As demand for mobile multimedia services increases and average revenue per user (ARPU) declines, mobile service providers must transform their networks to profitably support legacy voice and advanced packet-based services. The mobile transport network is one of the key considerations for mobile service providers planning a network transformation. To migrate and scale the backhaul and backbone network to meet market and business objectives, mobile service providers need an end-to-end architecture - from cell site to core - that supports diverse evolution alternatives and provides a clear path to all-IP.

The Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Evolution Transport Architecture (META) delivers an end-to-end network architecture that provides the intelligence, flexibility, simplicity and cost-effectiveness required to support massive growth in the number of mobile subscribers, applications and devices. It allows service providers to make a profitable transition to a more cost-effective mobile transport network infrastructure that supports current services and delivers new multimedia services and applications.

This paper outlines the challenges associated with transforming the mobile transport network and presents the Alcatel-Lucent approach to effective transformation.