Mobile Network Optimisation Eurasia Summit 2011 19 - 22 September, 2011, Elite World Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey

Maximised LTE Performance with Intelligent Network Design, Rollout and Pre-optimisation
Mikko Valtonen Manager Business Development

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Omnitele in Nutshell

Proven visionary in the wireless industry offering tangible results to its customers in designing, optimizing and developing their network business.

Founded in 1988 to set up the first GSM operator in the world. Since then, Omnitele has assisted operators in over 1000 projects in 78 countries.
Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. Local presence in Netherlands and ME. Employs 60+ consultants with solid technical and business acumen. Independent of all international operator groups and telecom equipment vendors.

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Omnitele Services - Driving Results in Network Business

Turnkey services to support operators in designing, developing and managing their network business optimally. We bridge the gap between technology and economics with a holistic selection of strategy consulting and engineering services.

Technology Strategy
Vendor selection and management Infrastructure procurement Frequency strategy Mobile broadband & technology strategy

Network Design
Turnkey NW planning services Mobile and broadcasting networks All radio technologies and equipment vendors

Network Quality
Network auditing Performance benchmarking Network optimisation with KPI commitments Performance management

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Topics discussed

Frequency band usage and restructuring for LTE deployment Optimised LTE dimensioning and design LTE deployment on legacy site grid Real life experiences from LTE rollouts

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Outlook of Spectrum Refarming for LTE

(Europe, Middle East)

MHz
2,500 2,000 1,800 900 LTE 3G LTE 3G LTE 3G/LTE

GSM
GSM/3G

GSM/LTE
GSM/3G LTE

LTE
3G/LTE LTE LTE

470 - 862

Analog TV

DVB-T DVB - T

200

VHF

VHF

VHF

2010

2015

2020

How much spectrum needed? What frequencies to deploy? How much to bid for the new licenses?
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Recent frequency re-farming actions

LTE 2600MHz launched mainly for marketing purposes,

Will be the capacity layer of LTE

LTE 1800MHz gaining popularity

Time to market advantage compared to LTE800 Reusing spectrum and infra saves CAPEX Band is widely available globally , although occupied by GSM Usability of GSM-LTE MSR varies very much case by case, LTE functions better on 3G grid

LTE1800 dominating large scale commercial deployments

High interest towards Digital Dividend 800MHz

Enables cost-efficient mobile broadband for emerging markets Regulatory challenges remain in many markets

900MHz and 2100MHz not for LTE in near future

Occupied by GSM or UMTS for now At the moment lack of wide industry support

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Optimised LTE Network Dimensioning

Model current networks capability to provide future capacity, coverage and QoS:
Site density and spectral efficiency, spatial and temporal traffic patterns, QoS requirements.. QoS and traffic
Traffic distribution Target user bitrate

Technology constraints
Spectral efficiency Available specrum

Network Characteristics
Topology and layers Site configurations

Link Budgets

Target probability

Transmission

Sector details
Cell throughput #of cells/sector

Iteration of max load for sector configurations

Sector details

QoS target

LTE rollout strategy

Dynamic network modelling to link Spectrum, Technology, Infrastructure, Traffic and QoS
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Analysing site grid re-usability

LTE suburban deployment - Coverage

Suburban800 on GSM900 grid

Suburban1800 on GSM1800 grid

Suburban2600 on UMTS2100 grid

Signal strength (dBm) Under -100 -75 to -100 Above -75

Suburban 800 0% 15% 85%

Suburban 1800 1% 44% 55%

Suburban 2600 2% 60% 38%

Adequate outdoor coverage in all cases. 2.6 GHz indoor coverage not very good.

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

Analysing site grid re-usability

LTE suburban deployment - Capacity

From capacity point of view LTE2600 and LTE1800 are suitable for suburban deployment
Slightly higher cell capacity of LTE2600 due to better cell isolation

LTE800 has too little spectrum and site count (and low SINR) for typical suburban population density
LTE Capacity Simulations - Typical Suburban
Sector Capacity
40000 35000 30000

User Bitrate

34 467 25 597

37 965 31 142

[kbit/s]

25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0

14 767 10 201

LTE1800 20MHz

LTE2600 20MHz

LTE800 10MHz

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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Analysing site grid re-usability

LTE rural deployment - Coverage and Capacity

Comparison of alternative LTE deployment scenarios:
800MHz, 10MHz bandwidth 1800MHz,10MHz bandwidth Both on GSM900 sites and antennas

1800MHz has 30% area coverage loss, and 25% population coverage lost Is this acceptable?
LTE Capacity Simulations - Typical Rural
30000 25000

Rural800 on GSM900 grid

[kbit/s]

20000 15000 10000 5000

25 564 20 873 19 842 15 533

LTE800 10MHz
Sector Capacity

LTE1800 10MHz
User Bitrate

Rural1800 on GSM900 grid

LTE1800 feasible for rural 900MHz grid, if 800MHz not available and coverage holes are accepted/filled with additional sites
Omnitele Ltd. 2011 11

Guidelines for Practical LTE Deployment

Suburban/Urban

Refarming GSM1800 for LTE is the best solution

Rural

If 1800 not available, LTE2600 is OK for a very tight urban grid

HSPA2100+LTE2600 is sufficient solution for suburbans

Sub-1GHz band is mandatory, higher frequencies yield unsustainable economics Need to have LTE800 or LTE900 for continuous coverage of high capacity mobile broadband UMTS900 is minimum requirement

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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Lessons learned from site grid analysis

LTE1800 in 2100MHz grid OK

Fits well, yields good performance Basically no site-count benefit from lower frequency Notable indoor coverage gain over 2600MHz Some radio optimisation needed due to overshooting

LTE1800 in 900MHz grid Not OK

Leaves coverage holes Not suitable solution for a GSM-only operator

LTE2600 in 2100MHz grid - OK

Suites rather well in urban grids giving good performance Indoor coverage in par with UMTS

LTE800 in 900MHz grid - OK

A perfect solution for rural mobile broadband Capacity limitations in urban area deployments

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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Real life experiences and lessons learned LTE 1800 Rollout

Background

Rollout LTE1800 on existing GSM1800 grid

Target

Reuse existing infra, use MSR equipment for LTE+GSM co-siting

GSM-optimised

Finding

Using the existing GSM antennas is challenging in many cases 90% of the sites re-optimised

LTE-optimised
GSM vs. LTE optimisation trade-off: Typical GSM network plan has a lot of cell overlapping GSM-optimised RF results in reduced LTE performance LTE-Optimised RF results in coverage holes for GSM Carefully study the trade-off between MSR cost savings and rollout feasibility
Omnitele Ltd. 2011 14

LTE Field Measurements

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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LTE Field Trial for Vendor Selection, Suburban 2.6GHz

As expected, bandwidth is like the cubic inches of an engine Notable multiuser scheduling gain measured
LTE Field Measurements - Multiuser Performance
Terminal 1 70.0 60.0 50.0 [Mbit/s] 40.0 43.2 56.6 38.1 20.0 Vendor A 20MHz 2x20W (Single user) Vendor A 20MHz 2x20W (2 Terminals) Vendor B 10MHz 2x20W (Single user) 21.2 Vendor B 10MHz 2x20W (2 Terminals)
+16% +12%

Terminal 2

30.0
20.0 10.0 0.0

23.0

*Stationary field measurements in an empty interference-free network, RSRP -75dBm

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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LTE1800 Proof of Concept Measurements

PoC as part of network SWAP/modernisation project managed by Omnitele

PoC area: 43 eNodeBs and 124 LTE1800 cells Good coverage and SINR, empty network
Project Planning Network Design
Omnitele Role: Defining the planning guidelines and high level swap plan Client Benefit: Efficient workflow of the whole campaign

Omnitele Role: Fully responsible for swap design and new RAN planning Client Benefit: Full advantage of new technology, minimised traffic driven CAPEX & OPEX

Proof of Concept
Project Management Acceptance

Omnitele Role: Verify HW/SW live performance and practical swap process Client Benefit: Proven project plan, process execution and technology performance

Omnitele Role: Supervising deployment, and other vendor activities Client Benefit: Smooth process without excess delays, no excess OPEX

Omnitele Role: Final network acceptance Client Benefit: Network is of top quality and meets the highest industry standards

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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LTE1800 PoC - Throughput

Throughput was good on measured areas
Average application layer throughput was 21,6 Mbps Throughput was >10Mbps ~60% of time High throughputs even when coverage is low, especially in edge areas where interference from other cells is low 10 20Mbps even with RSRP < -115dBm

10Mbps 20Mbps 30Mbps 40Mbps 50Mbps 60Mbps

Omnitele Ltd. 2011 18

LTE1800 PoC Other findings

Other notes
Cell change takes very long time (~10s break in download) frequently SHO problem related to ANR functionality and X2 implementation All network features were not active (not ready/available)

Good RF functionality:
LTE uses higher order modulation more than 3G 64QAM used ~27% of time MIMO (2x2) used almost all the time (~99%) during measurements

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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Carefull analysis required to choose optimised LTE rollout strategy

QoS

Business targets

800

1800

2600

Frequency band
Infra structure & site grid

800

1800
Suburban

2600

Urban

Rural

Enviroment
Vendor Rollout

Planning & Optimisation

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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For additional info, visit www.omnitele.com

Omnitele Ltd. 2011

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