WiFi Calling And The EPDG: The Continuing Importance Of .

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‘ T hought Leader s i n Quadr upl e Pl ay and Emer gi n g Wi r el ess T echnol ogi e s ’WiFi Calling and the ePDG:The continuing importance of voice in the carrier modelA Thought Leadership paperBy Rethink Technology ResearchLead author:Caroline Gabriel, Research DirectorJanuary 2016In association with Oracle Communications

White paper: WiFi CallingExecutive SummaryAmid all the discussion of ever-faster data and richer content, it is easy to assume that voiceno longer plays an important role in the business model of a communication servicesprovider.This is far from the truth. Voice still contributes almost half of mobile operators’ revenuesworldwide, and is an important element in customer satisfaction, especially among businessusers moving to mobile-first working.With LTE, there is the additional challenge of moving from circuit-switched voice to Voiceover LTE (VoLTE), To deliver a strong voice experience, 4G, coverage needs to be almostubiquitous - not in near-term reach for a large number of MNOs.WiFi Calling has emerged as a way to extend coverage and improve capacity, especiallyindoors, by moving traffic intelligently between LTE and high quality WiFi connections. Thiscan transform the 4G voice business case and, since WiFi Calling is IMS-based too, it can offerthe same range of capabilities as VoLTE.Fixed-line operators, particularly cable MSOs, MVNOs and large Internet service providers,may opt for WiFi-First options in order to minimize their reliance on an MVNO deal (thoughthey still need access to an evolved packet core). At the other extreme, some MNOs may useWiFi Calling only to fill gaps opportunistically, and especially to address the challenge ofgood in-building penetration.In a survey of mobile and fixed-line operators conducted in summer 2015, RethinkTechnology Research found that almost 90% of MNOs, and over 70% of MSOs, planned todeploy WiFi Calling between 2015 and 2020. However, they had several critical successfactors which needed to be met to justify that decision. These included strong security,customer satisfaction resulting in lower churn (to other networks or to OTT services), highlevels of service flexibility and scalability.To meet all these requirements optimally, the critical investment is in the evolved packetdata gateway (ePDG) which controls the border between the mobile core and the publicinternet. There are many choices and approaches when selecting the ePDG, but despite theapparent efficiencies of integrating it into the packet gateway (PGW), this can prove to be afalse economy. A dedicated ePDG with a full set of optimized capabilities for WiFi Calling willsignificantly affect the return on investment in this technology, and help to ensure that voiceremains an important part of the carrier business model for years to come.1

White paper: WiFi CallingIntroduction: The continuing importance of voice in the operator modelThe evolution of mobile networks from 3G to 4G to emerging 5G has been heavily focused ondata, but voice remains a core element of the mobile network operator’s (MNO’s) businessmodel.This is despite the fact that mobile voice is becoming commoditized by the competition frominternet services like Skype, and is offered on an unlimited, or even free, basis by manyproviders.Although mobile data revenues overtook those from mobile voice for the first time in 2015,according to Ovum1, most MNOs are still looking to enhance their voice offerings as theyextend their 4G services.Meanwhile, other wireless service providers also recognize that voice needs to be part oftheir offerings. Fixed-line telcos and MSOs, and ISPs, have the opportunity to use WiFi-basedtechnologies to retain voice options within their emerging multiplay service bundles.The reasons why wireless or fixed/mobile service providers remain interested in voice, evenin the era of Skype, include:1 Voice is still the largest percentage of revenues for many MNOs, particularly inemerging markets (it continued to grow in Africa in 2015, the first year when itslipped below 50% of mobile revenues globally). Even if voice itself is cheap or free, every time a user makes voice call with non-telcomobile apps for example, they are lost to the network operator. Therefore it isimportant to keep users on the network in all areas of their usage. Voice remains an important element of the service bundle. Data-only offerings haveachieved very low market penetration as primary contracts, and in mature markets,fixed and mobile operators increasingly see growth coming from quad play bundles,including voice alongside video and data, across fixed and wireless lines (mobile orWiFi). Fixed-line substitution within enterprises and homes is on the rise, and this is drivingincreased use of mobile voice. It also makes it important that mobile voice can fulfilthe same functions as the old landline service. This may open up the opportunity foradded value communications services, for enterprise users, in future.Ovum, ‘Telecoms Media and Entertainment Outlook 2015’,2

White paper: WiFi Calling40% of respondents35302520151050Bundles are more Keep customers Replace fixed-line Attract enterprise Offer premium Don't intend tostickyon networkvoiceusersadd-onssupport wirelessvoiceMNOMSOWiFiFigure 1. Primary reason to support wireless voice services, among different operatorcategories.Figure 1 indicates why voice remains an important service for wireless and convergedoperators to provide, and – with WiFi Calling – can even be an element of a WiFi-onlyproposition. Only 2% of MNOs and 15% of fixed-line players do not intend to offer any voiceservices under their own brand in 2015-2018.1. Challenges in deploying 4G voiceAny service provider wanting to offer voice services is facing a change in architecture. Fixedline operators increasingly need to support voice over wireless networks as their landlinesfall into disuse for this purpose. This involves an investment in WiFi and/or an MVNO dealwith a cellular provider (or even the acquisition of a mobile network).The added challenge for MNOs in the voice market has come with the transition to LTE. Asan IP-based platform, LTE does not support traditional circuit-switched voice networks. Thathas left MNOs with various options to migrate their 2G/3G base to 4G (see Appendix 2 fordetails).Whatever the choice of technology, the critical success factor for voice is universal coverage,so that users do not experience dropped calls, black spots, or awkward hand-offs acrossnetworks. Coverage is particularly important, and difficult, within buildings, where fixed-linesubstitution is driving usage and quality expectations upwards.3

White paper: WiFi CallingYet most carriers will not achieve full LTE coverage for some years to come. Developedeconomies are not expected to reach 95% population coverage, on average, until 2020, andemerging economies until 2029, according to the GSMA.2 There are several reasons for this.For example, coverage in rural areas may not be economically viable. Whereas in denserurban areas ‘clutter’, such as buildings and infrastructure works, and interference can createlocalized coverage gaps.In addition, in-building coverage is poor on many networks even where the MNO has rolledout significant LTE capacity, so real world coverage – as measured by user experience – isfar lower than the top line figures suggest. An Alcatel-Lucent study3 found that 87% ofcompanies would switch carriers if they were promised better coverage, primarily for voicequality reasons.Another challenge to the VoLTE business case is that WiFi usage is outstripping cellularusage for various reasons, including cost, device support and data rates. The base of activeusers and devices addressable with LTE is far lower than with WiFi, especially whencustomers are indoors (for instance, many users default to WiFi, and 42% of tablets are WiFionly). Almost three-quarters of wireless data traffic is delivered over WiFi and as voicebecomes just another data service, users will expect the same experience on any connection.2. The emergence of WiFi CallingAn emerging solution is WiFi Calling (also known as Voice over WiFi). Like VoLTE, this iscompliant with 3GPP standards and enabled by an IMS. Mobile operators can use this to ‘fillthe gaps’ in VoLTE, while for non-cellular providers, it provides a way to offer wireless voiceservices without the need for an MVNO agreement.WiFi Calling is an extension of the 3GPP’s evolved packet core (EPC) architecture whichallows any WiFi network to access the EPC via a gateway at the border between the publicinternet and the operator domain.The gateway is the evolved packet data gateway (ePDG) which is part of the 3GPP I-WLANplatform. The ePDG creates a secure IPsec tunnel from the EPC all the way to the device andanchors traffic in the packet gateway (PGW), which means WiFi can be treated in the sameway as a cellular RAN by the mobile core.GSMA, ‘Mobile Economy Report opportunitiesthe-enterprise-key.pdf234

White paper: WiFi CallingFigure 2. The WiFi Calling architecture. Source: Oracle.The underlying architecture was defined back in 2005, and refined from 2008 to fullysupport ‘untrusted’ connections in unlicensed spectrum, such as WiFi, but it was hampereduntil 2015 by lack of device support (and lack of urgent demand, while 2G/3G and fixed lineswere still in heavy use).The turning point for WiFi Calling came with the launch of Apple’s iOS 8 operating system,which supports WiFi Calling and supports seamless access to IMS communications servicesover LTE or WiFi.Although the close relationship to the mobile architecture means it is primarily a technologyfor MNOs, other carriers are also deploying it, particularly cable MSOs and some large ISPs,provided they have an IMS.3. Operator advantages of WiFi CallingWiFi Calling can be an effective answer to many of the voice challenges outlined above,because: Mobile operators can harness WiFi Calling supplementing their own coverage andcapacity with a lower cost complementary network. This enables them to build outLTE at the pace to fit the primary data-driven business model, rather than be forcedto achieve universal coverage in order to support voice, which is often a loss leader. Non-cellular operators can greatly reduce – or even eliminate – the fees they pay toMNOs for access to mobile networks, and add their own wireless voice services totheir multiplay bundles. WiFi-first and WiFi-only services are being launched by5

White paper: WiFi Callingmany MSOs round the world, especially in the US (Cablevision offers WiFi-only,including voice, for instance). WiFi, often at very high quality, is far more heavily installed inside buildings thancellular small cells, and provides a readymade source of voice coverage.Homes LTE andWiFiSmall officewith erviceswhenroamingWiFi Access PointFigure 3. The various applications of WiFi Calling.WiFi Calling has other advantages over alternatives including: Simple user experience, as it uses a native dialler not an app, and users can keep theirmobile number. Roaming and hand-off. An important element in customer satisfaction (and thereforechurn reduction) is the ability to make unbroken calls anywhere, which is enabled byhand-off between different WiFi hotspots, and between WiFi and LTE, as well as IPbased roaming. IMS-enabled value-adds. With IMS-based technologies like Rich CommunicationsServices (RCS), operators have the potential to differentiate their voice andmessaging services with options such as unified mailboxes, video calling orconferencing.6

White paper: WiFi CallingFigure 4 indicates the advantages which MNOs see in WiFi Calling – in a survey of 62 MNOs,planning to deploy the technology, churn reduction was perceived to be the most importantbusiness benefit.10WiFi-first59Figure 4. Among MNOsplanning to deploy WiFiCalling,theprimarybusiness driver to do so.Source: Rethink TechnologyResearch survey of 62 MNOsAugust 2015.Reduce churn20Reduce TCO11Fill VoLTE gaps15Improved indoorcoverage14Attract enterprise users16For all these reasons, there is a high level of interest in deploying WiFi Calling among mobileoperators, and among MSOs with access to an EPC via an MVNO deal, acquisition or sistercompany (which will be almost 90% of them by 2020, as it becomes almost imperative forMSOs to offer multiplay services).10090Figure 5. Percentage ofMNOs and MSOs with plansto deploy WiFi Callingservices. Source: RethinkTechnology Research surveyof 62 MNOs and 41 MSOsAugust 2015.% of 020MSOBy 2020, despite near-ubiquitous LTE and VoLTE population coverage in some developedmarkets, almost 90% of mobile operators will nevertheless be offering WiFi Calling too.7

White paper: WiFi Calling4. Deployment options for WiFi CallingDespite the potential benefits, implementing WiFi Calling is a significant undertaking whichcarries cost and risk.It can only be enabled if the user device, the access and packet core networks, and the servicecore (IMS) support it. Although any WiFi network can be used, the high quality experiencewhich many operators regard as crucial will be best assured by using access points anddevices with support for carrier-grade capabilities There are different ways to deploy andsupport WiFi Calling, which will influence the effectiveness of the roll-out and how well it supportsthe operator’s business case. The Rethink operator survey (see Figure 6) found that the mostimportant aspects of the deployment, in terms of reducing business risk, were: Security and privacyAbility to differentiate servicesFlexibility to support new servicesCoverage and QoS (dropped call rate, signal quality)Scalability1123Security and privacy13Failure to differentiate from OTTFlexibilityCoverage and QoS1719ScalabilityOther17Figure 6. Most important WiFi Calling requirement to mitigate business risk. Source: RethinkTechnology Research operator survey August 2015.8

White paper: WiFi Calling5. The impact of the architectural choiceThe deployment approach can decide the level to which the criteria outlined above are met,and therefore the level of risk/reward on its WiFi Calling roll-out.The critical element of the WiFi Calling architecture is the ePDG because it is the gatewaybetween the internet and the untrusted network, and the mobile core. It controls keyfunctions such as security and authentication, acting as the secure termination node for IPsectunnels established at the UE. It also supports roaming, hand-off, QoS enforcement and localmobility. Depending on the choice of platform, it can add significant functionality on top ofthat supported by standards.Perhaps the most important choice when deploying an ePDG is whether to select one that isimplemented in a standalone gateway at the border of the network, or integrated into thePGW and mobile core.There are some obvious attractions to integrating as many functions as possible tightlywithin the packet core, particularly in terms of cost. However, a September 2015 survey ofalmost 30 mobile operators – all evaluating their WiFi Calling and wider IP strategies for2016-2018 - indicated that there are concerns about this approach, and important reasonsto trust a dedicated gateway solution (see Figure 7). Almost half intend to implement astandalone solution for IP border services including WiFi Calling, while 28% prefer anintegrated approach and 24% are undecided as yet.2448DedicatedIntegrated with PGWUndecided28Figure 7. MNO intentions to deploy dedicated or integrated ePDG for WiFi Calling and IPservices. Source: Rethink survey of MNOs evaluating IP plans for 2016-2018, September 2015.9

White paper: WiFi CallingThe main reasons to opt for a standalone gateway, according to the survey, relate closely tothe critical success factors already identified for WiFi Calling:a) Security and privacyThe ePDG is frequently provided by a company with expertise in this area.Security is the most prominent concern among operators adopting IP-based LTE in generaland WiFi Calling in particular (see Figure 6). An ePDG which is dedicated to securing theborder can significantly improve the operator’s defences against the rising tide of malwareand hacking of IP systems and therefore mitigate the key risk to the business case.An ePDG protects users’ communications while optimizing the ability of the mobile core toresist overloads and attacks. When securing the border between wireless access and packetdata networks, many carriers believe hacks and overloads are best addressed before theyget anywhere near the PGW itself, and by a purpose-built that has been designed specificallyto perform encryption at ultra-fast speeds and to offer deep layers of protection.b) Differentiation of servicesWiFi Calling, to fulfil its business purpose, needs to be clearly superior to the over-the-topexperience in terms of consistent experience with the mobile network, dropped call rates,and so on. Some of this differentiation is achieved through IMS value-adds, but others relyon the network itself – particularly, high levels of coverage, same native dialer, same mobileidentity, instant sign-in and authentication, and QoS levels related to policy.The ePDG is optimized to enable many of these differentiators and can be linked to a policyserver to add intelligence when allocating connections. In addition, a dedicated system canoffer higher levels of functionality and performance when managing authentication,connection choice or handover.c) ScalabilityMany operators are handling millions of subscribers, making billions of calls a month, and sotheir gateway and core platforms need to be able to scale up to huge levels of usage.Dedicated ePDGs are designed specifically to handle and secure subscribers at the borderand so they have optimized performance levels and ability to scale.10

White paper: WiFi CallingIPsec is highly process-intensive and so can have an impact on the user experience and thecore performance if carried out by a general purpose platform. Any ePDG must combinesupport for high density service interfaces with low power consumption. In addition,encryption and decryption should have minimal impact on latency.d) FlexibilityMobile IP services are in their infancy and the needs of the operator and the subscriber arechanging quickly. Part of an operator’s competitive edge comes from its ability to respond tochanges rapidly and cost-effectively, in order to keep its user experience strong and updated,without having to make a major network change each time. A purpose-built gateway oftenhas better ability to address emerging new requirements flexibly because it can performchanges at the edge, without having to impact on the entire packet gateway on each occasion.The dedicated ePDG has the horsepower to deliver a range of added value functions such assecure video delivery and calls and to support a wide, and growing, set of services in an agilemanner. It can leverage embedded service and application intelligence to allow the operatorto deploy new services quickly and flexibly.e) Best of breedMany mobile operators are increasingly concerned about vendor lock-in, and procuring alltheir RAN and core systems from just one or two suppliers. Adopting a best-of-breedapproach, with integration assured by standards and interfaces, can increase competition inan MNO’s ecosystem and improve their ability to demand the best performance and pricing.11

White paper: WiFi CallingConclusion:To summarize, the choice of platform to support WiFi Calling has a significant effect on howfar the system delivers the operator’s targeted business benefits. A dedicated and optimizedePDG plays an important role in ensuring that those benefits are maximized, well beyondwhat w

White paper: WiFi Calling 1 Executive Summary Amid all the discussion of ever-faster data and richer content, it is easy to assume that voice no longer plays an important role in the business model of a communication services provider. . ’ worldwide, and is an important element in customer satisfaction, especially among business users moving to mobile-first working. With LTE, there is the .

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