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No danger of repeating yourself: reducing the costs of LTE deployment(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The global demand for mobile broadband and data services is growing considerably as access devices become increasingly sophisticated. LTE, the fourth generation mobile network technology, promises to meet that demand with multi megabyte connections for mobile subscribers but although steps have been made in some markets, there's been no rush to deploy LTE. The cost of creating the necessary infrastructure is a major factor in the delays but 'repeaters', an established but developing technology, may provide the key to cost effective LTE deployment. LTE has some quite specific requirements in terms of the radio access network. Multi-megabyte data transfers are entirely dependent on the user having access to a high quality and reliable connection. Few operators have sufficient base stations in the network to deliver the 'signal to noise' ratios required using their existing signal transmission equipment. Unfortunately the situation is further complicated by the requirement for LTE to operate in inherently less propagation efficient spectrum such as 2.5Ghz. Those factors mean that a traditional approach to network planning and provision produces a requirement, not only for upgraded transmission equipment, but for a significant increase in the number of base stations. The capital, property, environmental and ongoing operational support costs are considerable and make the decision to commit to LTE extremely complex, despite the potential revenue opportunity. Alternative approaches are possible including carrier grade distributed antenna systems which extend the reach of a single base station but such systems rely on the provision of high capacity (and high cost) fibre links between each network element. The adoption of pico and femtocells connected to fixed broadband routers is also offered as a solution, but they also require very high speed backhaul in order to offer users the data rate that LTE can deliver. As a result, the cost for providing a multi megabit connection up to every pico/femtocell would be very high compared to the hardware cost for the pico/femto itself. LTE does present an enormous opportunity for the mobile operators, a recent forecast from Juniper Research estimated that global revenues from LTE subscribers will exceed $70bn (GBP43bn) by 2014. HÃ¥kan Samuelsson, chief technology officer of Axell Wireless, the wireless coverage specialist believes that operators can access those revenues more quickly by taking another look at one of the industry's oldest technologies - repeaters (also known as relay nodes). The repeaters are used to receive, amplify and re-transmit signals. They are currently used to provide coverage in difficult locations (e.g. tunnels) and are sometimes used as an interim measure to provide more general coverage prior to the provision of a dedicated based station. Samuelsson proposes an LTE solution that uses repeaters as a core network element rather than a temporary measure. Such a solution would involve a network using the existing base station topology and primary transmission equipment. Signal strength in the area covered by individual base stations would then be augmented by a number of advanced repeaters. This new approach to the design of LTE networks, Samuelsson maintains, is highly efficient, minimises the requirement for new base stations and protects the operators existing equipment investment. Samuelsson will be able to discuss how operators can meet the data requirements of LTE and reduce the capital expenditure associated with LTE rollout. He will be able to discuss how operators can: --Maintain spectrum efficiency --Optimise backhaul --Deliver LTE based services --Sustain and develop LTE networks ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS |