Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, on Friday launched  a UMTS Small Data Packet Storm solution that aims to ease challenges arising from the widespread use of smartphones and mobile broadband (MBB) applications.

This solution enables double the number of simultaneous subscribers to access a network and enjoy MBB services.

The rapid growth of smartphones and MBB applications has strained UMTS networks. When analyzing the total amount of data traffic used on a network over a certain period of time, Huawei found that 80% of usage lasts less than 10 seconds and 60% require less than 1kbit.

This finding leads to another obstacle for MBB development, "small data packet storms". Small data packet services are different than traditional voice services and high data rate downloads. When a smartphone user frequently refreshes pages on a site being browsed, the total amount of consumed traffic is very low. In scenarios where smartphone penetration is high, with many simultaneously connected users, air interface efficiency decreases greatly leading to decreases in capacity, user experience and total connected number of users. This is a "small data packet storm."

Huawei has developed solutions to combat "small data packet storms" in order to improve user experience for subscribers using smartphones. Huawei’s Small Data Packet Storm solution can double the number of simultaneously connected subscribers on one network using smartphones. This solution has been deployed commercially in Canada, Europe, Hong Kong and other regions where it has helped operators achieve business success.