INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
Gearing up in the
wireless world
Mobile network operators (MNOs) are laying the groundwork for the future by
densification, virtualisation and optimisation says Joseph Habib, Vice President,
Service Providers Middle East and Africa at CommScope.
T
he trends that defined the wireless
network industry in 2016 are all
still in play in 2017. While that
might sound like more of the same, it can
also be thought of as a prelude to 5G. Now
is the time when mobile network operators
(MNOs) are laying the groundwork for the
future while monetising and managing
their investments from the past. The
trends of densification, virtualisation and
optimisation are how they will do so.
Cities like Dubai are investing in
technologies to be completely smart. In
an increasingly connected society, the
amount of data being consumed at home,
at business and on the go only continues
to grow . . . and grow rapidly. By 2020,
projections suggest there will be around
two zettabytes of data in the Middle
East; greater than the estimated number
of grains of sand covering the entire
Arabian Desert.
Densification
The general shift in the wireless industry
is from cell towers to street poles, from
large-sized structures to miniaturised
equipment. Densification means adding
more sites where users congregate: on city
streets and inside large buildings. Metro
cell deployments continue to attract a lot
of attention. The question is when will
there be a major uptick? I expect to see a
significant increase for this kind of
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