Efficiency Still Matters in Many Mobile and App Markets

Mobile operators tend to worry about efficiency more than fixed network operators in some clear ways because they have to do so.

Mobile networks and untethered networks (Wi-Fi) share resources to a great extent, just as fixed networks do. 

But the degree of sharing is roughly comparable most in the backhaul and core networks.

In the access portion fo the network, fixed networks always have had quite a "delivered bandwidth" advantage, for the simple reason that access capacity enclosed by a waveguide typically now exceeds that available using over the air spectrum.

The principle is simple enough: communications capacity confined to a waveguide can be reused as often as a new cable is installed. Over the air spectrum can be reused using cells, with more reuse the smaller the cells, but the degree of reuse is more limited than for any waveguide network.

In the past, that has meant all mobile network designers and operators were very much concerned with efficiency. That has been less the case for fixed network operators who have added broadband access pipes.

In markets where gigabits of storage cost only cents, few worry about device clock speed and fixed network Internet access inexorably pushes toward gigabit per second ranges, Wi-Fi really is becoming nearly ubiquitous and Long Term Evolution networks are highly available, the notion that efficiency really matters is a bit foreign.

But efficiency is a big issue and a big cost element in markets where reliable access is limited to 2G networks, 3G coverage is spotty at best and there are no fixed networks, while people use feature phones or lower-end smartphones.

Efficiency means better user experience and lower end user costs in many markets where cost is a big issue.

So it is that Facebook has created Facebook Lite , a new version of Facebook for Android that uses less data and works well across all network conditions, said Vijay Shankar, Product Manager for Facebook Lite.

“More than a billion people around the world access Facebook from a range of mobile devices on varying networks,” he said. “In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionality found in Facebook for Android.”

Facebook Lite enables a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum.

The Facebook Lite app consumes less  than 1MB so it is fast to install and quick to load. It includes Facebook’s core experiences like News Feed, status updates, photos, notifications and more.

Facebook Lite is available in countries across Asia, and soon will be launched in parts of Latin America, Africa and Europe, Shankar said.

Were consistency an issue, one would expect to hear complaints about creation of a two-tier Internet. It isn’t. And neither, some would argue, are other innovations designed to adapt app and device performance, accessibility and cost for new markets where huge numbers of people are unaware of the value of using the Internet, or cannot afford to pay too much to do so.

Universal service, keep in mind, virtually always involves levels of service or capabilities that lag behind those areas where there is a business model to support.

In point of fact, there are many rural and hard to reach areas where communications service is difficult because there is no sustainable business model without subsidies.

Efforts such as Android One and Facebook Lite are efforts to address high cost and user experience in areas where conventional sustainability (markets where long term profits allow continued operation) is not possible.