Ericsson and SoftBank announce per-user Mobility-based Policy

Kit vendor Ericsson and Japanese operator SoftBank have collaborated to produce a new piece of software called Mobility-based Policy, which allows SoftBank to manage its resources more efficiently in congested areas.

Mr. Yoichi Funabiki, Director at SoftBank Mobile, said: “By enabling us to dynamically allocate the best radio resources on a per-user, per-terminal basis, Ericsson Mobility-based Policy has the potential to increase our network flexibility while reducing signaling traffic network wide – this efficiency drives additional opportunities to improve both the user experience and network performance.”

The software creates a direct, two-way connection between the SGSN-MME and the Policy Controller which enables the exchange of mobility management information and policy decisions, respectively, to flow between the two. This enables the network to make location, user and device-specific decisions, thus theoretically optimizing the allocation of resources.

Appropriately-named Jan Signell, Head of North East Asia for Ericsson, added: “Ericsson and SoftBank Mobile work together to consistently enhance the performance and user experience on their mobile network. With this demonstration of Mobility-based Policy, an innovative feature of Ericsson’s Evolved Packet Core, we continue to strengthen our strategic partnership with SoftBank Mobile.”

This technology appears to still be at the ‘demonstration’ stage right now, and neither company commented on when it will be used in the field. But if this Mobility-based Policy does successfully improve network efficiency in highly-populated areas such as central Tokyo, operators that serve other massive conurbations are likely to be interested.