services in more detail:
- Pop-up Network, which includes network planning and optimization services, offers a differentiating advantage to operators who want to provide subscribers with memorable experiences at mass events. Nokia deploys temporary, transportable base stations coordinated by Nokia Centralized Radio Access Network (RAN) capabilities that transform the interference from devices into useful traffic to boost uplink capacity. The operator simply pays for the capacity required during the event, reducing the total costs by up to 80% when compared to investing in its own infrastructure.
- The cloud-based Nokia Geo-Data as a Service combines anonymized 3-D geolocation data from devices with network data to provide accurate insight into network, device and application performance as well as subscriber behavior. The insight is tailored to the needs of different operator functions. For example, network planners can spot and correct areas where subscribers are experiencing poor service; marketing personnel can identify subscriber trends and implement campaigns to grow revenue from the most valuable subscribers; or sales executives can pinpoint where their network provides better service than its competitors to leverage with new corporate clients.
Curtis Price, Program Vice President, Infrastructure Services, IDC, said: “Nokia’s Pop-Up Network and Geo-Data as a Service offerings provide insight into service quality that gives operators a key lever to manage customer experience as a source of differentiation, as well as a means of identifying new service opportunities. Also, with both services delivered in an as-a-service model, no upfront capex is required by operators.”
Dennis Lorenzin, head of Network Planning and Optimization at Nokia, said: “With these new solutions, Nokia is able to offer benefits to a wide range of non-technical functions within an operator’s business, not just to support network planning and operations. For example, the marketing department could benefit from the data insights by finding new ways to generate revenue with targeted offers or by enhancing its brand reputation with optimal service quality at busy events.”
Did you know?
In a mobile network the ratio of uplink to downlink traffic is typically around 1:10, meaning that 10 times more data is being sent from the network to the mobile device, rather than vice-versa. At an outdoor music festival however, the traffic balance changes radically as audience members upload photos, videos and messages to social media. During peak hours the ratio of uplink to downlink traffic can be reversed to 3:1, severely straining operator networks.
