Total revenue from subscriptions will increase via the expansion of the number of connections beyond what is possible with today’s smartphones alone; tablets, connected cars, cameras and vertical businesses of all types herald a world of infinite machine-to-machine connections. This creates a huge opportunity for operators to become enablers of innovation by opening up network functionality to third parties developing applications to run across an expanding ecosystem. A common open API is an integral part of SoftMobile for capitalizing on these new business opportunities. Huawei believes that SoftMobile represents at least a $2 trillion USD market opportunity for operators by 2020.

Through SoftMobile, 2013 is the year SingleRAN takes the step into a wider “single” structure via a common hardware platform supporting different standards. With SingleRAN as the common platform and through SoftMobile open APIs, applications are given on-demand access to network resources to enable the implementation of new business models.

With the growth of HetNets, site complexity is increasing and the need for network orchestration that can manage coordination of a multi-band, multi-layer and multi-cell environment becomes of paramount importance. One of the primary applications of the SoftMobile approach is orchestrated resource utilization. This helps operators coordinate resources along multiple network bands, modes, layers and cells to maximize the value of their network investments.

During the 2013 MWC, Huawei also demonstrated active antenna units, high capacity radio units for indoor and outdoor, and radio network orchestration for higher network resource utilization. In addition, Huawei showcased a key evolution of EPC to become a Multi-Service Engine alongside solutions and products that help operators improve network profitability and user experience.

David Wang, President of Huawei Wireless Networks, said: “Opportunities and challenges co-exist as MBB enters a rapid phase of development. Mobile operators have shortened their go-to-market roadmaps as service innovation has become faster than ever before. SoftMobile is the key for operators to have networks powered by fast, focused and on-demand capabilities.”