Mobile network congestion is a growing problem as subscribers expect high quality video experiences without buffering. Video traffic is the main cause of congestion, as it grows faster than 4G/LTE networks can support. To reduce buffering and improve the overall mobile experience, operators need solutions that detect congestion and continuously adapt video bitrates to fully utilize available bandwidth without compromising quality. Mobixell's Smooth DBRATM technology helps operators meet these challenges through dynamic bitrate adaptation and congestion management.

1. Mobile network congestion. So what?
Gone are the days when consumers accept what they are given. Research shows
that price is just one reason people choose (or dump) a mobile operator.
Equally, or even more significant are customer service and broadband experience.
To hold onto subscribers, operators must avoid network congestion to deliver
high-performance video and Web browsing.
of mobile subscribers said network quality is the #1 criterion in selecting a service provider.
89% Cost of data and customer service were #4 and #5. – Accenture Mobile Web Watch 2012
Subscriber
Expectations
WHAT THEY EXPECT Who gets blamed?
74%
CONTENT PROVIDER
MOBILE OPERATOR
WHAT THEY GET
of subscribers blame their mobile
74% operator when video buffers
– Mobixell/On Device Research Consumer Survey, Jan 2012
What really causes mobile network congestion?
VIDEO
In a word – Video. But video doesn’t clog up the entire network all of the time. Congestion is inconsistent.
It happens when lots of people watch lots of video all at once in the same place. And mobile operators
cannot afford to let video users slow down everyone else’s mobile experience.
MOBILE VIDEO TRAFFIC FORECAST
PB/MONTH
48 %
6043
82% 60% 6000
5000
3911
4000
3000
82% of 60% of tablet 48% of PC 2287
smartphone users expect to users want
users want wait less than page load 2000
sites to load 3 seconds for speeds faster 1244
within 5 pages to load than 2 seconds 1000
615
seconds 270
0
Keynote Systems Survey – August 2012
CISCO VNI 2012
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
The 4G/LTE Factor
More video. But more congestion?
With up to 10x faster Internet speeds, subscribers expect even faster, longer, higher quality video
and still want it without buffering. Bottom line, video traffic will grow faster than LTE can handle it.
3G 36% 4G 47%
of mobile users surveyed of smartphone
2002 said they don’t
need/understand 3G
Today users feel they
don’t need 4G
- A.T. Kearney/Cambridge - Piper Jaffray Survey – Aug 2012
Mobinet Report – June 2002
Today 1.1 Billion 2016 1.2 Billion
3G Subscribers
ITU – Nov 2011
Prediction LTE Subscribers
IHS iSuppli Research – Aug 2012
of mobile subscribers surveyed would watch more streamed
42 % video if the network were 10x faster (4G vs. 3G)
Mobixell/On Device Research consumer survey – Jan 2012
Getting to the Core of Mobile Network Congestion
Regular people measure mobile network quality by how much video buffers. There are a lot of ways to reduce video
traffic volume. But to reduce buffering and improve overall mobile experience, operators need to beat congestion.
NETWORK CONGESTION ABR/DBRA
Too many people with too many devices Adapts video bitrate to 3 or 4 predefined levels.
watching too much video causes buffering – But that compresses video either too little,
Noticeable degradation of network performance leaving available bandwidth unused, or too much
which can needlessly degrade video experience
Content providers can use ABR to optimize their own video. But when they control data management the network is at their mercy.
SMOOTH DBRA™
Available Bandwidth /Bitrate Adaptation
Time
Available Network Bandwidth
Output Bitrate with Smooth DBRA
Output Bitrates with standard DBRA or ABR
Smooth DBRA is also the first dynamic bitrate
adaptation technology that supports MP4 – the
Together with congestion detection, Smooth most popular video format for mobile devices.*
DBRA continuously fine-tunes video bitrate
*58% of video content developers use MP4 for distribution on mobile:
to take full advantage of available bandwidth.
Sorenson Media Survey of hundreds of thousands of video professionals
Delivers the smoothest possible mobile – April, 2012
video experience without wasted resources
For more information about Mobixell Smooth DBRA™,
visit www.mobixell.com/Smooth