UMTS900 Spectrum Carving Solution

Service Description

March/2009









TRIANGULUM PTE LTD. CONFIDENTIAL
Copyright 2009 Triangulum PTE LTD., All Rights Reserved
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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


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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. OBJECT
This document describes Triangulums 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.
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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.
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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:
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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:
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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.
Triangulums 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.
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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
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5. DELIVERY PHASES
The following chapter describes the spectrum carving solution
implementation steps. Each step is tailored to our customers 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.
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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.