2
1




                                                                                          Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                                          15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
    	
                                                                                                                             1	
  




                                     Performance Through Independent Research

                             Wireless	
  network	
  capacity	
  issues:	
  	
  Threats	
  and	
  opportunities	
  


           EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:                                               that clients will pay for, without clogging up
                                                                            the network with unprofitable users.
           The Problem with Mobile wireless:
                                                                            While most operators are managing to
           In simple terms, demand is outstripping                          grow their top line with mobile data,
           supply, and costs per gigabyte are rising                        margins on mobile data have been under
           faster than revenues. Supply is constrained                      severe pressure for operators. Mobile data
           by physics. One single fiber optic cable has                     ARPUs are not delivering the same
           more capacity than the entire RF spectrum.                       EBITDA margins as voice: this leads to a
                                                                            significant share of customers being
           To avoid mobile networks being overwhelmed                       unprofitable. The carrier choice of mobile
           by a flood of data, these networks which                         data bundled plans has limited the market
           support widely desired mobility applications,                    segmentation capacity of these operators.
           [e.g. Apple I-pad 3] these networks capacity                     Examples: the price of data plans are
           must be upgraded. Reliability and access are                     decreasing at a rate of 60 percent p.a. on
           key to long term survival, as we witnessed                       average. Plus, individual users can place a
           with Blackberry. However this is not just an IT                  huge strain on the network: 10% are
           technical issue. It is fundamentally a                           responsible for 50% of the network data
           business model issue.                                            traffic – without contributing one cent more
                                                                            in revenues. Actual revenues per megabyte
           The business issue is how to capture traffic                     are decreasing at around 50% p.a. – a

                                                                                             Continued	
  on	
  Page	
  4	
  
                  Capacity	
  constraint	
  is	
  at	
  Radio	
  Link	
  




           “Cloud” economics are pushing mobile network capacity constraints. Mobile devices have
           memory and speed limitations that might prevent them from acting as media consumption
           devices, were it not for cloud applications and services. Cloud applications and services
           such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify allow mobile users to overcome the
           memory capacity and processing power limitations of mobile devices. A user with an 8 GB
           smartphone who streams cloud video and music will consume more content over the course
           of 2 years than can be stored on the device itself. A smartphone user adopting Netflix,
           Pandora, and Facebook will generate more than twice the volume of traffic generated by a
           smartphone user adopting only email and web applications
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                                                                      15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                                                                             2	
  
       A “Flood of Data” s being generated by the I-pad type applications.

       In 2011, a fourth-generation (4G) connection generated 28 times more traffic on
       average than a non-4G connection. Although 4G connections represent only 0.2 percent
       of mobile connections today, they already account for 6 percent of mobile data traffic. Data
       storage costs have also dropped, allowing for more “cloud” based solutions.	
  




       Units	
  used:	
  
       	
  
       Tera	
  =	
  1012	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  Exta	
  =	
  1018	
  	
  	
  	
  Zetta	
  =	
  1021	
  
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                         15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
   The Mobile Network Through 2016                                                                              3	
  
 Mobile data traffic will reach the following milestones within the next five years.
  • Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
   • Over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the "gigabyte club" (over 1 GB per month) by
     2012.
   • The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the world's population in 2012.
   • The average mobile connection speed will surpass 1 Mbps in 2014.
   • Due to increased usage on smartphones, handsets will exceed 50 percent of mobile data traffic
     in 2014.
   • Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
   • Monthly mobile tablet traffic will surpass 1 exabyte per month in 2016.
   • Tablets will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.
 • China will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.	
  
4
3




                                                                        Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                        15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
    	
                                                                                                           4	
  
           trend expected to continue over the next few            pacing within the overall mobile
           years if radical action is not taken soon.              broadband strategy will ensure
                                                                   success and optimize the road to
           The solutions…… ……………… ……?                              4G business cases. Operators
                                                                   need to focus on topics such as
              1. Choice of spectrum and technology                 regional rollout priorities, fixed
                 upgrade path. Operators [carriers and             substitution propositions, and
                 enterprise solution providers] need to            further capacity extension
                 decide on the succession of technology            strategies. For instance, reforming
                 upgrades that will best fit their current         1,800 MHz 2G spectrum could be a
                 data ~ corporate strategy and expected            viable strategy to build additional
                 market demand for mobile broadband.               LTE capacity networks, but this
                 Does the company already have a                   requires advance planning.
                 dominant technology and service                   Partnering opportunities could offer
                 position, or is it a value-for- money             operators great value creation
                 price leader? What is the spectrum                potential as well. Those operators
                 application plan and spectrum auction             that pool spectrum based on
                 positioning in their arena, including             network-sharing agreements will
                 reservation prices? And what                      reap a significant cost-to-serve
                 technology succession in spectrum                 advantage.
                 bands will align best with the expected
                 demand development?                         MOBILE WIRELESS CAPACITY AS AN
              2. Given that the main constraint is now       ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY:
                 supply and not demand, the main issue
                 becomes the choice of tactical              We have witnessed the collapse of
                 implementation and timing of network        Blackberry, [RIMM] a casualty of “failed”
                 upgrades, be they 3G LTE, 4G or some        supply side network management. All
                 other evolution. Only optimal tactical      major participants in the carrier and

                                                                        Continued	
  on	
  page	
  6	
  
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                                               15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                                                      5	
  




       Diagrammatic	
  representation	
  of	
  an	
  LTE	
  	
  wireless	
  
       network	
  switched	
  into	
  a	
  PSTN.	
  	
  It	
  only	
  supports	
  
       the	
  IP	
  protocol	
  for	
  voice	
  calls.	
  
       The LTE standard only supports packet
       switching with its all-IP network. Voice calls in
       GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000 are circuit
       switched, so with the adoption of LTE, carriers
       will have to re-engineer their voice call
       network. Three different approaches sprang
       up:
       1.CSFB (Circuit Switched Fallback): In this
             approach, LTE just provides data
             services, and when a voice call is to be
             initiated or received, it will fall back to
             the CS domain. When using this
             solution, operators just need to upgrade
             the MSC instead of deploying the IMS,
             and therefore, can provide services
             quickly. However, the disadvantage is
             longer call setup delay.                                                The diagram above shows the increased
       ▪ SVLTE (Simultaneous Voice and LTE): In                                      volume in wireless data capacity usage
             this approach, the handset works                                        from different mobile devices. A
             simultaneously in the LTE and CS                                        smartphone on average uses 35 x more
             modes, with the LTE mode providing                                      capacity than a regular cell phone. A
             data services and the CS mode                                           Tablet, on average uses 121 x more
             providing the voice service. This is a                                  capacity than a regular cell phone.
             solution solely based on the handset,
             which does not have special                                             Demand for tablets and I–pad’s is
             requirements on the network and does                                    growing exponentially because these
             not require the deployment of IMS                                       tools are seen as the single most
             either. The disadvantage of this solution                               important productivity tool [source
             is that the phone can become expensive                                  Information Week 8/2011, mobile device
             with high power consumption.                                            management and security survey of 323
                                                                                     business technology professionals].
       VoLTE (Voice Over LTE): This approach is
       based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem
       network.
6
5




                                                                          Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                          15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
    	
                                                                                                             6	
  
           enterprise areas are at risk, as are the          BRCM, RFMD, as these suppliers to
           dominant mobile device and application            network capacity, along with Nokia Siemens,
           suppliers.                                        Alcatel Lucent, the Chinese manufacturer
                                                             Huwaei offer the most bang for our
           The 4-G network will be an evolution of ,         investment buck. However this is a very
           many different types of “internet protocol”       complex transition and there are bound to
           {IP} based networks. As can be seen in the        be more RIMM type occurences for those
           schematic on page 5, these networks are           who are not able to build redundancies into
           real evolutions of technologies and know          their mobile broadband networks.
           how, with the common objective of utilizing
           Radio Frequency band-width more                   Examples of unpredictability of
           efficiently.                                      LTE evolution:

           Any technology that allows a mobile network       Operators initially deployed High Speed
           greater service portability and                   Packet Access (HSPA) in 5 MHz + 5 MHz
           interoperability will be utilized, using the IP   radio channels. HSPA uses a 5 MHz radio
           platform that has been made ubiquitous by         channel, so this means one channel was for
           Cisco Systems. With the proliferation of          the base-station to mobile- user (forward)
           mobile and portable devices, there is an          direction and one channel was for the
           imminent need for networks to allow all           reverse direction. Based on a spectral
           these devices to be connected                     efficiency of .5 bps/Hz, the HSPA initial
           transparently, with the network providing         deployments data capacity was 2.5 Mbps in
           high-performance computing and delivering         each sector17 and EV-DO in a 1.25 MHz
           enhanced real-time video and multimedia.          radio channel with the same spectral
           This openness will broaden the range of           efficiency had a data capacity of 600 kbps.
           applications and services that can                With improvements in radio technology, we
           be shared, creating a highly enhanced             expect a 50% increase in the capacity. But
           mobile broadband experience. The                  one can see how small a number of
           expansion of wireless presence will increase      simultaneous YouTube viewers each at
           the number of consumers who access and            almost 1 Mbps can occupy the entire
           rely on mobile networks, creating a need for      bandwidth of the data channel, which really
           greater economies of scale and lower cost         puts a strain on network capacity.
           per bit.
                                                             Looking forward to advanced technologies
           While the net neutrality regulatory process       such as LTE, capacity will be higher, but it
           and business models of operators evolve,          will still be extremely limited compared to
           there is an unmet demand from consumers           wireline capacity. Verizon Wireless’ LTE
           for the highest quality and speeds. As            network will operate in the 700 MHz band
           wireless technologies aim to provide              using 10 MHz radio channels. With a
           experiences formerly only available through       spectral efficiency of 1.5 bps/Hz, this
           wired networks, the next few years will be        delivers a sector throughput of 15 Mbps.
           critical for operators and service providers to
           plan future network deployments that will         Meanwhile, there are about 1000
           create an adaptable platform upon which           subscribers in the US for every cell site,
           will deploy the multitude of mobile-enabled       which makes for an average of 333
           devices and applications of the future.           subscribers per sector. If 10% of them were
                                                             using the LTE data service, that would mean
           We have focused on the manufacturers of           33 users for the 15 Mbps data channel.
           the Radio Frequency chipsets, ARMH,               Now, compare this with a subscriber of a
8
7




                                                                                    Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                                    15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
    	
                                                                                                                       7	
  
                            Investing	
  in	
  the	
  pressure	
  points	
  in	
  the	
  LTE	
  system	
  


           wireline high-speed Internet service of 50                 One network in the US that has
           Mbps that is dedicated, and not shared.                    considerably more capacity is Clearwire’s
                                                                      WiMAX network. This has been deployed
           Asia's mobile networks are also getting more               in 30 MHz of spectrum, which is
           filled, rising from 54 percent utilization two             considerably more than what any 3G
           years ago to 62 percent in 2011. Western                   operator has deployed for data so far. As
           European networks are getting less                         demand increases, Clearwire has
           constrained, falling from 66 percent to 56                 indicated it can make up to 120 MHz of
           percent. Both regions will be well over 60                 spectrum available. Whereas many 3G
           percent within two years, however. Latin                   networks place caps of 5 Gbytes on
           America's mobile networks will hit 85 percent              monthly data usage, the Clearwire
           average utilization within a year, according to            network currently has no caps. Even the
           the survey.                                                Clearwire network, however, cannot
                                                                      match the capacity of wireline access
           The point is not that the wireless network                 networks that are fiber oriented (e.g., fiber
           cannot deliver extremely valuable mobile                   to the home).
           services, but that wireless capacity is
           inherently	
  limited compared to wireline
           capacity.


           Cloud media applications and services such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify
           allow mobile users to overcome the memory capacity and processing power limitations of
           mobile devices.
2
1




                                                                         Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                         15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
    	
                                                                                                            8	
  
                                INDIVIDUAL RECO MMENDATIONS:

           Most of the suppliers to this exploding market As for Broadcom, it has been winning
           are discounting the economic benefits of the   some baseband share at Samsung this
           market. As with many growth markets, the       year. However, we believe the magnitude
           early hype tends to push valuations into the   of these share gains is fairly meaningful,
           stratosphere.                                  and likely underestimated by the Street.
                                                          Samsung seems to be pushing for
           Nevertheless there are certain stocks which we massive smartphone shipment growth in
           believe should be on a watch list for an       2012, forcing smartphones into as many
           opportunity to buy on market sell offs.        different price points as possible.

           The best buy in the current market is              Independent handset supply chain checks
           Broadcom, followed by Cisco. Arm Holdings is       suggest that Broadcom could supply
           a buy, and since it is a very difficult stock to   30%-40% of Samsung’s smartphone
           buy, it is best to buy on weakness. Ciena is       basebands in 2012 (60M-80M units out of
           also a long term buy. The upside on Ciena is       Samsung’s 195M unit smartphone target),
           not huge at moment, $20.                           plus some of Samsung’s non-smartphone
                                                              shipments (some portion of another
                                                              150M-170M handsets). This meaningful
           Ciena is likely to see revenue rise faster than    growth this year should help to stem the
           the broader telecom landscape’s 3 to 5% rate       impacts from Broadcom’s falling 2G
           over the next three years, perhaps seeing          baseband shipments to Nokia and
           more like 11% pa.                                  Samsung.

           The move from traditional telco “SONET”            ARMH’s smartphone and the tablet
           gear to “dense wavelength division                 markets are larger than thought,
           multiplexing,” or DWDM, fiber optic                producing 10% greater earnings than
           equipment — a move that’s been going on for        expected for this year and next.
           years now but seems finally to be happening
           in earnest – should benefit Ciena, as it has       ARM maintains the upper hand, in the
           only 5% of the SONET market but 12% of the         mobile market relative to its competitors
           DWDM market.                                       including Intel. After 31% growth in ARM’s
                                                              total chip unit volume in 2011, growth
           If management can keep operating expense           will cool to more like 16% for 2012 but
           growth to just 2.2% over that three-year term,     then it will resume 20% growth in 2013.
           combined with a 2.5% expansion of its gross
           profit margin, the company could see
           operating margin widen to 8.5% in 2013 and
           11.5% in 2014.
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                     15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                            9	
  
       COMPONENTS IN I-Pad 3                                   SUPPLIER

       Dual Core ASX processor                                 ARM Architecture, Samsung Fab
       LCD Display Screen                                      Samsung, LG
       HSPA & LTE Baseband processors                          Qualcomm
       MAC/Baseband/Radio/Bluetooth                            Broadcom BCM4330 802.11a/b/g/n

       NETWORK OPERATORS IN US
       AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will launch LTE-compatible
       versions of the device in the United States. Analysts have said that Verizon, which has an
       LTE network covering 200 million POPs, may be the largest carrier beneficiary of the new
       device, though AT&T has been quick to point out that even though its LTE network covers
       74 million POPs, customers can still drop back to its faster HSPA+21 network outside of
       LTE coverage. Market research firm Gartner Inc. estimates 103.5 million tablets will be sold
       in 2012, with Apple accounting for two- thirds of those, rising to 326.3 million in 2015, Apple
       Share 46%

       Source: FierceWireless-FierceWireless
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
       15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                              10	
  
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                      15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                             11	
  
       CONCLUSIONS:

       The mobile-broadband industry is experiencing tremendous success, yet its very success is
       undermining its ability to deliver a consistent, reliable trouble-free experience. As the
       number of users increases with ever more demanding applications, it is inevitable that there
       will be ever more cases in which the volume of traffic in different coverage areas exceeds
       capacity, resulting in congested operation.

       More efficient applications not only reduce the likelihood of congestion occurring in the first
       place, but they also are inherently more resilient, since they require less time and data to
       operate. They also reduce battery consumption, and most importantly for users, reduce
       costs, especially with usage-based pricing plans.

       Beyond user benefits, greater application efficiency results in significant savings for
       operators including lower costs in the radio network, lower costs in backhaul, lower
       infrastructure costs and the need for less new spectrum.

       We think this environment is an opportunity to buy several of the LTE emerged
       technologies, namely, ARMH, RFMD, CIEN, CSCO, BRCM.

       GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS:
       GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications;
       LTE- Long Term Evolution, [of 4-g networks from 3-g wireless networks];
       HPSA: High Speed Packet Access
       UE: Ultra Edit, a software text editor for Microsoft Windows;
       MSC: Message Sequencing Chart;
       IMS: IBM Information Management System;
       SGSN: Serving a GPRS Service Node;
       MME: Mobility Management Entity, System Architecture Evolution, core of 3GPP LTE;
       GERAN: GSM EDGE Radio Access Network;
       UTRAN: Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network;
       E-UTRAN: air interface of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for mobile
       networks.
       Sources & References:

       Cisco Networks White Paper – Global mobile data traffic: Forecast update 2011-2016;
       Accelerate Technology Challenges in technology roll-out, 2012;
       Infonetics 2011 White Paper, Research in optical equipment leaders;
       Rysavy 2011 Mobile broadband capacity constraints;
       Infonetics: The road to plain 4G survey excerpts 2011;
       Net neutrality regulatory proposals, Rysavy Research;
       Shifting the supply axis: The road to 4-G McKinsey White Paper;
       Wireless design magazine: Testing LTE network, benefits and challenges;
       Mobile broadband with HSPA and LTE – capacity and cost aspects, Nokia Siemens White
       Paper;
       Dragonwave: The Road to 4G is Easier with Microcellular Solutions;
       Agilent: The road to 4G IMT Advanced LTE Advanced webinar;
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                                  15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                                         12	
  


       Gnostam LLC performance Graphs




       Gnostam	
  was	
  established	
  February	
  4th	
  2004.	
  
       Since	
  inception	
  the	
  annualized	
  rate	
  for	
  return	
  for	
  a	
  client	
  portfolio	
  
       managed	
  by	
  Gnostam	
  LLC	
  has	
  returned	
  a	
  total	
  8.4%%	
  to	
  February	
  
       29th	
  2012.	
  
       	
  
Gnostam	
  LTE	
  Network	
  Issue	
  
                                                                            15th	
  April	
  2012	
  
	
                                                                                                                   13	
  




	
  

       Disclaimer:

       The information and any statistical data contained herein have been obtained from sources which we
       believe to be reliable, but we do not represent that they are accurate or complete, and they should not
       be relied upon as such. All opinions expressed and data provided herein are subject to change without
       notice. Gnostam LLC and/or its shareholders, directors, officers and/or employees, may have long or
       short positions or deal as principal in the securities discussed herein, related securities or in options,
       futures or other derivative instruments based thereon. The securities mentioned in this report may not
       be suitable for all types of investors. ALL investments involve different degrees of risk. You should
       be aware of your risk tolerance level and financial situations at all times. Furthermore, you should
       read all transaction confirmations, monthly, and year-end statements. Read any and all prospectuses
       carefully before making any investment decisions. You are free at all times to accept or reject all
       investment recommendations made by the Gnostam LLC. As you know, a recommendation, which
       you are free to accept or reject, is not a guarantee for the successful performance of an investment
       and we are expressly prohibited from guaranteeing accounts against losses arising from market
       conditions.

       Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and current performance may be lower or higher
       than the performance data quoted.

       Investment Disclaimer All investments involve different degrees of risk. You should be aware of
       your risk tolerance level and financial situations at all times. Furthermore, you should read all
       transaction confirmations, monthly, and year-end statements. Read any and all prospectuses carefully
       before making any investment decisions. You are free at all times to accept or reject all investment
       recommendations made. All products sold are subject to market risk and may result in the entire loss
       to the client's investment. (For example: excessive withdrawals may result in the depletion of your
       account). Please understand that any losses are attributed to market forces beyond the control or
       prediction of Gnostam LLC. As you know, a recommendation, which you are free to accept or reject,
       is not a guarantee for the successful performance of an investment and we are expressly prohibited
       from guaranteeing accounts against losses arising from market conditions.
       	
  


       Gnostam	
  LLC	
  
       PO	
  Box	
  960	
  
       Inverness,	
  CA	
  94937	
  USA	
  
       	
  
       Tel:	
  206	
  384	
  0069	
  
       	
  
       E-­‐mail:	
  pcorsano@gnostam.com	
  
       	
  
       www.gnostam.com	
  

Mobile Network Capacity Issues

  • 1.
    2 1 Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     1   Performance Through Independent Research Wireless  network  capacity  issues:    Threats  and  opportunities   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: that clients will pay for, without clogging up the network with unprofitable users. The Problem with Mobile wireless: While most operators are managing to In simple terms, demand is outstripping grow their top line with mobile data, supply, and costs per gigabyte are rising margins on mobile data have been under faster than revenues. Supply is constrained severe pressure for operators. Mobile data by physics. One single fiber optic cable has ARPUs are not delivering the same more capacity than the entire RF spectrum. EBITDA margins as voice: this leads to a significant share of customers being To avoid mobile networks being overwhelmed unprofitable. The carrier choice of mobile by a flood of data, these networks which data bundled plans has limited the market support widely desired mobility applications, segmentation capacity of these operators. [e.g. Apple I-pad 3] these networks capacity Examples: the price of data plans are must be upgraded. Reliability and access are decreasing at a rate of 60 percent p.a. on key to long term survival, as we witnessed average. Plus, individual users can place a with Blackberry. However this is not just an IT huge strain on the network: 10% are technical issue. It is fundamentally a responsible for 50% of the network data business model issue. traffic – without contributing one cent more in revenues. Actual revenues per megabyte The business issue is how to capture traffic are decreasing at around 50% p.a. – a Continued  on  Page  4   Capacity  constraint  is  at  Radio  Link   “Cloud” economics are pushing mobile network capacity constraints. Mobile devices have memory and speed limitations that might prevent them from acting as media consumption devices, were it not for cloud applications and services. Cloud applications and services such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify allow mobile users to overcome the memory capacity and processing power limitations of mobile devices. A user with an 8 GB smartphone who streams cloud video and music will consume more content over the course of 2 years than can be stored on the device itself. A smartphone user adopting Netflix, Pandora, and Facebook will generate more than twice the volume of traffic generated by a smartphone user adopting only email and web applications
  • 2.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     2   A “Flood of Data” s being generated by the I-pad type applications. In 2011, a fourth-generation (4G) connection generated 28 times more traffic on average than a non-4G connection. Although 4G connections represent only 0.2 percent of mobile connections today, they already account for 6 percent of mobile data traffic. Data storage costs have also dropped, allowing for more “cloud” based solutions.   Units  used:     Tera  =  1012                  Exta  =  1018        Zetta  =  1021  
  • 3.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     The Mobile Network Through 2016 3   Mobile data traffic will reach the following milestones within the next five years. • Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016. • Over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the "gigabyte club" (over 1 GB per month) by 2012. • The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the world's population in 2012. • The average mobile connection speed will surpass 1 Mbps in 2014. • Due to increased usage on smartphones, handsets will exceed 50 percent of mobile data traffic in 2014. • Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016. • Monthly mobile tablet traffic will surpass 1 exabyte per month in 2016. • Tablets will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016. • China will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.  
  • 4.
    4 3 Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     4   trend expected to continue over the next few pacing within the overall mobile years if radical action is not taken soon. broadband strategy will ensure success and optimize the road to The solutions…… ……………… ……? 4G business cases. Operators need to focus on topics such as 1. Choice of spectrum and technology regional rollout priorities, fixed upgrade path. Operators [carriers and substitution propositions, and enterprise solution providers] need to further capacity extension decide on the succession of technology strategies. For instance, reforming upgrades that will best fit their current 1,800 MHz 2G spectrum could be a data ~ corporate strategy and expected viable strategy to build additional market demand for mobile broadband. LTE capacity networks, but this Does the company already have a requires advance planning. dominant technology and service Partnering opportunities could offer position, or is it a value-for- money operators great value creation price leader? What is the spectrum potential as well. Those operators application plan and spectrum auction that pool spectrum based on positioning in their arena, including network-sharing agreements will reservation prices? And what reap a significant cost-to-serve technology succession in spectrum advantage. bands will align best with the expected demand development? MOBILE WIRELESS CAPACITY AS AN 2. Given that the main constraint is now ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY: supply and not demand, the main issue becomes the choice of tactical We have witnessed the collapse of implementation and timing of network Blackberry, [RIMM] a casualty of “failed” upgrades, be they 3G LTE, 4G or some supply side network management. All other evolution. Only optimal tactical major participants in the carrier and Continued  on  page  6  
  • 5.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     5   Diagrammatic  representation  of  an  LTE    wireless   network  switched  into  a  PSTN.    It  only  supports   the  IP  protocol  for  voice  calls.   The LTE standard only supports packet switching with its all-IP network. Voice calls in GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000 are circuit switched, so with the adoption of LTE, carriers will have to re-engineer their voice call network. Three different approaches sprang up: 1.CSFB (Circuit Switched Fallback): In this approach, LTE just provides data services, and when a voice call is to be initiated or received, it will fall back to the CS domain. When using this solution, operators just need to upgrade the MSC instead of deploying the IMS, and therefore, can provide services quickly. However, the disadvantage is longer call setup delay. The diagram above shows the increased ▪ SVLTE (Simultaneous Voice and LTE): In volume in wireless data capacity usage this approach, the handset works from different mobile devices. A simultaneously in the LTE and CS smartphone on average uses 35 x more modes, with the LTE mode providing capacity than a regular cell phone. A data services and the CS mode Tablet, on average uses 121 x more providing the voice service. This is a capacity than a regular cell phone. solution solely based on the handset, which does not have special Demand for tablets and I–pad’s is requirements on the network and does growing exponentially because these not require the deployment of IMS tools are seen as the single most either. The disadvantage of this solution important productivity tool [source is that the phone can become expensive Information Week 8/2011, mobile device with high power consumption. management and security survey of 323 business technology professionals]. VoLTE (Voice Over LTE): This approach is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem network.
  • 6.
    6 5 Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     6   enterprise areas are at risk, as are the BRCM, RFMD, as these suppliers to dominant mobile device and application network capacity, along with Nokia Siemens, suppliers. Alcatel Lucent, the Chinese manufacturer Huwaei offer the most bang for our The 4-G network will be an evolution of , investment buck. However this is a very many different types of “internet protocol” complex transition and there are bound to {IP} based networks. As can be seen in the be more RIMM type occurences for those schematic on page 5, these networks are who are not able to build redundancies into real evolutions of technologies and know their mobile broadband networks. how, with the common objective of utilizing Radio Frequency band-width more Examples of unpredictability of efficiently. LTE evolution: Any technology that allows a mobile network Operators initially deployed High Speed greater service portability and Packet Access (HSPA) in 5 MHz + 5 MHz interoperability will be utilized, using the IP radio channels. HSPA uses a 5 MHz radio platform that has been made ubiquitous by channel, so this means one channel was for Cisco Systems. With the proliferation of the base-station to mobile- user (forward) mobile and portable devices, there is an direction and one channel was for the imminent need for networks to allow all reverse direction. Based on a spectral these devices to be connected efficiency of .5 bps/Hz, the HSPA initial transparently, with the network providing deployments data capacity was 2.5 Mbps in high-performance computing and delivering each sector17 and EV-DO in a 1.25 MHz enhanced real-time video and multimedia. radio channel with the same spectral This openness will broaden the range of efficiency had a data capacity of 600 kbps. applications and services that can With improvements in radio technology, we be shared, creating a highly enhanced expect a 50% increase in the capacity. But mobile broadband experience. The one can see how small a number of expansion of wireless presence will increase simultaneous YouTube viewers each at the number of consumers who access and almost 1 Mbps can occupy the entire rely on mobile networks, creating a need for bandwidth of the data channel, which really greater economies of scale and lower cost puts a strain on network capacity. per bit. Looking forward to advanced technologies While the net neutrality regulatory process such as LTE, capacity will be higher, but it and business models of operators evolve, will still be extremely limited compared to there is an unmet demand from consumers wireline capacity. Verizon Wireless’ LTE for the highest quality and speeds. As network will operate in the 700 MHz band wireless technologies aim to provide using 10 MHz radio channels. With a experiences formerly only available through spectral efficiency of 1.5 bps/Hz, this wired networks, the next few years will be delivers a sector throughput of 15 Mbps. critical for operators and service providers to plan future network deployments that will Meanwhile, there are about 1000 create an adaptable platform upon which subscribers in the US for every cell site, will deploy the multitude of mobile-enabled which makes for an average of 333 devices and applications of the future. subscribers per sector. If 10% of them were using the LTE data service, that would mean We have focused on the manufacturers of 33 users for the 15 Mbps data channel. the Radio Frequency chipsets, ARMH, Now, compare this with a subscriber of a
  • 7.
    8 7 Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     7   Investing  in  the  pressure  points  in  the  LTE  system   wireline high-speed Internet service of 50 One network in the US that has Mbps that is dedicated, and not shared. considerably more capacity is Clearwire’s WiMAX network. This has been deployed Asia's mobile networks are also getting more in 30 MHz of spectrum, which is filled, rising from 54 percent utilization two considerably more than what any 3G years ago to 62 percent in 2011. Western operator has deployed for data so far. As European networks are getting less demand increases, Clearwire has constrained, falling from 66 percent to 56 indicated it can make up to 120 MHz of percent. Both regions will be well over 60 spectrum available. Whereas many 3G percent within two years, however. Latin networks place caps of 5 Gbytes on America's mobile networks will hit 85 percent monthly data usage, the Clearwire average utilization within a year, according to network currently has no caps. Even the the survey. Clearwire network, however, cannot match the capacity of wireline access The point is not that the wireless network networks that are fiber oriented (e.g., fiber cannot deliver extremely valuable mobile to the home). services, but that wireless capacity is inherently  limited compared to wireline capacity. Cloud media applications and services such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify allow mobile users to overcome the memory capacity and processing power limitations of mobile devices.
  • 8.
    2 1 Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     8   INDIVIDUAL RECO MMENDATIONS: Most of the suppliers to this exploding market As for Broadcom, it has been winning are discounting the economic benefits of the some baseband share at Samsung this market. As with many growth markets, the year. However, we believe the magnitude early hype tends to push valuations into the of these share gains is fairly meaningful, stratosphere. and likely underestimated by the Street. Samsung seems to be pushing for Nevertheless there are certain stocks which we massive smartphone shipment growth in believe should be on a watch list for an 2012, forcing smartphones into as many opportunity to buy on market sell offs. different price points as possible. The best buy in the current market is Independent handset supply chain checks Broadcom, followed by Cisco. Arm Holdings is suggest that Broadcom could supply a buy, and since it is a very difficult stock to 30%-40% of Samsung’s smartphone buy, it is best to buy on weakness. Ciena is basebands in 2012 (60M-80M units out of also a long term buy. The upside on Ciena is Samsung’s 195M unit smartphone target), not huge at moment, $20. plus some of Samsung’s non-smartphone shipments (some portion of another 150M-170M handsets). This meaningful Ciena is likely to see revenue rise faster than growth this year should help to stem the the broader telecom landscape’s 3 to 5% rate impacts from Broadcom’s falling 2G over the next three years, perhaps seeing baseband shipments to Nokia and more like 11% pa. Samsung. The move from traditional telco “SONET” ARMH’s smartphone and the tablet gear to “dense wavelength division markets are larger than thought, multiplexing,” or DWDM, fiber optic producing 10% greater earnings than equipment — a move that’s been going on for expected for this year and next. years now but seems finally to be happening in earnest – should benefit Ciena, as it has ARM maintains the upper hand, in the only 5% of the SONET market but 12% of the mobile market relative to its competitors DWDM market. including Intel. After 31% growth in ARM’s total chip unit volume in 2011, growth If management can keep operating expense will cool to more like 16% for 2012 but growth to just 2.2% over that three-year term, then it will resume 20% growth in 2013. combined with a 2.5% expansion of its gross profit margin, the company could see operating margin widen to 8.5% in 2013 and 11.5% in 2014.
  • 9.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     9   COMPONENTS IN I-Pad 3 SUPPLIER Dual Core ASX processor ARM Architecture, Samsung Fab LCD Display Screen Samsung, LG HSPA & LTE Baseband processors Qualcomm MAC/Baseband/Radio/Bluetooth Broadcom BCM4330 802.11a/b/g/n NETWORK OPERATORS IN US AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will launch LTE-compatible versions of the device in the United States. Analysts have said that Verizon, which has an LTE network covering 200 million POPs, may be the largest carrier beneficiary of the new device, though AT&T has been quick to point out that even though its LTE network covers 74 million POPs, customers can still drop back to its faster HSPA+21 network outside of LTE coverage. Market research firm Gartner Inc. estimates 103.5 million tablets will be sold in 2012, with Apple accounting for two- thirds of those, rising to 326.3 million in 2015, Apple Share 46% Source: FierceWireless-FierceWireless
  • 10.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     10  
  • 11.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     11   CONCLUSIONS: The mobile-broadband industry is experiencing tremendous success, yet its very success is undermining its ability to deliver a consistent, reliable trouble-free experience. As the number of users increases with ever more demanding applications, it is inevitable that there will be ever more cases in which the volume of traffic in different coverage areas exceeds capacity, resulting in congested operation. More efficient applications not only reduce the likelihood of congestion occurring in the first place, but they also are inherently more resilient, since they require less time and data to operate. They also reduce battery consumption, and most importantly for users, reduce costs, especially with usage-based pricing plans. Beyond user benefits, greater application efficiency results in significant savings for operators including lower costs in the radio network, lower costs in backhaul, lower infrastructure costs and the need for less new spectrum. We think this environment is an opportunity to buy several of the LTE emerged technologies, namely, ARMH, RFMD, CIEN, CSCO, BRCM. GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS: GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications; LTE- Long Term Evolution, [of 4-g networks from 3-g wireless networks]; HPSA: High Speed Packet Access UE: Ultra Edit, a software text editor for Microsoft Windows; MSC: Message Sequencing Chart; IMS: IBM Information Management System; SGSN: Serving a GPRS Service Node; MME: Mobility Management Entity, System Architecture Evolution, core of 3GPP LTE; GERAN: GSM EDGE Radio Access Network; UTRAN: Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network; E-UTRAN: air interface of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for mobile networks. Sources & References: Cisco Networks White Paper – Global mobile data traffic: Forecast update 2011-2016; Accelerate Technology Challenges in technology roll-out, 2012; Infonetics 2011 White Paper, Research in optical equipment leaders; Rysavy 2011 Mobile broadband capacity constraints; Infonetics: The road to plain 4G survey excerpts 2011; Net neutrality regulatory proposals, Rysavy Research; Shifting the supply axis: The road to 4-G McKinsey White Paper; Wireless design magazine: Testing LTE network, benefits and challenges; Mobile broadband with HSPA and LTE – capacity and cost aspects, Nokia Siemens White Paper; Dragonwave: The Road to 4G is Easier with Microcellular Solutions; Agilent: The road to 4G IMT Advanced LTE Advanced webinar;
  • 12.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     12   Gnostam LLC performance Graphs Gnostam  was  established  February  4th  2004.   Since  inception  the  annualized  rate  for  return  for  a  client  portfolio   managed  by  Gnostam  LLC  has  returned  a  total  8.4%%  to  February   29th  2012.    
  • 13.
    Gnostam  LTE  Network  Issue   15th  April  2012     13     Disclaimer: The information and any statistical data contained herein have been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but we do not represent that they are accurate or complete, and they should not be relied upon as such. All opinions expressed and data provided herein are subject to change without notice. Gnostam LLC and/or its shareholders, directors, officers and/or employees, may have long or short positions or deal as principal in the securities discussed herein, related securities or in options, futures or other derivative instruments based thereon. The securities mentioned in this report may not be suitable for all types of investors. ALL investments involve different degrees of risk. You should be aware of your risk tolerance level and financial situations at all times. Furthermore, you should read all transaction confirmations, monthly, and year-end statements. Read any and all prospectuses carefully before making any investment decisions. You are free at all times to accept or reject all investment recommendations made by the Gnostam LLC. As you know, a recommendation, which you are free to accept or reject, is not a guarantee for the successful performance of an investment and we are expressly prohibited from guaranteeing accounts against losses arising from market conditions. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment Disclaimer All investments involve different degrees of risk. You should be aware of your risk tolerance level and financial situations at all times. Furthermore, you should read all transaction confirmations, monthly, and year-end statements. Read any and all prospectuses carefully before making any investment decisions. You are free at all times to accept or reject all investment recommendations made. All products sold are subject to market risk and may result in the entire loss to the client's investment. (For example: excessive withdrawals may result in the depletion of your account). Please understand that any losses are attributed to market forces beyond the control or prediction of Gnostam LLC. As you know, a recommendation, which you are free to accept or reject, is not a guarantee for the successful performance of an investment and we are expressly prohibited from guaranteeing accounts against losses arising from market conditions.   Gnostam  LLC   PO  Box  960   Inverness,  CA  94937  USA     Tel:  206  384  0069     E-­‐mail:  pcorsano@gnostam.com     www.gnostam.com