Before going into the details of these strategies (see Figure 1), we would like to take a closer look at the time factor, as this will play a major role in further developments towards 4G. 

According to present estimates the commercial launch of three 3GPP releases will take place in the next two years. These include not only both future HSPA evolution stages but also the first part of the fourth generation in the form of LTE. As potential users, the network operators are going to have to make a relatively fast decision as to whether and when they want to introduce the related infrastructure products into their networks. At first glance it looks as if this is a major challenge. But then it be­comes clear that the operators can actually gain more operational freedom by implementing product strategies and using network architectures which achieve integration by applying the ability to network.

Bundling operator interests

Network operators have learnt that effective networking within their own interest group is necessary if their voice is to be heard in the standardization committees. Those who should listen are the infrastructure providers, and what they will hear is a request to reflect the operators’ interests in the definition of their product strategies as well as during the implementation phase.

A good indication of the way in this can work is the foundation of the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance (NGMN) by the big mobile operators China Mobile, NTT Docomo, Sprint Nextel, Vodafone Group, KPN, Orange und T-Mobile. Their stated objective is to bundle operator interests during the standardization phase for the next generation. This doesn’t mean making the choice of which technology to use. The implementation phase is ignored completely. The alliance puts great emphasis on the fact that they don’t intend to make recommendations for or against any of the technology candidates being considered, and it has sworn strict neutrality in this matter. Its objective is far more the identification of criteria which a future mobile standard must fulfill if it is to be a global success.

The white paper which has been produced within the framework of the NGMN initiative* reflects the operators’ motives very clearly. In its vision the objective is given as being the introduction of an integrated network based completely on IP technology. The target architecture should use a flat network hierarchy both to enable coexistence with the 2G and 3G networks, and to allow the smooth migration from these networks to the 4G architecture.