Indoor Digitalisation

- The new era by small cells

A Huawei White Paper by
Deepak Vishwanath / Andy Mckinnon / Dr. Yan Bian

May, 2015
CONTENTS

1 Introduction.......................................................................................1

2 Industry trends and key business drivers.........................................3

3 Enrich services in digital life.............................................................5

3.1 The ABC - Always Best Connectivity........................................................................5
3.2 Offering value added services..................................................................................5

4 Expand opportunities in digital enterprise........................................8

4.1 Smart connected enterprise using VAS...................................................................9
4.2 New business services...........................................................................................10

5 Huawei's solution for in-building digitalisation................................13

6 Conclusion.....................................................................................15

7 References....................................................................................16

8 About the Authors..........................................................................17

1 Introduction

As our outdoor macro networks have been upgraded to provide new

digital connectivity, we now need to concentrate on how we do the
same for the indoor environment where over 80% of the traffic is
generated, but often in poor connectivity situations.

According to a new GSMA forecast, there will be 25 billion connected

[1]
devices globally by 2020 . We estimate an increase of over 1000x
data traffic volume and 80% of this traffic will be generated from
indoors, especially using;

Mobile data access to the internet (Internet of Things IoT)

Cloud based services

Big data analytic

Digital devices have become part of our lives. Everything in the physical
world from living and working to learning is connected to the digital
world leading to devices that we may not even know exist that provide
information. This information could be anything from our location, our
utility meter reading to our heart rate or blood pressure.

As such, the prospect of realizing new revenue opportunities and

engaging consumers on a daily basis is generating significant interest
among IoT/M2M and the enterprise, all of which plays an ever growing
part of our digitized world. For instance, Bring Your Own Device
(BYOD), location-aware and relevant services will lead to new forms of
productivity, cost efficiency and potentially health.

Indoor digitalisation is new trend for In-building coverage modernization.

Indoor digitalisation is implemented by using active indoor small cells
solutions instead of traditional analogue system, typically Distributed
Antenna Systems (DAS). The Indoor digitalisation can offer three key
values to operators:

Enhanced indoor Mobile Broadband (MBB) experiences

o Indoor digital solution can provide more than 10

times DAS capacity to meet the capacity density demand of data

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 service while DAS is a good solution for voice service but not suitable
for data service in indoor.

Help operators experience Smart deployments (architectural

advantages) and easier operation of In-building solutions

o Indoor solution will be empowered with simple

architecture, easy deployment and E2E visualized smart O&M to
dramatically reduce OPEX and CAPEX as compared to DAS where
more analogue components are needed and also not easy to maintain.

Expand infrastructure capability, generating more mobile

applications and new business model

o Indoor solution has better capabilities to share

network resources to third party players to provide rich value added
service for enterprise market such as providing precise location
information in indoor.

This whitepaper takes a look at the exciting opportunities that emerge

in our digitized world with examples of how Small Cells can provide the
missing element to complement any future network.

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2 Industry trends and key
business drivers
Within an all connected world, the only pattern of service scenarios is
diversity. The mobile IoT is rapidly becoming a reality for every business
and way of life. Along with new business models, operators will create
low barriers to market entry. In our view, there are three major trends
that would redefine the telecom business landscape.

Trend 1 - Superior user experience is a prime demand.

A loss in service quality is likely to lead to a higher churn rate and

hence to higher customer retention costs. Operators should focus on
how to improve user experiences with guaranteed QoS in context of;

"Real-time" users will enjoy zero-wait time enabled by

sufficient bandwidth.

On-demand" users will be able to freely use whatever

services they want.

"All-online" devices will be online all the time.

"DIY" users will be able to tailor their services, applications,

and network requirements.

"Social" social networks will be provided with rich contents.

Figure 1: Superior user experience in a

digital connected world

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 Trend 2 - Mobile network infrastructures become more agile and
reduced operational costs.

It is financially and/or geographically prohibitive to build enough

macro cells to service all demands. In order to deliver a superior user
experience on the right ROADS (Real-time, On-demand, All-online, DIY
and Social), operators need an appropriate strategic approach such as;

Offer B.E.S.T (Better network solution, Enhanced value

proposition, satisfied user experience, and Technology & network
evolution) networks for outdoor and indoor environments. Improving QoS

Accelerate in-building digitalisation enabling indoor

environments.

We have seen that, small cells are becoming an essential element of

most operators mobile network & business strategies. For instance,
simplified networks, easier deployments and SON (Self Organizing
Network) make small cells deployments easier and faster rewarding the
operator with immediate impact.

Trend 3 - In-building digitalization is a must trend and creates

tremendous market opportunities. Operators can expand their
business reach in ecommerce; enterprise mobility, big data and IT cloud
services by evolving traditional industries in the digital era and providing
Value-Added services (VAS). By opening infrastructures with 3rd parties,
operators are able to build digital E2E system capabilities, offering more
applications that enrich indoor Mobile Broadband (MBB) experiences.
With this in mind;

Indoor connectivity has high traffic demands. We estimate that

80% of mobile data traffic is generated from indoors.

In-building can contribute significantly to increased revenue.

Especially, high Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) users served in
traffic value-highlands (such as shopping malls, airports, stadiums, and
enterprise).

A new internalized experience changes everything. It requires operators

to explore more mobile application scenarios to gain entry into a new
business. In-building digitalisation is crucial to drive MBB business
success. Thanks to small cells, operators can create agile business
innovations (e.g., utilizing big data to gain deeper market insights), and

4
to build a better connected digital world.

3 Enrich services in digital life

3.1 The ABC - Always Best Connectivity

New services live in our digitalized world and provide their own forms of
benefit to us all. They require reliable and always available connectivity
and deserve and need the ABC Always Best Connected approach. As
an example, the rapidly growing area of self healthcare is the new forms
of smart watch that track our steps and heart rate. Bluetooth provides
the Personal Area Network (PAN) to the Smartphone, the Smartphone
can then select WiFi or cellular to update the cloud based self monitoring
system. However often scenarios exist where WiFi can either be
congested, not available or requires subscription. We then need to rely
upon the cellular infrastructure that may not be available without small
cells. To record our location we would need to use Global Positioning
Service (GPS) or Assisted GPS (AGPS). Considering over 80% of traffic
is generated indoors, we need to concentrate on providing the ABC
indoors. This is where small cells can assist us and provide the much
needed Quality and guaranteed connectivity we need. In the coming
years, small cells will become the indoor GPS providing similar accuracy
of location as we see outdoors on our mobile phones.

3.2 Offering value added services

Value-added services (VAS) have been seen to become the new

competition in the mobile space. To capture a true business value from
a digital world, operators can provide VAS over their secured mobile
network. Small cells offer the foundation platform for enabling reliable
and bandwidth rich connectivity required for value added services.

Mobile IoT

To meet the needs of diverse scenarios in a world of billions of

connections we need to think about how best to enable connectivity and
also create the opportunity of new revenue models that break the mould
from traditional competing on cost to innovative services that justify

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 extended premiums. The industrial world has enormous opportunities
that require connectivity to increase productivity, efficiency and reduce
costs. All of these require connectivity to an ever expanding world of
the internet and cloud computing - creating the digitized and automated
world often in-buildings such as offices, Airports, Arenas and shopping
Malls.

Figure 2: The digital world in 2020

Mobile health

Health monitoring has grown significantly in popularity. This often

involves the user wearing a smart device such as a watch that monitors
steps taken, heart rate and so on. This watch is normally connected via
Bluetooth to a Smartphone. The Smartphone then updates applications
in the cloud for the user to assess their fitness from multiple devices.
To keep this data updated in real time, connectivity is required as a
minimum regularly. In the same process, imagine a patient with a
health issue being monitored. This could be connected via the cloud to
their health provider, who could potentially alert the patient of an issue
before it becomes critical. In addition, an insurance company providing
health care insurance may have the opportunity to reduce premiums
based on users activity.

6
 Figure 3: Mobile IoT capability assurance
from outdoor to indoor

Mobile advertising

We all recognize advertising as not only an opportunity, but also a

hindrance. It would be nice to live in a world where we were mostly
offered products or services we would be interested in, rather than, in
the majority of time, items we have no desire for. This not only can be
considered a waste of time and resource, but also money. We are in a
world where we were in fact only offered items, based on our habits.
Take the shopping mall experience we all see the bill board sign,
which increasingly is digitized. We can select where we want to go or
even find the shop on a map. However, if we are not familiar with the
environment we could still get lost.

Figure 4: Commercial deployment for shopping mall (Sichuan

China)

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 If we enabled GPS on our phone, it would not help as we cannot see
the sky. If we had small cells in the mall, Location Based Services (LBS)
could be enabled. Allowing us to use route guidance on our smartphone,
as well as targeted advertising to us for the type of mall we are in using
Big Data or data analytics. E.g. Targeted information and discount
coupons can be displayed on phones at a precise position in the store
when shoppers need it most and are most receptive. We may even be
able to use data analytics to assess the average age of the shoppers to
change the electronic billboard signs to target that demography.

4 Expand opportunities in
digital enterprise
A digital enterprise leverages technology as a competitive advantage
in its internal and external process. Moving towards the digital world
has become utmost importance to show key differentiation among
competition in the market within the enterprise segment. In fact, bring
you own device (BYOD) represents the emerging phase of the enterprise
mobility model that has the potential to truly transform the way people
and enterprises work.

Enterprise users are extremely valuable customers. To win this business,

operators must provide high-capacity network where business customers
spend more than 80% of their working hours Indoors. Having poor
connectivity is not acceptable in this area. According to the small cell
forum, up to 87% of businesses would switch operator to guarantee
[2]
coverage . By providing excellent coverage, capacity and improving
Quality of Experience (QoE) to the end user, Mobile operators can
attain and retain valuable enterprise customers. Improved customer
experience, customer loyalty/retention, and higher ARPU are the key for
successful business. Often, enterprise subscribers are willing to purchase
new services from operators ranging from in-building digital services to
mobile device management. Proving digitalized services and VAS would
enhance customer relationship and retain high ARPU customers.

8
4.1 Smart connected enterprise using VAS
In addition to reliable indoor coverage and capacity, small cells can
offer scalability and a local presence within any enterprise building that
creates an opportunity for the operators to deliver hosted and VAS.

Smart connected enterprises are providing an open, collaborative and

productive work environment while balancing the necessities to optimize
energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. To achieve these
goals, organizations are utilizing network infrastructures to enable smart
enterprise devices, to facilitate the convergence of digital media, and to
track/manage computer and building assets.

Organizations are increasingly deploying enterprise network

infrastructures (small cells being the major options) to reduce operational
costs, improve energy efficiency, enable and manage building systems
with accurate LBS.

Services such as:

Lighting controls

Employee/Asset Tracking services

Mobile presence for office automation

mVPN (Mobile Virtual Private Network)

Mobile video surveillance cameras

Interactive Lobby Kiosks

Digital signage

Mobile cloud computing

mPBX for short code dialling service

mCRM (Mobile Customer Relationship Management)

mERP (Mobile Enterprise Resource Planning) with location

information

BYoD (Bring Your own Device)

Many other VAS services are being introduced and expanded, moving
towards the digital enterprise with small cells in order to increase average

9
 revenue per application and improve customer experience. Connected
enterprises help operations managers profitably manage and improve
manufacturing and industrial processes, reduce network complexities for
IT executives and minimum exposure to cyber security risks. It shares
productivity-improving information to workers across the organization in
a context that is meaningful for each role.

4.2 New business services

Exciting new business services are created through the extended
connectivity provided by small cell coverage. With the small cell
advantages we move from a partially connected world to an always on
and available scenario. Almost all of the new services are application
driven.

Cloud

To take advantage of extended reliability and always available services,

Cloud computing is becoming the industry standard for application
access due to its inbuilt advantages. GSMA predict up to 70% of data will
be cloud based by 2020 [1]. Cloud computing enables new services such
as data centres, storage, backup, virtualisation, IT infrastructure, public
cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, video surveillance, application hosting,
virtual desktop, managed services etc.. By offering a single one stop
solution, operators have new revenue opportunities;

Bundling their existing connectivity service offerings along with

public cloud services.

Up-sell higher bandwidth packages to enterprise for a higher

demand for cloud services.

Leverage existing relationships and partnerships to capture a

market share of local cloud services market and even offer public cloud
services.

Enterprise segments not only benefit from highly reliable mobile network
connectivity but can also enjoy security and accurate billing services.
Seven key areas where operators can help the enterprise through in-
building coverage can be summarized as follows:

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 Figure 5: Telecom operator role in cloud computing

Through small cells, Cloud solutions deliver carrier-grade and virtualized

real-time charging services, that can achieve the following :

Use significantly less hardware components and infrastructure

components.

Improve energy efficiency not only for the infrastructure, but

also the devices.

Automated management and maintenance.

Reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), by virtualising and

consolidating data centres.

Shorten the innovation cycle and time to market (TTM).

Reduce the burden on enterprise of costly infrastructure but

also costly bespoke development.

Big Data analytics

Another area the enterprise can benefit from this digitised environment
is use of the comprehensive data available for LBS. A key benefit to
operators and enterprise alike is the ability to analyze this information
and extract meaningful and actionable insight. With the availability of Big
Data based analytics platforms, location based information is a crucial
and unique data source to provide the basis of real-time insight. This
real-time insight can be used to drive CEP (Complex Event Processing)
solutions such as real-time recommendations and mobile marketing.

The business benefit to the operator or enterprise customer is the ability

to acquire this subscriber location information in venues that host multiple
businesses such as airports, stadiums, and shopping malls etc.

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 A multitude of technical solutions have been developed to track visitors
and shoppers around a specific outlet but as yet it has been extremely
difficult to analyze where these individuals have come from or go on to.
By using location based insight and predictive analytics the operator can
monetize their Big Data asset by providing real-time actionable insight on
subscriber positioning and movement. For example;

An enterprising retailer in womens fashion decided to entice shoppers

in the busy mall by targeting them when they visit the competition.
Working with an operator and the shopping mall landlord, they decided
to create an opt in service to shoppers offering a discount scheme.
Using a data analytic service provided by her operator, she knew the
target age of the opted in shoppers with an interest in her goods, and
using LBS the system knew when they entered the competitors shop. At
this point, using an automated system, the system would send a voucher
that would offer a discount, with a countdown timer and directions to her
shop. Carefully calculating which shop they were in and the distance to
her shop, she would automatically adjust the timer to the average travel
time, to the point where the quickest shoppers would get the highest
discount. E.g. 20% but down to 10% as a minimum for the slowest. In
addition this service provided information of how many shoppers entered
the mall, what shops and location were most popular and how long the
shoppers spent in each.

Analysing this data, the innovative shop keeper renegotiated the location
of the store to one of the busiest areas of the large mall. In addition,
the landlord offered this service to other retailers enhancing the value
of them moving into the shopping mall. The offers would rotate at
random by day so as not to create too much favouritism and enhance
competition.

Although this is a fictitious example of what is possible, it demonstrates a

fraction of the wealth of opportunity open to us using Big Data analytics.
This service is only possible when the connectivity or the ABC is used
and data processing is available.

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5 Huaweis solution for in-
building digitalisation
As communications have evolved, so should infrastructure move from
analogue/passive to harmonise our digital requirements. This evolution
not only speeds the installation and reduces complexity, but also has
significant impact on the CAPEX and OPEX going forward. Hidden
advantages as discussed earlier include the ability to provide location
services, but also items such as better battery life to mobile devices
that no longer need to continuously poll the macro network, or increase
their transmit power, or use satellite GPS.

Figure 6: Indoor solution evolves from passive to digital

Lampsite - Fully digitalized small cell solution:

For the digital indoor network, Huawei offers our LampSite indoor
coverage solution complemented with Service Anchor - an enterprise
service gateway, and represents openness of radio communication
pipes. By cooperating with operators and third party application
developers, it provides feature-rich applications to enterprise customers
thus demonstrating the inherent value of Small Cell.

Service Anchor - Service platform interface:

Service Anchor is an innovative solution in which the Network Functions

Virtualization (NFV) technology is introduced. It is developed on the
x86 platform and allows for flexible deployments of multiple network
controllers in indoor scenarios like access controllers (ACs) and virtual
unified packet gateway (vUGW) to implement coordination among

13
 networks and BYOD applications. In addition to pipe capabilities, it
offers indoor positioning features to tackle issues such as insufficient
GPS coverage, conventional unitary Wi-Fi deployment, and commercial
challenges in applying for Bluetooth positioning in indoor areas. By
allowing operators to provide third-party partners with user location
information on their existing networks, it can help operators gain
advantageous positions in the enterprise market through industry third
party relationships in the course of developing smart venues, smart
communities, and smart cities.

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6 Conclusion

As this paper points out there are a wealth of opportunities that can
be created from the enhanced expansion of cellular networks to in-
building. Some of these services are yet to be thought of, however
without the needed QoS there will be a lack of QoE. Small cells have
become the much needed plumbing required to ensure the flow of
newly required and demanded services for in-building applications
satisfying our digitised appetite.

The next generation of connectivity, services and feature rich relative

information is at our finger tips. In the future, connections between
people and people, people and things, and things to things will produce
tremendous opportunities to enrich our lives.

We are at the point now where some services that should be available
indoors are available outside. These digital services have become
part of our lives in both the social and business context. We should
embrace the opportunity to ensure the impressive macro coverage
of the majority of our world is duplicated and guarantees seamless
transition to services indoors.

In-building digitalisation will generate indirect revenue from improved

churn and loyalty. Better service and enhanced user experience will
drive up traffic usage and increase data revenue. New digital VAS will
boost traffic usage and new VAS revenue will help a faster investment
return.

Operators will benefit by taking advantage of ;

Meeting the superior ROADS (Real-time, On-demand, All-

online, DIY, Social) user experiences.

Guarantee the ABC (Always Best Connection) over massive

IoT to both consumers and enterprises.

Innovate with new applications and new business

opportunities.

A Better Connected World is waiting.

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 7 References

[1] GSMA Intelligence Market Data for China [www.gsmaintelligence.com] November 2014
[2] Enterprise Small Cells: The Business Case, by Small cell forum
[3] Small Cells, Big Opportunities Huawei whitepaper, 2013

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8 About the Authors

Managing Consultant , Global Business Consultancy

Deepak is an experienced consultant in the digital application and services team

within the UK competence centre. He is involved in projects for operators in Europe,
Middle East and Asia, focussing on mobile network strategy, HetNet strategy, techno
comparison and technology introduction with go-to-market design. He holds an MSc
degree from Oxford Brookes University, UK. Prior to joining Huawei, Deepak worked
for iWireless Solutions and Alcatel-Lucent, UK as wireless Consultant.

Deepak Vishwanath

Senior Managing Consultant, Global Business Consulting

Over 25 years in IT and Telecoms including co-chairing the global development

committee for the wireless communications association (WCA) and several
international government advisory positions. Masterminded the worlds first
commercial implementation of 802.16 (Pre-WiMAX), the worlds first national rollout
of WiMAX (802.16e) and a turnaround in the commercial aircraft overhaul business
using 802.11 (Pre-WiFi) in hangers with the worlds first thin client 802.11 wireless
terminal. Prior to Huawei, Andy worked for NSN, Motorola and EDS in several senior
Andy McKinnon leadership roles.

Marketing expert, Global Business Consulting

Dr. Bian has 29 years experience in telecom across industry, academy and
government. Since joining Huawei in 2011, she is leading research program within the
UK competence centre, and responsible for a number of consulting projects covering
MBB, Small Cell and LTE.
Prior to Huawei, Yan worked for Alcatel-Lucent, Toshiba and MIIT, managed a large
LTE/WCDMA organization. She holds several International granted patents, authored
many IEEE/IET journals and books in areas of wireless communications. Yan received
her PhD from University of Bristol, UK. She is a visiting professor at UESTC, China.
Dr. Yan Q Bian
Dr. Bian has been recognised as a national distinguished expert by Chinese 1000
high-level overseas talents program.

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