Chapter 6: GSM/GPRS and UMTS VPN Solutions

Overview

Expected subscriptions for Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Universal Mobile Telephony Service (UMTS) systems spurred unprecedented capital investment in the UMTS spectrum. A number of European Union governments have enjoyed a staggering surge in income by selling UMTS spectrum usage licenses (see Table 6.1 for the UK license bid final results), resulting in significant debt and a subsequent high-risk that cellular system operators now have to deal with. As a result, the entire industry is fast becoming short-term positive cash flow driven industry. This compels operators to:

Open the network to application and service delivery partners
Deliver business quality and personalized network access services to corporate users

Table 6.1: Final Bids on UK Spectrum Licenses
LICENSE	UK 3G LICENSE WINNERS
License A	Canadian group TIW secured A for £4.38bn. Bidding for this license, which offers the best range across the radio spectrum, was reserved for a new entrant into the UK market. (License currently held by Hutchison 3G Ltd.)
License B	Vodafone won the battle for B, which offers the highest bandwidth, with a £5.96bn bid. The UK mobile service provider beat off strong competition from BT
License C	BT3G settled for a lower-capacity license with a £4.03bn bid.
License D	One 2 One, a UK mobile operator, made a £4.003bn bid.
License E	UK mobile operator Orange made a £4.09bn bid.

GSM/GPRS and future UMTS operators need to deploy the most sophisticated and flexible IP services architectures available in the industry in order to have enough ammunition to fight a fierce battle to win customer base, to keep churn low by providing high customer satisfaction and service access predictability, and to sustain high profit margins. In this chapter we provide examples of how these architectures can be designed to support new ways to keep revenues high in such a competitive service delivery landscape. We also describe methods to provide advanced data services, such as virtual private networking using both circuit- and packet-switched data access provided by cellular networks. A case study is included at the end to give you a working example of the architecture.