umts900 spectrum carving solution

UMTS900 Spectrum Carving Solution

Service Description

March/2009

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CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 3

1.1. OBJECT .................................................................................................................................... 3

1.2. SCOPE OF THIS DOCUMENT .......................................................................................................... 3

1.3. AUDIENCE FOR THIS DOCUMENT ................................................................................................... 3

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ 4

3. GENERAL ............................................................................................................................ 5

3.1. UMTS900 CHALLENGES ............................................................................................................. 5

3.2. SOLUTION KEY BENEFITS .............................................................................................................. 6

3.3. SOLUTION DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................................. 7

4. CASE STUDY ........................................................................................................................ 8

4.1. NETWORK DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................................. 8

4.2. IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 8

5. DELIVERY PHASES ............................................................................................................... 9

5.1. BASELINE & TARGET ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................. 9

5.2. PERFORMANCE COMMITMENT ..................................................................................................... 9

5.3. IMPLEMENTATION ...................................................................................................................... 9

6. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................10



1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. OBJECT

This document describes Triangulum’s UMTS900 Spectrum Carving solution.

1.2. SCOPE OF THIS DOCUMENT

The document provides a description of Triangulum's UMTS900 Spectrum

Carving solution with its key benefits for wireless operators followed by a

detailed breakdown of the service and delivery phases.

1.3. AUDIENCE FOR THIS DOCUMENT

Strategic planning technical department.

Network planning department.

Procurement department.



2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The UMTS/HSPA deployment in the 900MHz frequency band has become an

attractive proposition for GSM wireless operators worldwide.

The ability to deploy UMTS/HSPA in the 900MHz band provides wireless

operators with an opportunity to offer more affordable broadband data

services with higher data rates and better coverage compared to deployment

in the regular 2GHz band.

Nevertheless, deploying UMTS/HSPA network in 900MHz band could be a

challenging task. Careful design and detailed planning is essential to

successfully maintain the existing GSM network quality and capacity when

deploying new UMTS900 network.

Triangulum's advanced GSM900 spectrum carving solution provides an ability

to clear 5.2MHz (coordinated deployment) or 5.6MHz (non-coordinated

deployment) for UMTS900 deployment from existing 900MHZ band, while

meeting the quality of service requirements for live GSM network and ensure

a stable, a reliable and an efficient network, taking into account the future

data services and voice traffic growth.



3. GENERAL

Deploying UMTS/HSPA mobile broadband systems in the 900MHz band

brings substantial efficiency and lower costs for wireless operators.

Since the radio wave propagation path-loss in the 900MHz band is

significantly lower than in the 2GHz band, fewer sites are needed for

equivalent coverage. As a result, 900MHz is an ideal band for extending the

benefits of broadband connectivity to rural and sub-urban areas.

In addition, the radio propagation characteristics in the lower band provides

better in-building coverage and allows more users in urban environments to

experience improved services indoor.

Another important issue for UMTS/HSPA deployment in 900MHz band is an

ability to utilize an existing GSM infrastructure (cables, antennae and etc.),

which leads to significant costs reduction.

3.1. UMTS900 CHALLENGES

In order to benefit from the cost effective UMTS/HSPA deployment in

900MHz band, some currently used for GSM900 spectrum must be carved

off. Spectrum re-allocation in 900MHz band requires GSM900 network

reorganization via intensive parameter optimization, which will allow

clearance of 5.2 or 5.6MHz for single UMTS900 carrier deployment.

Re-framing the 900 MHz spectrum without disrupting the current GSM

services can be a major challenge. Single UMTS900 carrier requires at least

one block of 2 x 5.6 MHz (UL and DL) spectrum in 900MHz band. This is a

significant amount of spectrum, which has to be cleared from a heavily

loaded GSM network. There are few important factors that should not be

ignored while deploying UMTS on 900MHz band:



Quality of service degradation for existing GSM network must be

avoided during and after the spectrum carving process, since GSM

network a major revenue generator for wireless operator.

Spectrum reduction should not prevent ability to serve voice and data

traffic growth for GSM network.

The existing GSM900 network should not generate interference to

newly deployed UMTS900 network.

Deployment of UMTS900 network should not require an additional

expensive hardware installation.

By implementing Triangulum's spectrum carving solutions, these targets can

be successfully achieved within strict time limits, reasonable budget and

without additional infrastructure and hardware requirements.

3.2. SOLUTION KEY BENEFITS

Triangulum's UMTS900 spectrum carving solution is a cost-effective way to

deploy new technology, while keeping an existing network performance and

minimizing investments.

Our solution is focused on keeping high-quality of end-user experience in an

existing GSM network, while preparing a smooth UMTS900 network

deployment. Our knowledge and methods have been developed and

validated for few highly loaded and complicated networks around the world.

Our optimization methodologies are shared with our customer's personnel

throughout the optimization process, helping to leverage the in-house

competence and transfer the required “know-how” into the operator's

organization.

We identify the following major key benefits of implementing our solution:



Providing 5.2MHz spectrum clearance in 900MHz band for UMTS/HSPA

coordinated deployment.

Providing 5.6MHz spectrum clearance in 900MHz band for UMTS/HSPA

non-coordinated deployment.

Maintain the quality of service for existing GSM network.

Maintaining capacity for existing GSM network.

Improving the wireless operator's competence and processes efficiency.

Commitment for results, costs and time frame in a multi-vendor

environment.

3.3. SOLUTION DESCRIPTION

The common approach for 900MHz spectrum carving is based on complicate

separation of UMTS900 “deployment area” and “transition area”. Where

transition area does not utilize cleared 900MHz spectrum neither for

GSM900, nor for UMTS900 in order to avoid a mutual interference. The

complexity here is related to precise definition of transition area that will

prevent interference.

Triangulum’s methodology relies on live network mobile report

measurements that allow definition of exact (per cell basis) area, where

GSM900 spectrum should be carved without creation of transition area.

Together with advanced GSM traffic management approach, our

methodology will avoid any GSM network performance degradation.

When wireless operator utilizes the UMTS900 coordinated deployment

approach, then our methodology allows minimization of carved spectrum to

5.2MHz only.

The entire cycle of spectrum carving project takes a very limited timeframe

between 4 to 6 weeks, while keeping or even improving an existing network

performance.



4. CASE STUDY

This chapter describes the spectrum carving solution case study, which is

based on real project results.

4.1. NETWORK DESCRIPTION

The spectrum carving solution had been implemented on network with

following specification:

Environment Dense Urban

1800 Cells 250

900 Cells 350

Available 1800 band 70 ARFCNs

Available 900 band 62 ARFCNs

Average TRXs per Cell 4

Spectrum carving requirements: 30 ARFCNs (6MHz) in GSM900 band.

4.2. IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS

The entire project implementation took 4 weeks end to end. The following

table represents achieved results on GSM network after clearing 6MHz:

KPI Before After

Call Success Rate 97.62 98.24

SDCCH Assign Success 99.59 99.93

SDCCH Drop 0.60 0.45

TCH Assign Success 99.08 99.20

Call Drop Rate 0.47 0.45

SDCCH Congestion 0.05 0.03

TCH Congestion 0.12 0.05

SDCCH Traffic 9034.41 9154.86

TCH Traffic 55734.75 59991.80

Half Rate, % 20.86 8.50

HO Success 98.43 98.69



5. DELIVERY PHASES

The following chapter describes the spectrum carving solution

implementation steps. Each step is tailored to our customer’s needs and its

unique network structure.

5.1. BASELINE & TARGET ASSESSMENT

Evaluation of network capabilities and network structure.

Network quality of service and performance definitions.

Definition of a required GSM network performance and capacity level.

Definition of project's the scope of works.

Definition of project's timeframes.

Definition of project's targets.

Benchmarking the GSM network current performance level.

5.2. PERFORMANCE COMMITMENT

Agreement on project's scope of works.

Agreement on project's timeframe.

Agreement on project's targets.

5.3. IMPLEMENTATION

Spectrum carving solution implementation.

Benchmarking post implementation GSM network performance.

Competence build-up delivered to the customer.



6. CONCLUSIONS

The competitive arena has pushing wireless operators to deploy new services

and new technologies. Facing new business challenges, operators need to

make the right strategic choices in terms of professional services offered.

Triangulum has the knowledge, the ability, and the solutions to work

together with operators to form the best market proposition.

For further discussion on how UMTS900 spectrum carving solution can be

implemented for your network, please, contact Triangulum PTE Ltd.

umts900 spectrum carving solution

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