Ericsson continues strategic partnership with China Mobile for LTE

 Ericsson will deploy LTE TDD (TD-LTE) in 15 provinces in mainland China -

these cover some 63 percent of China's population
* Ericsson selected to provide radio access network, Evolved Packet Core and
to upgrade and expand the installed base of core networks
* In the absence of a 3G installed base with China Mobile, this deal
represents recognition of Ericsson's technology leadership in LTE
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) today announces that it has been selected by China Mobile
(CMCC) to deploy LTE TDD in 15 key provinces in China. These provinces are home
to 63 percent of China's population and include the top three provinces in terms
of GDP.
This is the first phase of the world's largest LTE TDD network deployment.
Ericsson will deploy radio access networks based on its multi-standard RBS
6000. For the core network - which will be used for China Mobile's nationwide
mobile network covering 2G, 3G and 4G - Ericsson has been selected to upgrade
its installed base, equal to a market share of 40 percent in User Data
Management (HLR/HSS). In addition, Ericsson has been awarded 20 percent market
share in Evolved Packet Core. This makes Ericsson China Mobile's main supplier
in Core.
The scope of the contract also includes network design and optimization
services.
Ericsson had no 3G footprint with China Mobile, and this technology shift has
strengthened Ericsson's market position.
Jan Signell, Head of Ericsson Region North East Asia says: "We are pleased that
our LTE TDD technology and services leadership are recognized by China Mobile.
Our leading LTE TDD networks will bring unparalleled network performance to
users and create new opportunities for innovations with connected devices and
applications. We have been a trusted partner to China Mobile since its
introduction of 2G and are committed to supporting the world's largest LTE
deployment."
The deal is aligned with the 11 percent market share in radio access networks
awarded earlier in the China Mobile central purchasing process in September. The
deployment has begun.
Ericsson has been present in mainland China since 1892 and is strongly committed
to this market with one of the largest R&D bases and supply and manufacturing
sites in the world. In addition, Ericsson was a pioneering developer of the TDD
mode of the LTE standard and has made many significant contributions to the
advancement of LTE TDD. Ericsson's LTE TDD and FDD solutions share the same
hardware platform, with commonly applicable software and features, ensuring that
LTE TDD will deliver the same high performance and reliability
Ericsson is the market leader in LTE. Today, 50 percent of the world's LTE
smartphone traffic is served by Ericsson networks, which is more than double the
traffic of our closest competitor. More than 180 LTE RAN and Evolved Packet Core
networks have been delivered worldwide, of which more than 110 have gone live
commercially. Ericsson is present today in all high-traffic LTE markets
including the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada, and has been
selected by nine of the top 10 LTE operators as ranked by LTE subscriptions
worldwide. We expect to hold 25 percent of all essential patents in LTE, both
for TDD and FDD mode, and we support common hardware and software for FDD and
TDD systems, giving operators maximum flexibility in their FDD and TDD
deployment.

source: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20131119-907023.html

EPC (EVOLVED PACKET CORE)

                                    EPC (EVOLVED PACKET CORE)

Background— in 1990’s the various standards of cellular system e.g GSM, CDMA etc. were based on circuit switching and the services which were developed were specially concentrated on typical applications of telecommunications. Mobile internet proved a revolutionary change in telecommuncation.

In Nov 2004, 3GPP started its work on 4G technologies that was like a successor of UMTS, particularly a work item named system architecture evolution (SAE) along with LTE which is responsible for evolution of Evolved Packet Core, which support the high bandwidth services at high data rates. In the standardization process of the EPC, various bodies like 3GPP2 (Third generation partnership project 2), Internet engineering task force (IETF), WiMAXforum and open mobile alliance (OMA) took part very actively.”3GPP ‘owns’ the EPS specifications and refers to IETF and occasionally OMA specifications where necessary, while 3GPP2 complements these EPS specifications with their own documents that cover the impact on EPS and GPP2-based systems. WiMAX forum also refers to 3GPP documentation where appropriate for their specification work”

OBJECTIVES SET BY 3GPP for EPC:

The objectives set by 3GPP for development of SAE and EPC were to deliver:

1.   Network architecture to support high data rates.

2.   It should support mobility between multiple heterogenous access systems like 3GPP and 3GPP2 or between 3GPP and WIMAX.

3.   All IP architecture to enhance its capabilty to cope up with high growth in IP data traffic.

EPC ARCHITECTURE:

EPS is Evolved Packet System , which represents all IP network and contains both EPC and LTE. It consists of different domains and each domain again consists of logical nodes. These nodes are interworked with each other to perform any specific set of functions.        

                                                

1.   GSM/GPRS represents 2G technology domain.

2.     WCDMA/HSPA (Wide CDMA/ High speed packet Access) represents 3G or 3.5G RAN (Radio access network).

3.    LTE (Long term evolution) is the latest domain specified by 3GPP and the fourth, Non-3GPP domain consists of access networks, e.g. WiMAX and WLAN, Which are not specified by 3GPP but actually provided by other standardization bodies like 3GPP2, IEEE.

 All four domains are connected to packet core domain (EPC). The core domain also consists of four basic domains. These are Circuit core domain, User domain, IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) and Packet core domain. The circuit core domain is linked to GSM/GPRS and WCDMA/HSPA. It supports and provides the circuit switch services in 2G and 3G technologies. The packet core domain provides IP services over GSM, WCDMA/HSPA,LTE and Non-3GPP technologies while the user domain provides the complete updated information of users on request. It maintains the database to support roaming mobility of the subscriber whether they are moving in a single network or in between different network. The IMS provides support to services based on Session initiation protocol (SIP). Since IMS supports IP services so it uses the IP connectivity with packet core domain to use its function provided by its node.Now we will turn our attention to the EPC architecture. The EPC architecture consists of packet core domain and user domain.

Mobility Management Equipment:

It is the node which is responsible for signal exchanges between base stations and core networks and between the subscriber and the core network.MME doesnot involve in air interface matters so it is non access stratum signaling which is exchanged between MME and radio network. Basic tasks which MME can perform are:

1.   Authentication

2.   Establishment of bearers

3.   NAS mobility management

4.    

External

HSS

Networks

GGSN

HLR

Gn

SGi

Gr

Gn

S6a

PDN

SGSN

Gn

Gn

Gb   Iu

S5/S8

MME

S11

SGW

S10

GSM

WCDMA

S1-MME

LTE

eNODEB

 

                   

Signalling

Voice/Data

The EPC supports IP session which is established over any network.it is also referred as session continuity.