You are in an autorickshaw, trying to figure out the route to your friend’s place. In a flash, you realise you have a smartphone that has the latest features. You switch on Google Maps. But it wouldn’t open, thanks to the poor network.
Take another scenario. Just as you switch on Google Maps, the phone understands that the app needs faster connectivity. It notifies your service provider, which moves you instantly to a different data plan, just for the duration when you are on the app.
This is precisely what the R&D team of Ericsson, based in Bengaluru is aiming at: making your network smarter. Nishant Batra, Senior Vice-President and Head of Engagement Practices, Ericsson India, says the company is in talks with mobile operators to make the facility available to customers.
“If you want to watch YouTube, then your operator could give you a Rs. 10 upgrade for the next four hours. And you can watch a full movie without any network disruption,” says Mr. Batra.
Now subscribers can manually call up the service provider and seek changes in the plan, but the aim is to make the switch automatic. “What we are building is what we call the elastic capability of the network.” said Sachin Desai, Vice-President of Engineering, Head of Business Unit Cloud & IP India. “Globally some 20 service providers are using the technology. It will very soon become a mainstream product. In India, we are still talking to the operators. And there will soon be vendors who will do the proof of concepts in India too.” Globally, the smarter data network innovation is being delivered from Bangalore.
Mr. Batra said one of the problems of connectivity is the lack of contiguous spectrum. What is allotted is broken and it affects connectivity. He said globally, 4G, also called LTE, is run on 10 mHz but in India, hardly any contiguous 10 mHz are available. “LTE is built on bigger brands. So by not giving contiguous bands, you are taking the thrust out of it,” he said.
