Over the past few years, we have witnessed several trends in the Indian telecom test and measurement (T&M) space. These include:

Mobile handsets emerge as the preferred medium for internet access: With less than 10 per cent customers able to access fixed broadband services, mobile broadband is well-positioned to become the main medium for internet access. In this regard, 3G and long term evolution (LTE) technologies, both time division duplex and frequency division duplex, are expected to provide a fillip to the internet segment. To accommodate the growing number of mobile users, telecom operators are expanding their network, which is increasing the demand for mobile and broadband testers.

In order to increase capacity, operators will shift from centrally managed networks based on macro base stations to heterogenous ones known as HetNets, comprising a mix of home-based femtocells, small cells (micro- and picocells) for hotspot and in-building coverage, and traditional macrocells. Management of these self-organising networks will require changes in both T&M and operational processes. Instead of relying on centrally planned networks with optimised eNB parameters, base stations will require to be designed to adapt to the radio frequency conditions in their own environment and change dynamically.

Multinational companies outsource operations related to research and development (R&D) to Indian subsidiaries and partners: The fast adoption of LTE technology and the aggressive schedule for operators and network equipment vendors to drive these services is positively impacting the sector. Traditionally, research and development (R&D) was undertaken by a company’s head office and the testing and maintenance of legacy software was outsourced. The increasing demand for cost-effective LTE services has rendered this traditional model unsustainable for most companies. This has worked in favour of Indian software companies and overseas players’ local offices. Companies including Aeroflex are undertaking several LTE R&D trials in India in order to minimise the time to market and development spending.

Challenges

For equipment vendors and operators, the growth in demand for mobile broadband has changed the focus of T&M companies from compliance to 3GPP standards to benchmarking and performance measurements. As network deployments gain momentum, the number of handsets and devices supported by LTE base station vendors is becoming a key marketing metric. LTE is one of the largest drivers of T&M, and it will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. There are several elements within LTE (and LTE-Advanced) that pose major challenges for base station and handset designers. Suitable test equipment is needed to address these challenges. The issues for T&M companies have, therefore, evolved from measuring individual mobile and base station performance to complete end-to-end testing in real traffic scenarios, using realistic data traffic services including VoLTE, radio channel fading and handover.

For T&M equipment manufacturers, a challenge is keeping their product line at pace with customer demand. This requires significant investments in R&D and test platforms that are future-proofed to allow the same hardware to be manufactured and used over time and facilitate the delivery of updates via software enhancements.

However, growth of the telecom T&M market has been slow. T&M tools are either regarded as very expensive or too complex. There is also lack of awareness about the appropriate usage of such equipment. Several players have deferred the deployment of these tools, despite the possibility of compromising on network quality. Also, being a relatively new industry, changes are being witnessed constantly, especially in terms of technology evolution. Therefore, it is important for companies to understand existing standards to ensure correct implementation.

Future trends

We expect telecom operators’ outlook towards high-end test equipment to improve gradually. Several private players are evaluating export and domestic markets for their products and are looking to monetise their intellectual property rights. This, coupled with the various challenges entailed in deploying LTE technology, poses a challenge for vendors in marketing their products as being commercially robust. Achieving this would necessitate in-depth testing against internationally accepted norms and using industry-standard tools.

Assessing the development of the wireless manufacturing sector is a bigger challenge. Although the central government is focusing on increasing indigenous wireless equipment manufacturing, there is lack of clarity on the progress on this front.

Regulatory wish listA

In some areas, strong international standards imply little or no benefit for local industries or consumers. For mobile handsets, compliance with 3GPP standards is an important example of this and new regulations in addition to these would be of little benefit to subscribers, operators or equipment vendors. The international certification regime is well established around the world.

Unlike handsets, network services and operations are much more bespoke and vary across operators and countries. Most markets already have set rules and procedures for avoiding interference to other users of radio spectrum but there are variations in the controls for ensuring quality of service of the network. For mobile broadband to be successful, benchmarking of services such as file transfer protocol, web browsing and video upload/download would significantly benefit subscribers.