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Technology Update : Issue no. 3/2009

Profile: Three Questions for Sara Mazur

Meet Sara Mazur, Ph.D., M.Sc.E.E.,
and Vice President System Management,
Business Unit Networks, Ericsson.

The success of mobile broadband has caught telecom operators by surprise. There is some concern that continued growth could put serious strain on the infrastructure. What advice do you have for telecom operators – what top three priorities should they have today?

Mobile broadband powered by HSPA is a huge business opportunity for operators, and it is happening right now. Mobile broadband on HSPA and eventually LTE is the best and most cost-effective way of providing broadband services. Indeed, Ericsson has shown that there is a genuinely good business case for operators of mobile broadband: after only a few years, the fully allocated production cost of 1GB in an HSPA 7.2 Mbps mobile broadband network is as low as EUR 1. This cost covers base stations, RNC, MINI-LINK microwave backhaul, SGSN and GGSN. So my advice to operators is:

  1. Upgrade your radio network to HSPA/LTE and launch mobile broadband now, and then use the capabilities of HSPA/LTE Evolution to further differentiate your offerings.
  2. Invest in your own backhaul and transport network. Base your network on Ethernet and IP over microwave or fiber to get the most cost-effective backhaul and transport and to secure a high-quality end-to-end offering.
  3. Use Ericsson’s policy control functions in the packet core network for intelligent traffic and user management in the packet core network. This will allow you to control your costs and focus network resources on normal users.
Looking ahead, how, and on what, will Ericsson be prioritizing its R&D?

Speaking only for BNET, we will focus our R&D resources on our key product areas Radio, Core and IMS, and IP and Broadband. Our key priority is to ensure that we maintain our no. 1 position in mobile networks. In five years, we also want to reach the no. 1 position in converged networks. In Radio we will invest to ensure that we retain our technology leadership and maintain our position as world leader in WCDMA and GSM and secure this position for LTE. We are also developing the next-generation multi-standard radio base station, RBS 6000, and the RAN Evo Controller 8000. In Core and IMS we must secure our leadership in mobile switching with the MSC-S Blade Cluster and secure leadership in telephony evolution through IMS and MMTel as well as have best-in-class user data management products. Within IP and Broadband, we will focus R&D on securing our leading position in packet core and multi-service edge routers through the development of a next-generation Packet Core and IP Edge portfolio. We will develop competitive products for fiber access, metro and optical networks as well as an innovative set of products for microwave transmission.


What is the most recent application you purchased or downloaded for your mobile phone?
Dynamic Mobile Exchange (DME), which gives me access via my mobile phone to Outlook e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks. I also just received a new notebook with built-in mobile broadband based on our mobile broadband modules and it works extremely well!

About Sara

Sara Mazur currently holds the position Vice President System Management at Business Unit Networks Ericsson. She has an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Her background includes a variety of management positions within research as well as technology development at Ericsson business units. In her previous positions she was responsible for radio network research as Director Wireless Access Networks Research at Ericsson Research and also Manager Technology Evolution and Standardization Radio Access Network at Business Market Operation America. Sara has also been appointed Technical Expert in the area Radio Network Performance.