The following story includes changes to the 3rd and 4th pghs to clarify what happens when the phone loses power.

NSN announced at CTIA 2013 Tuesday new software applications that let networks more easily manage and reduce signaling traffic and connections with devices. The software enhances the NSN Liquid Radio WCDMA Software Suite.

Phil Twist, head of portfolio marketing for NSN, said an example of the software’s capabilities is when a smartphone drops the connection using ‘fast dormancy’ to preserve its battery when always-on applications are running in the background.

“The network can’t control the fast dormancy switch off, and when the device reconnects there is a lot of messaging traffic (setting up a new connection,)” Twist said.

With increased use of mobile broadband connections and its “always-on” applications this can be problematic when the connection is lost.

The new Liquid Radio Software Suite enables the network to adapt to disruptions and reduce the amount of signaling, Twist said. It reduces the amount of signaling overload as much as tenfold.

The new NSN software applications frees up network capacity for smartphones, thereby helping smartphone users see faster services, as well as saving on device energy consumption and extending battery life. Oh, and it saves operators on operating costs.

The software also significantly reduces the air interface load on a Radio Network Controller through what NSN calls “fast dormancy profiling,” which identifies legacy smartphones on the network and eliminates the unnecessary signaling they create, he said.

Another application learns how specific smartphones use network services and sets up shortcuts to the signaling process for rapid call set-up, faster responses for mobile broadband and reduced signaling.

Twist said improved network performance is a key to the acquisition and retention of subscribers. He cited a recent NSN study of the reasons subscribers stay with their operator, which shows a huge increase in the number of subscribers who are heavy users of data, with 63 percent of subscribers in the U.S. falling in that category. The study also shows that more than 39 percent of subscribers are willing to change to another carrier if they don’t have the kind of service they want.

“Even though 70 percent of the people say that prices in the main factor,” he said, “more than one-third are willing to pay more to get what they want.”