Modeling the relationship between network operators and venue owners in public Wi-Fi deployment using non-cooperative game theory

Wireless data demands keep rising at a fast rate. In 2016, Cisco measured a global mobile data traffic volume of 7.2 Exabytes per month and projected a growth to 49 Exabytes per month in 2021. Wi-Fi plays an important role in this as well. Up to 60% of the total mobile traffic was off-loaded via Wi-Fi (and femtocells) in 2016. This is further expected to increase to 63% in 2021. In this publication, we look into the roll-out of public Wi-Fi networks, public meaning in a public or semi-public place (pubs, restaurants, sport stadiums, etc.). More concretely we look into the collaboration between two parties, a technical party and a venue owner, for the roll-out of a new Wi-Fi network. The technical party is interested in reducing load on its mobile network and generating additional direct revenues, while the venue owner wants to improve the attractiveness of the venue and consequentially generate additional indirect revenues. Three Wi-Fi pricing models are considered: entirely free, slow access with ads or fast access via paid access (freemium), and paid access only (premium). The technical party prefers a premium model with high direct revenues, the venue owner a free/freemium model which is attractive to its customers, meaning both parties have conflicting interests. This conflict has been modeled using non-cooperative game theory incorporating detailed cost and revenue models for all three Wi-Fi pricing models. The initial outcome of the game is a premium Wi-Fi network, which is not the optimal solution from an outsider's perspective as a freemium network yields highest total payoffs. By introducing an additional compensation scheme which corresponds with negotiation in real life, the outcome of the game is steered toward a freemium solution

Optimizing the investments in mobile networks and subscriber migrations for a telecommunication operator

We consider the context of a telecommunications company that is at the same time an infrastructure operator and a service provider. When planning its network expansion, the company can leverage over its knowledge of subscribers dynamic to better optimize the network dimensioning, therefore avoiding unnecessary costs. In this work, the network expansion represents the deployment and/or reinforcement of several technologies (e.g. 2G,3G,4G), assuming that subscribers to a given technology can be served by this technology or older ones. The operator can influence subscribers dynamic by subsidies. The planning is made over a discretized time horizon while some strategic guidelines requirements are demanded at the end of the time horizon. Following classical models, we consider that the behavior of customers follows an S-shape piecewise constant function. We propose a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming formulation and a heuristic algorithm for the multi-year planning problem. The scalability of the formulation and the quality of the heuristic are assessed numerically on real instances for a use-case with two generations

Optimisation du choix stratégique d'une architecture FTTH

International audienceLa mise à disposition de services à valeur ajoutée mais nécessitant une bande passante accrue (TV sur IP, Video on Demand) impose aux opérateurs de télécommunications d?opérer des transformationsmajeures sur leurs réseaux, notamment au niveau de leurs réseaux dits « d?accès » (partie du réseau la plus proche du client final). Concernant les réseaux fixes, la solution technique retenue est la mise en place de réseaux optiques et, en ce qui concerne le réseau d?accès, l?introduction de la technologie Fiber To The Home (FTTH). Les enjeux financiers liés à ces nouveaux réseaux sont très importants. Deux problèmes décisionnels clés se posent dans le contexte d?un déploiement FTTH : le premier, de niveau stratégique, consiste pour chaque opérateur, à déterminer le type d?architecture économiquement optimal parmi ceux qui sont techniquement envisageables ; le second, de niveau opérationnel, consiste à déterminer un plan de déploiement terrain optimal, une fois l?architecture retenue. Les travaux présentés focalisent sur la problématique stratégique du choix d?untype d?architecture FTTH pour une zone de déploiement donnée

FTTH network design under OAM constraints

Due to the emergence of bandwidth-requiring services, telecommunicationoperators are being compelled to renew their fix access network, most of themfavouring the Fiber To The Home (FTTH) technology. For long, network designstrategies have been driven by mere deployment CAPital EXpenditures (CAPEX).Today however, feedback and experience gathered from the management of formernetworks strongly push for the consideration of other sources of cost for the designof networks. This paper focuses on the optimization of FTTH networks deploymentunder Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) considerations. Mixedinteger formulations are first argued for the modelling of these decision problems.Then numerical tests performed on real-life data prove the efficiency of branch andbound solving approaches for such models. Assessment of the economic impact ofOAM considerations is also made

Fiber cable network design with operations administration & maintenance constraints

International audienceWe introduce two specific design problems of optical fiber cable networks that differ by a practical maintenance constraint. An integer programming based method including valid inequalities is introduced for the unconstrained problem. We propose two exact solution methods to tackle the constrained problem: the first one is based on mixed integer programming including valid inequalities while the second one is built on dynamic programming. The theoretical complexities of both problems in several cases are proven and compared. Numerical results assess the efficiency of both methods in different contexts including real-life instances, and evaluate the effect of the maintenance constraint on the solution qualit

Design of fiber cable tree FTTH networks

International audienceThis paper introduces the problem of backfeed fiber cables network design. It considers cable separation operations and costs as well as a non-linear cable line cost, and the feedback technique. An integer programming based solution is proposed, and some associated valid inequalities are introduced. The problem is proven to be NP-Hard. The formulation is assessed on real-life instance

Fiber cable network design in tree networks

International audienceThis work focuses on a fiber cable network design problem in the context of Fiber To The Home (FTTH) where separation techniques such as splicing and tapping are considered. Assuming the civil engineering structure is a tree, the problem is proven to be NP-hard and even hard to approximate. Two exact integer programming models taking into account some operator's engineering rules are introduced. Enhancements are provided for both models leading to significant computing time reduction. Computational experiments are performed on real-life instances with real costs including both manpower and material costs incurred by the network operato

Optimizing the deployment of a multilevel optical FTTH network

International audienceDue to the emergence of bandwidth-requiring services, telecommunication operators are being compelled to renew their fix access network, most of them favoring the Fiber To The Home (FTTH) technology. This paper focuses on the optimization of FTTH deployment, which is of prime importance due to the economic stakes. The key design issue here is locating splitters and routing fi bers in an existing network infrastructure to which is associated a graph with given capacities on the edges. No assumption is made on the structure of the graph. First we propose a mixed integer formulation for this decision problem. Then, valid inequalities and problem size reduction schemes are presented. Finally efficiency of solving approaches is assessed through extensive numerical tests performed on Orange real-life dat

Optimizing the investments in mobile networks and subscriber migrations for a telecommunication operator

International audienceWorldwide telecommunications groups are both infrastructure operator and service provider. Hence, when planning the network expansion, these groups must also consider the subscribers dynamics, which they can influence through subsidies. Addressing both aspects together enables them to better optimize the network dimensioning, therefore avoiding unnecessary costs. In this work, the network expansion represents the deployment and/or reinforcement of several technologies (e.g. 2G,3G,4G), assuming that subscribers to a given technology can be served by this technology or older ones. The objective of the resulting optimization problem is to minimize network investments costs and subsides, while being subject to both capacity and strategical constraints, such as minimum coverage and users averaged throughput. We model the customer behavior in response to subsides with S-shape piecewise linear functions, which are linearized. We assess numerically the resulting Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation on real-life instances focusing on 3G/4G migrations. Our results show the scalability of the MILP model for 2 network generations and 100 sites. Moreover, they underline the cost-benefit of solving a unique optimization problem over the whole time-horizon (5 years) compared to decomposing the problem year by year