Telecommunications

The GSM/UMTS/LTE Basics course presents in a concise form all the issues connected with modern cellular network, where GSM including GPRS/EDGE and UMTS including HSDPA/HSUPA services are commonly used and implementation of LTE together with IMS is a challenge of the following years.
During the training, all the radio access technologies i.e. GSM, UMTS and LTE and all types of services i.e. traditional telephony, packet transmission and IMS services are presented with the equal stress, since in the modern cellular network, all of them are run or will be run simultaneously in the near future.
Instead of presenting the topics in the traditional form, describing one technology after another, this course rather concentrates on common radio and network problems and on how this common problems are solved by GSM, UMTS and LTE, Thanks to, such form of the training, it becomes clear for the participants, that within 3GPP, there are no technologies that are fundamentally better or worsen then the others; each of them is optimized towards a certain environments and services; and all of them interwork with each other, creating one common, constantly evolving network.
With the GSM/UMTS/LTE Basics course participants may begin their cellular network education. Further, there are more advanced courses, which present aspects of GSM, UMTS and LTE technologies in greater detail.

Together with dynamic expansion of mobile networks, the services offered to subscribers also evolve. Initially mobile networks were primarily focused on a single service – voice call, that mainly contributed to the operator’s revenue. Later, more services were introduced. It enabled creation of sophisticated offer, attractive for a wider subscriber base. As a consequence, number of subscribers rapidly increased. Enriched service offering created alternative sources of revenue. A very good example is SMS service, especially popular among the younger users. Another milestone in mobile network evolution was the introduction of mobile access to the Internet based on packet data services. Actually, packet services are the main drivers behind the recent mobile networks evolution based on UMTS, HSPA or LTE technologies. On the other hand, opening to the Internet has also negative effects. Nowadays, mobile subscribers have access to multitude of services offered by Internet providers. For these providers, often called “Over The Top”, the main source of revenue are advertisements. In order to attract as many users as possible, they develop very sophisticated services like voice communicators, chat applications etc. Moreover, these applications are offered free-of-charge. As a consequence, mobile subscribers are reluctant to pay for services, that constitute a large percentage of operator’s revenue share. Therefore, revenues of mobile telecom providers have been falling over the last years. In order to counteract this trend, completely new, innovative approach to service creation must be introduced. This is a subject of this course. Currently, mobile operators have the possibility to create almost unlimited service offerings, that meet individual subscriber needs. It is possible thanks to Policy and Charging Control (PCC) functionality. This architecture discussed during the lecture enables a precise control of packet traffic and accurate charging of individual services accessed by the users. The training presents historical background and subsequent evolution of the PCC system. Functionality of PCC components is discussed. New features available in each PCC release are presented. Required modification in the infrastructure and resulting benefits for the operator are investigated. Examples of service offerings available due to implementation of the PCC system are presented. For better understanding of the PCC functions, basic traffic cases are analysed. 

“Policy and Charging Control (PCC) Basics“ course describes the new policy control and charging functions added recently to mobile networks. The PCC architecture discussed during the lecture enables a precise control of packet traffic and accurate charging of individual services accessed by the users. The training presents historical background and subsequent evolution of the PCC system. Functionality of PCC components is discussed. New features available in each PCC release are presented. Required modification in the infrastructure and resulting benefits for the operator are investigated. Examples of service offerings available due to implementation of the PCC system are presented. For better understanding of the PCC functions, basic traffic cases are analysed.

“Policy and Charging Control (PCC) Technology” course focuses on a new architecture that enables a precise control of packet traffic and charging based on individual services accessed by the users. During the course all components of the PCC solution are presented. Detailed functionality of each element is discussed. Protocols and signalling procedures on all interfaces (i.e. Gy, Gz, Gx, Gxx, Rx, Ud, Sy, Sp, Sd) within PCC system are presented in details. The course also describes overview of PCC architecture and system wide signalling procedures, including home and roaming scenarios.

"SS7 over IP (SIGTRAN)" course gives a detailed description of the structure and functions of the SIGTRAN that can be used to carry SS7 messages over the IP connection. During the course all SIGTRAN protocols are discussed. However the stress is put on two of them: SCTP and M3UA, as the first is mandatory for any SIGTRAN system and the second is chosen by major GSM/UMTS equipment vendors to be implemented in their products.

"CAMEL Operations & Parameters” is an advanced technical course covering details of signalling procedures related to Customized (Customised) Applications for Mobile network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) based Mobile Intelligent Network (MIN) services.

In practice CAMEL Phase 2, sometimes enhanced with a limited support of Phase 3 GPRS Pre-Paid Service (PPS) is absolutely dominating standard MIN solution in existing networks. Most probably, the existing MINs are never going to be upgraded towards higher CAMEL Phases due to the common trend towards alternative solutions based on SIP IMS Application Servers and Diameter based On line and Off-line Charging System (OCS/OFCS). Hence to better the course effectiveness the course is not going beyond the set of operations available in CAMEL Phase2 and CAMEL Phase 3 limited to GPRS PPS.

Currently more and more telephony service providers are introducing Voice over IP (VoIP). Global deregulation of telephone markets allows telephone carriers to begin competition with cheaper IP carriers. New infrastructure allows operators to compete at a lower price and deploy new applications to their customers faster than they can do it using legacy equipment.

Currently more and more telephony service providers are introducing Voice over IP (VoIP). Global deregulation of telephone markets allows telephone carriers to begin competition with cheaper IP carriers. New infrastructure allows operators to compete at a lower price and deploy new applications to their customers faster than they can do it using legacy equipment.