5. Conclusion

The evolution of mobile radio systems and usage towards mobile broadband has led, and will continue to lead, to profound changes in the technologies and topologies used in the mobile transport network. As explained in this article, all-packet transport technologies are key to this evolution.

While these technologies may seem complex at first glance, the standards governing them actually offer a complete, high-performance range of tools and mechanisms enabling operators to greatly simplify their transport network and its operation. Indeed, in the long term, this packet transport network will be the unified transport network for all types of traffic and all generations of radio technologies, but it will also be able to be used as a transport network for wireline access networks (in the case of converged operators). In the shorter term, these packet transport technologies...