WBA white papers

RAN Convergence

NGMN and WBA have joined forces to address the very important topic of RAN Convergence. In this paper NGMN and WBA have highlighted some of the requirements and key challenges that need to be addressed to realize service and network convergence over 3GPP Access and Wi-Fi. As we move into the 5G era with new emerging use cases and URLLC use cases such as autonomous driving and industrial automation, connectivity becomes even more important, together with delivery of a harmonized set of 5G services, whether the access includes Wi-Fi, cellular or both.

This white paper serves as an introduction to the joint Task Force work, that NGMN and WBA members are undertaking. The full whitepaper will provide more detail on some of the challenges outlined in this short paper and will answer the question of why deployments integrating both Wi-Fi and cellular access with the cellular operator core have been so limited to date, and what we as a community can do differently with the launch of 5G to change this. The whitepaper will also present and review potential solutions to these challenges and recommend a future strategy for Converged RAN deployment ensuring the best user experience. To get involved with WBA work or to join the joint task force, contact us

Location Based Services (LBS) Over Wi-Fi

With carrier-grade Wi-Fi emerging as the preferred access solution in many buildings and venues, carriers are expected to leverage their Wi-Fi networks to gain traction for indoor Location Based Services (LBS). They will also partner with indoor location providers to offer value-added services to existing retail clients. Public venue Wi-Fi is now a hot topic, and carriers and vendors are aggressively working on LBS solutions.

This report identifies use cases for the growing areas of location information services, analytics, and advertising in markets such as retail, hospitality, enterprise, public venues, entertainment, and emergency services. It examines the functional requirements of LBS deployments and the technology existing today to meet those requirements.

Smarter Wi-Fi for Mobile Operator Infrastructures

This whitepaper discusses about Optimizing for coverage and capacity while offloading data from 3G/4G networks with smarter 802.11 technology.