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Overview

Every carrier grade operator globally requires to acquaint itself with emerging technologies and trends. Time and again new technologies affect the business dynamics. Therefore, proactive analysis of new trends with business case must be made, keeping inline with OEM vendor roadmaps, 3GPP, TISPAN and ITU-T.

TCTS provides best-in-class consultancy and manpower for planning, designing and migration for technology transformation across various geographies. We leverage our telecom domain expertise to ensure smooth and seamless transition. TCTS is involved with the operator right from start to understand the operator needs in adapting technology transformation, guiding the operator in making valid business case, taking into consideration different synergies, resulting in relevant RFP and functional requirements depending on business case and finallyhelping in migration with negligible downtime.

Key Service Offerings

The market forces that are reshaping the technology landscape include:
  • IPv6
  • IP Migration
  • VOLTE
  • IMS
  • VoWiFi

IPv6

The industry is moving towards IPv6 due to acute shortage of addresses in the IPv4 domain. With upcoming technologies, like IoT, a majority of physical things will be digitally connected in future provided they have an IP address. Hence it is more than essential to have an IP pool aligned to meet the future requirements.

Since IPv4 has only 32 bits leading to the acute shortage of internet addresses, theIPv6 addresses caterto 128 bits enabling many more to be available - roughly about 3.4 ×1038 addresses. IPv6 is designed to facilitate smaller actual address space utilisation rates while simultaneously improving network management and routing efficiency by the large subnet space and hierarchical route aggregation. Along with increasing the address space, the IETF has built additional features into the IPv6 specification like auto-configuration, multi-casting, etc., which essentially makes IPv6 outweigh IPv4.

TCTS helps operators transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and/or enables IPv6. We work with operators to:
  • Plan, design and implement IPv6 ready E2E network for any operator globally
  • Plan and design 2G, 3G, LTE, IP Data, Voice network element and Radio Network elements in line with IPv6 from existing IPv4
  • Migrate the IPv4 network to IPv6 seamlessly
  • Provide consultancy post studying the operator network by coming up with business case, doing E2E risk analysis, providing inputs to come out with relevant RFP, guide in vendor selection
  • Manage the network for operator post migration with relevant SLA / KPIs
  • Support for network expansion activities, migration, commissioning and decommissioning etc. taking into consideration future standard emergence.

IP Migration

Consumer demand for fast, seamless multimedia communications is providing carriers with an opportunity to profit from converged lifestyle services, thereby necessitating tomove from TDM to IP.A migration to an IP infrastructure is a strategy to lower costs and offer new services. All networks from customer premises, access layer, core network to VAS is migrating towards IP. It is essential to make the architecture flat and separate the control and bearer plane. This further helps save cost as control layer can be kept in central control centres and media-related network elements can be distributed as close to customers as possible, hence reducing last mile cost.

TCTS helps operators to:
  • Plan, design and implement IP ready E2E network for any operator globally
  • Plan and design Fixed (NGN) and wireless (2G / 3G / 4G) network element and radio network elements in line from legacy TDM to Next Generation network
  • Assist in seamless migration from TDM to IP for all existing customers
  • Provide consultancy post studying the operator network by coming up with business cases,performing E2E risk analysis, providing inputs to come out with relevant RFP, guide in vendor selection
  • Manage the network for operator post migration with relevant SLA / KPIs
  • Offer support for network expansion activities, migration, commissioning and decommissioning, etc., taking into consideration future standard emergence.

VoLTE

Originally, LTE was developed as a completely IP system for carrying data at high speed and voice would be complemented by falling back to 2G / 3G network or some form of VoIP. However, it then emerged that though voice ARPU was falling and data could essentially fetch revenues, segregating voice and SMS from data would not look as attractive a package, as the combination of the two would, for customers to take up with single handset. It was as necessary to have a viable and standardised scheme to provide the voice and SMS services to protect revenues.

VoLTE scheme was thus devised as operators sought a standardised system for transferring traffic for voice over LTE along the data capabilities that LTE had.

The essential methodologies used in VoLTE include:
  • CSFB, Circuit Switched Fall Back
  • SV-LTE - Simultaneous Voice LTE
  • VoLGA, Voice over LTE via GAN
  • Voice over LTE, VoLTE

TCTS helps operators to:
  • Plan, design and implement VoLTE E2E network for any operator, globally
  • Provide consultancy for different options of VoLTE to be used
  • Plan for relevant solution options like CSFB, SVLTE or VoLTE using IMS systems depending on operator requirements
  • Support in new deployment of network elements as well as make the 2G / 3G systems ready for CSFB by SGs interface.
  • Ensure QoS for E2E network is good and at par with SLAs / KPIs offered
  • Support for network expansion activities, migration, commissioning and decommissioning etc., taking into consideration future standard emergence.

IMS

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) enables telecom service providers to offer a new generation of rich multimedia services across both circuit switched and packet switched networks. This was also developed taking into consideration of both, fixed and mobile network convergence, in the long run for operators who offer both fixed as well as mobile services.

IMS offers access to IP based services independent of the access network e.g. wireless access (GPRS, 3GPP's UMTS, LTE, 3GPP2's CDMA2000) and fixed networks (TISPAN's NGN).

SIP essentially becomes the key protocol being used. SIP being "open ended" in nature is essentially useful of launching new services faster making the system interoperate between different vendors faster and development very easy.

IMS provides a layered approach with defined service, control, and transport planes. At high level requirements are noted below:

The IMS control plane handles the call related signalling and controls transport plane. Major element of control plane is the Call Session Control Function (CSCF), which comprises Proxy-CSCF (P-CSCF), Interrogating-CSCF (I-CSCF) and Serving-CSCF (S-CSCF). The CSCF (Call / Session Control Function) is essentially a SIP server.

The IMS transport plane provides a core IP network with access from subscriber device over wireless or wireline networks.

TCTS helps operators to:
  • Plan, design and implement IMS for Fixed/Mobile operator globally and work towards Fixed Mobile Convergence
  • Deploy IMS in operator as a part of VoLTE requirement
  • Migrate primitive platforms to IMS platform
  • Provide consultancy for operators considering existing state of network
  • Offer support in new deployment of network elements as well as make the 2G/3G systems ready for CSFB by SGs interface.
  • Ensure relevant QoS for E2E network is good and at par with SLAs/KPIs offered
  • Support for network expansion activities / migration, commissioning and decommissioning etc., taking into consideration future standard emergence.

Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi)

Voice solutions remain an integral part of customer needs, hence any operator is bound to provide them. However, with depleting ARPU for Voice, operators had to think of cheaper methods to provide the same. WLAN has been developed to provide data connectivity between various devices wirelessly. This has eliminated the need for cumbersome wiring used earlier in LAN. It is cost effective and can be deployed faster. In complement, voice along with data in same network, WLAN, has emerged. This voice transmission over WLAN network is referred as VoWiFi.

WLAN network is primarily made up of Access Points and Stations. Access Point is like router which is interfaced with internet service provider and stations are dongles or WiFi card used by the users to access the WiFi network. Since smart phones concept has caught up and all smartphones majorly are coming up with WLAN capabilities, it has become even more essential for companies to have support of VoWiFi to save cost and have efficient interaction between their employees. This helps tremendously in the business management.

TCTS helps operators to:
  • Provide consultancy for actual planning and designing of VoWiFi network
  • Implement VoWiFi network along with WLAN network
  • Deploy IMS in Operator as a part of VoLTE requirement
  • Increase in traffic load and number of clients is taken care of with limited latency
  • Ensure L2 and L3 networks provide seamless roaming

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