Nokia Siemens Networks

Extending 3G coverage with cost-

efficient WCDMA frequency refarming

Elisa Customer Testimonial

Helping Elisa boost speed and extend its reach across Finland

Eager to connect with customers beyond city limits and take its 3G


performance promise nationwide, Elisa Corporation, a leading Finnish


communications service company, opted to go with Nokia Siemens


Networks WCDMA 900 solution.

Seeking a smarter, safer

way to broaden coverage
Founded in Helsinki in 1882, Elisa
provides voice, telecommunication,
and customized communications
services to private, corporate, and
institutional customers, serving over
1.3 million wireline subscribers. Elisa
is the broadband market leader in
Finland with 0.5 million subscriptions
and a forerunner in providing new
mobile and content services with
over 2.5 million cellular subscribers.

Photo: Eetu Prieur, Head of Access Networks

Planning and Optimization, Elisa Corporation

Roll-out of WCDMA 900 can be really

fast compared to WCDMA 2100. Based
on our experience we can practically
skip new site acquisition and building,
and still get an excellent 3G coverage.
From there on, it is primarily updating the
rental contracts and refarming the 900
frequency band. Rental, electricity and
transmission costs stay in check when
you dont have to add new BTS sites.
Eetu Prieur, Head of Access Networks
Planning and Optimization,
Elisa Corporation.

Gearing up to grow
revenues with 3G
3G services are among Elisas key
competitive assets. In Finland, operators
are free to sell 3G packages comprising
the subscription and user equipment,
a business model that has paid dividends
for Elisa. But the market is changing
with the growing popularity of PC cards,
USB sticks, and other devices suited
for using wireless broadband services
with PCs. And growing numbers of
subscribers are using mobile handsets
to do things like push e-mail, navigate,
and download maps.
Elisa saw that customers with 3G access
were far more willing to embrace data
services. The company was also keen
to afford people in sparsely populated
rural areas the same access to more

Elisa Customer Testimonial

sophisticated mobile services that urban

customers enjoy. So Elisa decided to
gear up for 3G services throughout its
mobile network.
One way to do this would be to deploy
a conventional 2100 MHz WCDMA
network. On the downside, a 3G system
operating in the 2100 MHz frequency
band requires threefold more new sites
than systems operating at 900 MHz
because each base stations coverage
radius is smaller and in-building
propagation is weaker. So the cost
of WCDMA 2100 MHz was found to
be prohibitive even a significantly
bigger subscriber base and revenues
boost would hardly justify the expense.

Nokia Siemens
Networks solution can
lower the site count by a
remarkable 65%, and
total cost of ownership
by an equally noteworthy
60% over five years.

The daunting technical challenges

of frequency refarming
On paper, WCDMA at a frequency of
900 MHz looked to be the ideal choice.
But what about in the real world? 2G
equipment also runs at 900 MHz, so
these networks would have to co-exist
in the same band. Whats more, planning,
testing, and implementing a WCDMA
900 overlay requires a great deal of
highly specialized expertise.
Keeping legacy services alive
and customers satisfied
Beyond all this, Elisas biggest concern
was protecting legacy business interests
and sustaining current operations. The
majority of subscribers today rely on
2G services. To safeguard this mobile
revenue base, the company persisted
in finding a solution that would have
no adverse impact on its 2G business.
WCDMA refarming looked promising
because
A proven WCDMA refarming
solution is commercially available.
Getting into WCDMA 900 early on, Elisa
could influence its evolutionary path.
3G data rates are increasing thanks
to the availability of High Speed
Packet Access (HSPA)
functionalities, including for 900 MHz.
WCDMA 900 speeds up and cuts
the cost of 3G rollout because it
requires fewer sites and allows
legacy sites to be reused without
site acquisition efforts or civil works.
3G coverage at 900 MHz costs far
less than at 2100 MHz.

Making WCDMA frequency

refarming work for Elisa
The company soon found the solution
it was seeking. Spearheading advances
in WCDMA refarming, Nokia Siemens
Networks was the first to come up with
a credible WCDMA 900 solution, and
had the equipment and expertise to
make the solution work in the real world.
Our products met Elisas bottom-line
needs on how to:
Refarm GSM frequencies without
impairing GSM performance
Select and set parameters for
optimizing the network and
refarming spectrum
Change GSM configurations and
use measurement-based frequency
allocation to accurately optimize the
effect on GSM performance
Measure WCDMA 900 network
performance

Launching the worlds first

WCDMA 900 network
It all fell into place in late 2007
the timing was perfect for launching
WCDMA 900. The equipment and HSPA
functionality for high-speed data services
were available, and the regulatory body
had given the green light.
So Elisa and our consultants teamed
up to devise an end-to-end solution for
smooth WCDMA frequency refarming
that makes the most of GSM capacity
and service quality, and enables
successful 3G and GSM co-existence.
To this end, Elisa rolled out a WCDMA
900 radio access network based on
our Flexi WCDMA base station and
RNC, using NetAct Optimizer tool to
plan and manage the transition, and
make the most of legacy assets.
It would become the worlds first fullfledged WCDMA network operating
in the 900-MHz band.

Elisa Customer Testimonial

Fast fact: Re-planned

with powerful NetAct
Optimizer, the GSM
networks performance
actually improved!

Smart moves to sustain

GSM performance
Several smart moves satisfied
Elisas top priority of sustaining GSM
performance: One was to spare
bandwidth by condensing carrier
spacing. Reserving just 4.2 MHz
that is, 21 channels - for the WCDMA
carrier left more frequencies available
for GSM use and minimized the impact
on GSM performance. Elisa also
employed our NetAct Optimizer tool
for GSM network frequency re-planning.
It goes straight to the sources, using
hard facts - actual radio network
measurements - as the basis for
allocating new frequencies.
Elisa was compelled to remove some
GSM TRX from the WCDMA 900 MHz
area to reallocate channels from GSM
to WCDMA. AMR HR (Adaptive Multi
Rate Half Rate) was used to boost
GSM spectral efficiency because it
enables the same hardware to provide
double the capacity, making GSM TRX
easy to replace.

Elisa Customer Testimonial

Off the drawing board

and into the field
The results of Elisas field testing
confirmed expectations. WCDMA 900
coverage is comparable to GSM 900
coverage, albeit with high data rates. Elisa
deployed HSDPA with five codes, 16QAM
modulation, and HSUPA activated in
the WCDMA 900 network. The air
interference peak rate was 3.6 Mbps.
The performance was every bit as good
as that of a WCDMA 2100 system with
the same feature set. And Nokia Siemens
Networks lived up to its performance
promise, completing the laboratory trial,
field testing, and commercial
implementation right on schedule.

Conventional planning tools may

not be optimal for refarming. The
specialized optimization tool, NetAct
Optimizer is reliable, fast, and easy to
use, and improves GSM planning in
many cases where far fewer channels
are available for GSM usage.
Vesa Orava, Network Manager,
Elisa Corporation

At the time 3G was introduced it was, more than anything else,

about hotspots and the like in urban centres the perspective
was quite different from what it is now. WCDMA 2100 suits this
purpose very well but as it has turned out, the customer is not
interested in whether shes at a hotspot or not, she just wants it
to work everywhere. When we first learned that WCDMA was
going to use the 900 frequency, it was quite a big deal. WCDMA
900 provides good coverage and, from a financial standpoint,
makes the most out of our existing sites and investments.
Timo Sippola, Technology Manager, Elisa Corporation

Going strong with GSM,

getting stronger with 3G
Elisas decision to go with Nokia Siemens
Networks brand of frequency refarming
paid big dividends. Some of the many
benefits include
More satisfied subscribers, a
competitive edge with improved
3G coverage, and a milestone
on the way to nationwide 3G
Courtesy of the shared frequency
and the Flexi WCDMA BTS zero
footprint, sites, hardware, antennas,
and accessories were reused to
slash costs and speed deployment.
Powerful NetAct optimization,
implementation, and performance
monitoring tools enabled fast, easy
roll-out and made the most of Elisas
spectrum assets.
A cost-effective 3G upgrade and
even better quality 2G service
All this made WCDMA frequency
refarming a success story for Elisa.

Elisa Customer Testimonial

An end-to-end solution,
sourced from a technology
leader
Nokia Siemens Networks indeed
designs, develops, and deploys
systems. But we are far more than
merely a vendor; we are a true partner
to Elisa. We were here yesterday,
helping Elisa deploy WCDMA into
900 MHz, sharing bandwidth with
GSM to efficiently provide 3G coverage.
And we will be there tomorrow, when
this cost- and energy-efficient refarming
solution delivers a genuine broadband
experience to users handsets
throughout the country.

Nokia Siemens Networks

P.O. Box 1
FI-02022 NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS
Finland
Visiting address:
Karaportti 3, ESPOO, Finland
Switchboard +358 71 400 4000 (Finland)
Switchboard +49 89 5159 01 (Germany)
Order-No. C401-00256-R-200810-1-EN
Copyright 2008 Nokia Siemens Networks.
All rights reserved.
Nokia Siemens Networks and the wave logo are registered
trademarks of Nokia Siemens Networks. Other company and
product names mentioned here in may be trademarks or
trade names of their respective owners.
This publication is issued to provide information only and is
not to form part of any order contract. The products and
services described herein are subject to availability and
change without notice.

www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com
Elisa Customer Testimonial