3G Networks to get new lease of life from network optimisation

Key mobile broadband network operators are currently providing their customers with slow experiences when it comes to download performance and speed based on the size of a webpage even though mobile broadband is quickly becoming one of their main revenue drivers.

By 2008 a total of 186 million subscribers across the world were connected to mobile broadband services and now because of the huge adoption of smartphones like the Google Android, Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone these figures are expected in rise even further by the end of 2009.

Although they are making efforts to reduce traffic and increase the capacity on the mobile broadband networks many operators are now finding that the impact that download durations and file size is having a massive impact on the running of these mobile broadband networks.

The overall effect that is being experienced by mobile broadband users throughout the UK has been highlighted recently by research carried out by mobile broadband platform provider Bytemobile and Informa Telecoms & Media.

The mobile broadband networks throughout the country were tested between June and August of 2009 by the researchers and included operators like the MVNO’s Virgin Mobile and BT, and also T Mobile, O2, Three, Orange and Vodafone. Two netbooks were used when the network were at their highest levels of strain over five locations in the Greater London area and the download times and total webpage sizes where measured by researchers on sites like Orange, Starbucks, Lycos, Informa’s own homepage Amazon and Facebook.

Train stations in the early hours of the morning, residential areas during evening hours, and dense office location during lunchtime and the midmorning hours were included in the selection of urban areas. With many mobile broadband operators bundling netbooks as part of their mobile broadband services the researchers decided to opt for using netbooks instead of full sized notebooks.

Source – Telecoms