New-Tech Magazine Europe | Dec 2015 Digital edition

(Japan 78%, U.S. 74%, U.K. 89%, Brazil 97%). The same research reflects an opportunity for operators to capitalize on VoWi-Fi to improve or expand their coverage area. Fifty-two percent of subscribers in Brazil believe VoWi-Fi offers a way to improve service in areas where they have poor or no cellular coverage. Three out of four subscribers would use a secure VoWi-Fi service if it was available in their area. And many - from 38 percent in Japan to 82 percent in Brazil - reported that they would make more or longer calls over secure Wi-Fi connections. Brazil’s high percentage is probably due to the fact that they still have a large base of prepaid calling customers and see VoWi-Fi as an opportunity to minimize the use of their plan minutes when calling over Wi-Fi. In addition, Japan may just be happier with their current service overall than the other countries. Or it is due to a larger base of unlimited calling plans and their passion for texting. With regard to call continuity, a large majority of consumers in four countries expect their calls will smoothly and successfully move from their cellular network to Wi-Fi when Wi-Fi is available. Only a very small percentage expected their calls to drop when moving between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. This is really an important area to focus on for the operators. If handoffs between the networks are not smooth and calls are dropped, trouble tickets into the call center will be increasing. Consumers’ perception (true or otherwise) is that the handoff is the operator’s problem, not the public or home Wi-Fi network’s error. The perception of se curity is borderline and based on consumer experiences. Even though a high percentage of the consumers in the four countries believe there is enough security on the Wi-Fi networks (such as those outside of the home or workplace) for voice calls, security does continue to be a major concern. Consumers will not

video are not securely accessible from Wi-Fi today. Therefore, content may be susceptible to snooping, and the core network of the service provider could be exposed to public IP access. By utilizing the service provider’s inherent network capabilities to offer seamless service continuity and consistent experience, service providers have an opportunity to further differentiate their offering from the competition. Alcatel-Lucent and Motive can help service providers make a smooth transition into VoWi-Fi. To learn more about improving the customer experience of VoWi-Fi, watch this interview by Yves Tjoens, Vice President Research & Development. Furthermore, join our on-demand webinar or read our bonus white paper to discover current market research findings and trends related to VoWi-Fi. CJ Platino, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Platforms and Vivian Chan, Integrated Marketing Assistant, IP Platforms, Alcatel-Lucent

use Wi-Fi when they have concerns regarding security. For an operator offering a secure connection using Wi-Fi, this will be a differentiator. Introducing VoWi-Fi presents service providers with an opportunity to add value to their VoLTE launches and solidify their WLAN strategies. By incorporating VoWi-Fi into their network infrastructure, service providers can also offload aggressive video call traffic onto Wi-Fi to preserve capacity for LTE data services. This increases network efficiency and frees up capacity for more revenue generating services. It also gives service providers the opportunity to reduce costs for subscribers, thereby increasing customer loyalty and reducing churn. As optimistic as all this sounds and to get the full benefits of VoWi-Fi, service providers must overcome some significant challenges: • Service continuity: Moving calls between 4G LTE and Wi-Fi can create service disruptions because of IP address changes. Possible impacts include the failure of call handovers between VoWi-Fi and VoLTE, the need to reinitiate enterprise VPN sessions, and disrupted file downloads. • Service consistency: Customers expect consistency in service offerings across any network - whether LTE or Wi-Fi. Generally, network voice and

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