HUAWEI SmartCare®

Helps Sunrise Improve Network Quality

Background information

For the fifth consecutive time, Connect, the biggest telecommunications

magazine in Europe performed the largest network performance test in
Switzerland.

Network Quality Improvement

Competition in the Swiss telecom market is fierce and good service

quality is a key to winning the competition. In 2011 and 2012, Sunrise,
the largest private telecom operator in Switzerland, ranked third among
the Swiss telecom operators in the Connect network quality test
evaluations, and was rated as “satisfactory”.
In September 2012 Sunrise changed technology partner and chose
Huawei and a clear strategy of investment and quality improvement
was defined. Based on the decision to start a new partnership, Sunrise
launched a network quality improvement program aiming at offering the
best network services and experience to its customers.
In order to quickly improve its Network Quality and win new customers,
Sunrise began to use the HUAWEI SmartCare® Network and Service
Quality Improvement (N&SQI) solution on its network.

01
Network Optimization, the Right Solution at the
Right Time

Due to the tremendous growth of data traffic, the network capacity

needed to be improved. There were two main goals for the network
improvement: expand the 3G/HSPA mobile network, reaching more
than 98% coverage with the appropriate capacity, and launch the LTE
network.
In June 2013, Huawei put together a team of experts with Sunrise
network and service quality improvement and immediately began a
network survey to see where the improvements could be made. Through
detail triaging and diagnosis, the survey determined that there was room
for improvement in Sunrise network planning and network optimization: 1)
Improve voice quality; 2) Enhance in-house coverage; and 3) Speed up
LTE coverage
Expanding LTE coverage would significantly improve Sunrise network
quality, however, this would take time and it would not help Sunrise
achieve better results in the 2013 Connect network test. Therefore,
HUAWEI SmartCare® N&SQI solution was used to quickly identify the
spots where the coverage is weak enhance it and add crucial features to
improve Sunrise network performance on time.

02
 KQI Measurements Offer Invaluable Insights
into Customer Experience

After determining the key factors to be improved in the Sunrise network,

the team of experts started measuring the network performance using
Huawei customer experience-centered “Key Quality Indicator (KQI)
system”. The KQI system covers two scenarios (cities and highways)
and separately measures the performance of the data and voice
services. The data service test items include several key measurements
which will determine the quality and the performance of the network.
The KQIs include the following parameters: throughput, delay, cut-off
rate, and interruption rate. Huawei KQI system reflects the actual user
experience in each service flow, as browsing a web page. The results
of the test provide accurate data for subsequent improvement of the
network planning and optimization, as well as of the users’ experience.

Gap Analysis, Ad Hoc Optimization, and

Network Operations Support

The results of the global KQI measurement and of the drive test (DT)
provided essential data for a gap analysis that helped identify the
bottlenecks in the network performance. They also showed how to better
allocate the resources to achieve the best results within a short time.
Based on the analysis results, the team of experts determined nine
improvement areas that covered both voice and data services. In the
voice service area, where Sunrise had a slight competitive edge, the ad
hoc optimization performed by the expert team further enhanced Sunrise
leading position. As an example, the optimization that was performed
improved Sunrise call completion rate and call setup delay, which were
already the best among the three Swiss operators.
In the data service area, where Sunrise had fallen behind, the network
capacity was expanded in a cost-effective manner by adjusting network
parameters and introducing new features to maximize network efficiency.
This significantly improved Sunrise data service KQIs, for example, the
HD video success rate KQI.

03
 Figure 1 Comparison of voice call completion rates among three Swiss
operators

The team of experts also helped Sunrise formulate the necessary

technical specifications and processes to ensure smooth operations in
network optimization. For example, Switzerland has the most restrictive
regulations on effective radiated power (ERP) of base stations in
Europe, so power design specifications and weak-coverage cell handling
procedures were necessary to ensure that all radio network optimization
operations complied with the regulations.
The team also closely monitored the performance of cells and stations,
to identify potential risks, and formulated effective workarounds. During
the final preparation stage, Huawei performed several operations on
Sunrise network to improve the customers’ experience.
Huawei team of experts made significant contribution to Sunrise success
in the 2013 Connect test and its overall network performance.

04
 Achievements

Sunrise's Network KQI’s and user experience significantly improved in a

very short time. On December 5, 2013, Connect magazine published the
results of the mobile network test for 2013.
Sunrise scored 405 points and was ranked fifth among eleven telecom
operators from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This showed the
largest improvement with +49 points vs Orange at -32 points change
and Swisscom changing by +2 points. Sunrise achieved the second best
results among Switzerland's three operators, and its network quality
rating also improved from "Satisfactory" to "Good."
In the most important category “Telephony in the City”, Sunrise achieved
the same result as Swisscom.
Elmar Grasser, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Sunrise, commenting
on the results in the 2013 connect test. "The results show that we are on
the right track by updating the entire network with our partner Huawei,
a world leading ICT company. We will continue to invest heavily both
in our network infrastructure as a whole and specifically in its quality to
offer the Sunrise customers the best network experience”.
Sunrise also proudly published the test results, immediately after the
results were released.

Sunrise flew 30,000 colorful balloons in Lake Zurich for celebrating its great
achievement of 2013 Connect tests

05
The following graphic shows the Connect test scores of the three
Swiss operators from 2011 to 2013:

06