power cables report

7/29/2019 Power Cables report

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A PROJECT REPORT

ON

WIRELINE SOLUTION FOR MOBILE BACKHAUL

FOR

STERLITE TECHNOLOGIES

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

SRINIVAS A N

(Manager-Business Development)

TOWARDS PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN TELECOM MANAGEMENT

(MBA -TM)

SUBMITTED BY

ASTHA

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

Pune 411 042

2010-12

MBA TM-I Batch 2010-12

Systems & Finance


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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that project titled


Is a bonafied work carried out by

Astha

For

STERLITE TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED

Under the guidance of

Srinivas A N

(Manager-Business Development)

Towards the partial fulfillment of

Master of Business Administration in Telecom Management

(MBA- TM)

Project guide


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Acknowledgement

This report is an assimilation of co operation, support and guidance of several

dignitaries. I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following

people who have made the completion of this report possible.

Firstly, I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Mr. Prashant Nazare (Business

head, Sterlite Technologies Ltd) for vital encouragement and support.

I am indebted to my mentor Mr. Srinivas A N (Manager-Business Development,

Sterlite Technologies Ltd) who acted as a pillar of support and a light of knowledge

during the journey of completion of this project and also for his constant reminders and

much needed motivation.

Words are inadequate in offering my thanks to other members of Sterlite technologies for

their encouragement and support in carrying out my project work.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my institute Symbiosis Institute of

Telecom Management, Pune for providing me the opportunity to be a part of Sterlite

Technologies Limited. I would especially thank our director Mr Sunil Patil, Director, Mr.

Prasanna Kulkarni, Deputy Director and Mrs. Sujata Joshi, Placement Incharge for

getting me to work in this prestigious company.

(Astha)

SITM


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ABSTRACT

India today stands at the threshold of great opportunities. A growing and robust

economy, a young and increasingly literate population and wide technological base give

it the opportunity of emerging as a major power. Indian telecom industry is one of the

fastest growing in the world with an average of 18 million subscribers added every

month. In 2010, Indian telecom sector witnessed the much awaited 3G & BWA

spectrum auction With the arrival of 3G, various operators in India are particular about

providing faster and more robust Internet, better access of data services including e-

commerce, social networking, audio-video conferencing, and many other broadband

applications with very high speed.

India is ready for 3G, especially in the urban market. The Indian mobile market is still

voice intensive and the operators major source of revenue. In this context, voice-based

3G services will see greater acceptance and adaptation by the domestic consumers. In

India, people love talking over the phone rather than interacting using SMS or other

means. Therefore, if one is able to provide compelling services such as video calls at

affordable prices, it will be a huge hit. But this would lead to increase in bandwidth

requirement by each customer..

The advent of 3G and 4G mobile services brings with it a surge in data traffic, which in

turn puts a strain on existing cellular networks. Nowhere is the demand for more

available capacity felt more than in the tower backhaul. Looking into their backhaul

options, operators can choose one of three physical mediums; copper, fiber or

microwave

Presently in India approx 90% of the tower backhaul are on microwave. Microwave has

some obvious advantages, the most important being less deployment time & cost of


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installation. But the present microwave transmission supports a maximum of 155Mbps,

i.e, it can be used in STM1 ring but beyond this datarate microwave communication

cannot support.

With 3G and 4G coming up in India, datarate requirement per BTS would increase to

approx 20-30Mbps, whereas for existing 2G network datarate requirement per BTS is

merely 4Mbps.. Moreover the backhaul network should be scalable such that it can

cater to the need of even higher bandwidth requirement in case of 4G.In that case Fiber

cable that provides unlimited bandwidth would be the ultimate choice for operators.


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TABLE OFCONTENTS

Sr no. Topic Detail Pg No

1 Acknowledgement 2

2 Abstract 3

3 List of Figures 6

4 List of Data Tables 7

5 Nomenclature & Abbreviations 8

6 Title & Objective 10-12

7 Company Profile 13-19

8 1. Introduction 22

9 1.1 Indian telecom sector 23

10 1.2 Wireless subscribers in India 24

11 1.3 India Telecom Subscriber Statistics March 2011 24

12 1.4 Opportunity 26

13 2.0 Evolution of telecom technologies 29

14 2.1 Comparison of telecom technologies 30

15 3.0 Telecom architecture 31

16 3.1 Core network 32

17 3.2 Backhaul network 33

18 3.3 Detailed explanation of backhaul for 2G 34

19 3.4 Backhaul requirement in future 37

20 4.0 Microwave radio system 38

21 4.1 Capex and Opex for microwave link 40

23 4.2 Modulation scheme 43

24 5.0 Telecom infrastructure in India 47

25 6.0 Network planning 49

26 6.1 Radio network optimization 51

27 6.2 Microwave planning 52

28 7.0 Optical fiber overview 54

29 7.1 Capex /Opex & challenges in fiber deployment 58

30 7.2Optical fiber vs microwave 60


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31 8.0 3G: UMTS 62

32 8.1 System architecture overview 63

33 8.2 3G:Present Indian scenario 64

34 8.3 3G plans: A sneak peek 65

35 8.4 3G prediction 65

36 8.5 Implementation of 3G: changes in the existing network 66

37 8.6 Changes in backhaul network(3G) 67

38 8.7 Calculation for throughput requirement/BTS(2G) 69

39 8.8 Calculation for throughput requirement/BTS(3G) 70

40 9.0 Demand estimation of fiber in tower backhaul(3G) 74

41 9.1 Business opportunity for Sterlite from 3G deployment 75

42 10.0 LTE: the way ahead 79

43 10.1 Wireless broadband: world scenario 81

44 10.2 LTE vs WIMAX 83

45 11.0 4G impacts to mobile backhaul 86

46 12.0 International wireless backhaul trend 88

47 Conclusion 89

48 References 91


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List of Figures

Figure Number Description Pg No

Figure 1 Sterlite global operation 18

Figure 2 Sterlite clients 19

Figure 3 Wireless subscribers in India 24

Figure 4 Wireless subscribers GSM vs CDMA 25

Figure 5 Evolution of telecom technologies 29

Figure 6 Telecom architecture 31

Figure 7 Core network 32

Figure 8 Backhaul network 33

Figure 9 BTS connection to BSC via STM1 ring 36

Figure 10 Microwave components 40

Figure 11 Adaptive modulation for a microwave link. 44

Figure 12 3G network architecture 64

Figure 13 Prediction of 3G subscribers 66

Figure 14 2G/3G network architecture 85

Figure 15 Typical LTE network 87


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DATA TABLES

Table No Table Description Pg No

Table 1 Throughput comparison of telecom technologies 30

Table 2 Datarate per BTS(2G) 35

Table 3 Spectrum charges 46

Table 4 State wise no of towers 58

Table 5 CAPEX per fiber deployment 58

Table 6 OPEX/ fiber/km/month 60

Table 7 Fiber vs microwave 64

Table 8 Existing 3G subscribers 65

Table 9 Datarate requirement per BTS(3G) 69

Table 10 E1 required per BTS(3G) 72


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Nomenclature and Abbreviations

Abbreviations Full Forms

STL Sterlite Technologies Limited

MNP Mobile number portability

Teledensity Percentage of mobile and landline users

out of whole population

BWA Broadband wireless access

3G/4G 3r /4 generation

VAS Value added service

EDGE Enhanced Data-rates for Global Evolution

UMTS Universal mobile telecommunicationsystem

HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Protocol Access

EVDO Evolution data only

EVDV Evolution data voice

EIR Equipment identity register

AUC Authentication centre

HLR Home location register

Gbps Gigabits per second

TDM Time division multiplexing

RAN Radio access network

TRX Transmitter receiver

AGGREGATION RATIO No of BTSs connected to 1 BTS hub

STM1 155Mbps

E1 2 Mbps

LOS Line of sight

ODU Outdoor unit


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IDU Indoor unit

QAM Quadrature amplitude modulation

QPSK Quadrature phase shift keying

GPS Global positioning system

ROW Right of way

RNC Radio network controller

NODE B 3G nomenclature of BTS

OFDM Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

CKm Cable km

LTE Long term evolution


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TITLE OF THE PROJECT:


OBJECTIVES:

This project was undertaken in the cables department of Sterlite technologies. I was

given a Business Development project. While working on the project following

objectives were set.

Overview of present Indian telecom market

To study and analyze evolution of telecom technologies (2G to 4G)

To analyze and compare present mobile backhaul technologies

Microwave vs fiber

Existing Microwave market in tower backhaul

Scope of fiber in tower backhaul networks


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Company Profile

Sterlite Technologies is a leading global provider of transmission solutions for the power

and telecom industries. It is among the Top 3 global manufacturers of power conductors

and among the Top 5 global manufacturers of optical fibers and cables.[1]

Connecting every home on the planetSterlite has two broad parts of its business namely telecom and power.

The power business mainly comprises manufacture of bare overhead power conductors

and its capacity today is amongst the largest in the world. They intend to diversify this

business as well with the commencement of power cables business and currently

Sterlite is executing a project in transmission network ownership. Since the past two

decades, Sterlite has developed technical expertise in fiber optic cables and proven its

capabilities in manufacture of energy efficient bare overhead power conductors. Sterlite


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has integrated these core strengths in its comprehensive OPGW solution that includes

Optical Fiber Composite Ground Wire and related hardware

In the telecom business, Sterlite offers a complete range of end-to-end optical fibers for

a variety of applications in telecommunication networks. Supported by a fully integrated

manufacturing facility and a dedicated R&D Center, Sterlites range of optical fibers

deliver superior performance in data transmission and performance reliability. It also

offers a complete range of end-to-end terrestrial copper telecom cables for a variety of

applications in telecommunications networks.With its own manufacturing facilities for UL

approved structured data cables, Sterlite offers a comprehensive range of structured

cables for premise networks

Brief history:[2]

Sterlites range of Telecom Cables had been manufactured under Sterlite Industries

(India) Limited from 1988 till Year 2000 and under Sterlite Optical Technologies from

Year 2000 onwards.

Sterlite Optical Technologies Limited was formed by the demerger of the erstwhile

telecom division of Sterlite Industries (India) Limited with effect from July 1, 2000 to

enable a sharper focus on each of the businesses. The name of the company was

changed to Sterlite Technologies Limited with effect from December 1,2007.

Number of employees: Approximately 1000 employees


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Scope of business activity

Manufacture of optical fibers, fiber optic cables, copper telecom cables, structured

data cables.

Manufacture of power transmission Conductors, aluminum & alloy Rods.

Telecom systems and solutions.

Power transmission network ownership.

Vision: To connect every home on the planet

Mission: To make it easier, faster and more cost-effective for service providers to build

telecom and power infrastructure. Sterlite partners with its customers to deliver optimal

solutions for their evolving needs

Intellectual property

Sterlite has prioritized in-house R&D to catalyze product development as per evolving

industry requirements, technical enhancements and quality needs.

34 patents granted in USA, Europe, India & China.


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PRODUCTS:

1. OPTICAL FIBER

Sterlite Technologies manufactures a complete range of Optical Fibers, designed for

use in Optical Fiber Cables and catering to the specific technical requirements by the

Telecommunication Industry.

Sterlite PMD- -LITE Low Water Peak

Single Mode Optical Fiber

Sterlite DOF-LITE RS Single Mode Optical Fiber

Sterlite DOF-LITE LEA Single Mode Optical Fiber

Sterlite DOF-LITE Metro Single Mode Optical Fiber

Sterlite BEND-LITE Single Mode Optical Fiber


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Sterlite MULTI-LITE 50/125 microns Multi Mode Optical Fiber

Sterlite MULTI-LITE 62.5/125 microns Multi Mode Optical Fiber

2. FIBER OPTIC CABLES

Sterlite's Fiber Optic Cable plants produce the complete range of Terrestrial Fiber

Optic Cables in standard and customized designs, with fiber counts up to 864.

Sterlite Duct-Lite Series

Sterlite Armor-Lite Series

Sterlite Aerial-Lite Series

Sterlite Ribbon-Lite Series

Sterlite Premise Cable Series

3. COPPER TELECOM CABLES

Foam Skin Insulated Copper Telecom Cables

Solid Insulated Copper Telecom Cables

Aerial Self-Supporting Copper Telecom Cables

PCM Z-Screened Copper Telecom Cables


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4. LAN CABLES

Sterlite Cat 5e LAN Cables

Sterlite Cat 6 LAN Cables

All of Sterlites Products are manufactured at ISO 9001:2000 certified facilitiesSterlites

Optical Fiber facilities are also certified for the ISO 14001:2004 Environment

Management System and OHSAS 18001:1999 Safety Management System.

Sterlites global operations:

Figure 1: Sterlites global client


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Sterlites valuable customers

Sterlite's customer list includes some of the most prominent companies in the telecomworld.

Figure 2: Sterlite clients


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Growing fiber demand: overview [3]

Worldwide fiber demand for the first quarter was 49 million km, up 3 million km and 6%

compared with Q1-2010. Information from the US and other large markets suggests that

demand growth was accelerating through the quarter and has continued to do so in April

and early May.

Cablers face rising costs but also growth prospects, including backhaul

In addition to concerns about fiber availability, cable manufacturers have addressed

increasing costs for energy, transportation, and other cable elements, including polymer

resins, armour tape, water-blocking materials, and strength members.

There have been reports in April and May of increasing lead times for the supply of

optical cable in North America. Although there are some imports of fiber from Japan to

the US, the longer lead times also are affecting cable makers that do not use fiber from

Japan. The culprit seems to be the strong surge in cable demand, which is partially

fuelled by the award of grant money under the federal governments American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In the US and other markets, part of the growth comes

from new customers, such as alternative carriers, smaller independent telephone

companies, municipalities, and operators other than the large incumbent telcos. Some of

these carriers are installing fiber for cellular-mobile infrastructure, which is proving to be

a growing business opportunity for carriers in the US and elsewhere.

As it turns out, most of the fiber in cables dedicated at least initially to mobile network

operators has been installed in the developing telecom markets. In markets such as the

US and Canada, there was already an embedded base of fixed-line telecom networks in


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place when cellular networks were being built out 20 to 30 years ago. Now, fiber is being

installed to increase capacity on established cellular networks, or to support capacity

requirements on new 3G and 4G transceiver stations.

The worldwide total in the backhaul application is also vulnerable to decreases when a

small number of large operators complete their projects. Since 2006, more than half the

fiber in dedicated backhaul systems has been installed by the mobile operators in China.

In 2009, for example, 74% of the worlds dedicated backhaul fiber installations were in

China, and this percentage dropped to 68% in 2010. This percentage, and also the

amount of fiberinstalled each year in Chinas cellular networks, will decrease even more

after 2010 as the large multi-year 3G network projects are nearing completion.

The quantity of fiber installed for mobile networks in China has been so great about 60

million fiber-km in the past two years that other markets are not likely to offset that

downturn in the worldwide mobile segment. On the other hand, there will be many new

opportunities associated with the deployment of LTE (sometimes referred to as 4G)

mobile broadband systems. The GSM Suppliers Association, for example, has tallied 20

LTE networks already launched in 14 countries, but says that there are another 194

being planned, tested, or built in 80 countries. The LTE technology is described as the

fastest-growing mobile technology ever, based on the number of new systems being

planned or completed. The number in operation is expected to grow from 20 this year to

81 by December, 2012.


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1.1 INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR

OVERVIEW:

Over the past two decades, India has grown rapidly from a command and control

economy to a market-based economy. India is now closely integrated with the global

economy and is considered one of the pillars of global economic growth. The process of

liberalization started in the mid-1980s and gathered momentum in the 1990s, with the

further opening of the economy and the creation of regulatory institutions to march

toward fully competitive markets. As a result of liberalization, Indias GDP has been

rising by more than 7% annually in the past decade, compared with 3.5% annually from

1950 to 1980. The Indian economy maintained a growth rate of more than 5% even

during the global recession. [4]

In FY10 (financial year ended 31 March 2010), Indias service sector was estimated to

account for 56.9%3 of GDP, while the industrial sector and agriculture sector contributed

28.5% and 14.6%, respectively, to GDP. Within the services sector, the telecom sector

has been the major contributor to Indias growth, accounting for nearly 3.6%4 of total

GDP in FY10. In less than a decade, the mobile phone has been transformed from being

a luxury that few could own into one of the essentials of an average Indians existence.

The easy access to mobile services is the outcome of positive regulatory changes,

intense competition among multiple operators, low-priced handsets, low tariffs and

significant investments in telecom infrastructure and networks.[4]


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Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest growing in the world with an average of 18

million subscribers added every month. Contrary to other industries, Indian telecom

industry showed no signs of recession and created job opportunities like never before.

1.2 WIRELESS SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA

India has emerged as one of the worlds fastest-growing telecom markets, and this

growth is primarily attributed to the growth in wireless services. Indias mobile market is

the second largest in terms of subscribers in the world after China. The wireless

subscriber base in India grew from FY00 through FY10 at a compound annual growth

rate (CAGR) of 77.5%14 to reach 584.3 million subscribers in FY10. Present wireless

subscriber base (march 2011) is 812 million.

Figure 3: Wireless subscribers in India


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1.3 India Telecom Subscriber Statistics March 2011

1.4 Opportunities

In 2010, Indian telecom sector witnessed the much awaited 3G & BWA spectrum auction

With the arrival of 3G, various operators in India are particular about providing faster and

more robust Internet, better access of data services including e-commerce, social

networking, audio-video conferencing, and many other broadband applications with very

high speed. The deployment of 3G services is also likely to help the emergence of new

VAS. The demand for value added services is likely to surge given that 'Gen Y' are more

1

Indian population: 1.12 Billion

Total subscriber base: 847 million Wireless subscriber base:812 million

2

Teledensity : 70.89%(total) Urban: 157.32% Rural: 33.35%

3 Wireless tele-density stands at 67.98 Overall wire line tele-density is 2.91.

4

MNP request:6.42 million Broadband subscriber: 11.87 million


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inclined to use the smartphones and adopt the VAS services. Moreover, with the

implementation of mobile number portability, the service providers need to focus more on

developing VAS as a service differentiator to retain their existing customers besides

attracting the new ones. The success of the telecommunications sector had been limited

to the urban areas till now. Conventionally, voice services have been the key driver for

the development of the sector, and the telecom operators will also benefit from the

introduction of 3G services in the long term.

3G, a family of standards including CDMA, GSM EDGE, and UMTS standards, will soon

be a reality in India with mobile customers enjoying the seamless benefits of voice,

video, and data coming together at speeds that the Indian consumer has not

experienced till now. Telecom operators in the country are gearing up with their 3G

services. They are keen to explore innovative yet affordable offerings to the end users.

Also, the telecom operators are exploring cost-efficient models to migrate to newer

technologies, keeping in mind the end consumer.

One of the aspects to achieve success at both

fronts is 'creating cost-effective infrastructure'.

3G is a packet based technology, where data

gets transferred from one point to another in

packets. In the current mode, the technology

used sends the data packet over fixed circuit

path which is ineffective in 3G environment.

The mobile backhaul network is the critical

link between the broadband subscribers and the network. Mobile backhaul networks link

the remote base stations and cell towards the mobile operator's core networks, and


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provide access to both the voice network and the Internet. Mobile operators are more

focused on mobile backhaul transport, largely because its costs represent up to 25% of

their opex.

With the help of a setup called 'backhaul', service providers get connectivity from cell

sites to cell site controller.. The bandwidth at backhaul will be increased upto 50 Mbps

once 3G is alive.

India is ready for 3G, especially in the urban market. The Indian mobile market is still

voice intensive and the operators major source of revenue. In this context, voice-based

3G services will see greater acceptance and adaptation by the domestic consumers. In

India, people love talking over the phone rather than interacting using SMS or other

means. Therefore, if one is able to provide compelling services such as video calls at

affordable prices, it will be a huge hit. But this would lead to increase in bandwidth

requirement by each customer. Hence the backhaul data rate would also increase.

Moreover the backhaul network should be scalable such that it can cater to the need of

even higher bandwidth requirement in case of 4G.In that case Fiber cable that provides

unlimited bandwidth would be the ultimate choice

The advent of 3G and 4G mobile services brings with it a surge in data traffic, which in

turn puts a strain on existing cellular networks. Nowhere is the demand for more

available capacity felt more than in the Backhaul. Looking into their backhaul options,

operators can choose one of three physical mediums; copper, fiber or microwave

Presently in India around 90% of the backhaul network is connected on microwave. But

with the increasing demand of bandwidth hungry application, we are expecting a shift

towards fiber which offers unlimited bandwidth.


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2.0 Evolution of telecom technologies

Figure5: Evolution of telecom technologies


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2.1 Throughput comparison of telecom technologies:[5]

BANDWIDTH TECHNOLOGY DATARATE(EXPECTED)

2G(GSM) 200KHZ TDMA 9.6Kbps-14.4 kbps

2.5(GPRS) 200KHZ TDMA 20-40kbps

2.75(EDGE) 200KHZ TDMA 114kbps

3G(UMTS) 5MHZ CDMA&TDMA 384kbps - 2Mbps

2G(IS 95) 1.25MHZ CDMA 115kbps

(2.5G)CDMA 2000 1X 1.25MHZ CDMA 153kbps

(3G)CDMA2000X (EVDO) 1.25MHZ CDMA+TDMA 2.45Mbps

(3G)CDMA20001X

/(EVDO) 1.25MHZ CDMA+TDMA 2.45Mbps

(3G)CDMA2000/

1X(EVDV) 1.25MHZ CDMA+TDMA 3.1Mbps(forward)

(3.5G)CDMA2000/

EVDO Rev B CDMA+TDMA 46Mbps

Table1: Throughput comparison of telecom technologies

Interpretation:

Throughput /datarate increases with advancement in technology

Transition from voice-centric application to data centric applications

Increase in demand for bandwidth hungry applications

Shift toward all IP network: Next generation network

Demand for more capacity in tower backhaul and core network


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3.0 TELECOM ARCHITECTURE:

Typically, a mobile network in a circle consists of mobile switching centers (MSCs), each

of which is connected to base station controllers (BSCs), with each BSC being

connected to a base transceiver station (BTS). The BTSs are installed in a contiguous

manner, so as to facilitate the handing over of signals from one BTS to another like a

chain. The radius of each BTS varies from 500 meters to as much as 8-10 km,

depending upon subscriber usage, topography, frequency band of operation and

spectrum Telecom architecture can be broadly divided into 3 parts

Figure 6: Telecom architecture


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3.1 CORE NETWORK:

Figure 7: core network

It is also called as backbone network. Aggregation of BSC to MSC and interconnection

of MSCs are called core network. About fifteen years ago, the bit rate required in the

backbone networks was 565 Mbps and 1.2 Gbps, survivable ring topology was not much

in use, and maximum distances were limited to 50-60 km. Bandwidth hungry services

such as the Internet were limited only to some academic institutions. Data traffic was

such a small percentage of the overall network that its contribution to the total growth

was minimal. TDM was sufficient to combine information channels.

Today's telecom network supports a number of services by means of time division

multiplexing (TDM), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and Internet Protocol (IP). In

most cases, the transmission bandwidth is managed separately from the services, and

the management of the transmission network itself is designed as per the vendor or the

operator.


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For 3G, the core network supports both TDM and packet transmission.TDM is used for

voice & packet transport for data. With NGN coming in picture, the core would be

completely packetized, ie. Both voice and data would be transmitted through packets.

3.2 BACKHAUL NETWORK

Figure 8: backhaul network

The aggregation of traffic from BTS to BSC is known as backhaul network. The backhaul

environment is the part of a mobile network that connects base stations to network

controllers within a coverage area. The advent of 3G and 4G mobile services brings with

it a surge in data traffic, which in turn puts a strain on existing cellular networks. Nowhere

is the demand for more available capacity felt more than in the Backhaul. Looking into


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their backhaul options, operators can choose one of three physical mediums; copper,

fiber or microwave Presently in India around 90% of the backhaul network is connected

on microwave. But with the increasing demand of bandwidth hungry application, we are

expecting a shift towards fiber which offers unlimited bandwidth.

BACKHAUL NETWORK IN DETAIL:

3.3 BACKHAUL FOR GSM: PRESENT SCENARIO [5]

Mobile backhaul provides secure and reliable transmission between base stations and

base station controllers (BSCs), using different physical media, such as fiber, copper, or

microwave, in the radio access network (RAN) layer of mobile networks. Because all

customer terminals get access to mobile networks to use mobile services through the

RAN, the quality of mobile backhaul determines the overall quality of the mobile user's

experience.

The backhaul environment is the part of a mobile network that connects base stations to

base station controller. Each BTS in a cell site caters to the mobile subscribers in that

particular cell site (along with the roaming subscribers).In order to meet the demands of

ever increasing subscriber base, generally a cell site is divided into sectors. Normally a

cell is divided into 3 sectors. Each sector has n numbers of TRX. Some of the most

commonly used configurations include 2/2/2, 4/4/4, 6/6/6 configurations. A 2/2/2

configuration means that a cell is divided into 3 sectors. Each sector has 2 TRX

(transmitter/receiver) each. Therefore in total a cell site under this configuration has


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2*3=6 TRXs. Similarily 6/6/6 configuration means that each sector has 6 TRX. Therefore

a total of 3*6=18 TRXs in one cell site. Each TRX has 8 time slots out of which 4 are

used for traffic channel & the remaining 4 for signaling and control. Therefore 1 TRX can

support 4 users at a time in full rate and 8 users at a time in half rate. Thus maximum no

of subscribers that can simultaneously call through one BTS can be calculated. All these

BTSs are aggregated to BSC. This network is known as BACKHAUL NETWORK. In

order to calculate the bandwidth requirement of backhaul network, it is important to know

No of BTSs connected to one BSC

Bandwidth requirement of 1 BTS.

CALCULATION FOR BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENT OF 2G NETWORK (GSM)

Table 2: Bandwidth/BTS (2G)


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For 2G voice application, each BSC is connected to BTSs through STM1 ring.STM1 ring

has a maximum data throughput of 155 Mbps.

One STM1 comprises of 63E1s

For 2G voice application each BTS gets a drop of max 2-3 E1s(which is sufficient for

voice and some data traffic)[6]

So a maximum of 25-30 BTSs can be connected to one BSC

Figure 9: BTS connection to BSC through STM1 ring


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3.4 BACKHAUL REQUIREMENT IN FUTURE

Wireless networks are evolving from voice-only traffic to networks supporting both voice

and high-speed data services. As this transition occurs, there will be an increasing need

for additional bandwidth at cell sites. This demands for large backhaul capabilities.

Currently 3G rollouts are limited to top 40 cities in India and the primary focus has been

on upgrading and utilizing the existing infrastructure. The advent of 3G services is likely

to lead to a quantum increase in the usage of data services among consumers. The

rollout of 3G services across India cannot happen without significant addition of towers-in

urban areas to provide capacity and in rural areas to provide coverage.

For infrastructure, the 3G operators need to also focus on backhaul as this can act as a

choking point for data services. Presently, majority of backhaul is on microwave and this

needs to be upgraded to optical fiber cable for which operators need to invest heavily.

With the coming of 3G, the operators need to make even backhaul IP ready.


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MICROWAVE TRANSMISSION


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4.0 Microwave radio system[7]

Microwave, in general, denotes the technology of transmitting information by the use of

the radio waves whose wavelengths are conveniently measured in small numbers of

centimeters. Microwave refers to terrestrial point-to-point digital radio communications,

usually employing highly directional antennas in clear line-of-sight (LOS) and operating

in licensed frequency bands from 6 GHz to 38 GHz. Microwave frequency bands

available in the 6 GHz, 7 GHz, 15 GHz, 18 GHz and 23 GHz bands. Microwave

spectrum is allocated in chunks of 7 MHz, 14 MHz and 28 MHz (each chunk is known as

a carrier) A microwave radio system is a system of radio equipment used for microwave

data transmission.

The design of microwave backhaul networks presents particular constraints. It is

essential for microwave links to have a clear line-of-sight (LOS) i.e., there is a direct

path without any obstruction (such as buildings, trees, or mountains) between the

communication endpoints which strongly dictates the network topology

A modern microwave radio consists of three basic components:

The indoor unit (IDU) which performs all digital processing operations, containing the

baseband and digital modem circuitry and, optionally, a network processing unit that

provides advanced networking capabilities such as routing and load balancing

The outdoor unit (ODU) which houses all the radio frequency (RF) modules for

converting a carrier signal from the modem to a microwave signal


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The antenna: used to transmit and receive the signal into/from free space, which is

typically located at the top of a communication tower.

Antennas used in microwave links are highly directional, which means they tightly focus

the transmitted and received energy mainly into/from one specific direction. To avoid

waveguide losses, the antenna is directly attached to the ODU which, in turn, is

connected to the IDU by means of a single coaxial cable. The distance between the

indoor and outdoor equipment can sometimes be up to 300 meters.

Two microwave radios are required to establish a microwave link (usually operating in

duplex mode3) between two locations that can be several kilometers apart. It should be

noted that a single IDU can support multiple ODUs in a same site and, thus, multiple

microwave links between different locations.

Figure 10:Microwave components


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Working:

In a microwave radio system, communication starts with an information source that can

be audio, video, or data in many forms. [7]

The IDU accesses a service signal, prompting baseband processing, multiplexing

and intermediate frequency (IF) modulation.

The signal is then sent to the ODU via coaxial cable for RF processing, before

being finally transmitted.

The energy radiated by the RF transmitter is amplified by the transmitting antenna

before propagating in the form of radio waves in the directions determined by the design

and orientation of the antenna.

As a radio wave travels through the atmosphere, it experiences different propagation

phenomena e.g., free-space loss, reflection, diffraction, and scattering which

negatively impact the perceived energy at the receiving antenna.

Besides the transmitted signal, the electromagnetic fields from the interference and

noise sources are also converted to power at the RF receiver, likely leading to

imprecise interpretation of the transmitted signal. Finally, the RF receiver processes

this power in an effort to recover exactly the source information that was originally

transmitted.


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4.1 Capital and operational cost ( capex &opex) [7]

Microwave generally has lower costs associated with it when compared to copper and

fiber lines .As a common solution, self-build microwave involves capital expenditure

(CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX).

CAPEX includes the investment in equipment and infrastructure, as well as installation

costs.

A pair of IDUs, ODUs, and antennas is required to establish one microwave link. The

installation costs are closely tied to the site location and equipment dimensions (size of

antennas).

OPEX comprises the recurrent costs, such as spectrum licenses, tower rentals,

maintenance, and energy consumption.

The spectrum price is usually a function of the amount of the assigned bandwidth.

The tower rentals normally represent an important contribution to the total OPEX.

However, the operator may also decide for the construction of the communication towers

and, in this case, all the cost is associated with the total CAPEX.

The maintenance costs are usually assumed to be a percentage of the equipment

cost on an annual basis. In addition, we must consider the energy consumption to keep

equipment in operation.

The energy costs are mainly associated with the operation of IDU (100 W per

device) and ODU (60 W per device) equipment. Energy cost commonly represents less

than 5% of the total OPEX of microwave radio systems. The rising demand for energy


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has yielded a strong social and economical incentive for energy savings in

communications networks.

4.2 Modulation scheme:

The capacity of microwave links is basically determined by the channel bandwidth and

the modulation scheme used to transmit data. In response to channel fluctuations, we

assume that the modulation scheme is a random factor.

In fact, to overcome outage events, modern wireless communication systems employ

adaptive modulation which has been shown to considerably enhance radio link

performance .Adaptive modulation refers to the automatic modulation (and other radio

parameters) adjustment that a wireless system can make to prevent weather-related

fading from communication on the link to be disrupted. Since communication signals are

modulated, varying the modulation also varies the amount of traffic that is transferred per

signal. For instance, 256-QAM modulation can deliver approximately four times the

throughput of QPSK.


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Figure 11: Adaptive modulation for a microwave link.[7]

Some facts:

The traditional microwave bands devoted to backhaul (6 to 38 GHz) are filling up, and

in big cities and metro areas there is already an interference problem or lack of

additional space and licenses. The solution is to push higher into the spectrum. Usage

of microwave links above 60 GHz would be needed shortly for 3G and Wireless

Broadband systems.That is why there are multiple 60-GHz backhaul solutions on the

market and a growing presence of 80-GHz systems.

The 80-GHz spectrum is divided into two general segments: 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86

GHz. It is a licensed spectrum segment, unlike the unlicensed 60-GHz spectrum.

License fees are a low $75 compared to thousands of dollars for a license in the lower

bands. The 60-GHz segment is also used for backhaul, but the oxygen absorption level

at that frequency restricts it. This causes huge path losses in the air, far greater than

the well-known Friis formula predicts.


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But with sufficient power, radios in the 60-GHz space can easily achieve a range of up

to about 2 miles without difficulty. Beyond that, they are not too useful. That is why the

80-GHz segment has become the go-to place for backhaul.

SPECTRUM CHARGES

TABLE3:SPECTRUM CHARGES


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5.0 Telecom infrastructure in India

Initially, operators used their tower infrastructure for competitive advantage. However,

over the past few years, the leading operators have opted to share their infrastructure.

Today, there are an estimated 425,455 telecom towers in India, implying a subscriber-

per-tower ratio of 1,460. Currently, tenancy level for the industry stands at 1.55.In July

2010, telecom towers were accorded Infrastructure Status by the RBI. This constitutes

an essential and possibly the most expensive component in the entire telecom service

delivery infrastructure. The GoI provides certain benefits specifically to infrastructure

companies. The tax benefit encourages the participation of private sector through

investment. Extending Infrastructure Status to telecom towers and the resultant income

tax benefits should certainly encourage tower companies to expeditiously set up more

towers in underserved areas.


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TABLE 4: State wise no of towers


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6.0NETWORK PLANNING:

The base of any network either it is wire line or wireless is planning. For any operator it is

necessary to plan and then execute as it optimizes their performances. This planning

can be divided in to the two parts:-

Radio network Planning (RF planning)

Transmission network planning

RF planning deals with the working of cell sites to provide connectivity to the end user.

Though this is outside the purview of my current project but I want to give an overview

about this so as to understand the complete planning process.

RADIO NETWORK PLANNING PROCESS

The main aim of radio network planning is to provide a cost-effective solution for the

radio network in terms of coverage, capacity and quality. The network planning process

and design criteria vary from region to region depending upon the dominating factor,

which could be capacity or coverage. The design process itself is not the only process in

the whole network design, and has to work in close coordination with the planning

processes of the core and especially the transmission network. The process of radio

network planning starts with collection of the input parameters such as the network

requirements of capacity, coverage and quality


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These inputs are then used to make the theoretical coverage and capacity plans.

Definition of coverage would include defining the coverage areas, service probability and

related signal strength. Definition of capacity would include the subscriber and traffic

profile in the region and whole area, availability of the frequency bands, frequency

planning methods, and other information such as guard band and frequency band

division. The radio planner also needs information on the radio access system and the

antenna system performance associated with it. The pre-planning process results in

theoretical coverage and capacity plans. There are coverage-driven areas and capacity-

driven areas in a given network region. The average cell capacity requirement per

service area is estimated for each phase of network design, to identify the cut-over

phase where network design will change from a coverage-driven to a capacity-driven

process. While the objective of coverage planning in the coverage-driven areas is to find

the minimum number of sites for producing the required coverage, radio planners often

have to experiment with both coverage and capacity, as the capacity requirements may

have to increase the number of sites, resulting in a more effective frequency usage and

minimal interference. Candidate sites are then searched for, and one of these is selected

based on the inputs from the transmission planning and installation engineers.

Frequency allocation is based on the cell-to-cell channel to interference (C/I) ratio. The

frequency plans need to be fine-tuned based on drive test results and network

management statistics. Parameter plans are drawn up for each of the cell sites. There is

a parameter set for each cell that is used for network launch and expansion. This set


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may include cell service area definitions, channel configurations, handover and power

control, adjacency definitions, and network-specific parameters. The final radio plan

consists of the coverage plans, capacity estimations, interference plans, power budget

calculations , parameter set plans, frequency plans, etc.

6.1 RADIO NETWORK OPTIMIZATION

Optimization involves monitoring, verifying and improving the performance of the radio

network. It starts somewhere near the last phase of radio network planning, i.e. during

parameter planning. A cellular network covers a large area and provides capacity to

many people, so there are lots of parameters involved that are variable and have to be

continuously monitored and corrected. Apart from this, the network is always growing

through increasing subscriber numbers and increases in traffic. This means that the

optimization process should be on-going, to increase the efficiency of the network

leading to revenue generation from the network. As we have seen, radio network

planners first focus on three main areas: coverage, capacity and frequency planning.

Then follows site selection, parameter planning, etc. In the optimization process the

same issues are addressed, with the difference that sites are already selected and

antenna locations are fixed, but subscribers are as mobile as ever, with continuous

growth taking place. Optimization tasks become more and more difficult as time passes.

Once a radio network is designed and operational, its performance is monitored. The

performance is compared against chosen key performance indicators (KPIs). After fine-

tuning, the results (parameters) are then applied to the network to get the desired

performance. Optimization can be considered to be a separate process or as a part of

the network planning process. The main focus of radio network optimization is on areas


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such as power control, quality, handovers, subscriber traffic, and resource availability

(and access) measurements.

6.2 MICROWAVE PLANNING

SITE SURVEY

Site survey is done for the construction of new towers to expand network capacity. A

GPS set; a compass and a digital camera are required to carry out the site survey.

During a site survey, the height of the building on which the tower is to be constructed is

taken into considerations and denoted as G + x (read as ground + x). Here x denoted the

number of stories above the ground floor in the building. On top of the building, latitude

and longitude are measured with GPS handset and corresponding altitude (above mean

sea level) is noted. Then PN short code of the nearest base station is recorded. Then,

using a digital camera,

photographs are clicked at angles of 45 degrees to observe the clutter around the

building where the tower is to be constructed. There should not be any obstruction in

front of the site, as it will block the radiations, which will be emitted from the antennas of

the proposed tower. If the site satisfies all the requirements, it is finally selected for LOS

(line of sight) survey and tower construction.

Frequency planning

Microwave communications, begins with line of sight determinations and the evaluation

of path clearances with regard to refractive effects. Microwave communications path

design poses many challenges. In addition to static gain and loss considerations, terrain


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and propagation dynamics can play a large role in determining whether a proposed path

will have the required signal levels, clearances and reliability.

The following tasks are some of the fundamental components of microwave path

design:

Determining whether a proposed path is line of sight.

Evaluating path clearances with regard to Fresnel zones.

Evaluating path clearances with regard to refractive effects.

Considering path reflections.

Deriving a power budget and the fade margin.

Path reliability.


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7.0 Optical fiber: overview

Optical fibers

An optical fiber is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Fiber optics is

the overlap of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and

application of optical fibers. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communication,

which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher data rates than other

forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel

along them with less loss, and they are immune to electromagnetic interference.

As I mentioned earlier that this project report is focusing more on connecting cell sites

on fiber so as to plan for future data applications. With the increase in bandwidth

requirement more and more operators are tending toward transmission planning

through fiber especially in metros.


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The steps for optical fiber transmission planning are as under:-

Marketing department of company generally gives the information to augment the

capacity of transmission between cell sites (if the transmission is earlier through

microwave it can be upgraded to fiber) or to connect the new cell sites through fiber. All

this information depends upon the density of user in that particular area in which cell

sites are located.

With the inputs from marketing department network planning department does a

feasibility study whether microwave or fiber will be act as an effective medium of

transmission

A topographical map of particular route is drawn by the transmission team. There are

various software tools available in which the topographical map of town is already

available. User has to just show the fiber connection between proposed cell sites for the

ease of network people. As all this process happen on software (autodesk).

After this transmission planning team takes the latitude/longitude position of the cell sites

from the RF planning team and actually goes to the proposed site to see the various

locations and mark various points in between two cell sites.

e.g. if there is some college in between two cell sites or any famous shop the

team will mark it in the sheet (in which map of that area is drawn with fiber route between

two cell sites is shown) so that it will be easy when the actual implementation of the plan

takes place. Again the map with proper points is drawn which will be used by operator for

fiber roll out.


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Now if the proposed area is large than it is divided into the small area for the ease of

understanding and for vendor because in a given time more than one vendor works on a

given project. By dividing in to small area means that different sub route of the proposed

OFC route will be formed in the topographical map software. As earlier told that different

vendor works on these sub routes. The print out of the sub route is given to them for their

ease.

During the same time the company looks for the vendor/contractor for outside plant

(OSP) work which is most important process as far as roll out of the fiber is concern

Transmission Team also makes a purchase request and gives to the SCM department

so that they can issue purchase order in the name of vendor

Another important point is the right of way (ROW) permission from the government

agencies. It mean that when the company through it vendor decides to work on the

project in a given area then it has to take permission from the concerned government

authority in that area.

In the case of Delhi these government agencies are MCD, PWD etc.

As far as vendor for fiber and equipment are concerned these are already decided by

corporate so this is not a project territory. The team has to only receive them from those

vendors


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After taking permission (ROW) from the govt. agencies the processes of fiber roll

out will start which is also known as outside plant (OSP) process.When the OFC roll

out completes the project gets completed and it is given to the Operation &

maintenance department.

The simultaneous billing of project is done in Finance department with the help of SCM

department. The project actually completes after clearance of bills and closing of all

books.

As we can see that project related to fiber transmission planning is done by three

departments i.e. N/w, SCM and Finance so it is very important to have a close

coordination between these departments. Communication with vendor is also an

essential part of the project. Though the corporate decides about the vendor for material

but the project team has to communicate with them for material. Optical fiber roll out is

always ring shape means it meet at the same point from where it starts. This is done due

to transmission purposes and in case of any cut in the fiber it will avoid from the whole

network breakdown.


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7.1Capital Expenditure(CAPEX)

PARAMETERS 48F(Rs/meter)*

ROW 90

TRENCHING& DUCTING 200

DUCT 100

FIBER CABLE(TYPICAL) 50

PER FIBER COST 9.16

TOTAL 440

Table5: Capex/fiber cable deployment(*Typical figures)

7.1 Operating expenditure(OPEX)

PARAMETERS 48F(Rs)*

OUTDOOR FDMS 3500

SPLICE JOINT 7000

TOTAL 10500

PER FIBER COST 219

CABLE CUTS(8/1000Kms/Month) 84000

PER FIBER COST/Km/Month 1750

Table6: Opex/fiber /km/month(*typical figures)


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7.1 KEY CHALLENGES IN FIBER DEPLOYMENT

Right of way (ROW) from multiple agencies such as municipalities, PWD ,

Railways, development authorities, forest departments & private land owners

Long approval time

No structural design for network deployment

Existing deployment being disrupted by Infrastructure development works


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7.2 OPTICAL FIBER VS MICROWAVE [8]

Table7: Fiber vs microwave


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8.0 3rd GENERATION:UMTS

UMTS, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, is the third-generation (3G)

successor to the second-generation GSM-based technologies, including GPRS, and

EDGE. Although UMTS uses a totally different air interface, the core network elements

have been migrating towards the UMTS requirements with the introduction of GPRS and

EDGE. In this way, the transition from GSM to UMTS does not require such a large

instantaneous investment.

UMTS, which uses wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), has had a long history. Even as the 2G

systems were first being rolled out, it was clear that these would not cater for the

demand forever. New technologies capable of providing new services and facilities

would be required.

Capabilities

UMTS uses W-CDMA as the radio transmission standard. It employs a 5-MHz channel

bandwidth (wider than the cdmaOne/CDMA2000 1XRTT channel bandwidth of 1.25

MHz), and as such it has the capacity to carry over 100 simultaneous voice calls, or to

carry data at speeds up to 2 Mbps in its original format.

Many of the ideas that were incorporated into GSM have been carried over and

enhanced for UMTS. Elements such as the SIM have been transformed into a far more

powerful USIM (universal SIM). In addition to this, the network has been designed so

that the enhancements employed for GPRS and EDGE can be used for UMTS. In this

way, the investment required is kept to a minimum


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8.1 System architecture overview [5]

Like GSM, the network for UMTS can be split into three main constituents. These are the

mobile station, called the User Equipment or UE, the base station sub-system, known as

the Radio Network Sub-system (RNS), and the core network.

User equipment

The user equipment is very much like the mobile equipment used within GSM

Radio network sub-system

This is the section of the network that interfaces to both the UE and the core network. It

contains what are roughly equivalent to the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the

Base Station Controller (BSC). Under UMTS terminology, the radio transceiver is known

as the node B. This communicates with the various UEs, and with the Radio Network

Controller (RNC). This is undertaken over an interface known as the Iub. The overall

radio access network is known as the UMTS Radio Access Network

The RNC component of the Radio Access Network (RAN) connects to the core network.

Core network: core network of UMTS is based upon the combination of the circuit

switched elements used for GSM plus the packet switched elements that are used for

GPRS and EDGE. Thus the core network is divided into circuit switched and packet

switched domains.


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Some of the circuit switched elements are Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC),

Visitor Location Register (VLR) and Gateway MSC. Packet switched elements are

Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)

Figure 12: 3G network architecture

SD

Mobile Station

MSC/VLR

Base Station

Subsystem

GMSC

Network Subsystem

AUCEIR HLR

Other Networks

Note: Interfaces have been omitted for clarity purposes.

GGSNSGSN

BTSBSC

NodeB

RNC

RNS

UTRAN

SIMME

USIMME

+

PSTN

PLMN

Internet


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8.2 3G: Present Indian scenario:

The third generation (3G) has created a rage since its launch four months ago, garnering

at least 9 million active users ever since. Bharti Airtel leads the 3G race with with 3

million active subscribers closely followed by Tata DoCoMo with 1.5 million subscribers.

BSNL, Idea Cellular and Vodafone have about a million 3G subscribers each. Reliance

communications was reluctant to disclose the numbers, but reliable sources revealed

that it also had close to a million subscribers.

8.3 3G PLANS: A SNEAK PEEK [9]

Table8: existing 3G subscribers


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8.4 3G :Prediction

3G is the next generation mobile technology which is capable of delivering broadband

content, including a host of rich multimedia services such as video calling, video on

demand, location based services and remote access/ VPN applications. 3G services will

drive the expansion of wireless services in future. 3G subscribers are expected to reach

142 million by 2015, accounting for 12% of the total wireless subscriber base. Further,

3G subscribers are expected to be more than 300 million by 2020, accounting for 20% of

the total wireless subscriber base.[4]

Figure 13: prediction of 3G subscribers


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8.5 Implementation of 3G : changes in the existing network:

3G enables applications that require high data rate. The throughput provided by 3G

would range from

144kbps: high mobility traffic

384 kbps: pedestrian traffic

2Mbps; indoor or in building traffic

This would result in higher datarate requirement per BTS

As a result E1 requirement per BTS would increase. This would depend on the number

of 3G users in a cell site

Cell sites would shrink in size and no of cell sites required to provide the same coverage

would increase

Higher transmission frequency(2100Mhz) and greater data rate: more cell sites for 3G

coverage

Increase in no of cell sites would lead to increase in the no of tower installation

Upgradation of 2G BTSs to Node B.


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In 2G networks 20-25 BTSs are connected to BSC through STM 1 ring. But in

case of 3G, 5-6 BTSs would be connected to 1 BTS hub through STM1 ring. And

these 4-5 BTS hubs would be connected to BSC through STM4 ring (explained

later in detail )

Core network : packet switching+ circuit switching( packet for data& circuit switching for

voice

8.6 Changes in backhaul network for 3G

To start with, lets understand the backhaul network for existing 2G network:

The backhaul environment is the part of a mobile network that connects base stations to

base station controller. Each BTS in a cell site caters to the mobile subscribers in that

particular cell site (along with the roaming subscribers).In order to meet the demands of

ever increasing subscriber base, generally a cell site is divided into sectors. Normally a

cell is divided into 3 sectors. Each sector has n numbers of TRX. Some of the most

commonly used configurations include 2/2/2, 4/4/4, 6/6/6 configurations.

A 2/2/2 configuration means that a cell is divided into 3 sectors. Each sector has 2 TRX

(transmitter/receiver). Therefore in total a cell site under this configuration has 2*3=6

TRXs


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Similarily 6/6/6 configuration means that each sector has 6 TRX. Therefore a total of

3*6=18 TRXs in one cell site.

Each TRX has 8 time slots out of which 4 are used for traffic channel & the remaining 4

for signaling and control. Therefore 1 TRX can support 4 users at a time in full rate and 8

users at a time in half rate. Thus maximum no of subscribers that can simultaneously call

through one BTS can be calculated. All these BTSs are aggregated to BSC. This

network is known as BACKHAUL NETWORK. In order to calculate the bandwidth

requirement of backhaul network, it is important to know

No of BTSs connected to one BSC & Bandwidth requirement of 1 BTS.


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8.7 THROUGHPUT REQUIREMENT PER BTS FOR GSM NETWORK

Table 9: Datarate requirement per BTS(2G)

For 2G voice application, each BSC is connected to BTSs through STM1 ring.STM1 ring

has a maximum data throughput of 155 Mbps.

One STM1 comprises of 63E1s

For 2G voice application each BTS gets a drop of max 2-3 E1s(which is sufficient for

voice and some data traffic)

So a maximum of 20-25 BTSs can be connected to one BS

8.8 THROUGHPUT REQUIREMENT PER BTS FOR 3G

3G promises a minimum data rate of 384kbps per user under normal mobility condition.

As more and more users shift to 3G, the data rate requirement per BTS would increase.

Analysis of bandwidth requirement can be done on case basis


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CASE1:- 1% OF THE EXISTING SUBSCRIBERS/BTS SHIFT TO 3G

Analysis:

Let total no of subscribers per BTS (for 2G)= 1500

1% of them shift to 3G: 15 subscribers

Maximum data rate requirement / Node B= (9.8*48)+(15*384) Kbps

(voice+data)

470 kbps +5.76Mbps = 6.23Mbps/BTS

E1 requirement per Node B: 4-5E1

6-7 Node Bs connected to 1 BTS hub.

Maximum datarate requirement per BTS hub: 155 Mbps

STM1 ring can be used to connect BTS hubs to node B.

Microwave can be used in STM1 ring

4-5 BTS hubs are connected to 1BSC through STM4 ring

STM 4 supports a maximum throughput of 622Mbps, Here microwave

cannot be used as it supports a maximum data rate of 155 Mbps.

Optical fiber, which supports unlimited datarate is a choice to connect BTS

hubs to BSC

CASE 2: 10% OF THE EXISTING SUBSCRIBERS/ BTS SHIFT TO 3G

As more and more subscribers shift to 3G, more no of cell sites would be required to

cater their datarate requirement


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E1 requirement per BTS would increase to 20- 25E1 or 50-60Mbps/BTS

This would result in splitting of cell sites into smaller cell sites

As a result no of BTS hubs would also increase in number.

These BTS hubs need to be connected to BSC through optical cable because of the

huge traffic that it has to carry. Microwave cannot support that high data rate

As more no of subscribers shift to 3G these is a possibility that even BTSs will be

connected to BTs hubs through fiber.

Theoretical Calculation for datarate requirement/BTS

Figure 10: E1 requirement /BTS(3G)


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INFERENCE:

Most existing 2G & 3G operators in India use microwave backhaul and have occupied

the existing slots. Currently 90% of the towers are connected through microwave. This is

primarily due to voice centric network deployments on 2G.

However, demand for backhaul for towers will increase with the advent of 3g. Increased

data usage for 3G will lead to fiber requirements at all aggregation sites

In anticipation of increased data usage and limitation of microwave , operators are

already installing fiber for wireless backhaul in cities. Over the last one year, Airtel has

been aggressively connecting their towers to fiber in the main cities.

3G expansion to occur in all Tier 2/3 cities(1100 cities) within 2-3 years-results in fiber

demand . It is predicted that all 3G towers will be deployed by 2014


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9.0 DEMAND ESTIMATION OF FIBER IN TOWER BACKHAUL (3G)

Tier 1 cities are already almost connected on fiber. So,3G operators plan to deploy

networks in Tier2/3 cities in next 2/3 year.

No of 3G towers to be rolled out in next 2-3 years= 1,60,000

Total 3G towers in tier 2/3 cities= 1,00,000

Total 3G towers in Metros/Tier1= 60,000

3G operators at present plan to deploy networks in tier2/3 cities where they plan to install

(or upgrade) an average of 1,00,000 towers.

As already explained, for 3G network, 5-6 node B would be connected to 1 BTS hub

Assuming that 3G aggregation ratio- 1:5

Total BTS hubs= 1,00,000/5=20,000 Hubs

Average distance from hub to BSC= 5 Km

Average fiber count= 48F

Fiber cable demand=( BTS hubs*average distance)

(20,000*5)=1,00,000 CKm

Or1Lakh CKm

Fiber demand=(1,00,000*48)= 48Lakh Fkm or 4.8mn FKm


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9.1 Business opportunity for Sterlite from 3G deployment

As per the above calculation approximately 1lakh towers need to be upgraded for 3G in

coming 2-3 years. Considering aggregation ratio of 5: 1 for 3G, ie. For every 5 BTS, 1

BTS hub is required.

So, for 1 lakh towers, 20,000 BTS hubs would be required, ie. 1,00,000/5= 20,000 hubs

These 20,000 BTS hubs need to be connected on fiber. Here lies the great opportunity

for Sterlite technologies.

As calculated above,

1 lakh cable Km is required to connect those 20,000 hubs to BSC

Cable cost/meter = Rs 50/meter (48F)

So total cost= 1lakh CKm*50,000Rs/km)

= Rs 5,000,000,000

=Rs 500 Crore

This is the total amount to be spend by all operators in coming 2-3 years for fiber

deployment in order to provide 3G services to subscribers.

So, fiber deployment for 3G has business of an approximate Rs 500 crore.


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10.0 LTE: The way ahead

After picking up nearly $15bn for the 3g spectrum auction in May, India closed part two

of the auction-for wireless broadband, at Rs 38,300crore.So the big story is that the

wireless broadband will finally happen. And it will be a game changer for India. Unlike 3G

data, this isnt just for mobile executives. It will drive rapid penetration of broadband in

areas outside wire-line reach. Broadband will ramp up in the year ahead-up fivefold from

its abysmal one percent penetration in India.

WHAT AFTER BWA IN INDIA?

WiMax and LTE are expected to work on the BWA spectrum as DoT has decided not to

specify the technology used on the bands. Technologies like LTE (3.9G) and WIMAX

(4G), allows high speed internet access, IP telephony, TV and other multimedia services.

Unlike cellular telephony, it is not designed for high mobility, though it can support it.

What is gives you is broadband access.

The technologies for 4G would be WiMAX and LTE, and the lobbying for which would be

a better technology is full on. There are lots of similarity between WiMAX and LTE. Both

are a wireless technology very suitable for emerging markets like India where wire line

infrastructure is severely lacking. In addition, both technologies use the same

fundamental wireless standard known as OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing).


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10.1 WIRELESS BROADBAND (LTE) :WORLD SCENARIO

The world's first publicly available LTE-service was opened by TeliaSonera in the two

Scandinavian capitals Stockholm and Oslo on the 14th of December 2009.

Motorola also recently signed a contract with Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy its first LTE

network in capital, Riyadh.

VMAX Telecom, a joint venture by Tecom, Vibo Telecom, Intel CapitaLand Teco Group,

the North Taiwan WiMAX operator, has announced the launch of 4G WiMax services

that aim to offer users with a high bandwidth, high speed and real-time Internet access in

Taipei.

China's ZTE also tied up with Portugal's Optimus to build the latter's SDR which will

replace its 2G/3G infrastructure and provide a smooth evolution path to LTE.

ZTE is also conducting LTE trials for Telefonica, as well as over ten other operators,

which include Singapore Telecom, China Mobile and CSL.

T-Mobile, Vodafone, France Telecom and Telecom Italia Mobile have also announced or

talked publicly about their commitment to LTE.

In August 2009 Telefnica selected six countries to field-test LTE in the succeeding

months: Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic in Europe, and

Brazil and Argentina in Latin America.

While Japan was the first nation to test LTE, French operator SFR recently selected

Nokia Siemens Networks to expand its mobile broadband coverage, enhance service

quality, and pilot LTE.


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The Dutch telecom provider KPN announced that it will use LTE for its 4G network.

AlMadar Aljadeed, the biggest Libyan mobile phone operator, has announced that it will

be adopting the LTE technology passing straight from 2G technology to 4G.

SOME FACTS

In November 2004 3GPP began a project to define the long-term evolution of UMTS

cellular technology.

Related specifications are formally known as the evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access

(E-UTRA) and evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN).

First version is documented in Release 8 of the 3GPP specifications.

Commercial deployment not expected before 2013, but there are currently many field

trials.

LTE Targets

Higher performance

100 Mbit/s peak downlink, 50 Mbit/s peak uplink

1G for LTE Advanced

Faster cell edge performance

Reduced latency (to 10 ms) for better user experience

Scalable bandwidth up to 20 MHz

Backwards compatible

Works with GSM/EDGE/UMTS systems


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Utilizes existing 2G and 3G spectrum and new spectrum

Supports hand-over and roaming to existing mobile networks

Reduced capex/opex via simple architecture

reuse of existing sites and multi-vendor sourcing

Wide application

TDD (unpaired) and FDD (paired) spectrum modes

Mobility up to 350kph

Large range of terminals (phones and PCs to cameras)

10.2 LTE Vs WIMAX

Hazy clouds are looming over the technology after most of the players who have won

licenses for BWA services in the recently concluded auction are backing LTE

technology rather than WIMAX. The operators who have won the BWA spectrum auction

are eager to deploy LTE, which is faster and cheaper than WIMAX. This is a setback to

the WIMAX enthusiast.

INDIAN OPERATORS POINT OF VIEW

1. Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries backed Infotel, the largest pan India BWA

licensee, decided to opt for LTE technology.


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2. WiMax vendors' main business will be with BSNL and a select operators who have won

BWA

3. US based Qualcomm after winning spectrum in Mumbai and Delhi, was also betting for

LTE based network.

4. The major setback was Tata Communications, which despite having an existing

WIMAX network did not win any spectrum to run the premium service.

5. Tikona, which started out with the broadband service on unlicensed spectrum in 10

cities and was targeting 50 cities by the end of this year, might stick to the WiMax route.

LTE has interoperability with existing legacy technologies (including GSM, WCDMA,

CDMA2000 and others) and hence the natural progression would be towards LTE. For

WiMAX, however, operators need to make fresh investments. Also, to provide coverage

on a WiMAX network in metro areas (Mumbai/ Delhi) the no. of sites required would be

much higher, leading to higher capex.

LTE will bring more productivity to enterprise employees, enabling to use corporate

applications on the go. For example, LTE will enable cloud computing a feature that will


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be more and more used by enterprises but also by end users. Because of this gain in

productivity, enterprises are keen on investing in LTE services

LTE will be more attractive to WiMAX operators that target mobile broadband

subscribers, giving them access to a wider choice of mobile devices, and facilitating

roaming.

Operators have the flexibility to deploy LTE using TDD or frequency division duplexing

(FDD) spectrum bands, while WiMAX equipment is limited to TDD.

Since WiMax requires 3-cell frequency reuse, and thus 30 MHz of available bandwidth,

it is questionable if it will even work to deploy WiMax in the Indian 20 MHz BWA

allocations, without severe interference issues, resulting in substantial capacity and

performance losses

INFERENCE:

So which technology will ultimately prevail?

It is arguable that LTE is more risk-free' than WiMAX because it will run on an evolution

of existing mobile infrastructure unlike WiMAX, which requires a new network to be built.


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So all the operators who follow a legacy might go for LTE and all those who are new in

the field, with no legacy as such might go for WIMAX.

What goes against LTE is that the technology is not fully evolved as of now. It is still in

the testing stage. Even though development and deployment of the LTE standard may

lag Mobile WiMAX, it has a crucial incumbent advantage of being backward compatible.

Following are 3 alternative solutions:

Operators are in no hurry to rollout the services given the eco-system constraints and

slower pace of equipment procurement. Almost all BWA operators will initially rollout

Wimax. Some of them intend to move on to LTE (Long-term evolution) in 2-3 years of

time, once the eco-system for LTE develops.

There is also no doubt that the advent of WiMAX has injected a new sense of urgency to

the LTE standardisation effort. This may help provide operators keen to control

investment with the confidence to wait for LTE technology to reach maturity before

upgrading their existing infrastructure, rather than invest in a brand new WiMAX network.

Then the strategy could be that LTE is used to support mobile broadband users and

WiMAX to support fixed or lower-mobility broadband users. Alternatively, they could well

use LTE for macro cellular coverage and WiMAX for micro cell coverage.


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11.0 4G Impacts to Mobile Backhaul

Introduction

With the introduction of 4G systems, wireless networks are evolving to next-generation

packet architectures capable of supporting enhanced broadband connections. Simple

text messaging and slow email downloads are being replaced by high-speed

connections that support true mobile office applications, real time video, streaming

music, and other rich multimedia applications. 4G wireless networks will approach the

broadband speeds and user experience now provided by traditional DSL and cable

modem wireline service.[10]

From the wireless operators perspective, 4G systems are vastly more efficient at using

valuable wireless spectrum. These spectral efficiency improvements support new high-

speed services, as well as larger numbers of users.

The additional speeds and capacity provided by 4G wireless networks put additional

strains on mobile

backhaul networks and the carriers providing these backhaul services. Not only are the

transport requirements much higher, but there is also a fundamental shift from TDM

transport in 2G and 3G networks to packet transport in 4G networks. Understanding the

impact of 4G on mobile backhaul transport is critical to deploying efficient, cost-effective

transport solutions that meet wireless carrier expectations for performance, reliability and

cost.


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LTE Architecture[10]

Key objectives of 4G LTE networks are to support higher data rates, improve spectral

efficiency, reduce network latency, support flexible channel bandwidths, and simplify or

flatten the network by utilizing an all packet (Ethernet/IP) architecture. In a GSM network,

whether 2G or 3G, radios (Node B) at the cell site provide

the radio air interface for each cell. A Radio Network Controller (RNC) provides control

over multiple cell sites and radio transceivers, supporting call handoffs and resource

allocation. The RNCs are connected to both a TDM voice switch and a packet gateway

located at the MSC.


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Figure 14: 2G/3G network architecture

The wireless industry defined each functional element in the network, as well as a set of

standard interfaces for interconnecting each of these devices. While their functions are

similar, the 3GPP wireless standards body adopted slightly different names for the

functional nodes and logical interfaces for GSM 2G and UMTS 3G

networks. Although updated in recent years to include Ethernet, historically the 2G/3G

wireless standards were based on T1 TDM physical interfaces for interconnection

between these devices. Given the wide availability of E1 copper, fiber, and microwave

services, this was a very logical choice for the physical layer.

This traditional reliance on E1 physical interfaces has, up to this point, driven mobile

backhaul transport requirements.


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LTE systems are based on entirely new packet-based architecture, including the use of

Ethernet physical interfaces for interconnection between the various functional elements.

Another objective of the LTE standards was to flatten and simplify the network

architecture. This resulted in pushing more intelligence into the radios (eNodeB) and

elimination of the radio controllers as a separate device. In effect, the radio controller

function has been distributed into each eNodeB radio. The resultant network, as shown

as shown below is indeed much simpler and flatter, with far fewer functional devices.

From a mobile backhaul perspective, the major changes are the higher capacities

required by LTE cell sites, as well as the use of native Ethernet as the physical interface

for connection and transport of these services back to the MSC. Given that most cell

sites will continue to support GSM 2G and UMTS 3G networks for many

years, the addition of LTE means backhaul transport carriers need to implement systems

that can support both native E1 TDM services and Ethernet services.


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Figure 15:A typical LTE network

11.1 Fiber requirement for LTE deployment

Due to high bandwidth requirement per BTS for LTE,all LTE towers need to be

connected on fiber as microwave has a datarate limitation of 155 Mbps(at present).

Since operators are still in the testing phase and due to the limited LTE handset

ecosystem, commercial deployment can be expected around end of 2012. By that time

it is expected that around 20-25% of the backhaul would be connected on fiber.

Moreover not all the existing towers would be upgraded for LTE.

Only those areas where data requirement is high would be upgraded to LTE cell sites.


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RIL, the pan India winner of BWA is expected to deploy 60,000 sites.

Similarily, sites by other LTE operators = 60,000

Out of these total cell sites, we assume that approx 10,000 sites would require fiber

connectivity by the end of 2014

Average distance to BSC=4Km

Average fiber count = 48F

Total cost=(48000CKm*50,000Rs/km)

= Rs 2400,000,000

= Rs 240 Crore So, there is an opportunity of Rs 240 crore for fiber deployment of

LTE towers


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12.0 INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS BACKHAUL TRENDS

REGION TOWER BACKHAUL TREND

CANADA Smart phone penetration is growing at a slow rate.

Bell Canada & Telus have launched a joint HSPA+

network on their fiber network, which will be later

upgraded to LTE

USA .Operators have indicated a preference to lease out

fiber for 3G & LTE backhaul(Verizon & AT&T)

AUSTRALIA Vodafone Hutchison is using a combination of

microwave(rural) and fiber(other areas) to migrate to

IP in preparation for LTE

CHINA Existing heavy data usage within 2G and 3G and

expected launch of LTE has led to majority towers

being connected with fiber. China has approx. 1047k

backhaul towers out of which 96% is connected on

fiber

INDIA India has 360k towers in backhaul out of which approx

10% is connected on fiber.

Table 11: International backhaul cases


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CONCLUSION:

In 2010, Indian telecom sector witnessed the much awaited 3G & BWA spectrum

auction With the arrival of 3G, various operators in India are particular about providing

faster and more robust Internet, better access of data services including e-commerce,

social networking, audio-video conferencing, and many other broadband applications

with very high speed.

India is ready for 3G

power cables report

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