Globally, network data usage, for both wireless and wireline
networks, continues to grow very strongly. Moreover, there are no signs of that
growth ending, as smartphone and tablet devices move into the mainstream
market, consumers adopt cloud-based Over-the-Top (OTT) services, and
machine-to-machine deployments become more widespread. A side effect of this
growth is that the operators have to add capacity at unprecedented levels of
investment, and the performance of networks has become harder to predict.
Left unmanaged, small numbers of heavy users, the growing
popularity of bandwidth-intensive traffic, such as streaming video, and
cell-specific constraints can result in all available resources being consumed
thus negatively impacting the customer experience. To keep up with demand,
operators cannot afford to address the issue by blindly throwing capacity at
the problem, as the cost of adding capacity does not always equate to new
revenue.
While the strong data traffic growth curve initially
caught many network departments unaware, the lessons have been learned. Openet,
through its various Policy and Charging Control (PCC) implementations, has
observed that there are positive signs that operators are bringing the traffic
growth curve under control. Operators, through a series of incremental improvements,
are balancing the need for investment for reliable connectivity with network cost
control. GET FURTHER INSIGHTS FROM THIS WHITE PAPER
