Broadband Forum announces specifications for MPLs in mobile backhaul in 4G, LTE networks

The Broadband Forum has published its new “Technical Specification for MPLS in Mobile Backhaul Networks,” (TR-221) which is set to become a key enabler for mobile operators as they migrate from traditional TDM networks to packet-based transport technologies and from 2G/3G to 4G and LTE services.

TR-221 provides a key resource to the industry as it gears up for explosive growth in IP traffic driven by new and enhanced devices on the mobile market, from tablets and smartphones to multifunction gaming consoles.

The specifications were announced last week at the LTE/EPC and Converged Mobile Backhaul conference in London.

Based on recent mobile traffic forecasts put out by both Cisco and Ericsson, growth in global IP traffic continues to rise exponentially and by 2015 is expected to reach around 81 exabytes (1018 ) per month: the equivalent of 20 billion DVDs, 19 trillion MP3s or 500 quadrillion text messages. Estimates also show around 15 billion fixed and mobile networked devices and machine-to-machine connections by that time. Mobile video is likely to make up around two-thirds of mobile data traffic, an increase of 35-fold from 2010 to 2015. For service providers this presents a significant challenge in ensuring that their networks are flexible and can handle such large volumes of data while delivering the necessary service performance and quality of experience to their customers.

Many operators are responding by migrating their mobile networks to next generation 4G/LTE and require a comprehensive and optimised solution for their backhaul. MPLS provides the unique capability allowing service providers to converge their disparate networks by combining TDM, Frame Relay, ATM, Ethernet and IP services into a single multi-service environment, merging their disparate 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G/LTE mobile networks into a single converged architecture.

 “TR-221 is a significant step forward for the industry,” commented Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global IP and transport planning and technology for Verizon. “In the face of growing demand for bandwidth and quality of service from our users, we have been a keen participant in the development of the Broadband Forum’s new technical specifications. We hope to closely engage with members and partners regarding TR-221 to achieve a scalable, easy-to-manage and cost-effective mobile backhaul architecture that delivers services rapidly, economically and with quality to our mobile customers.”

TR-221 focuses on the applications of MPLS technology in a range of services that may be used to transport wireless traffic in the access and aggregation networks, including IP, TDM, ATM and Ethernet. It defines the global requirements of MPLS technology in these networks in respect of encapsulation, signalling and routing, QoS, OAM, resiliency, security and synchronisation. It also covers expected services over the backhaul network that include voice, multimedia services, data traffic, and multicast traffic such as multimedia broadcast and multicast services (MBMS).  Adherence to these requirements will create global standards for MPLS oriented equipment, establishing more network interoperability, speeding deployments and lowering the overall costs of the backhaul network.

Defining a range of reference architectures for MPLS based Mobile Backhaul networks; TR-221 includes specifications for the various transport scenarios applicable to all mobile networks (e.g. 2G, 3G and LTE). It also specifies the equipment requirements for the control, user and management planes to provide unified and consistent end-to-end transport services for mobile backhaul.

Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh said: “TR-221 is a critical part of establishing multi-vendor interoperability in converged MPLS based backhaul networks. As mobile operators look to preserve their investment in traditional TDM and ATM networks whilst developing their 4G/LTE architectures, TR-221 will enable them to integrate new packet-based MPLS technologies into their established networks. Operators will be able to evolve their networks to be faster and more efficient to meet the increasing multimedia needs of the mobile user, whilst preserving a lower cost per bit in the backhaul network.”