BBU Pool Korea Communication Review - · PDF fileKorea Communication Review October 2014 ... nit erp dv o s am g. Th ... a FTTH contract with Viettel in Vietnam

1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7

2012 2013 2014

100.8 PB(92.7%)

8.0 PB(7.3%)

4G LTE

August 2014

108.8 PB

3G (Feature phone +

Smartphone)

Korea Communication ReviewOctober 2014

Korean ICT News • page 1-2

KT aims to build a nationwide GiGA Internet access network (1 Gbps to the home) by the end of the year • page 5

Korean big 3 telcos offer hassle-free and instant upgrade to Giga-class Internet without re-cabling • page 6-8

FEATURED ARTICLE:SK Telecom's Network Evolution Strategies:Carrier aggregation, inter-cell coordination and C-RAN architecture • page 9-18

LTE Statistics in Korea UPDATE • page 20-22

Broadband subscribers in Korea UPDATE • page 23-24

IPTV subscribers in Korea UPDATE • page 25

Research and Consulting Scope of Netmanias • page 26

© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com

Korea Communication Review Publisher: Dr. Harrison J. Son | [email protected]

Associate Editor: Dr. Michelle M. Do | [email protected] Advertising Sales: Ho-Young Lee | [email protected] | +82-2-3444-5747 Business Development: Steve Shin | [email protected] | +82-10-2884-8870

IN THIS ISSUE

In the past two years, some new technologies have been introduced in Korea, apparently increasing

broadband Internet speed 3~5 times faster, from 100 Mbps to 300~500 Mbps, instantly. It certainly

is fascinating in that such speed improvement can be achieved even without re-cabling in

apartment buildings. Because 100 Mbps has seemed unbeatable for almost a decade, this sure was

a long-awaited good news. So, we will take a moment to see what these technologies are and in

what cabling systems they can be employed. First, we may want to think about what has brought

these technologies into the market. Korean big 3 operators are currently offering Giga Wi-Fi Service

(802.11ac) at hotspots like Starbucks, actually supporting 250~400 Mbps. To achieve this high

speed, the operators expanded their wired access networks for hotspots, where Wi-Fi APs are

connected, up to 1 Gbps. But for home users, because the maximum broadband speeds are 100

Mbps no matter what service they use (i.e. VDSL2, LAN or FTTH. Read the full article (page 6-8) n

According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and

Future Planning (MSIP), the total mobile traffic of

the country as of late August reached 108.8 PB,

and LTE traffic (100.8 PB) accounts for 92.7% of

the total. Since May, a drastic growth has been

witnessed especially in 4G smartphone traffic,

increasing fast by over 20 PB, from 69.4 PB in

April to 93.7 PB in July. This growth seems mostly

caused by LTE unlimited plans that were

competitively introduced by the big 3 - first by LG

U+ on April 2, and then later in the month by SK

Telecom and KT - offering unlimited voice, text

AND LTE data services. n

Korea’s smartphone subscriptions are already

reaching 40 million, in less than five years after the

first smartphone‘s debut in the country in 2009.

According to the mobile subscription statistics

data (as of late July) revealed by MSIP on August

25, Korea has 39.6 million smartphone

subscribers, representing 70.4% of the nation’s

total mobile subscribers (56.3 million). The

subscriptions increased by about 300,000

compared to the late July’s. With this growth rate,

the number will very likely exceed 40 million by

late September, or by October at the latest. n

Korean big 3 telcos offer hassle-free and instant upgrade to Giga-class Internet without re-cabling

In August, LTE traffic represented 92.7% of Korea’s total mobile traffic, 12.6 times more than 3G’s 7.3% – mostly driven by the introduction of LTE unlimited plans

Smartphone subscriptions to exceed 40 million in late September

hairman Chang-gyu Hwang of KT (with sales

of KRW 23.8 trillion in 2013), at a press

conference held at KT Olleh Square in

gggggggggg

C

Source: KT

Fronthaul (Active WDM)

3-band CA

Data

Small RRH

No HO

No HO

CoMP

CoMP

Inter-site CA

N cells 1 PCI, TM9

Elastic Cell Hierarchy Cell

Virtual One Cell

Dual Connectivity

Macro RRH

BBU Pool

Control & Data

Control

Macro RRH

Inter-site CA

Wi-Fi APLTE-WiFi CA

LTE Femto CA

Femto

Unified C-RAN

BBU virtualization

Smarthpone

Feature Phone (2G/3G)

Smart Pad

52.5M56.3M

39.6M(70.4%)

16.0M(28.5%)

0.61M(1.1%)

21.3M(40.8%)

30.5M(58.3%)

0.48M(0.9%)

August 2014

4G Smartphone ~ 33 M3G Smartphone ~ 7 M

3G Feature phone ~ 9M2G Feature phone ~ 7M

1 6 1 6 1

2012 2013 20142011

7 8

2


Korea Communication Review • October 2014

Korea ICT News

KT aims to build a nationwide GiGA Internet access network (1 Gbps to the home) by the end of the year To go nationwide with its Giga Internet

(GiGA FTTH) service, KT has been

introducing high-capacity OLT that offers

1 Gbps to each subscriber, which is 10

times faster than the current 100 Mbps.

The high-capacity OLT system was first

introduced in pilot projects that had been

conducted in selected Seoul metropolitan

areas until May 2014. Then it was further

deployed across the entire Seoul

metropolitan areas in June, and then

across 35% of the country by July. On

August 17, KT announced that it would

complete the nationwide deployment of

the system by the end of the year.

Read the full article (page 5) n

KT and SKB launched the world’s first 4K UHD IPTV service on September 1 On September 1, KT and SK Broadband

presented UHD STB, offering the world’s

first commercialized UHD IPTV (2160p)

service. The UHD service requires about

15 Mbps for 30 fps service, and 30Mbps

for 60 fps service. The two operators are

offering an UHD STB by Humax to their

subscribers. Currently, live broadcasting

service (1 UHD channel) and VoD service

(29 UHD VoD contents) are being offered

by KT, while only VoD service (24 UHD

VoD contents) is offered by SKB. LG U+

plans to join them in September. n

HFR’s Fronthaul solution to hit the East Asian market On August 26, HFR, a Fronthaul

equipment (flexiHaulTM) supplier for SK

Telecom, signed an agreement for

supplying the relevant solution to an East

Asian telecommunication operator after

being selected through a fierce

competition with other vendors from

Taiwan and Europe. The company said its

experiences of supplying Fronthaul

equipment to SK Telecom and SK

Telecom’s cooperation were the key

contributing factors to the selection. n

LG U+ and Nokia developed “Intelligent Network Platform” On September 17, LG U+ presented

“Intelligent Network Platform (INP)” that

it developed jointly with Nokia, and this

platform is expected to provide faster and

uninterrupted video streaming. The

company has been putting effort into

achieving high video quality to

differentiate its LTE services from others’.

The key features of the INP are:

•Mobile content caching (transparent

caching)

•DNS caching

•Video optimization (Video pacing)

•CDN Interworking

•Local breakout

These features are implemented by

RACS (Radio Application Cloud Server)

that is installed in eNB as a card.

RACS performs caching of video

content files like those on YouTube,

thereby reducing the time required for

downloading the files. RACS also

accelerates loading of web pages by

having DNS addresses converted by it,

instead of by a remote server.

The video pacing functionality helps a

user save data usage by allowing the user

to download only the amount of contents

being viewed. This functionality was

designed to overcome the drawbacks of

the early HTTP progressive downloading.

LG U+ and Nokia are planning to

complete a field test by the end of

October, and begin commercializing

RACSs for example by installing them in

LTE base stations nationwide. n

DASAN Networks Successfully lands a FTTH contract with Viettel in Vietnam O n July 24 , DASAN successfully

entered Vietnam’s high-speed Internet

market. Viettel, the largest telecom

operator in Vietnam, has selected DASAN

Networks as their network equipment

supplier to establish the infrastructure in

providing high-speed Internet throughout

Vietnam.

DASAN Networks made a contract

agreement to supply about US$18 Million

worth of FTTH GPON systems to Viettel

for the next 4 months until November as

its first order, and plans to negotiate to

supply more FTTH equipment soon.

Starting this year, Viettel plans to offer

FTTH based high-speed Internet services

all over Vietnam. Biddings in supplying

GPON equipment for the project started

last year, DASAN Networks was selected

as the first supplier among other global

telecommunication companies. n

Samsung and ubiQuoss chosen as official network equipment supplier for ITU PP-14 On September 24, Samsung and

ubiQuoss were chosen as official

equipment suppliers for a wired and

wireless network to be built in the venue

of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference

that Korea is hosting in October.

ubiQuoss is supplying high-capacity E-

PON OLT (Model: U9500H). U9500H

accommodat e s 5,000 subscribers (OLT)

and support 1Gbps per subscriber.

Samsung is supplying 365 wireless

Internet access points (APs) and all other

control, operation and security systems

needed for the event. This will be the

company’s debut in the world’s wireless

Internet market, in only two years after its

entry to the wireless Internet industry in

2012.

The conference host, ITU, chose the

two suppliers after acknowledging the

proven excellence of their products

through four technical tests. n

eNB (DU)

RACS

RACS: Radio Acceleration Cloud Server

FEATURED ARTICLE

SK Telecom's Network Evolution StrategiesCarrier aggregation, inter-cell coordination and C-RAN architecture

Dr. Michelle M. Do

ARTICLES

KT aims to build a nationwide GiGA Internet access network (1 Gbps to the home) by the end of the year

Chris Yoo

Korean big 3 telcos offer hassle-free and instant upgrade to Giga-class Internet without re-cablingDr. Harrison J. Son

KOREA ICT NEWS

Table of contents

1. CA Evolution Strategies

1.1 Combining More Bands: 3-band CA

1.2 Femto Cell with CA

1.3 Combining Heterogeneous Networks: LTE-Wi-Fi CA

1.4 Combining Heterogeneous LTE Technologies: FDD-TDD CA

2. Inter-Cell Coordination Evolution Strategies

2.1 Inter-Site CA in Macro Cell Networks

2.2 SUPER Cell 1.0: Virtual One Cell

2.3 SUPER Cell 2.0: Elastic Cell and Inter-site CA

2.4 SUPER Cell 3.0: Hierarchy Cell

3. RAN Architecture Evolution Strategies

3.1 Unified RAN

3.2 vRAN

9-18

5

6-8

• In August, LTE traffic represented 92.7% of Korea’s total mobile traffic, 12.6 times more than 3G’s 7.3% – mostly driven

by the introduction of LTE unlimited plans

• Smartphone subscriptions to exceed 40 million in late September

• KT and SKB launched the world’s first 4K UHD IPTV service on September 1

• HFR’s Fronthaul solution to hit the East Asian market

• LG U+ and Nokia developed “Intelligent Network Platform”

• DASAN Networks Successfully lands a FTTH contract with Viettel in Vietnam

• Samsung and ubiQuoss chosen as official network equipment supplier for ITU PP-14

KOREA ICT STATISTICS

LTE Statistics in Korea UPDATE

Broadband subscribers in Korea UPDATE

IPTV subscribers in Korea UPDATE

Research and Consulting Scope of Netmanias

October 2014




gggggggggg

C

Source: KT

CPRI Fronthaul (Active WDM)3-band CA

Data

Small RRH

No HO

No HO

CoMP

CoMP

Inter-Site CA

N cells 1 PCI, TM9


Virtual One Cell

Dual Connectivity

Macro RRH

BBU Pool

Control & Data

Control

Macro RRH

Inter-Site CA

Wi-Fi APLTE-WiFi CA

LTE Femto CA

Femto

Band 5 (850 MHz, 10MHz)

Band 3 (1.8GHz, 20MHz)

Band 1 (2.1 GHz, 10MHz)

vRAN(Virtualized BBU)

Service-Aware RAN

App. Server(e.g. cache)

(300/450Mbps)

(150Mbps)

(upto Gbps)

EPC Core

New Band

Unified RAN(Macro RRH & Small RRH)

Macro cell site

셀 사이트 1

Coordination server GE

KT

SK (SK Broadband)

LG U+

Cable Operators

8.1

(42.4%)

19.0M Broadband subscribers

in Korea(August 2014)

4.7M

(24.8%)

3.0M

(15.8%)

3.2M

(16.6%)

3.90

1.30

0.31 0.04

2.85

1.86

1.78

0.65

1.33

0.35

0.03

1.22

0.92

2.44

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

KT SK LG U+ MSO

Million

XDSL

LAN (UTP)

HFC (Cable)

FTTH

8.1M

4.7M

3.0M 3.2M

XDSL

LAN

FTTH

HFC

20-22

23-24

25

26

3



5



KT aims to build a nationwide GiGA Internet access network (1 Gbps to the home) by the end of the year | By Chris Yoo

l O n May 20, Chairman Chang-gyu Hwang of KT (with

sales of KRW 23.8 trillion in 2013) announced that "KT will

open up a new age of GiGAtopia by investing KRW 4.5

trillion (USD 4.4 billion) in GiGA FTTH, GiGA Path

(heterogeneous networks convergence technology that

combines LTE and Wi-Fi networks), and GiGA Wire

(copper wire-based transmission technology) for the next

three years." Later on June 19, Mr. Seong-mok Oh, head of

the Network Business Division at KT, announced the

company would accelerate the process and Commercialize

GiGA FTTH and GiGA Wire in the second half of this year.

l To go nationwide with its Giga Internet (GiGA FTTH)

service, KT has been introducing high-capacity OLT that

offers 1 Gbps to each subscriber, which is 10 times faster

than the current 100 Mbps. The high-capacity OLT system

was first introduced in pilot projects that had been

conducted in selected Seoul metropolitan areas until May

2014. Then it was further deployed across the entire Seoul

metropolitan areas in June, and then across 35% of the

country by July. On August 17, KT announced that it would

complete the nationwide deployment of the system by the

end of the year.

KT's high-capacity OLT system is an enhanced version of

its previous FTTH OLT (100 Mbps per subscriber). It can

cover upto 5,120 users (80x10GE-PON ports, Split ratio

64), and has an excellent switching capacity of 2 Tbps, 40

times higher compared to the previous OLT.

With the introduction of the high-capacity OLT system,

KT is fully fledged to respond to soaring traffic to be caused

by UHD TV, Interne

ubiQuoss U9500H

High-capacity OLT deployed for GiGA Internet service by KT

Switching capacity

ubiQuoss U9500H

1.92 Tbps

Throughput 1.4 Bpps

10GE ports 80

Split ratio 64

ONTs per system 5,120

Uplink ports 16 x 10GE

Height 10 U

by UHD TV, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. Chang-Seok Seo,

vice president of the Network Technology Unit at KT, noted

that "With deployment of high-capacity OLT systems, KT

will be able to provide differentiated Giga services that no

other can do, and drastically improve service quality as

well. KT will devote itself in developing new technologies

and conducting researches to ensure high quality service for

customers."

l Upgrade of broadband access speed from 100 Mbps to

1Gbps will result in increased traffic in backbone networks.

To effectively respond to this traffic, KT i) replaced the

routers in premium core networks that deliver ITPV/VoD

traffic with high-capacity 4 Tbps routers last August, and ii)

has continued to expand KORNET, which is in charge of

delivering Internet traffic, through router replacement,

additional line card installation, etc. n

2. Upgrade Premium Core Capacity (Premium Core: QoS, IP/MPLS)

3. Upgrade KORNET Capacity (KORNET: Best-effort, IP routing)

PE

OLTs

BRAS

COMDU

MDU

MDU

IPTV Headend

Data Center

DomesticISPs(SKB, LG

U+)

GlobalInternet

ONT

ONT

ONU

ONU

Edge

• Live encoderVoD(Cold), …• eMBMS,..

PE

P

P

BRAS

Edge

BRAS

Edge

Media SW

EPC Core

CenterNode (2)Edge

Node (31)

Akamai CDN edge,OTT CDN (Pooq),Cloud, ...

KIX

CenterNode (2)

PE

Edge

PE

Edge

TIC

IPTV VoD servers (Hot)

splitter

splitter

UTP

VDSL

1. FTTH Access: E-PON→10GE-PON

splitter

splitter

Data Center

CoreNode (19)

EdgeNode (56)

nx10G mx10G

...

IPTV Traffic

(Multicast)

10GInternet Traffic

L3 SW

Core Node (14)

IPTV/VoD TrafficP

P

ONT

Global Hub

10GE-PON

OLT

6



Korean big 3 telcos offer hassle-free and instant upgrade to Giga-class Internet without re-cabling | By Dr. Harrison J. Son

Migration Strategies to Giga-Class Broadband Access in Korea

In the past two years, some new technologies have been

introduced in Korea, apparently increasing broadband

Internet speeds 3~5 times faster, from 100 Mbps to

300~500 Mbps, instantly. It certainly is fascinating in that

such speed improvement was achieved without the hassle

of re-cabling construction in apartment buildings. Because

100 Mbps had seemed unbeatable for almost a decade, this

sure was a long-awaited good news. So, we will take a

moment to see what these technologies are and in what

cabling systems they can be employed.

First, we may want to think about what has brought these

technologies into the market. Korean big 3 operators are

currently offering Giga Wi-Fi Service (802.11ac) at hotspots

like Starbucks, actually supporting 250~400 Mbps. To

achieve this high speed, the operators expanded their wired

access networks for hotspots, where Wi-Fi APs are

connected, up to 1 Gbps. But for home users, because the

maximum broadband speeds are 100 Mbps no matter what

service they use (i.e. VDSL2, LAN or FTTH. See Broadband

Access Network Architecture in Korea), Giga Wi-Fi service

is not yet available for them. In order for these home users

to use the service,

to use the service, their home broadband access should be

as fast as hundreds of Mbps.

There has been concern about the quality of 4K UHD

IPTV service, which was just launched by KT and SK

Broadband (SKB) in September. According to Benchbee

(www.benchbee.co.kr), the most popular Internet speed

test site in Korea, the operators' claimed maximum speeds

were different from the actual speeds measured. For

example, in case of VDSL2 with a claimed maximum speed

of 100 Mbps, the actual average speed was 40~70 Mbps

(KT). In case of LAN (UTP to the home) and FTTH also

with a claimed 100 Mbps, the actual averages were 40~80

Mbps (KT, SKB and LG U+). Because 4K UHD IPTV service

requires a broadband of 15~30 Mbps, home users with

more than one TV are likely to suffer from unstable quality

of service.

To address this concern, the big 3 have been working to

improve speeds of the existing phone line-based (VDSL2)

and UTP-based (Cat5) Internet services, from 100 Mbps to

300~500 Mbps for home users living in apartment

complexes.

Table 1. Giga-Class Broadband Access Strategy in Korea: Summary

KT SK (SK Broadband) LG U+

Brand ▶ GiGA Wire (G.hn) ▶ 2-Pair Ethernet ▶ Super-Fast Network

Copper line1-pair (Telephone line)

1-pair (UTP)2-pair (UTP Cat 5/5e) 2-pair (UTP Cat 5/5e)

DL/UL Speed300Mbps/100Mbps

200Mbps/200Mbps500Mbps/500Mbps 500Mbps/500Mbps

Commercialization H2 2014 (planned) Q2 2013 Not announced

VendorsubiQuoss (U4124B, C301G)

HFR(H5224G/5216G, H514G/524G)

Dasan NetworksubiQuoss

G.hn (300 Mbps)

2-Pair Ethernet (500 Mbps)

802.3z 1000Base-T (1Gbps)

Upgrade to Giga-Class

No additional re-cabling construction in apartment buildings

Re-cabling construction in apartment buildings (Huge Capex)

Existing MDU wiring systems

UTP Cat5e to the home Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)

Current Services

√

√

KT

SKB, LG U+

KT, SKB, LG U+

KT, SKB, LG U+

KT, SKB

802.3as 1000Base-X (1 Gbps)Fiber to the home Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)

KT, SKB, LG U+

Telephone lines to the home VDSL2 (100 Mbps)

UTP Cat5 to the home Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)

7




What is common in all the strategies by the big 3 is pretty

obvious. They want to do this without re-cabling, that is

without replacing the existing cables installed in apartment

buildings. (A person at KT familiar with this matter noted,

"Technically, cables installed in buildings are owned by the

building owners. So, installing new cables certainly means a

lot of steps to go through. Discussions should be arranged,

consents should be obtained from all the residents, and

costs should be shared by them, etc. Given that, GiGA Wire

technology gives the operators a lot of benefits in that it

allows for fast speed upgrade without having to go through

all the steps".)

▶Let's talk about KT's GiGA Wire first.

KT's plan is to support a download speed of 300 Mbps or

higher through existing phone lines (1 pair). That is, KT

aims to provide ultra-high speed Internet service to users

living in 20~30 year-old apartment buildings where only

phone lines are installed, as well.

GiGA Wire, based on ITU-T G.hn standards (Line

modulation: OFDM/DMT, Duplexing: TDD) and enhanced

with KT's patented technology, features chips

manufactured by Marvell and systems developed by a

Korean developer, ubiQuoss (GNT and GAM that function

as a modem and DSLAM in VDSL, respectively).

As seen in the performance graph below, Marvell's G.hn

demonstrated good performance, 500 Mbps at a distance of

100 m.

It looks like KT deliberately set its target speed a bit low,

around 300 Mbps,

around 300 Mbps, considering probable speed degradation

in actual deteriorated conditions caused by Crosstalk,

outdated on-premise cables, etc.

Again, what's noteworthy about KT's GiGA Wire is that

the architecture can be applied not only to apartment units

with only 1 pair of traditional telephone lines, but also to

those with UTP cabling. In case of units with UTP cabling, 1

out of 4 pairs of lines is used for GiGA Wire.

▶ Then, what about SKB and LG U+?

SKB and LG U+ have different strategies. Unlike KT,

these two are not targeting old apartment buildings with

only phone lines, but ones built more recently or ones with

additional UTP cabling installed at cost, that is those with

Cat5 cabling. More than 5 million households in Korea are

known to live in these types of apartment units.

To offer Internet and telephone services to households

living in apartment units where UTP Cat5 cables (4-pair)

are installed, Korean operators use 2 pairs of the lines

inside a cable for Internet service (Fast Ethernet with 100

Mbps), and 1 pair for POTS phone service. And the last 1

pair is left unused.

According to the standards (for Gigabit Ethernet and Fast

Ethernet), 1 Gbps requires all 4 pairs of lines (Cat5e) while

100 Mbps requires only 2 out of 4 pairs (Cat5). To achieve 1

Gbps speeds, all 4 pairs should be used, and cables have to

be Cat5e. So, additional cabling is inevitable.

To avoid this issue, that is, to support Internet speeds

higher than 100 Mbps without additional installation of

cables, SKB

300+ Mbps

Bundledtelephone

lines

G.hn Access Multiplexer (GAM)

MDF

GNT1-pair

(Phone line)

RJ11

RJ45

GNT1-pair

(Phone line)

GNT1-pair

(Phone line)

300+ Mbps

300+ Mbps

MDU (Condominiums, Apartment Complexes)

Home

Home

Home

...

IPTV STB

No additional re-cabling construction

POTS

E-PON

Central Office

OLT L3 SW

Splitter

PSTN

FTTP (Fiber To The Phone line)

• deploys GNTs (G.hn Network Terminal)

at home and GAM (G.hn Access

Multiplexer) at MDF/IDF

• provides point to point connection via

existing telephone line (1-pair)

• 200~300 Mbps throughput per

subscriber

• VDSL2 replacement for higher speed

broadband service

Internet

G.hn Performance (source: ubiQuoss)

ubiQuoss's G.hn productsSource: KT

Distance (m)

KT GiGA Wire - Instant upgrading to Giga-Class Internet

8




c ables, SKB and LG U+ developed a new technology that

can support up to 500 Mbps by using only 2 pairs of lines in

existent Cat5 cables (bidirectional 500 Mbps at a distance

of 100 m). Of course, it is not a standard technology. SKB

adopted HFR's new device specially designed for this

purpose and launched a new service in June 2013. LG U+

had necessary devices developed by Dasan and ubiQuoss in

last June, but no service commercialization plan has been

announced so far.

As seen above, KT's Giga service is different from those of

SKB and LG U+ in that KT is targeting apartment units

with only traditional phone lines as well as those with UTP

cabling, whereas the other two are targeting only those with

UTP cabling.

UTP cabling. No doubt that KT is No. 1 in broadband

Internet service.

After almost a decade of stagnation in speed

improvement, Korea is finally taking a long-overdue step

forward toward Giga-class Internet service. For apartment

buildings that were built recently and thus have optical

fiber cables already installed, upgrading to 1 Gbps is easy.

On the other hand, for older buildings, it requires

installation of new cables, which would apparently result in

huge CAPEX. Given that, it is quite impressive that the big

3 managed to find ways to offer Giga-class service of 300 ~

500 Mbps to users without re-cabling construction. n

The 2-Pair Ethernet is a vendor-proprietary technology developed by modifying the current 1000Base-T standard(IEEE 802.3ab). This technology

enables an Ethernet switch (i.e., FTTB ONU for apartment buildings) to utilize 2-pair lines out of 4-pairs inside a single Category 5/5e UTP cable,

providing provide 500Mbps data transmission(=250Mbps per pair X 2 pairs) via 2-pair line. And, the 2-pair Ethernet system is actually

implemented by adding a specific functional block of 2-pair Ethernet operation to the MAC/PHY Layer of existing 1000Base-T Ethernet system. The

following functionalities are to be appended for the 2-pair Ethernet system.

❶ Rate adaption function between 1000Base-T (1Gbps) and 2pair Ethernet (500Mbps) interface

❷ Flow control function to manage a data traffic prevent a loss of Ethernet frame traffic caused by exceeding 500Mbps

❸ Signal conversion function of 4-pair based 1000Base-T to match with 2-pair Ethernet (2D-PAM5)

SK Broadband's MDU broadband innovation - 500 Mbps with just 2 pairs

l H5224G (24 ports), H5216G (16 ports) • Auto-Negotiation (100/500/1000Mbps) • 100 Mbps per port (UTP Cat5, 2-pair) • 500 Mbps per port (UTP Cat5, 2-pair) • 1000 Mbps per port (UTP Cat5e, 4-pair) • Uplink: GPON, GE

l H514G • Uplink: Auto-negotiation (100/500/1000Mbps) • LAN ports: 4 10/100/1000Mbps

l H524G • Uplink: Auto-negotiation (100/500/1000Mbps) • LAN ports - 4 10/100/1000Mbps ports - Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n, 2.4G & 5G Dualband 2Tx 2R)

L2 Ethernet Switch CPE (RG)

Deployed products: HFR’s 2-pair Ethernet Products

MDF

CPE 500Mbps RJ45

MDU (Condominiums, Apartment Complexes)

Home

Home

...

IPTV STB 1-pair

2-Pair Ethernet Switch

4-pair

No additional re-cabling construction

2-pair

POTS

G-PON

Central Office

OLT L3 SW

Splitter

PSTN

SK Broadband IP Network

CPE

1-pair 4-pair

2-pair

UTP

4P

(C

AT5

)

UTP 4P(Cat5)

500Mbps

2-Pair Ethernet

• deploys CPE at home and 2-Pair

Ethernet Switch at MDF/IDF

• provides point to point connection

via existing CAT5/5e cable (2-pair

used)

• bidirectional 500 Mbps throughput

per subscriber

• 100 Mbps LAN service replacement

for higher speed broadband service

n Gigabit Ethernet / CAT5e 100m / Full Duplex

n 2-pair Ethernet / CAT5 100m / Full Duplex

n Fast Ethernet / CAT5 100m / Full Duplex

250 Mbps x 4 Pairs = 1Gbps

250 Mbps x 2 Pairs = 500 Mbps

100 Mbps 100 Mbps

K Telecom is the #1 mobile operator in Korea,

with sales of KRW 16.6 trillion (USD 15.3

billion) in 2013, and with 50.1% of a mobile

subscription market share in 2Q 2014. It

launched LTE service back in July 2011, and

now more than half of its subscribers are LTE

service subscribers, with 56% of LTE

penetration as of 2Q 2014.

increased number of cell sites. To save costs of building

and operating the increased number of cell sites, it has

built C-RAN (Advanced-Smart Cloud Access Network,

A-SCAN, as called by SK Telecom) through BBU

concentration since January 2012.

In 2014, SK Telecom began to introduce small cells

(low-power small RRHs) in selected areas. As with

macro cells, small RRHs have the same C-RAN

architecture where they are connected to concentrated

BBU pools through CPRI interfaces. SK Telecom calls it

"Unified RAN (Cloud and Heterogeneous)".

To prevent performance degradation at cell edges

caused by introduction of small cells, SK Telecom

developed HetNet architecture (known as SUPER Cell)

where macro cells cooperate with small cells. The

company, aiming to commercialize 5G networks in

2020, plans to commercialize SUPER Cell first in 2016,

as a transitional phase to 5G networks.

mobile subscription market share in 2Q 2014. It

launched LTE service back in July 2011, and now more

than half of its subscribers are LTE service subscribers,

with 55.8% of LTE penetration as of 2Q 2014.

Due to LTE subscription growth, more advanced

device features, and high-capacity contents, LTE

networks are experiencing an unprecedented surge in

traffic. To accommodate the flooded traffic, SK Telecom

adopted LTE-A (Carrier Aggregation, CA) in 2013, and

Wideband LTE-A (Wideband CA) in 2014 for improved

network capacity.

As another effort to increase network capacity, the

company made LTE/LTE-A macro cells a lot smaller, as

small as hundreds of meters long, resulting in an

increased number of cell sites. To save costs of building

and operating the increased number of cell sites, it has

built C-RAN (Advanced-Smart Cloud Access Network,

A-SCAN, as called by SKT) through BBU concentration

since January 2012.

9



SK Telecom's Network Evolution StrategiesCarrier aggregation, inter-cell coordination and C-RAN architecture

Dr. Michelle M. Do ([email protected])

SK Telecom's Network Evolution Strategies | Dr. Michelle M. Do ([email protected])

S

ICIC

DL CoMP (proprietary) | early 2012

Virtual One Cell (TM-9) | H2 2014 (planned)

Elastic Cell (CoMP, Inter-Site CA) | 2016 (planned)

Hierarchy Cell (Dual Connectivity) | 2016 (planned)

eICIC | 2014 (planned)

Inter-Cell Coordinationð higher speeds at cell edges

Carrier Aggregationð speed increased n times

3-Band CA | 300 Mbps


Macr

o Cell


Femto CA | 150 Mbps

UL CoMP | 2014.04

LTE-Wi-Fi CA | upto Gbps

FDD-TDD CA | upto Gbps

Small

Cell (H

etnet)

LTE | 75 Mbps


2011.7

2013.6

2014.6

2014 H2 (planned)

2015 (planned)

2014 (demonstrated at MWC)

2014.7 (demonstrated)

2014.6 (demonstrated)

RAN Architectureð RAN TCO reduced/LTE-A performance

enhanced

C-RAN | Macro Cell |

2012.1

Unified RAN |Macro & Small Cell |

2014 (First introduced)

vRAN |Virtualization |

2014 (demonstrated)

to be CommercializedCommercialized

Figure 1. SK Telecom’s Network Evolution Strategies

Inter-Site CA | 2014 (demonstrated at MWC)

Service-Aware RAN| RAN Cache |

(demonstrated at MWC 2013)

10



1. CA Evolution StrategiesCA is a technology that combines up to five frequencies

in different bands to be used as one wideband

frequency. It allows for expanded radio transmission

bandwidth, which would naturally boost transmission

speeds as much as the bandwidth is expanded. So, for

example, if bandwidth is increased n times, then so is

the transmission speed. Table 1 shows the LTE

frequencies that SK Telecom has as of September 2014,

totaling 40 MHz (DL only) across three frequency

bands, which operate as Frequency Division Duplexing

(FDD).

SK Telecom commercialized CA in June 2013 for the

first time in the world, and then Wideband CA a year

later in June 2014.

as a transitional phase to 5G networks.

We analyzed SK Telecom's network evolution

strategies using the following three axes: 1) Carrier

Aggregation (CA), 2) Inter-Cell Coordination, and 3)

RAN Architecture in the Figure 1. Here, the CA axis

shows how speeds have been and can be increased (n

times) by expanding total frequency bandwidth

aggregated. The Inter-Cell Coordination axis displays

the company's strategy to achieve higher speeds at cell

edges by improving frequency efficiency. Finally, the

RAN Architecture axis shows SK Telecom's plan to

switch to an architecture that would yield better LTE-A

performance at reduced costs of building and operating

RAN. Figure 2 is SK Telecom's evolved LTE-A network,

as illustrated according to the evolution strategies

shown in Figure1.

Figure 2. SK Telecom’s LTE-A Evolution Network





gggggggggg

C

Source: KT

CPRI Fronthaul (Active WDM)3-band CA

Data

Small RRH

No HO

No HO

CoMP

CoMP

Inter-Site CA

N cells 1 PCI, TM9


Virtual One Cell

Dual Connectivity

Macro RRH

BBU Pool

Control & Data

Control

Macro RRH

Inter-Site CA

Wi-Fi APLTE-WiFi CA

LTE Femto CA

Femto

Carrier Aggregation Evolution • 3-Band CA• LTE-Wi-Fi CA• LTE Femto CA• FDD-TDD CA

Band 5 (850 MHz, 10MHz)

Band 3 (1.8GHz, 20MHz)

Band 1 (2.1 GHz, 10MHz)

vRAN(Virtualized BBU)

Inter-Site Coordination Evolution • Inter-Site CA in Macro Cell Networks• SUPER Cell 1.0: Virtual One Cell• SUPER Cell 2.0: Elastic Cell, Inter-Site CA• SUPER Cell 3.0: Hierarchy Cell

RAN Architecture Evolution• Unified RAN• Service-Aware RAN• vRAN

Service-Aware RAN

App. Server(e.g. cache)

(300/450Mbps)

(150Mbps)

(upto Gbps)

EPC Core

New Band

Unified RAN(Macro RRH & Small RRH)

Macro cell site

Macro cell site

Coordination server GE

11



attempting to apply CA technology to Femto cell as well.

The company completed a technical demonstration of

LTE-A Femto cell in MWC 2014, proving it is capable to

support 2-band CA. It will be conducting trial tests in a

commercial network in late 2014 for final

commercialization of the technology in 2015.

1.3 Combining Heterogeneous Networks: LTE-Wi-Fi CA

In July 2014, SK Telecom performed a technical

demonstration of heterogeneous CA that combines LTE

and Wi-Fi bands by using multipath TCP (MPTCP), an

IETF standard. MPTCP is designed to combine more

than one TCP flow (or MPTCP subflow) to make a single

MPTCP connection, and send data through it. This

technology is applied to a device and application server.

In the demonstration, an MPTCP proxy server was used

instead of an application server (Figure 3).

This technology will allow SK Telecom to combine i)

its LTE bands that are currently featuring 2-band CA

and ii) 802.11ac-based Giga Wi-Fi bands, together

offering up to 1 Gbps or so.

The detailed commercialization timeline is to be

determined in accordance with the company's plan for

future development of MPTCP device and server.

1.4 Combining Heterogeneous LTE Technologies: FDD-

TDD CA

This method enables operators to expand transmission

bandwidth by combining two different types of LTE

technologies: FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE. In a

demonstration performed in Mobile Asia Expo in June

2014, SK Telecom successfully demonstrated FDD-TDD

CA using ten 20 MHz bandwidths and 8x8 MIMO

antenna showing 3.8 Gbps throughout.

2. Inter-Cell Coordination Evolution StrategiesCA improves network capacity by broadening frequency

bandwidth, whereas inter-cell coordination

technologies do the same task by enhancing frequency

efficiency. Inter-cell coordination is designed to manage

radio resources more efficiently by having cells in

different sites share user and/or cell information with

each other.

It is now offering a maximum speed of 225 Mbps

through the total 30 MHz bandwidth. As of May 2014,

out of the total 15 million LTE subscribers, 3.5 million

(23%) subscribers are using CA-enabled devices. Let's

see where SK Telecom's CA is heading.

1.1 Combining More Bands: 3-band CA

3-band CA combines three frequency bands, instead of

the current two, for wider-band transmission.

Currently, SK Telecom has three LTE frequency bands,

and is offering 2-band CA of 20 MHz or 30 MHz by

combining two of the bands at once. This is because,

although LTE-A standards technically support

combining of up to five frequency bands, RF chips in

CA-enabled mobile devices available now can support

combining of two bands only.

3-band LTE devices are on the way and will be

arriving in the market soon - sometime in early 2015 or

by late 2014 at the latest. So, SK Telecom is planning to

commercialize 3-band CA that combines all of its three

frequency bands, just in time. The commercialization of

3-band CA is expected to increase transmission

bandwidth to 40 MHz and data transmission rate to

300 Mbps. SK Telecom is also planning to combine

three 20 MHz bands to further expand transmission

bandwidth up to 60 MHz, and boost data transmission

rate to 450 Mbps.

1.2 Femto Cell with CA

SK Telecom commercialized LTE Femto cell for the first

time in the world in June 2012, to provide indoor users

with more stable communication quality, and now is

attempting to apply CA technology to

Table 2. SK Telecom’s Multi-band CA (FDD-FDD)

# of Bands

2-band

3-band

2-band

3-band

Max. Data Rate

150 Mbps

300 Mbps

225 Mbps

450 Mbps

Total BW

20 MHz

40 MHz

30 MHz

60 MHz

BW Aggregation (MHz)

10+10 (B3+B5)

10+20+10 (B1+B3+B5)

20+10 (B3+B5)

20+20+20

Status

Commercialized (June 2013)

to be Commercialized (H2 2014 or 2015)

Commercialized (June 2014)

Planned

Table 1. SK Telecom’s Commercial LTE Frequency (as of September 2014)

DL UL

850 MHz Band 5 10 MHz 75 Mbps10 MHz

2.1 GHz Band 1 10 MHz 75 Mbps10 MHz

1.8 GHz Band 3 20 MHz 150 Mbps15 MHz

LTE BandBandwidth Max. Data

Rate


12



macro cell network include ICIC and

DL CoMP (proprietary) commer-

cialized in 2012. In MWC 2014,

inter-site CA was demonstrated

showing how cell sites can cooperate

with each other for optimized CA.

CoMP operates in a centralized way

based on C-RAN (A-SCAN) intro-

duced in 2012 along with some of SK

Telecom's proprietary technologies

like improved scheduling, energy

efficiency, etc. Since CoMP commer-

cialization, ICIC has been replaced

by CoMP.

SK Telecom began to use small

cells in its networks in 2014. The

more small cells are used, the higher

frequency reuse ratio is achieved.

However, there have been some

drawbacks, like higher handover

rates, stronger interference, in-

creased control overhead, etc. as

more cells mean more cell edges. So,

to overcome these issues, and to

maximize the effect of network

capacity increased by small cells, an

appropriate method of inter-cell

coordination should be chosen

depending on how densely small

cells are deployed.

each other. Inter-cell coordination can also be used both

in small cell-introduced HetNet and a legacy homo-

geneous network. But, more complicated and refined

coordination is required because in HetNet, where both

high power and lower power cells are deployed

together, UEs at cell edges are likely to experience

different interference situations.

Inter-cell coordination technologies applicable to a

macro cell network include ICIC and DL

Figure 3. LTE - Wi-Fi CA using Multipath TCP (MPTCP)

SKT IP Backbone

LTE-A Network IP Backhaul

P-GW

CSP, OTT

(e.g., File Box)

Giga Wi-Fi APeNB

Proxy

Public Internet

SubflowLTE

MPTCP Client

MPTCP Proxy Server

225 Mbps 866 Mbps

1 Gbps

Movie file Application

TCP

SubflowWi-Fi

TCP

MPTCP

SubflowLTE

(TCP)

IPLTE IPWi-Fi

SubflowWi-Fi

(TCP)

TCP

Application

MPTCP

SubflowLTE

(TCP)

IPLTE IPWi-Fi

SubflowWi-Fi

(TCP)

Application Server

capacity increased by small cells, an appropriate

method of inter-cell coordination should be chosen

depending on how densely small cells are deployed.

To enhance network capacity efficiently depending on

the degree of small cell deployment in a macro cell, SK

Telecom presented SUPER Cell concept, and a 3-phase

evolution plan in MWC 2013. In line with the plan, the

company is gradually moving forward to its strategic

destination, successful commercialization of SUPER

Cell in 2016. In October 2013, it conducted a

demonstration of Virtual One Cell (SUPER Cell 1.0).

Table 3. SUPER Cell Evolution Strategies

Evolution Phase

Concept

To be commercialized in

Small cell density

Purpose

1.0

Virtual One Cell

H2 2014

Low

Call drop prevention, better

performance at cell edges

2.0

Elastic Cell, Inter-Site CA

2016

Moderate

better performance at cell edges

3.0

Hierarchy Cell

2016

High

Better performance of small cell

Key technologies

Small cell ID (PCI)

Small cell frequency

No. of cell(s)

communicating with UE

TM9

Same as macro cell's

Same as macro cell's

(Macro: F1, Small: F1)

Virtually one (but, can be

multiple)

• CoMP (in the same frequency)

• Inter-Site CA (in different

frequencies)

Different from macro cell's

Same or different from macro cell's

(Macro: F1, Small: F1, F2)

Multiple

Dual Connectivity

Different from macro cell's

Designated frequency

(Macro: F1, Small: F2)

Dual (one for control and the

other for data)


BBU Pool

Coordination server

13



of the other band, the UE's aggregated speed naturally

drops. In such case, inter-site CA allows the UE to

replace the "out-of-coverage" band with the same band,

although operated by the neighbor cell site, that has

better channel condition, so that the UE can continue to

benefit from the band aggregation.

Figure 4 provides an example of the effect of inter-site

CA that can be gained in a macro cell network that

supports 2-band CA. In the example, there are two cell

sites (Cell site 0 and 1), and they each have two cells

that are operated by two bands (F10 and F20 from Cell

site 0, and F11 and F21 from Cell site 1). A CA-enabled

device, by connecting to a serving cell in each band

(PCell in one band and SCell in the other), receives data

from both serving cells. Figure 4 (a) shows a case where

inter-site CA is not supported. Before or after handover,

if the quality of one frequency band becomes degraded

at cell site 0 or 1, CA performance becomes downgraded

too. On the other hand, Figure 4 (b) illustrates a case

where inter-site CA is supported. Both cell sites,

through mutual cooperation, ensure optimal CA at cell

edges any time, even in case coverages between the

bands are mismatched, by dynamically combining

frequency bands to increase the aggregated

transmission rate.

destination, successful commercialization of SUPER

Cell in 2016. In October 2013, it conducted a

demonstration of Virtual One Cell (SUPER Cell 1.0).

Table 3 provides a brief overview of SK Telecom's 3-

phase plan for evolving SUPER Cell.

Below, we will discuss some inter-cell coordination

technologies: inter-site CA for a macro cell-based

homogeneous network, and SUPER Cell for HetNet.

Inter-site CA can also be used in HetNet, and will be

discussed under SUPER Cell 2.0 section.

2.1 Inter-Site CA in Macro Cell Networks

CA, designed to increase speeds (by n times) by

combining different frequency bandwidths, may slow

down UE's speeds or interrupt CA communication if

coverages of the aggregated frequency bands do not

match. Coverage mismatches are usually caused near

cell site edges.

Inter-site CA lets BBUs cooperate with each other to

ensure frequency bandwidth aggregation is performed

not only between the bands in the same cell site, but

also between ones in different sites. If UE moves out of

the coverage of one band while still within the coverage

of the other band,

Figure 4. Inter-Site CA in Macro Cell Networks

t3

-

-

PCell

SCell

(a) Intra-Site CA

Cell site 0

t1 t2

Cell site 1

PCell PCell

SCell SCell

F1

F2

- -

- -

F1

F2

t3

-

-

PCell

SCell

(b) Inter-Site CA

Cell site 0

t1 t2

Cell site 1

PCell PCell

Scell -

F1

F2

- -

- SCell

F1

F2

Inter-Site CA: 50 Mbps

Cell Site 1

5 Mbps

20 Mbps

Cell site 0

30 Mbps

5 Mbps

F1

F2

Cell Site 1

5 Mbps

20 Mbps

Cell site 0

30 Mbps

5 Mbps

F1

F2

Intra-Site CA: 35 Mbps

PCI: Physical Cell ID PCell: Primary Cell SCell: Secondary Cell

BBU Pool

Coordination server

30Mbps

30Mbps5Mbps

RRH

F2F1 850 MHz (Band 5)1.8 GHz (Band 3)

Cell Site 0

- Cell F10 (PCI = 1)


Handover Seamless CA

20Mbps

t1 t2 t3

t2 t2

CPRI CPRI

t1 t2 t3

PCell SCellPCell

Multi-site cell Multi-carrier Scheduling

F1 cell boundary

F2 cell boundary

F1 F2


Cell Site 1

- Cell F11 (PCI = 11)

- Cell F21 (PCI = 12)

SCell35 Mbps

50 Mbps

Cell Site 0



Cell Site 1

- Cell F11 (PCI = 11)

- Cell F21 (PCI = 12)

F10

F20

F11

F21

14



To accommodate this issue, transmission mode 9

(TM9) newly defined in 3GPP Release 10 is employed in

this architecture. TM9 allows a device to receive the

same signal from more than one cell while staying near

cell edges, and to communicate at maximum speeds

while staying at cell centers, thereby effectively

enhancing network capacity. In October 2013, in a

demonstration showing how Virtual One Cell works, SK

Telecom proved the transmission speeds of devices at

cell edges increased by 1.5 ~ 2 times, and network

capacity by 5~10%. The company is now preparing for

its commercialization in late 2014.

2.3 SUPER Cell 2.0: Elastic Cell and Inter-site CA

SUPER Cell 2.0 can be best used when there are a

moderate number of small cells in a macro cell after

initial stages of introducing small cells. In this phase,

unlike phase 1 Virtual One Cell, small cells have cell IDs

(PCIs) different from the macro cell's, and work as

independent cells. Compared to phase 1, more signal

interference is caused. So, this architecture controls

interference through inter-cell coordination, rather

than having the cells work as one cell, and additionally

assigns different frequencies to some small cells. Macro

and small cells improve cell edge performance by

supporting CoMP and inter-site CA through mutual

cooperation. Cells that use the same frequency

cooperate with each other using CoMP while those that

use different frequencies cooperate using inter-site CA.

frequency bands to increase the aggregated transmis-

sion rate.

2.2 SUPER Cell 1.0: Virtual One Cell

SUPER Cell 1.0 architecture is used during initial stages

where small cells are introduced, and works effectively

when there are not many small cells in a macro cell yet.

Small cells use the same frequency and Physical Cell ID

(PCI) as the macro cell's, and both small and macro

cells work as Virtual One Cell.

Because this architecture causes no handover when

devices switch from one cell to another, it prevents call

drops, and improves transmission quality during

communication near cell edges. Unfortunately,

however, the effect of network capacity enhancement is

minimal because the effect of frequency reuse, a benefit

of introducing small cells, is not expected.

Figure 5. Virtual One Cell based on TM9

Transmission Mode (TM) refers to a way of transmission between a base station and UE in a multi-antenna environment. TM9 is defined in 3GPP Release 10, and supports up to 8-layer transmission using UE-specific beamforming. There are two UE-specific reference signals: Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS) and Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS). DM-RS is used for channel estimation and data demodulation and CSI-RS is used for CSI measurement with much lower overhead compared to the Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS).

BBU Pool

Small RRH

Macro RRH

Handover-free

F1

Virtual One Cell• Same Cell ID (e.g., PCI =1): No handover

• TM9: increase capacity

TM9

PCI = 11 (macro cell)

F1

PCI = 11 (small cell)

PCI = 21 (macro cell)

F1

• Handover• Performance degradationF1

PCI = 22 (small cell)

Transmission Mode (TM) 9


Legacy Cell

SUPER Cell 1.0 (Virtual One Cell)

F1

with UE are dynamically selected as a transmission cell

group.

Figure 6 is an illustration of UE communication in

SUPER Cell 2.0, and shows how the number of

transmission cells change as UE moves from one place

to another: 1 → 2 → 3 → 2 (CoMP used in t2 and t3, and

inter-site CA in t4). As such, SUPER Cell 2.0 guarantees

UE is always served by the best cells, using CoMP and

inter-site CA.

2.4 SUPER Cell 3.0: Hierarchy Cell

SUPER Cell 3.0 can be effective once small cells become

densely deployed in a macro cell. At this stage, UE is

usually within the coverage of some small cells no

matter where it is, and thus would inevitably experience

frequent handovers every time it moves. Moreover,

transmission efficiency of the small cells would drop

because of drastic increase in control overhead (e.g.

handover control info., neighbor cell measurement

reports, broadcasted system info., etc.), and mobile

batteries would not last long because of frequent

handovers.

In the legacy architecture, cells are designed to deliver

both control signalings and user data together, and the

size of available transmission bandwidth is limited

because conventional frequency bands are at lower

frequencies below 3.5 GHz. So, the legacy architecture

has

use different frequencies cooperate using inter-site CA.

Both CoMP and inter-site CA are performed by the

central scheduler located at a BBU pooling site, but they

use different ways to improve cell edge performance: In

CoMP, the central scheduler dynamically selects a

group of cells that experience good channel condition

with UE, lets the cells send the same data to the UE, and

turns off the cells that cause interference. On the other

hand, in inter-site CA, it dynamically combines

frequency bandwidths in different sites.

HetNet that works based on CoMP is called Elastic

Cell by SK Telecom. In July 2014, SK Telecom, in a

demonstration showing how Elastic Cell technology

works, confirmed the data rates at cell edges actually

were improved by 50%. The company aims to

commercially launch the technology by 2016.

Elastic Cell is the core technology of SUPER Cell, and

helps the paradigm of data transfer between base

stations and users to shift from cell-centric to user-

centric. Previously, UE could communicate with only

one cell at a time, and had to search for a cell that has

the strongest signal strength, itself. But, now Elastic

Cell allows UE to communicate with more than one cell

at once, and enables the network to select a

transmission cell group to communicate with the UE.

Cells that are experiencing excellent channel conditions

with UE are dynamically selected as

15



Figure 6. CoMP-based Elastic Cell and Inter-site CA

BBU Pool

Macro RRH

PCI = 22

PCI = 23

F1

F1

F1

PCI = 12

PCI = 13

CoMP

t4

2. Inter-Site CA(Different Channels)

CoMP

F1

F1F2

F1

PCI = 11

(macro)

PCI = 21 (macro)

t1

t2

t3

F1

PCI = 31 (macro)

PCI = 32

F1F1

F1

# of transmission cells

Transmission cells (PCI)

1 2 3 2 ...

11 11,12 11, 12,13 31, 32 ...

t1 t2 t3 t4


Legacy Cell (fixed Cell)

F2

F1

1. Elastic Cell (Co-Channel)

SUPER Cell 2.0 (Elastic Cell)

SUPER Cell 2.0 (Hetnet Inter-Site CA)

improving network capacity effectively. This architec -

ture is scheduled to be commercialized in 2016.

3. RAN Architecture Evolution StrategiesSK Telecom introduced C-RAN right from the very early

stages of the LTE service commercialization (January

2012) as an effort to achieve higher mobile network

operation efficiency and more cost savings. As a result,

most of the company's RAN is now in C-RAN

architecture, where macro BBUs are separated from

RRHs, and moved to centralized locations, such as CO

or master base station while RRHs are left at cell sites.

RRHs are connected, through a fronthaul network

(ring-type active WDM network that delivers CPRI

traffic, AKA Cloud Belt in SK Telecom term), to BBUs

centralized at CO where coordination servers are

running, thereby providing inter-cell coordination

functions, such as CoMP and inter-site CA.

SK Telecom's C-RAN has moved forward to Unified

RAN with introduction of small cells in 2014, and will

move further forward towards Service-Aware RAN,

base stations for intelligent RAN, and Virtualized Radio

Access Network (vRAN), the virtualization-based next

generation base stations. These two are expected to

provide operators with new revenue opportunities and

users with enhanced QoE, by introducing/offering

services in RAN, primarily based on Unified RAN. In

the near future, Service-Aware RAN where cache

frequencies below GHz. So, the legacy architecture has

not been very effective in improving network capacity

when small cells are densely deployed in a macro cell.

On the other hand, in Hierarchy Cell, control signalings

(control plane) and user data (user plane) are separated

and delivered through different radio paths according to

their QoE parameters. Small cells become high-capacity

cells as they get to use much broader bandwidths in

higher frequency bands (e.g. 3.5 GHz or 30 GHz) than

macro cells. Control signalings and VoLTE data that

require broader coverage are delivered by a macro cell,

while user data which requires fast transmission is

delivered by a higher-capacity small cell.

The key idea of this architecture is dual connectivity.

This means that UE can be connected to both macro

and small cells at the same time. The macro cell, with

broader coverage, always serves as a primary cell,

delivering control signalings and working as mobility

anchor. So, even when UE keeps moving from one small

cell to another, no handover is caused, and mobile

batteries last long. High-capacity small cells always

serve as secondary cells, taking care of data delivery.

Thanks to the dual connectivity, little control overhead

is caused to small cells. Moreover, small cells, now that

broader bandwidths are secured, can focus on fast

transmission, achieving higher transmission efficiency

even in a highly-dense cell environment, and thereby

improving network capacity effectively. This

architecture is scheduled to be commercialized in 2016.

16



Figure 7. Hierarchy Cell based on dual connectivity

BBU Pool

Macro

Co

ntro

l

Control

Control &

Data

Handover

Handover

Handover

F1

Control & Data

Control

Control

Co

ntro

l & D

ata

Control & Data

F2

F1

Hierarchy Cell• Split of Data and Control path

• Macro cell: handover signaling

Legacy Cell

Data

Macro RRH

Small RRH

Data

Control& Data


Legacy Cell

SUPER Cell 3.0

enhanced network capacity.

3.2 Service-Aware RAN

Previously, SK Telecom has provided services through

its core networks, and hence RAN, incapable of

identifying what service is being used by users, has

merely served as a dumb pipe for data delivery.

However, Service-Aware RAN can i) run service

applications in RAN as well, and ii) identify services

used by each user and provide them with region-specific

or user-specific services by analyzing network/service

usage information of each user. This enables operators

to create new revenue streams other than network

access fees and users to enjoy faster responses and

personalized services, thereby improving user QoE and

satisfaction.

SK Telecom's Service-Aware RAN is based on Unified

C-RAN, and so it allows RAN cache servers (or cards) at

a BBU pool to cache video files and DNS, and offer

features like video optimization, CDN interworking,

local breakout, etc. in RAN as well. In MWC 2013, the

company, jointly with NSN, demonstrated these

Service-Aware RAN features, and vendors like Samsung

and Nokia are finishing up development of technologies

for installing application servers in RAN

the near future, Service-Aware RAN where cache at a

centralized BBU pool offers services like video caching

in RAN will be commercialized. In the long time, SK

Telecom's RAN will evolve into vRAN where BBUs are

operated by SW installed on industry standard servers,

realizing BBU virtualization.

3.1 Unified RAN

Since 2012, SK Telecom has built its C-RAN with LTE

macro cells only, and then also with small cells (small-

sized and low-power RRHs mounted on pole) since

2014. As with macro cells, small cells have C-RAN

architecture and thus small RRHs are connected

through CPRI interface to concentrated BBUs. In other

words, both macro and small RRHs are connected to a

BBU pool through the fronthaul network. SK Telecom

calls this Unified RAN.

The evolved Unified C-RAN can increase network

capacity flexibly, and help HetNet (SUPER Cell) to

connect cells in different sites/BBUs through a high-

capacity bandwidth and with a lower latency. This

assures close coordination between HetNet cells, and

thus can efficiently support SUPER Cell technologies

(TM9, CoMP, inter-site CA, dual connectivity, etc.) for

enhanced network capacity.

17



Figure 8. Evolution of RAN Architecture


Past Current

CO

DU

Ethernet Backhaul

l Centralized & Cloud RAN (C-RAN) – 2012l Legacy Distributed RAN l Unified RAN- 2014 (introduced Small RRH at small cell)

Macro Cell

RU

Centralized BBU+ Macro RRH + Small RRH+ Coordination server(CoMP Scheduler, etc.)

Fronthaul(Cloud Belt)

BBU

BBU

Ethernet Backhaul

Macro RRH

Centralized BBU+ Macro RRH+ Coordination server(CoMP Scheduler, etc.)


Ethernet Backhaul

CPRI

Macro RRH

Small RRH

CPRI

Standalone Base Station(DU (BBU) and RU in one box)

Small RRH

... ...

CO (RAN) CO (RAN)

CPRI

l Service-aware RAN (e.g. Video caching at RAN) l Virtualized RAN (vRAN)

Near Future Long Term

BBU

BBU

Coordination server


Macro RRH

Small RRH

CPRI

Small RRH

...

CO (vRAN)

RAN Cache

CO (RAN) vRAN (BBU Virtualization)

GPP

Hypervisor

3G LTE LTE-A ㆍConnectivity SW

ㆍIntelligent service

Videostreaming

RRMSche-duler

SONAgent

Apps

BBU

BBU

BBU

SAE-GW

SAE-GW

Move to RAN

Service at RAN Service at Core

RAN (eNB)

RAN (eNB)

BBUsRRHs (Macro & Small) BBUsRRHs (Macro)

DU

GPP server

for installing application servers in RAN (for example,

taking care of charging and handovers in relation to

traffic served directly by RAN cache, without going

through P-GW). Given that, Service-Aware RAN is very

likely to be commercialized soon.

3.3 vRAN

RAN building/operating costs are one of the biggest

investments that operators should make. To cut down

the cost of RAN, and make employment of new

network/service functions easier, SK Telecom

developed so called vRAN that virtualizes BBUs. In

January 2014, SK Telecom demonstrated LTE FDD

radio communication (at 300 Mbps using 20 MHz

bandwidth and 4x4 MIMO) by installing Hypervisor

and Virtual Machine (VM) on an Intel Xeon processor-

based server and virtualizing the modem functionalities

(PHY & MAC).

The main feature of vRAN is to apply IT virtualization

technology to BBUs so that vendor-specific BBUs that

have been provided by the existing base station vendors

can be replaced by industry-standard servers. An

industry-standard server, equipped with general-

purpose processors (GPPs) and HW acceleration

technologies, can process RAN functions and services

real fast by using SW. Moreover, new features for LTE-

A/B or 5G, or newly released RAN functions/services

can be easily installed/removed through simple SW

upgrade using open API. Because this architecture

allows for sharing of HW/computing resources between

BBUs through open interfaces, flooded traffic in one

BBU can be easily diverted on to other BBUs.

vRAN, by taking advantage of smarter technologies

(more SW-oriented) and a more Cloud-friendly

environment (open RAN architecture), can certainly be

a great money saver for SK Telecom in that it can

significantly save RAN costs for installing and operating

base stations. However, apparently switching to vRAN

is not an easy task. The company's investments in

current RAN equipment should be protected, and

vRAN-ready industry standard servers are not available

in the market yet.

That means, some BBU functions will continue to be

used in forms of vendor-specific HWs provided by

existing base station vendors, and the BBUs will become

more intelligent, for example, with cloud capabilities for

inter-BBU resource sharing, while other RAN functions

(CoMP coordination, etc.) and application services

provided at mobile edges are handled by SW on

virtualized industry standard servers. SK Telecom will

probably have to stick to this architecture for a long

while. n

Abbreviations

API Application Programming Interface

BBU Baseband Unit

CA Carrier Aggregation

CO Central Office

CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point transmission/

reception

CPRI Common Public Radio Interface

C-RAN Centralized/Cloud-RAN

CSP Content Service Provider

DU Digital Unit

eICIC Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference

Coordination

FDD Frequency Division Duplexing

GPP General Purpose Processor

HetNet Heterogeneous Network

ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination

LTE Long-Term Evolution

LTE-A Long-Term Evolution - Advanced

MPTCP Multipath TCP

ORI Open Radio Interface

OTT Over The Top

PCell Primary Cell

PCI Physical Cell ID

RAN Radio Access Network

RRH Remote Radio Head

RU Radio Unit

SCell Secondary Cell

TDD Time Division Duplexing

TM Transmission Mode

UE User Equipment

vRAN Virtualized Radio Access Network

18




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NETMANIASTM

••• We design the Future

NMC Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

• 2F, Namyeong Building 730-13, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-921, Korea

• 3832 NE 88th Street Seattle, WA 98115 USA

• e-mail: [email protected]

0

1

2

3

1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7

2012 2013 2014

1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7

2012 2013 2014

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7

2012 2013 2014

* Source: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning

20



Mobile Statistics in Korea (August 2014)

As of August, 2015, the total number of mobile

subscribers in Korea hit 56.3 million.

This indicates that Korea has a penetration rate of

1112%, considering its population, 50.3 million.

Korea has 33.9 million LTE subscribers, which account

for 60.1% of the total mobile subscribers.

n Mobile subscribers - per access technology

2011

August 2014

33.8M(60.1%)

22.5M(39.9%)

56.3M

2G & 3G

n Mobile subscribers - per device type

As of the end of August 2014, 39.6M subscribers,

which is 70.4% of the total 56.3M mobile subscribers,

are smartphone users.

Smarthpone

Feature Phone (2G/3G)

Smart Pad

52.5M56.3M

39.6M(70.4%)

16.0M(28.5%)

0.61M(1.1%)

21.3M(40.8%)

30.5M(58.3%)

0.48M(0.9%)

August 2014

As of the end of August 2014, the LTE traffic reached

100.8 PB, which is 12.6 times higher than 3G traffic.

LTE traffic represented 92.7% of Korea’s total mobile

traffic – mostly driven by the introduction of LTE

unlimited plans

n Mobile data usage - per access technology

100.8 PB(92.7%)

8.0 PB(7.3%)

4G LTE

August 2014

108.8 PB

4G LTE

Feb. 201151.2M

n Monthly Traffic - per device type

3G (Feature phone +

Smartphone)

4G Smartphone ~ 33 M3G Smartphone ~ 7 M

3G Feature phone ~ 9M2G Feature phone ~ 7M

4G Smartphone

3G Smartphone

3.123 GB

1.140 GB

2G & 3G Feature phone 0.005 GB

As of the end of August 2014, 4G smartphone, 3G

smartphone and 2G/3G feature phone users generate

3.123 GB, 1.140 GB and 5 MB of traffic on average per

month.

1 6 1 6 1

2012 2013 20142011

7 8

* Source: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning

21



LTE Statistics in Korea

n Mobile Traffic Composition in Korea (4G Traffic only)

n Subscriber Traffic Distribution (Heavy User Behavior)

45.1% 44.3% 45.2%

19.3% 18.9% 18.1%

13.1% 13.5% 14.6%

9.8% 11.2% 10.4%

7.9% 6.9% 7.6%

4.8% 5.2% 4.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014

Etc.

Market Download

Multimedia (Music, etc)

SNS

Web

Video

In Korea, the top 10% of subscribers who make the

heaviest use of the 4G network’s resources account for

46.3% of total traffic.

In Korea, the top 10% of subscribers who make the

heaviest use of the 3G network’s resources account for

84.6% of total traffic.

1% 5%10% 100%

13.5%

32.4%

46.3%

100%

Subscriber Percentile

Traffic Percentile

4G (June 2014)

1% 5%10% 100%

35.1%

69.7%

84.6%

100%

Subscriber Percentile

3G (June 2014)

Traffic Percentile

The chart above presents the results of analysis of data traffic using DPI equipment introduced by the Korea's

big 3 operators. In the analysis, only 4G LTE traffic was included and 3G traffic was excluded. However, given

the fact that as of August 2014 the volume of LTE traffic is 12.6 times larger than that of 3G, the results can

sufficiently serve as references for the entire mobile traffic. The chart shows the distribution of data traffic by

application. We can see, the volume share of video and music streaming traffic reached 59.8%, proving the

surge in mobile traffic has been driven by video traffic.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10 12 2 4 6 8

2011 2012 2013 2014

[Million]

SK Telecom

KT

LG U+

28.2M

(50.1%)

16.9M

(30.2%)

11.1M

(19.7%)

56.3M Mobile

subscribersin Korea

August 2014

22



South Korea’s top 3 operators have LTE subscription

rates that are higher than any of its global

competitors who launched the same service before

them, especially LG U+ with the seemingly

unbeatable 71.7% as of the end of June 2014.

As of the end of August 2014, SK Telecom has 15.9M

LTE subscribers, which account for 47.0% of the total

LTE subscribers in Korea.

Mobile subscribers trace – Split per network (November 2011 – August 2014)

3. LG U+11.1M

9.3M

4G (LTE)

2G (CDMA)

3.1M(27.7%)

9.0M(96.6%)

0.3M(3.4%)

9.0M(72.3%)

LTE Deployment Status by Operator in Korea (November 2007 – August 2014)

15.9M(47.0%)

9.9M(29.3%)

8.0M(23.7%)

n LTE subscribers growth by operator n LTE subscription rate

26.5M

28.2M

4G (LTE)

3G (WCDMA)

2G (CDMA)

8.6M(30.6%)

3.7M(13.1%)

0.4M(1.4%)

19.0M(71.8%)

7.1M(26.7%)

1. SK Telecom

15.9M(56.4%)

4G (LTE)

3G (WCDMA)

7.1M(42.0%)16.4M

(99.1%)

16.5M 16.9M

2. KT

9.9M(58.6%)

71.7%

57.3%

55.8%

54.5%

37.8%

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

2011 2012 2013 2014

LG U+ (Korea)

KT (Korea)

SK Telecom (Korea)

Verizon (US)

Docomo (Japan)

SK Telecom

KT

LG U+

1 6 1 6 1

2012 2013 20142011

78 1 6 1 6 1

2012 2013 20142011

78 1 6 1 6 1

2012 2013 20142011

78

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

* Source 1: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning* Source 2: KT, SK Broadband and LG U+

n Broadband subscription rate (Q1 2005 – Q1 2014)

The broadband subscription rate in Korea has been steadily increasing, reaching 76.6% in Q1 2005, 100% in Q4

2010, and 103% in April 2014.

KT

Cable operators

LG U+

Million

n Broadband subscribers by operator (Q1 2005 – Q2 2014)

KT

SK (SK Broadband)

LG U+

Cable Operators

8.1

(42.4%)

19.0M Broadband subscribers


4.7M

(24.8%)

3.0M

(15.8%)

3.2M

(16.6%)

As of the end of August 2014, Korea has 19.0M broadband subscribers, and 42.4% of them (i.e. 8.1M) are KT

users, which makes the company the unrivaled No. 1 in the country’s broadband market.

Q4 2010: 100%

Broadband subscribers

# of Households

18,852,55518,269,153

Million

Click the link below to see statistics information on wired/wireless services and subscribers in Korea.

http://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=statistics_ict&no=6041

SK (SK Broadband)

23



Broadband Subscribers in Korea

http://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=statistics_ict&no=6041

3.90

1.30

0.31 0.04

2.85

1.86

1.78

0.65

1.33

0.35

0.03

1.22

0.92

2.44

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

KT SK LG U+ MSO

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Million

XDSL

LAN (UTP)

HFC (Cable)

FTTH OLTONT

PON

OLT

L3 SW

ONU

Edge &

Backbone

Home CO

UTP PON

UTP

L2 SW

L3 SW

UTP

UTP

FTTH

LAN

Last mile line

• FTTH: Optical fiber (ONT at home)

• LAN: UTP cable (from L2 switch or ONU)

24



Since its launch in 2006, FTTH service subscribers have continued to increase. As of the end of August 2014, 5.5M

(29.3% of the total broadband subscribers) are subscribing to this service. Different FTTH technologies have been

adopted by the big 3 operators – E-PON by KT, G-PON by SK, and E-PON by LG U+ – but they all support 100 Mbps

in UL and DL.

LAN (UTP)

FTTH

HFC

XDSL

Million

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

LAN (UTP)7.2M

(38.1%)

4.6M

(24.4%)

HFC

FTTH5.5M

(29.3%)

XDSL

1.7M

(9.0%)

19.0MBroadband subscribers


Korea has 5.5M FTTH subscribers, and 70.5% of them (i.e. 3.87M) are KT users, making the company the No. 1

FTTH service provider in the country.

Broadband Subscribers in Korea – Access Technologies

8.1M

4.7M

3.0M 3.2M

n Broadband subscribers trace by access technology (Q1 2005 – Q2 2014)

n Broadband subscribers by operator – per access technology August 2014)

Q2

XDSL

LAN

FTTH

HFC

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

25



Pay TV Subscribers in Korea

n Pay TV subscribers trace

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Million

Cable

IPTV

Satellite

The number of IPTV subscribers is increasing fast. It exceeded 9M in March 2014, and reached 9.2M a month later.

This was an increase of 150,000 a month on average. With this growth rate, it is expected to exceed 10M this year.

As the competition among IPTV, cable and satellite operators was getting tougher, they began UHD service in an

effort to prevent subscriber churn and attract new subscribers. The service was launched by the cable operators and

SK Broadband, in April. And KT and LG U+ are scheduled to begin the service by the end of this year.

n IPTV subscribers trace by telco

KT

SK Broadband

LG U+

Million

Growth in Korea’s IPTV market has been mostly driven by KT. As of June 2014, the company has 5.4M IPTV

subscribers, which is 66.7% of the country’s total. IPTV operators in the market are in fierce competition with each

other as well as with cable operators.

n UHD TV services

Cable14.8M

(52.4%)9.2M

(32.7%)

4.2M

(14.9%)

IPTV

Satellite

28.3MPay TV

subscribersin Korea

(April 2014)

SK Broadband

KT

LG U+

5.4M

(66.7%)2.4M

(30.2%)

1.8M

(22.2%)

9.6MIPTV subscribers

in Korea(June 2014)

Cable TV (CJ Hellovision, C&M, t-broad)

IPTV (SK Broadband)

Satellite TV (KT Skylife)

IPTV (KT)

Frame rate 60 fps 30 fps 30 fps (60 fps planned)

Resolution 4K (3840x2160) 4K (3840x2160) 4K (3840x2160)

Encoding rate 32Mbps 15Mbps 30Mbps

Codec HEVC (H.265) HEVC (H.265) HEVC (H.265)

Launch 2014.04 2014.09 2014.06

30/60 fps

4K (3840x2160)

20Mbps

HEVC (H.265)

2014.09

Locations

Headquarter2F, Namyeong Building730-13, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-921,Korea

Branch Office3832 NE 88th StreetSeattle, WA 98115USA

Visit http://www.netmanias.com to view and download more technical documents.

Research and Consulting Scope of Netmanias

We design the Future



About Netmanias (www.netmanias.com)NMC Consulting Group (Netmanias) is an advanced and professional network consulting company, specializing in IP network areas (e.g., FTTH, Metro Ethernet and IP/MPLS), service areas (e.g., IPTV, IMS and CDN), and wireless network areas (e.g., Mobile WiMAX, LTE and Wi-Fi) since 2002.

Carrier Wi-Fi

Data Center Migration

Wireline Network

LTE/LTE Advanced

Mobile Network

Mobile WiMAX

Carrier Ethernet

FTTH

Data Center

Policy Control/PCRF

IPTV/TPS

Metro Ethernet

MPLS

IP Routing

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

eMBMS/Mobile IPTV

Services

CDN/Mobile CDN

Transparent Caching

BSS/OSS

Cable TPS

Voice/Video Quality

IMS

LTE Backhaul/Fronthaul

14

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BBU Pool Korea Communication Review - · PDF fileKorea Communication Review October 2014 ... nit erp dv o s am g. Th ... a FTTH contract with Viettel in Vietnam