International CTIA Wireless®, New Orleans, USA – May 7, 2012
New features aid WCDMA re-farming, helping operators make the most of finite spectrum
Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced two innovations that allow operators to deliver mobile broadband more effectively with their existing spectrum. They form part of the company’s Liquid Radio GSM software suite*, the industry’s first complete offering for frequency re-farming that ensures exceptional flexibility in using limited GSM spectrum more efficiently.
Described by the company as Energy Efficient Coverage (EEC)**, the first innovation enables existing GSM spectrum to support up to double the amount of traffic. Alternatively, it can achieve the same GSM performance using less spectrum, thus freeing up more frequencies for WCDMA re-farming. In addition it can significantly improve network coverage.
The second innovation is Configurable Carrier Bandwidth*** for WCDMA. This allows WCDMA carrier bandwidth to be set in software configurable steps of 200 kHz from the very narrow 3.8 MHz up to 4.2 MHz, depending on an operator’s spectrum. It gives operators full flexibility to allocate more GSM spectrum to WCDMA as it becomes available. The feature also allows co-location of GSM and WCDMA on the same frequency band for operators with extremely limited spectrum.
The two new software features will be available commercially in the second half of 2012.
“Mobile spectrum is scarce, and operators want to maximize the GSM spectrum they can re-farm to WCDMA and LTE,” said Dhruv Khanna, head of sales development for Mobile Broadband, North America, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Our software suite addresses this challenge. Operators can re-farm using much narrower spectrum than before, deliver GSM and WCDMA with 30% less spectrum, and also lower total cost of ownership by 20%. Moreover, they can deliver a vastly improved user experience, and potentially attract more customers to increase revenues.”
Operators can deploy the features with Nokia Siemens Networks’ Single RAN platform via a simple software upgrade to evolve their networks smoothly, and cost-efficiently manage the huge growth in mobile broadband traffic.
To help operators increase network capacity and improve network performance, Nokia Siemens Networks offers planning and implementation services for WCDMA and LTE re-farming. By supporting more than 65% of commercial WCDMA and over 50% of commercial LTE re-farming networks, the company is the leader in spectrum re-farming services.
A demonstration of the Liquid Radio GSM software suite can be seen at the Nokia Siemens Networks stand (Booth # 3701, Hall D) at International CTIA Wireless® 2012.
To share your thoughts on the topic, join the discussion on Twitter using #CTIA12, #GSM and #mobilebroadband.
About Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world’s most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.
With headquarters in Espoo, Finland, we operate in over 150 countries and had net sales of over 14 billion euros in 2011. http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com
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Notes:
* Nokia Siemens Networks launched its Liquid Radio GSM software suite at MWC 2012.
** Energy Efficient Coverage (EEC) is an innovation from Nokia Siemens Networks and a new feature in the company’s Liquid Radio GSM software suite. Similar in operation to Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) in LTE networks, EEC can up to double the amount of traffic carried at the cell level using existing GSM spectrum. Alternatively, it can achieve the same GSM performance using less spectrum, thus freeing up more spectrum for WCDMA re-farming. In addition it can improve coverage by 4 dB typically.
*** Configurable Carrier Bandwidth allows WCDMA carrier bandwidth to be set in software configurable steps of 200 kHz from a very narrow 3.8 MHz up to 4.2 MHz. This gives operators full flexibility to allocate more GSM spectrum to WCDMA as it becomes available over time. For example, an operator can start re-farming by rolling out WCDMA within just 3.8 MHz and in the future, when more GSM traffic is offloaded to WCDMA and spectrum can be freed up, the operator can increase the WCDMA bandwidth to 4.0 or 4.2 MHz, depending on the available spectrum and traffic requirement.
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