Introducing the Pure Packet Services Model

As indicated many times previously, the aim of this book is to focus on packet services,
specifically those using Internet protocols. This thrust is for a number of reasons.
First among them is the growing consensus among industry analysts that packet networks
will come to dominate telephony in the years to come, not only in wireless networks but in
wireline as well. A transition from asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) to Internet Protocol (IP)
backbones is rapidly occurring in the long haul, and IP voice and packet data services are
beginning to displace circuit voice and traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) synchronous
optical network (SONET) data connections. Even mobile networks are beginning a slow
but inexorable migration to pure packet.
The second reason has to do with network efficiency. Packet networks are much more efficient
than their circuit-based counterparts and will grow more efficient in the future. And
because the wireless broadband operator is almost always challenged in respect to available
bandwidth, network efficiency is no small matter.
Furthermore, because wireline incumbents have been notably slow in migrating over to
packet services, particularly IP voice and Ethernet and IP business services, the new wireless
broadband service provider utilizing the latest high-efficiency packet switches and routers
possesses the means of neutralizing to a considerable extent the incumbent’s advantage in
overall bandwidth. By using and reusing available bandwidth with the utmost efficiency, the
insurgent wireless service provider can frequently offer higher speed at lower cost than
the incumbent—at good profit margins, to boot.