For today’s leading wireless carriers, moving to a next-generation network such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) is really about business—that is, money—and the ability to attract and keep customers. Each carrier wants to bring the best network to market first, but being first is worthless if the network and its services do not meet customer expectations for quality. Testing is therefore going to be a critical factor in determining which carrier is able to roll out first, roll out best, and, ultimately, win more market share.

Verizon and AT&T, the top two U.S. wireless carriers, clearly illustrate the business drivers behind the move to next-generation networks. With its network grounded by triple- and quad-play usage, and its exclusive contract with Apple set to expire in 2010, AT&T fears its iPhone customers will revolt if it does not increase network capacity as soon as possible. Therefore, the company is implementing High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) to boost the speed of its mobile broadband network. This will allow AT&T to deliver bandwidth to customers faster than carriers upgrading to LTE, but it might only serve as a temporary fix—delaying the inevitable move to LTE—and potentially place them further behind competitors in the long run. Verizon, on the other hand, faces a longer deployment cycle with LTE, but will likely gain a new network that is five times faster than AT&T’s and able to provide more services and bandwidth.

Whether carriers are adding LTE software/hardware or simply upgrading their software, the process of moving toward a next-generation network can potentially lead to more—rather than less—customer churn. As these carriers work out their kinks, impatient wireless customers have no qualms about canceling their subscriptions and signing up with competing carriers. After all, even the perception of poor service quality can lead to declines in wireless subscribers—and profits—as Sprint Nextel reported in its latest earnings announcement.

If today’s leading carriers expect to remain on top, they will need to not only upgrade their networks, but also upgrade their testing processes. That’s because by adopting these new technologies, carriers face several challenges that make it increasingly difficult to meet both time-to-market deadlines and customer expectations for quality.
First, such upgrades significantly increase the complexity of the overall network as well as roll out and deployment processes. Achieving maximum test coverage will become exceedingly time-consuming and costly as testing requirements mushroom.

Second, a new technology also means constant iterations. The velocity of feature releases and bug fixes will likely be high from Network Equipment Manufacturers (NEMs), resulting in numerous patches and hardware updates, and possibly higher support costs. As the network system goes through deployment, QA teams will need an effective way to factor in these fixes/modifications during their acceptance testing.

Third, companies are still reeling from the effects of a downturn economy, slashing budgets for personnel and consultants. Finding additional skilled resources is difficult enough in a good economy, but nowadays it is not even an option for most.

These internal conditions coupled with market pressures are driving the need for automated testing. By deploying enterprise-wide test automation strategies, wireless carriers can streamline the testing and acceptance process, and reduce the costs involved with bringing new and complex products to market.

As carriers race to win (and keep) customers by upgrading their networks, they need to consider the business value of time to market. Above all, they need to realize that testing is the most time-consuming part of the roll out process, and to leap-frog the competition to market, they will need a new end-to-end testing solution.

By David Gehringer, vice president of marketing, Fanfare Software (www.fanfaresoftware.com).

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