Working on the premise that traffic is never equally distributed between sites – typically during a busy hour 50% of the traffic is carried by 15% of the cells – the majority of cells remain underutilized. Adding more users can in effect lead to a more equal traffic distribution between sites and a more profitable use of available capacity.
Further, since traffic distribution is not equal between subscribers – 20% of the subscribers take more than 80% of the bandwidth – network efficiency can be greatly improved by balancing the traffic. For example, radio capacity can be boosted by deploying additional macro sites in hot spots, using 6-sector configurations**, applying QoS differentiation, and by offloading traffic in highly populated areas.
Operating expenditure is the main component in an operator’s cost base. Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Multiradio Base Station is a compact, zero-footprint base station that fits on any existing base station site, making the reuse of existing sites extremely feasible. Fully deployable outdoors, it also makes new site acquisition simpler compared to conventional base station designs and can save on costs including electricity, site rental, backhaul and maintenance. In addition, the company’s single RAN offering will enable operators to leverage LTE to lower the cost per bit, especially when HSPA spectrum is fully utilized.
“The key to maximizing profit from the network will depend upon the accuracy of upgrading capacity of the existing HSPA network vis–vis deploying a LTE network,” added Tommi Uitto, head of Network Systems product management, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Our Flexi Multiradio Base Station with software-based evolution will allow operators to efficiently and simultaneously build high capacity on multiple bands with GSM, HSPA and LTE radio access technology, proving to be a huge differentiator and success factor.”
