The Rapid Deployment of Diameter Suggests the LTE Revolution is Already Happening
In early 2013, market research firm Infonetics Research put out a brief noting the exponential rise of Diameter deployment in the telecom industry. According to Diane Meyers, principal analyst with Infonetics, “On the back of explosive growth in 2012, the Diameter signaling controller market is set to double this year as operators across the globe continue to build out LTE networks and as mobile broadband usage soars”. The growth of Diameter has been exponential. In 2012, revenue from Diameter signaling controllers increased 900% over revenues in 2011. And as Diameter spreads, it becomes more versatile. Initially Diameter signaling control was only imagined for centralized routing. Today, it’s used for PCRF binding, roaming from LTE-to-LTE as well as LTE-to-2G/3G, and HSS address resolution. Because of its many uses in roaming and traffic management, one can expect revenues from Diameter to keep rising. Major carriers have been adopting Diameter for the past two years. In 2011, Verizon became the first major carrier to adopt a Diameter signaling router. In 2012, T-Mobile followed suit. The advantages of Diameter signaling are clear: • Provides the bandwidth to support data-hungry devices like smartphones • Centralizes routing • Traffic management and load-bearing • Interworking functionality—enables LTE-to-LTE roaming and LTE-2G/3G roaming • Highly scalable In a world of data-hungry devices and applications, users expect their devices to work flawlessly. As carriers, this requires strong routing capabilities, high bandwidth, and load-bearing capabilities. Users also expect their service to be perfect whether they’re in the United States or sub-Saharan Africa, in a crowded city or an empty desert. That requires flawless roaming, not only on 2G and 3G but also LTE-to-LTE. Diameter signaling control provides all of this and lets you, as a carrier, give your users the experience they expect while increasing revenue and reducing churn. Major carriers have already made the switch to Diameter, because they realize that carriers need to deploy LTE now rather than later. The benefits of being “Diameter ready” are immediate: carriers gain immediate access to national and international roaming, and can bridge their 2G/3G networks to offer a migratory path to their customers. In an industry that evolves fast, carriers survive by staying ahead of the competition. If rural carriers want to compete in the LTE market, they need to make the switch.