TOWER

INFRASTRUCTURE

By:
Jasdeep Singh
Dhaliwal
Navdeep Singh
Indian Telecom Overview
150million subscribers
Growing at 5 million subscribers per month.

Investments of over Rs. 200,000 crores

Growing @ 12% per annum.

Revenues of over Rs. 85,000 crores

Increasing @ 21% per annum
Need For Towers
Propagation of radio signal requires setting up of Towers.

Industry will need 350,000 towers for 500 million subs by 2010 .

For maintaining growth of service , setting up of towers should be

facilitated.
 Challenges
Associated with
Setting up of
Towers
ACQUIRING CELLSITES
Identification of Sites
In consonance with RF Planning.

Time frame for obtaining clearances

From Government & civic authorities.

Clearances/ Permissions from other bodies

Building societies, etc.
PROVIDING UBIQUITOUS
COVERAGE
Non availability of sites leads to Dark spots
25-35 “Dark Spots” in Central & South Delhi alone

Therefore

Affects ubiquitous coverage.

Impacts Quality of Service.
Network Congestion, call drops, etc.
SUSTAINING GROWTH
Huge Investment in Cell site Deployment.

A Price Sensitive Indian Consumer

Lowest Tariffs in the world & Declining ARPUs.

Inadequate Resources to Fund network expansion

Will impact future growth & development.
MAINTAINING AESTHETICS
Rapid Growth in Subscriber Base
~ 5 million additions per month.

Proportionate increase in Number of Towers.

Infrastructure Sharing
assumes critical
importance
Concepts Of Infrastructure
Sharing
Types of Towers
Ground-Based Tower
Erected on the ground.

GBTs are taller (typically 200 to 400 feet) and are mostly
used in rural and semi-urban areas because of the easy
availability of real-estate space there.

 Capital expenditure in the range of Rs. 2.4 to 2.8 million,

depending on the height of the tower.
Roof-Top Tower (RTT)
Generally placed on the roofs of high-rise buildings.

Are shorter (than GBTs) and more common in urban and

highly populated areas.

Involve a capital expenditure of Rs. 1.5 to 2 million.

Types of Sharing
Site sharing.

Mast (tower) sharing.

RAN (Radio Access Network) sharing.

Network roaming.

Core network sharing.

Site sharing
Involves co-location of sites.
Operators share the same
physical
compound but install
separate site masts,
antennas, cabinets and
backhaul.
This form of sharing is often
favored in urban and
suburban areas where there
is a shortage of available
sites or complex planning
requirements.
Mast sharing
 Mast, or tower, sharing is a
step up from operators
simply co-locating their sites
and involves sharing the
same mast, antenna frame
or rooftop.
 There are alternative options
available to operators when
considering mast sharing.
For example, third party
structures such as chimneys
and steel power pylons
perform comparably to
operator masts in terms of
providing the required height
and load-bearing capacity.
RAN sharing
It involves the sharing of
all access network
equipment, including the
antenna, mast and
backhaul equipment.
Each of the RAN access
networks is incorporated
into a single network,
which is then split into
separate networks at the
point of connection to the
core.
Network Operators continue to keep separate logical
networks and spectrum and the degree of
operational coordination is less than for other types
of active sharing.
The exact implementation may vary between
different operators depending on the local
implementation.
Included in the access network are:
• Radio equipment.
• Masts.
• Site compounds.
• Backhaul equipment.
Operators may face challenges in implementing a
shared RAN network formed from existing networks,
as their architectures have evolved independently to
date. For example, there may be complications
around inter-working of equipment purchased from
different vendors and operational procedures and
control mechanisms.
Core network sharing
At a basic level, the core network consists of:

• Core transmission ring.

• Switching centre (with the home location register
(HLR)).
• Billing platform.
• Value Added Systems (VAS) that represent logical
entities and may also form part of the core network.
 The core network may be shared at one of two basic
levels, namely the:

Transmission ring:
Where an operator has spare capacity on its core ring
network, it may be feasible to share this with another
operator.
The situation may be particularly attractive to new
entrants who are lacking in time or resources (or
desire) to build their own ring.
Core network logical entity sharing
Core network logical entity sharing represents a much
deeper form of sharing infrastructure and refers to
permitting a partner operator access to certain or all
parts of the core network.
This could be implemented to varying levels depending
on which platforms operators wish to share.
A simple example may be sharing the equipment
identity register (EIR) function, which on its own may
be expensive but as a pooled resource between
operators becomes more attractive.
Network roaming
Network roaming can be considered a form of infrastructure
sharing although traffic from one operator’s subscriber is
actually being carried and routed on another operator’s
network. However, there are no requirements for any
common network elements for this type of sharing to
occur. As long as a roaming agreement between the two
operators exists then roaming can take place. For this
reason operators may not classify roaming as a form of
sharing as it does not require any shared investment in
infrastructure. When roaming agreements come to an end
they can be renegotiated either with the existing host
network or another operator with minimal effort and
transitional impact.
Benefits
Improves Quality of Service through better
coverage.
Improves the aesthetics of the landscape.
Reduces costs involved in infrastructure
creation.
Optimally utilize scarce national resources.
Challenges
No. of GSM/ CDMA/ Microwave Antennas per
Tower.
Desired Azimuth and AGL for each operators.
Direction and Tilt of the Antenna.
Interference free operation for each operator.
Wind Loading Capacity –Safety factor of the
tower.
Power requirements.
Requisite clearances from various Authorities.
 Working Sites

2 Roof-top Towers
� First Tower-3 Operator Sharing (GSM) Airtel,
Hutch & Idea
Single Tower supporting 9 GSM & 3
Microwave Antennas

�Second Tower-3 Operator Sharing

1 GSM + 2 CDMA MTNL, Reliance & TTSL
SITE 2 -RAJOKRI
Ground-Based Tower

�4 Operator Sharing
�3 GSM + 1CDMA
�Airtel, Hutch, Idea & TTSL

�Single Tower supporting 9 GSM, 3CDMA & 4

Microwave Antennas
THANK YOU