As mobile networks evolve to deliver mobile broadband operators need to radically change way they do their network planning – In order to succeed in the mobile broadband business they must rapidly transform their businesses to have a much tighter relationship between the marketing and network groups.

The demand for mobile broadband services is growing exponentially and can have a significant impact on network costs. In many instances mobile operators are now competing with fixed broadband at the lowest flat-rate tariffs possible. While these rates may be realistic for fixed broadband, the infrastructure and operational costs for mobile broadband can be significantly higher, and the difference can drive the operator into make a loss.

To avoid this situation and manage ongoing competitive and technology dynamics, mobile operators must implement business processes to ensure that marketing initiatives are in absolute lockstep with network design and planning.  Only by ensuring that network costs are clearly understood in relation to planned marketing initiatives and revenue, can mobile operators be certain that they are going to remain profitable.

To achieve this, traditional processes for network design and planning must be radically overhauled – Only by proactively understanding the detailed network impacts of a given marketing initiative and feeding associated budgets back into marketing, can the operator be confident of making the right network investments.

Related to this, the actual demand materializing on the network for a given marketing initiative can be quite different from what was forecast, having a significant impact on budget – So it is critical for mobile operators to transform the planning and budgeting process, to be driven by measurements of real world uptake and demand.

Traditional planning methods, including spreadsheet tools have done a great job for voice but planning for mobile broadband involves a lot more dynamics, is far more complex and requires a much more sophisticated capability. 

This is where the development effort at Cerion has focused since inception and we are very excited to be involved at the cutting edge – Helping mobile operators to transform their businesses, sustain profits and realize success in the new broadband economy.

More on this topic next time.

Peter