Our offering is divided into seven solution areas, each of which involves one or more of our businesses. Many of our contracts involve several solution areas. For example, services often form an important part of network projects.

Mobile Broadband

Increasing user demands

Mobile broadband now accounts for approximately 15% of all mobile subscriptions. Mobile data traffic is expected to have more than doubled in 2011, mainly due to new smartphone launches and the uptake of apps. PC and tablet users generate even more data traffic, and total mobile data traffic is estimated to grow tenfold by end of 2016, mainly driven by video.

Operators need to put certain pre-requisites in place to ensure they can capitalize on mobile broadband. These include enhancing network quality, by increasing speed and capacity, and providing service differentiation.

3G/WCDMA and 4G/LTE

We expect 3G/WCDMA to be the predominant mobile broadband technology for many years to come. During the year, we demonstrated a new HSPA world speed record in a commercial network, at 168Mbps downlink. Operators will be able to take a stepped approach towards this from 42Mbps, currently the fastest service offered over commercial networks.

The next technology is LTE, which is in its initial phase. LTE covers only a few percent of the world’s population today. In five years’ time, it is expected that LTE will have roughly 35% population coverage.

The RBS 6000 family

The multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000 supports GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA, LTE and CDMA in a single unit. It offers cost-effective deployment and a future-proof evolution in capacity and functionality.

The RBS 6000 family now accounts for close to 100% of our radio base station deliveries. A typical deployment project, comprising mainly hardware, is followed by an upgrade and expansion phase, which involves mostly software and services. During 2011 we launched the Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR), as part of the RBS 6000 family. This product significantly reduces integration and installation time as well as energy consumption.

Smart Services Routers

Network performance is the key operator differentiator when it comes to user experience. In 2011, we launched the SSR 8000 family, a series of Smart Services Routers. They support delivery of services across fixed and mobile networks and enable faster introduction of new user services. For operators, the SSR 8000 family provides a simple, smart and scalable solution. For users, it means access to advanced services, with telecom-grade quality from any device anywhere.

Heterogeneous networks (HetNets)

By 2016, densely populated urban areas representing less than 1% of the Earth’s total land area are expected to generate around 60% of total mobile traffic. In order to increase network capacity in these areas, we will build HetNets. Powerful macro radio base stations are complemented by smaller radio base stations (pico and micro) which provide extra capacity for areas where demand is particularly high.