Vol. 11 No. 8 Issue 115 August/2009 - zte-deutschland.de · Vol. 11 No. 8 Issue 115 August/2009 A Monthly Publication Focus Operators’ Thoughts on Core Network—Surviving the Crisis

Vol. 11 No. 8 Issue 115 August/2009

A Monthly Publication

www.zte.com.cn

Focus

Operators’ Thoughts on Core Network—Surviving the CrisisFaced with the global financial crisis, telecom operators can introduce all-IP based and flat SAE CN to deliver mobile broadband services

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Network Architecture Oriented to Subscriber Profile ManagementThe concept of unified subscriber profile model has been proposed in the industry, where profiles of the same subscriber distributed in different NEs can be converged

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Refinement Operation of Mobile Packet Network Mobile operators have raised higher requirements on packet service operation, with the hope of changing the original extensive management mode to achieve service- and user-based refinement control and charging

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The Evolution of GSM to WCDMAOperators will need to continue to maintain their GSM networks even as the mass migration of GSM subscribers to WCDMA commences

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Third Eye

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ZTE Helps CSL with Cutover to HSPA+ Network

ZTE Inks Contract with Vistream to Build GSM/UMTS Core Network in Germany

ZTE and Qualcomm Collaborate to Boost UMTS System Performance

ZTE Signs Major Uzbekistan UMTS Contract with Ucell

ZTE Wins Contract to Build Madagascar's First All-IP Mobile Broadband Network

ZTE Launches Industry First LTE and EV-DO Rev.B Dual-Mode System

ZTE Signs Cooperation Agreement with WILLCOM to Provide 3G Data Cards to Japan Market

ZTE Launches Its First HSPA+ 21.6M Data Card in Greece

Corporate News

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Cover Story

Building a Strong Foundation for a Greater Leap—An interview with Qian Qiang, Regional General Manager of ZTE East and Southeast Asia

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� ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

�4Golden Combination of “VDSL2+10G EPON” for Fiber Optic BroadbandThe golden combination of “VDSL2+10G EPON” can dramatically increase the speed of access network at a low cost, making possible the cost-effective transition to FTTH network for end users

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief: Gu Yongcheng

Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Huang Xinming

Editorial Director: Zhao Lili

Executive Editor: Yue Lihua, Liu Yang

Editor: Olga Saprykina

Circulation Manager: Wang Pingping

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ZTE Profile

ZTE is a leading global provider of

telecommunications equipment and network

solutions. It has the widest and most complete

product range in the world—covering virtually

every sector of the wireline, wireless, service

and terminals markets. The company delivers

innovative, custom-made products and

services to over 500 operators in more than

140 countries, helping them achieve continued

revenue growth and shape the future of the

world’s communications.

Solution

�6ZTE’s TD-SCDMA Wireless Coverage SolutionBeing a leader in the commercial applications of the TD-SCDMA technology, ZTE is devoted to meeting challenges from complicated application scenarios

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Research Note

��Research Progress of 3G Evolution TechnologiesCurrently, 3GPP has specified two 3G radio access evolution technologies: HSPA+ and LTE/LTE-A

Engineering Service

�8Weapons of Mobile Network OptimizationZTE introduces the management value-added tools called Measurement Report (MR), Call Detail Trace (CDT) and Call Trace System (CTS) to implement highly efficient network planning and optimization

3ZTE TECHNOLOGIES August �009

Corporate News

ZTE Inks Contract with Vistream to Build GSM/UMTS Core Network in Germany

ZTE Helps CSL with Cutover to HSPA+ Network

ZTE, together with Hong Kong’s leading mobile operator, CSL Limited, announced on June

29, 2009 a significant milestone with the successful cutover of CSL’s Hong Kong network to the world’s fastest SDR-based HSPA+ commerc ia l network; and a major achievement in network power reduction. CSL 3G subscribers are now experiencing high-speed wireless services through the ZTE-deployed HSPA+ 3G network with a download rate of up to 21Mbps.

This project brings significant environmental benefits to CSL and the Hong Kong community as a whole.

The BBU+RRU modular hardware innovated and deployed by ZTE for this project offers highly efficient power consumption and natural heat elimination to effectively help reduce CO2 emissions. With the deployment of ZTE’s environmentally friendly equipment, the overall network power consumption of CSL’s network will be reduced by about 39% per year. This energy savings is equivalent to 7187 tons of CO2 emission, or emissions from 1,000 automobiles in 3 years over 60,000 km.

Following the high-speed SDR-based HSPA+ commercial network

launch by CSL on March 30, 2009, ZTE has assisted CSL in a series of network migrations to transform its previous network to HSPA+ for its pre-paid, post-paid and corporate customers. CSL previously operated two GSM/WCDMA networks which required significant and costly network upgrades. The network migration needed to be done with no interruption of services and no impact on customer experience. After s ix months of planning and thousands of tests, ZTE has successfully completed the cutover.

(ZTE Corporation)

ZTE is to build a GSM/UMTS core network for Vistream, the first and leading Mobile Virtual

Network Enabler (MVNE) in Germany, to help deliver high speed mobile access and applications.

ZTE will offer a series of advanced solutions to Vistream for a network capacity of 500,000 subscribers, including an all-IP platform, Advanced Telecommunicat ions Computing Arch i t ec tu re (ATCA) ha rdware infrastructure and advanced Next Generation Home Location Register (NG HLR) systems to construct a

large and simplified GSM/UMTS core network.

The projec t wi l l a lso inc lude geographic database disaster recovery features to help maximize the network’s reliability and lower the operator’s TCO.

This is the first GSM/UMTS core network to be installed by ZTE in Germany. In order to meet Vistream’s unique network requirements and to ensure the operator stays competitive in the ever-changing mobile telecoms market, ZTE has customized the system for Vistream to ensure a low TCO, easy

network management, and features that lead to an easily adoptable network expansion.

As the leading MVNE in the industry, Vistream is enlarging its business across various European markets, working in deep cooperation with various third party content providers. Renowned for its innovative business and profit models, Vistream offers a full range of Circuit Switched/Home Location Register (CS/HLR) equipment and possesses a comprehensive portfolio of intelligent network services platforms.

(ZTE Corporation)

ZTE’s green technologies help lower network’s CO� emission and reduce power consumption by 39% annually

Company to help Vistream lower TCO and bring unparalleled subscriber access and experience with GSM/UMTS high-speed services

4 ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Corporate News

ZTE Signs Major Uzbekistan UMTS Contract with Ucell

ZTE and Qualcomm Collaborate to Boost UMTS System PerformanceInterference cancellation technology increases uplink data throughput by up to 60%

ZTE and Qualcomm announced on July 6, 2009 their collaboration to significantly enhance the capacity

and performance of UMTS systems with the integration of Qualcomm’s Uplink Interference Cancellation (ULIC) technology into ZTE’s next-generation UMTS base station products. Using this technology, operators can boost their

UMTS data throughput by up to 60% and deliver a user experience that is comparable to LTE in a similar channel bandwidth. The technology also enables UMTS operators to increase voice capacity by up to 45%.

ULIC technology can de l iver improved system capacity by eliminating interference from multiple uplink data

streams. Enabled by the increased level of integration possible in today’s commercial chips, ULIC brings the performance of CDMA-based modems close to their theoret ical l imits . The design is scalable and supports cancellation for a large number of simultaneous users and transmissions on the uplink. (ZTE Corporation)

ZTE has won a contract to install a GSM/UMTS network for Uzbekistan operator Ucell,

part of the international TeliaSonera telecommunications group. ZTE will manage the construction and expansion of a 2G/3G network including replacement of the existing 2G equipment.

The Uzbekistan telecoms market is expanding rapidly, helped by the conversion to digital exchanges which

are expected to be completed in 2010. The mobile subscriber base reached 10.8 million in 2008 but is expanding rapidly. This continues the global trend in recent years of developing markets experiencing rapid growth while developed markets approach saturation. Ucell has experienced aggressive growth since its TeliaSonera acquisition and by May 2009, the company’s subscriber base was nearing 4 million.

“The TeliaSonera Ucell 2G/3G project adds to the growing number of world-class operators using ZTE’s UMTS equipment in highly competitive markets,” said Mr. Zeng Li, President of ZTE CIS. “Telstra’s CSL subsidiary in Hong Kong has a ZTE HSPA+ network up and running, and ZTE UMTS equipment has also entered service in European markets such as Romania, Estonia, Turkey and Belarus in the last 12 months.” (ZTE Corporation)

ZTE Wins Contract to Build Madagascar's First All-IP Mobile Broadband Network

ZTE recently announced that it is rolling out a state-of-the-art all-IP mobile phone and data

network for Madamobil, a new mobile operator in Madagascar.

The network rollout is currently in its final stages with ZTE supplying the core equipment and the base stations for the first phase of the network construction. Madamobil expects to

launch services by August 2009 in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, and to then expand into other cities in Madagascar.

Madamobil, which will offer services under the “Life” brand, is the only mobile broadband network operator in Madagascar operating on CDMA2000 1xEV-DO inf ras t ruc ture . ZTE’s recognized excellence in deployment of

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO networks will allow Madamobil to offer its subscribers not just crystal quality voice services but also high bandwidth services. The highly futuristic core network is based on ZTE’s layered architecture which is currently an all-IP environment, and includes the latest core based on Mobile Softswitch.

(ZTE Corporation)


ZTE Launches Its First HSPA+ 21.6M Data Card in Greece

ZTE Launches Industry First LTE and EV-DO Rev.B Dual-Mode System

ZTE announced on July 22, 2009, that it has launched an industry-first LTE and EV-DO Rev.B

Dual-Mode System at the opening of EXPO COMM Wireless Japan 2009, the only exhibition in Japan that specializes in wireless/mobile network technologies, services and solutions.

During EXPO COMM, and in line with its corporate theme “Talking to the Future,” ZTE showcased a series of innovative technologies and products, including the world’s first LTE and EV-DO Rev.B Dual-Mode System developed

based on ZTE’s SDR base station platform, which has been widely adopted for commercial use in the global market. The dual-mode system demo covered a series of advanced applications, including high-speed data services such as HD streaming media, FTP download and interactive games.

ZTE’s SDR-based EV-DO Rev.B System can smoothly evolve to LTE by simply adding LTE baseband board and upgrading software. Through software advancement, ZTE’s EV-DO Rev.A can evolve to EV-DO Rev.B network, which

is backward compatible with EV-DO Rev.A users’ access.

The system demo adopted Phase I technology: the EV-DO Rev.B’s 3-carrier bundling to realize 9.3Mbps download rate. With its flexible multi-carrier bundling technology, EV-DO Rev.B can bundle up to 15 carriers in Phase II, with a download rate of 73.5Mbps and an upload rate of 27Mbps. Compared with HSPA+ and other technologies, it has achieved certain speed advantages.

(ZTE Corporation)

ZTE, along with COSMOTE, the largest mobile phone operator in Greece , have launched

ZTE’s first high-speed HSPA+ USB data card in Greece. The MF662 is a high-performance modem that supports download and upload speeds of up to

21.6Mbps and 5.76Mbps respectively.Offering users an enhanced mobile

broadband experience, the MF662 has been especially designed for HSPA+ networks. Being a light and compact device, it enables users to enjoy high-speed mobile broadband anywhere. It

is equipped with a flexible rotatable connector that can be easily adjusted and plugged into any USB interface, and it also supports a MicroSD card with data storage of up to 8G.

(ZTE Corporation)

ZTE Signs Cooperation Agreement with WILLCOM to Provide 3G Data Cards to Japan Market

ZTE announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with WILLCOM, the fourth largest

mobile operator in Japan. Under the agreement, ZTE has partnered with WILLCOM to supply its 3G Data Card MF633 (WILLCOM’s model is HX003ZT) to the Japan market, bringing high-speed Internet users

access to rich 3G network applications. Since making its debut in the Japan

market in 2008, ZTE’s 3G Data Card products have been adopted by JCI. ZTE’s partnership with WILLCOM marks another significant business expansion into a high-end overseas market. As a top four mobile operator, and the largest Personal Handy-phone System

(PHS) operator in Japan, WILLCOM has 4.6 million users and commands great influence in the local market.

In early 2009, WILLCOM and ZTE signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for TDD technologies, including XGP with the aim to work closely to boost market shares in the industry.

(ZTE Corporation)


Cover Story

Building a Strong Foundation for a Greater Leap—An interview with Qian Qiang, Regional General Manager of ZTE East and Southeast Asia

Qian Qiang has been serving as Regional General Manager of ZTE East and Southeast Asia. Formerly he worked as Vice General Manager of ZTE’s Network Division from 2000 to 2004 and as Manager of ZTE’s Lanzhou Office from 1998 to 2000.

Zhao Lili

Enjoying the reputation of the oriental pearl, Hong Kong is not only the heaven of shopping but also the tourism

attraction with fascinating scenery. In the Victoria Bay, you may indulge in the sea breeze, gleaming water, and brilliant lanterns. As an important

economic entity in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong boasts a well-developed telecom industry. In East Asia, Japan and South Korea act as the “vane” for new service development in the global telecom market. Being a leading global supplier of telecom equipment, ZTE has recorded impressive performance in East and Southeast Asia. The reporter of ZTE TECHNOLOGIES recently interviewed Qian Qiang, Regional General Manager of ZTE East and Southeast Asia, who has just returned to the headquarters of ZTE in Shenzhen from abroad.

Differentiated Telecom MarketsAssuming the responsibility of

exploring East and Southeast Asia markets since 2004, Qian Qiang has a deep understanding of countries and telecom markets in the two regions. Accord ing to h im, the t e l ecom development of the countries and areas in the two regions varies greatly due to the uneven economic development. From the perspectives of economic development and telecom development, markets in the two regions can be divided into three categories: Developed market, emerging market, and underdeveloped market.

The developed market including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, has experienced full and fierce competition. As a result, the telecom penetration rate in these countries is very high. For example, the telephone penetration rate in Hong

�ZTE TECHNOLOGIES August �009

mobile broadband network in the world; ZTE has become the major supplier of NGN core network and broadband access network for PCCW; it has established a long-term cooperation with HK’s Hutchison, building the nationwide GSM network for Hutchison Sri Lanka and the nationwide CDMA network for Hutchison Ghana, and becoming the major GSM network equipment supplier for Hutchison Indonesia and the major 3G mobile phones and data cards supplier for Hutchison 3G Europe. Early in 2005, ZTE signed a contract with Hutchison Europe to supply 300,000 WCDMA mobile phones. The contract win marked ZTE’s first breakthrough with European high-end telecom operators in mobile phone sales.

In South Korea, ZTE has penetrated the markets of top two telecom operators (KT and SKT), becoming the major MSTP supplier for KT and the major transmission equipment supplier for SKT.

ZTE has also scored significant achievements in the emerging Southeast Asia market . I t has become the mainstream telecom supplier for Viettel, the leading mobile operator in Vietnam, with its transmission products, switching products, pre-payment systems, and fixed stations securing over 30%, 40-50%, 50%, and 60-70% market share respectively; it has also become the major 3G network and broadband access network supplier for Viettel. Furthermore, ZTE has established

overseas markets ZTE has ever set its foot in. Since the end of 1990s, ZTE has started to explore the market of Hong Kong and Vietnam, and succeeded in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. With the help from the Multi-national Telecom Operators (MTOs) in these countries and areas, ZTE has successfully extended its business to other regions. Meanwhile, it has deployed wireless and wireline infrastructure, as well as terminal products in these regions, achieving breakthroughs in diversified product exploration.

According to Qian Qiang, ZTE’s major categories of products have penetrated the markets of East Asia and Southeast Asia, including both the developed market and the emerging market. In 2008, the sales of ZTE’s wireless infrastructure, wirel ine infrastructure, and terminal products to these regions amounted to 50%, 29%, and 22% of total revenues respectively, which is in line with the company’s global product sales proportion.

In Hong Kong where the telecom industry is highly developed, ZTE has established cooperative relationships with mainstream operators such as CSL, a leading mobile operator in Hong Kong, PCCW, the largest integrated telecom operator in Hong Kong, and HK’s Hutchison, an MTO in Hong Kong. For example, in 2008, ZTE and CSL jointly constructed the world’s first SDR-based HSPA+ network, making it the fastest

Kong and Taiwan exceeds 110%, the highest in the world; the Hong Kong’s 3G penetration rate hits 32%. In these countries and regions, the total investment by telecom operators in 2009 is equal to or even exceeds that of 2008. The emerging market features large population, moderately-developed or underdeveloped economies, and low telecom penetration rate. In this market, lots of new telecom networks are under construction or need to be built, and the 3G licenses have not yet been or have just been issued. For example, in Thailand, the total population is 60 million, the investment by telecom operators in 2009 increases substantially compared with that in 2008, but the 3G license has not been issued; the total population in Vietnam is about 90 million ranking 13th in the world, the total investment by telecom operators in 2009 exceeds that of 2008, and the 3G license has just been issued this April. The underdeveloped market is characterized by backward economies, foreign investment, and relatively small population. For example, the population of Cambodia is 14 million, and the population of Laos is 7 million. ZTE has laid a sound foundation and seized its shares in the three markets, especially in Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand.

In-depth Market ExplorationDiversified Product Marketing

Southeast Asia is one of the first

Southeast Asia is one of the first overseas markets ZTE has ever set its foot in. Since the end of 1990s, ZTE has started to explore the market of Hong Kong and Vietnam, and succeeded in Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.


Cover Story

other three vendors as the candidate vendors for the upgrade. After one-year-long comprehensive appraisal, CSL finally selected ZTE as its cooperative partner in March 2008. ZTE devoted successively over 1000 engineering and R&D staff to building an efficient project team together with CSL. They succeeded in deploying more than 2000 base stations within 11 months, with the project quality reaching world-class level. On March 30, 2009, CSL and ZTE jointly held a press conference in Hong Kong to announce the commercial availability of the world’s fastest SDR-based all-IP mobile broadband Next GTM network. “We have high regard for ZTE’s world-class telecom solutions and the advantages they offer over their competitors, hence it was easier for us to decide and again select ZTE as technology partner. With this new collaboration, we are confident to positioning the company as a role model in the industry by contributing our leading technologies and expertise,” said Tarek Robbiati, CEO of CSL NWM at the release ceremony.

When asked why CSL gave so high appraisal on the network, Qian Qiang told

at the beginning of 2004. However, the construction of 3G networks in Thailand and Vietnam started relatively late. Relying on leading technological advantages in the 3G arena and the experience in global 3G network construction, ZTE actively participated in their 3G network construction. In Vietnam, ZTE has signed a WCDMA contract with Viettel, becoming its first WCDMA supplier. Viettel is known for its high operation efficiency and rapid growth, occupying about 40% of mobile market in Vietnam. The contract win lays a sound foundation for long term cooperation with Viettel in the future and thus has strategic significance.

When talking about 3G networks, Qian Qiang introduced the cooperation between ZTE and Hong Kong’s CSL, a subsidiary of Australia’s Telstra and also the largest mobile operator in Hong Kong. Due to high maintenance costs and difficulties in network convergence and evolution, CSL’s original dual-m o d e G S M / W C D M A n e t w o r k s became obstacles that prevented its further development. At the beginning of 2007, CSL planned to upgrade its existing networks and chose ZTE and

extensive cooperation with VNPT, the largest integrated telecom operator in Vietnam, in the business of VAS such as SMS and MMS, mobile core network HLR, fixed stations, mobile phones, and IPTV. “In these regions, we have deployed a full portfolio of infrastructure and terminal products that cover the fixedline, mobile and terminal markets, building a strong foundation for both in-depth market exploration and diversified product exploration,” said Qian Qiang.

Building the World’s Fastest 3G Network

Due to the large economic gap among East and Southeast Asian countries, the progress in telecom network construction differs significantly from one country to another, especially in 3G network construction. According to Qian Qiang, the economically developed countries or regions including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are among the first in the world to deploy 3G networks. Early in 2001, Japan started the commercial use of its UMTS network; Hong Kong issued its 3G license in 2001 and launched its commercial 3G network

Country or Region Date of Setup First Purchase Order (PO)

Hong KongAssigned permanent representatives in 1999; set up a representative office in 2000; set up ZTE’s Hong Kong subsidiary in 2001

Received its first PO from Wharf New T&T for ZXJ10 digital SPC switch in 2000

Vietnam Assigned permanent representatives in 1998; set up a representative office in 2001

Received its first PO for ZXA10 access network in 2001

Thailand Assigned permanent representatives in 2001; set up ZTE’s Thailand subsidiary in 2002

Received its first PO for optical transport project in 2002

South Korea Assigned permanent representatives in 2005; set up ZTE’s Korea subsidiary in 2006

Received its first PO from KT for optical transport project in 2006

Japan Assigned permanent representatives in 2006; set up ZTE’s Japan subsidiary in 2007

Received its first PO from a local telecom operator for 3G data cards in 2008

Taiwan Set up a representative office in February 2006 Received its first PO worth $10 million for 3G mobile phones in 2006

ZTE’s track record in the East and Southeast Asian market


power consumption and natural heat elimination to help effectively reduce CO2 emissions. This project brings significant environmental benefits to CSL and to the whole Hong Kong community. With the deployment of ZTE’s environmentally friendly equipment, the overall network power consumption of CSL’s network will be reduced by about 39% per year. This energy saving is equivalent to 7187 tons of CO2 emission, or emissions from 1,000 automobiles in 3 years over 60,000 km. Meanwhile, the network saves electricity by about 40% per year and 1047 tons of waste material every 6 years, becoming a truly green network.

At the GTB Innovation Awards ceremony held by Global Telecoms Business in London on June 16, CSL’s Next GTM network won the National Mobile Services Award for its excellent network performance and technological innovation. The successful network deployment marks a great stride forward in ZTE’s effort to build 3G networks worldwide.

Getting Prepared for the FutureAs ZTE’s first and most mature

overseas markets, ZTE East and Southeast Asia may face bigger challenges in their further development. In such regions blended with both the developed and underdeveloped markets, it is very important for us to keep a cool head and have a clear idea. Qian Qiang expressed his unique thought about future development: “In the next two to three years, we need to expand the scale of our business and dig deep into the market through refinement operation. Meanwhile, we need to reinforce our exploration in high-end markets such as Japan and South Korea. Only in this way can we achieve greater success in this region.”

with full coverage and highest-speed mobile broadband services. In addition to delivering original services, the Next G TM ne twork can customize new services , a l lowing subscribers to enjoy m o b i l e I n t e r n e t surfing, download a high-definition movie within a couple of

minutes, and share their music libraries, network Blogs, photos and videos anytime and anywhere. As a turnkey network swapping project, the network construction involved an end-to-end solution including core network, service platform, and wireless access network. It took only 11 months to build and put the network into commercial use, which broke a record of Hong Kong regarding the speed of wireless network construction. Moreover, the Next GTM network is considered the world’s first SDR-based commercial network. ZTE’s all-IP SDR solution allows the equipment to support multiple radio standards through software reconfiguration, making possible the smooth network convergence and upgrade whi le reducing network construction costs and increasing the operator’s ROI. Since its commercial launch on March 30, 2009, the Next GTM network has seen a rapid growth in subscriber base, prominent enhancements in network performance and a big drop in OPEX.

Besides, CSL held a press conference in Hong Kong on June 29, regarding Green Network such as carbon dioxide emission, material recycling and power saving. At the conference, CSL announced that the BBU+RRU modular hardware innovated and deployed by ZTE offered highly eff ic ient

us that CSL attached great importance to network construction, and adhered to the technology-driven policy and the choice of cutting-edge product solutions and outstanding engineering scheme, so as to continually improve user experience. This is not only the philosophy held by CSL but also its key criteria for choosing a partner. Facing fierce market competition, especially the global financial crisis, CSL cemented its image as a high-end operator in the industry and selected ZTE to build the world’s cutting-edge and fastest Next GTM network in Hong Kong, which will further enhance its leading position in the market.

The newly-constructed network not only helps CSL realize transformation from multi-network coexistence to a converged network, but also enables CSL to establish a benchmark in the industry regarding network performance, speed of deployment, service capabilities, and technical solutions. Qian Qiang said proudly that the Next GTM network created four records in the industry: The highest wireless transmission speed, fastest network deployment, fastest custom-made service provisioning, and the earliest commercial use of SDR-based base stations. Adopting the HSPA+ standards, the Next GTM network can support a download rate of up to 21Mbps and provide subscribers

CEOs from ZTE, CSL and Telstra at the press conference


Operators’ Thoughts on Core Networks Surviving the Crisis Pan Zhenchun, Zhang Can, Shen Guoqiang

Crisis Facing Mobile Operators

Because of the global financial crisis, the growth of the subscriber base of many well-known telecom operators

is slowing down, their profits are decreasing, and the competition among them is becoming increasingly fierce. To attract more subscribers, they offer low tariff, flat tariff and preferential packages (traffic-based flat rate, duration-based flat rate, etc.). Though the low tariff helps to expand the subscriber base, it reduces the ARPU. Moreover, the flat tariff and

preferential packages entice subscribers to use the high-bandwidth P2P services (like BitTorrent, eMule, etc.) and VoIP services (like Skype) for a long time. The overuse of network resources may even result in network congestion, and the uncontrolled VoIP services can affect the profits of traditional voice services.

According to a forecast from Pyramid Research, global mobile penetration will climb to 84% by 2013 from the current 60%, adding 829 million mobile subscriptions led by growth in emerging markets such as China, India,

Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Central & Eastern Europe. To expand their subscriber base, operators have to explore these markets and they will face increasingly fierce competition in multi-national operation. Due to the huge population, vast territory and diversified service requirements in such emerging markets, operators are facing new problems: How to store and manage huge subscriber profiles and enhance disaster tolerance on the most cost-effective basis? How to offer diversified services in the easiest and most convenient manner?

Focus


Operators’ Thoughts on Core Networks Surviving the Crisis

example, the uMAC at the control plane integrates the functions of Mobility Management Entity (MME) in the SAE network and those of SGSN in the traditional PS network; the xGW at the user plane integrates the functions of S-GW and P-GW in the SAE network, those of GGSN and PDSN in the traditional PS network, and those of AGW in the WiMAX network. The CN equipment supports multiple access modes (GSM, UMTS, CDMA, WiMAX, etc.), allowing the operators to make full use of the available resources and provide flexible functional combinations to meet the requirements for different scenarios.

Refinement operationWith the rapid growth of mobile

broadband services, the existing operation mode can no longer meet the need of industry development. There has been a tendency to conduct the refinement operation that involves user and service awareness, efficient service control, QoS control and charging policy. The refinement operation enables operators to make full use of their network resources, and helps them improve customer satisfaction and increase operating revenue.

ZTE’s refinement operation solution based on the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture defined in 3GPP consists of Core Network Gateway equipment (xGW) that performs the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), Resource Control Platform (RCP) that performs the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), Subscriber Profiles Repository (SPR) that stores and manages subscriber information, Portal Server that provides self-help service subscription, and Online Charging System/Offline Charging

to generate more revenues while improving customer satisfaction.

■ Build a Universal Subscriber Profile Platform (USPP) to achieve the cross-area, large-capacity and multi-service data management and facilitate full-service operation and multinational operation with a geographical disaster recovery mechanism.

Future-proof PS network architecture

In the Beyond 3G (B3G) era, in addition to HSPA and HSPA+ that drive the technology advancement of mobile communications, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE) technologies are introduced to allow smooth transition to 4G. The LTE/SAE requires flat structure, high data rate, and low delay for core network. ■ Upgrade the current all-IP universal

platform to protect the operators’ equipment investment: The current all-IP universal platform supports IP access and IP-based exchange of internal data. Based on this, high-performance multi-core network processors and large-capacity switching frames can be adopted to greatly increase data throughput of the network equipment and thus meet the future broadband access requirements. Through software upgrade, both the SGSN and GGSN in a GSM/UMTS network and the PDSN and HA in a CDMA network can evolve into LTE/SAE Network Elements (NEs), which extend the equipment’s life cycle and protect the operators’ investment.

■ Integrate diversified NEs to support multiple access modes and ensure smooth network transition: ZTE’s PS CN equipment can integrate the functions of multiple NEs. For

Operators’ Thoughts on Core Network

From the Core Network (CN) perspective, operators can take the following measures to cope with the crisis:Equipment investment: Lower initial equipment investment and take into account the reusability during the evolution to the target network. The CN architecture must be access agnostic to meet the requirement of network convergence by introducing convergent gateways. Network operation cost: Constantly lower OPEX by adopting smart power-saving technology and “green” energy-saving equipment. Service convergence: Support subscriber profile convergence and unified charging. Customer satisfaction: Improve user experience through the PCC-based refinement operation and reduce latency in deploying mobile broadband services through the SAE-based advanced CN architecture. Operating revenue: Increase operating revenue through the data management convergence and PCC-based refinement operation.

How to Build Core NetworkIn the “winter” of the telecom industry,

crises and opportunities coexist. Facing difficulties and challenges, operators must introduce new technologies, improve and optimize existing networks, and invest properly to increase operating revenue. ■ Introduce future-proof Packet

Switched (PS) network architecture to cater to the development of mobile broadband, ensure smooth network evolution and integration, and reduce TCO.

■ Adopt the increasingly mature and refinement operation mode and make good use of network resources

1� ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Focus

System (OCS/OFCS). With the Deep Packet Inspection

(DPI) function, xGW can inspect and perceive services (including P2P services) and subscriber behavior. Through the interfaces to PCRF and OCS, it can report subscriber services and behavior, dynamically download service and charging policies, and implement online charging. At the control plane, xGW adopts a general-purpose processor for distributed processing that can meet the stringent signaling processing requirements in the online charging and PCC processes; at the user plane, the multi-core network processor is adopted to minimize the impact on performance caused by packet inspection.

ZTE’s RCP system can flexibly integrate different functional modules, including PCRF, Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS), AAA, and AAA Proxy. Complying with 3GPP, 3GPP2 and TISPAN specifications, it can simultaneously support GSM, UMTS, CDMA, TD-SCDMA, fixed broadband, WiMAX, and I-WLAN networks, thereby catering to the full-service operators’ requirements for convergent core networks.

Data convergenceDue to the segmentation of NEs,

subscriber profiles tend to be distributed in different NEs at different network layers, such as BOSS, HLR, SCP, and AAA. The distributed storage results in low data consistency and high OPEX, and it directly restricts the rapid and flexible service deployment. Moreover, in the era of full-service operation, it is necessary to drive the convergence at the terminal, access, network and service layers; and full-service operators have also raised new requirements on convergence and unified management of subscriber profiles. Hence, the concept of Central Database (CDB) emerges, which has four

main features: ■ Unique setting: Set up one subscriber

profile center in the network with unified subscriber profile model, allowing multiple NEs to manage and access profile data in a unified manner.

■ Open interfaces: Provide unified and open interfaces independent of specific applications and compatible with third-party devices.

■ Distributed architecture: Distribute multiple nodes in geographically different areas and provide linear capacity superposition and disaster recovery capability.

■ Data mining: The easy data mining and analysis ability provides the basis for decision making.

ZTE’s USPP, the CDB-based NG HLR solution (see Figure 1), has the following attractions: ■ Large capacity: It can store information

deployment and lower equipment and operation costs. Backed by long-term investment into R&D and the technology innovations based on years of experience, ZTE will definitely help operators survive the financial crisis and achieve excellence.

Figure 1 ZTE’s USPP solution

Telecom Network

Front End (FE)

Back End (BE)Open Interface Protocol

(LDAP)

Large Capacity

High Reliability

Fast Deployment

Multi-Service

HLR FE HSS/AAA FE Other Application FE

Service 1 Database Service 2 Database Service 3 Database

of 100 million subscribers. ■ High reliability: It provides excellent

disaster recovery. ■ Fast deployment: The loose coupling

of FE and BE enables quick on-line service provisioning.

■ Multi-service: It can store data of diversified networks.

The USPP solution can be applied to different scenarios, such as network disaster recovery, multi-national operation environment, network convergence, and network architecture optimization. Especially, as some convergent and convenient services are introduced as a result of data mining and data convergence, operators can retake control of networks, subscribers and services from the convergent data applications, and generate more revenues from them.

ConclusionFaced with the global financial crisis,

telecom operators can introduce all-IP based and flat SAE CN to deliver mobile broadband services; adopt PCC-based refinement operation to optimize network operation and management and improve user experience; utilize large-capacity, multi-service, and unified data management to facilitate fast service


Demand for Refinement Packet Service Operation

Wi t h t h e i n c r e a s e o f t h e b a n d w i d t h f o r mo b i l e p ack e t access, mobile packet

services grow at tremendous rates. The prevalence of mobile packet services helps operators maintain their revenue streams in spite of the decline in voice business. However, mobile operators are increasingly challenged by the downturn of Return On Investment (ROI) in developing mobile packet services, as shown in Figure 1.

Due to the openness feature, a large number of mobile packet services are offered by individual Service Providers (SPs) rather than mobile operators. Therefore, mobile operators have gradually turned their position as Circuit-Switched (CS) service dominators into Packet-Switched (PS) service providers in the whole service supply chain, and they can no longer gain higher value-added profits from service innovation.

In order to exploit the emerging revenue-generating packet services, mobile operators have raised higher requirements on the service operation, with the hope of changing the original extensive management mode to achieve

Wu Se

Refinement Operation of Mobile Packet Network


Focus

Figure 1 Traffic and revenue relationship in the network

service- and user-based refinement control and charging and to create the highest profits.

The mobile operators can basically divide the services available in the network into three types and implement different policies for them.■ Services with high popularity or

great development potential: Provide complete QoS guarantee and generate more revenues through a reasonable tariff policy

■ Services generating low profits at the expense of great system resources (such as P2P service) or having conflict with the operation of existing services (such as Skype service): Remove the influences through access restriction, broadband restriction or tariff restriction

■ Other PS services: Practice extensive management

Through the service classification, the original disordered packet services are put in good order and can be effectively controlled and managed. In order to fulfill the objective of exploiting the value of each bit in the traffic flow, mobile operators need to build their packet networks that can provide effective service inspection, complete service statistic analysis, and multi-

service control capabilities. Figure 2 illustrates the concept of refinement packet service operation. The packet services are inspected in two ways: Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and Deep Flow Inspection (DFI). The former utilizes service signature, while the latter

uses the matching technique of traffic statistical characteristic model.

Management and Control Framework for Packet Services

Shown in Figure 3 is a typical management and control framework for packet services in current mobile networks.

The management and cont ro l framework for packet services is mainly divided into two layers: The bearer/service control layer and the bearer network layer. The policy system used at the control layer can generate specific control and charging rules. The management and control functions at the bearer network layer can be embedded in the mobile access gateway or deployed independently on the IP service edge. There are some differences between the two ways of function deployment. The

Voice DominantTraffic

Qua

ntity

Date Dominant

Time

Revenues

Cellular operator revenue

& traffic decoupled

Access Restriction

Bandwidth Restriction

Independent Tariff Control

Low VTR Service All PS ServicesDPI Filtering

Basic Tariff Package

DPI Filtering + Service AnalysisSubscribed SP/CP

Independent Operation

QoS Guarantee

Independent Tariff

Manageable Services

VTR: Value Traffic Rate

Figure 2 Concept of refinement packet service operation

Figure 3 Typical management and control framework for packet services

Bearer/Service Control Layer

Bearer Network Layer

NMS

NMS/EMSPolicy System

Terminal Access Network L2 Aggregation IP Service Edge Service Networks

DPI

DPI

DPI

DPI

DPI Internet

Voice

Video

Independent DPI NEEmbedded in Mobile GW


former is more suitable for refinement management, control and charging of packet services by mobile operators, while the latter is more suitable for statistic analysis, management and control of mobile Internet services. The two ways have their own advantages and disadvantages. In the era of rapid growth of mobile packet services, only combining the two ways of function deployment can help mobile operators fulfill their expectations for refinement service operation.

ZTE’s ISMS Solution ZTE’s mobile packet core network

products leverage the advantages of both embedded and independent deployment of service inspection, management and control functions. By combining the advantage of Policy and Charging Control (PCC) structure defined in 3GPP, ZTE puts forward a total solution for refinement operation of mobile packet services, or Intelligent Service Management System (ISMS) solution.

The ISMS solution consists of four subsystems: Core subsystem, charging subsystem, user service statistic analysis subsystem and security protection subsystem. The core subsystem based on PCC architecture includes Core Network Gateway (xGW), Internet Service Analysis and Administration Gateway (ISAG), Resource Control Platform (RCP), Subscriber Profiles Repository/Home Subscriber Server (SPR/HSS) and the Portal Server for self-help service subscription, and is responsible for service inspection, user service and behavior perception, traffic bandwidth control, strategic routing, and billing policy management and execution; the charging subsystem in compliance with the 3GPP specifications contains Online Charging System (OCS), Offline Charging System

(OFCS) and the Portal Server for self-help charging, and is responsible for online charging, off-line charging and user account management; the user traffic analysis subsystem including the user traffic and behavior analysis server and the auxiliary firewall completes mobile service statistics and analysis; the security protection subsystem is responsible for protecting the system and users from virus invasion.

The effective combination of the four subsystems provides mobile operators with a very flexible service management and control mechanism, helping them build a complete system for refinement operation of mobile packet services, in which the dual cores of intelligent service perception and intelligent user behavior perception perform such management and control functions as intelligent service and user behavior analysis, intelligent service security management, intelligent service routing control, intelligent services charging, intelligent service bandwidth management, and intelligent service access control. The intelligent service perception can inspect the relative traffic flow by using the DPI/DFI technology, while the user behavior perception can acquire information about the user’s service subscription, location, access type, and even complex service software attribute.

With the traffic flow inspection, user behavior inspection, as well as the complete service management and control functions, mobile operators can set down very flexible service management and control rules for better service promotion.

In order to explain the specific policies that can be implemented on the ISMS system by the mobile operators, let us take P2P service as an example. The operators can divide the users into

three types: unsubscribed P2P service users, P2P service monthly flat rate users and golden P2P service users. With the user behavior perception function, the operators can acquire information about user service subscription. They can directly prohibit the traffic flow of the unsubscribed P2P service users; implement bandwidth restriction or traffic volume restriction for the P2P service monthly flat rate users, so as to prevent them from arbitrarily occupying more system resources; and allow the golden P2P service users to use P2P services without any bandwidth restrictions, on the condition that they must pay a relatively higher fees. In addition, due to the large volume of P2P traffic flow, a great amount of malicious overdue payment occurs when the users are in roaming state. The operators can acquire the users’ location information and determine whether they are roaming or not. If the users are in roaming state, the operators can prohibit their P2P service access. In a nutshell, mobile operators can use a favorable combination of the abovementioned policies to have a good management and control over P2P services.

ConclusionThe refinement operation of mobile

packet services can not only make full use of the limited resources to help mobile operator deliver quality and efficient services, but also leverage the features of wide coverage and rich service statistical data of mobile networks to help the operators expand their business to the service management and consultation. Moreover, it can help them develop and operate the potential services, successfully change them into quality service providers, and finally dominate the development of mobile packet services.


Focus

Unified Subscriber Profile Model

With the development of IT software and hardware technologies and the expans ion

of telecom services, more and more communication networks in addition to the traditional PSTN and 2G networks, are introduced and become standards, such as 3G, LTE, IMS, WiMAX and Softswitch, which results in an explosive growth of subscriber profiles.

Due to the r ap id inc rease o f subscriber profiles in the network, the traditional way of storing and managing subscriber profiles in each Network Element (NE) can no longer adapt to the network development. The decentralized subscriber profile management would lead to higher OPEX and the difficulties in removing waste data, ensuring data consistency and security, and finding an effective way for data mining and analysis. The inconsistent external interfaces of the NEs used for data storage would result in complex interfaces for data access, tightly-coupled interfaces and services, non-transparent data transfer and the failure to deploy new services on a rapid and effective basis. The problems in subscriber profile management are becoming increasingly prominent.

For this reason, the concept of unified subscriber profile model (see Figure 1) has been proposed in the industry, where profiles of the same subscriber distributed in different NEs can be converged and used as a unique source of subscriber profile for all networks when set with a unified subscriber ID and unified profile architecture. Physically, the unified subscriber profile model resides in the Central Database (CDB), the unique data storage NE that stores the same subscriber profile model, ensures data consistency, reliability and security, and provides open

Zhu Kun

Network Architecture

Oriented to Subscriber

Profile Management

1�ZTE TECHNOLOGIES August �009

interfaces for other NEs to access data. The unified subscriber profile model

converges terminal data, access/core network data, and service data, helping to build one subscriber profile center for unified management. It can decouple applications and data, simplify network operation, improve data security, shorten time-to-market for new services, and reduce OPEX and CAPEX, thus laying a foundation for the operators to deliver competitive convergent services.

Open CDB Topology The three-layered CDB topology

consis ts of database subsystem, application subsystem and client subsystem, as shown in Figure 2. The database subsystem includes resource management and data management; the application subsystem contains various application NEs, such as the application and processing parts of HLR, HSS and AAA; and the client subsystem provides interfaces for data access. The three-layered topology specifies the capability scope of CDB, providing a theoretical basis for its implementation.

ZXUN USPP Leads the Next Generation of Data Management

ZTE’s Universal Subscriber Profile Platform (ZXUN USPP) adopts the directory server architecture that provides data management and service interfaces in directory tree mode. The directory server contains two parts: a distributed database with the data description plan, and the specific access protocols for database access and handling.

The directory server is different from the relational database. It implements simple update operations that are suitable for mass data retrieval, for example, HLR data access. Moreover, it has the mass data replication ability

that can shorten the response time while improving availability and reliability. Currently, two international standards are used for the directory server technology: the earlier X.500 standard

and the recently fast-growing LDAP standard.

Figure 3 illustrates the Directory Information Tree (DIT) structure for convergent storage of HLR and prepaid

Figure 1 Unified subscriber profile model

Sub. 1Terminal

layer

Access layer

Service layer

O&M layer

Sub. 2

Sub. 3

Sub. 1

Sub. 3Sub. 4

Sub. 1

Sub. 6

Sub. 5

Sub. 2

Sub. 3

Sub. 4

Sub. 1

Sub. 2

Sub. 3

Sub. 4

Terminal layer

Access layer

Service layer

O&M layer

Customize

Centralize

Converge

Separated Centralized

Client Subsystem

Client 1 Client n……

Database Subsystem

Data Management

Resource Management

Data Transformation &

Presentation

Post-Update Trigger Handling

Application Subsystem

Application 1 Application n

……

Adapting Entities Management

Security Management

Concurrency Control Backup/Restore Integrity ServicesTransaction

processing

Data StorageManagement

Physical Device Management

Figure 2 CDB topology


where (N+K)×FEs work in load sharing mode and K×FEs are permitted to be faulty; the DSA in the UDS can provide N+K load-sharing and redundancy capability, where (N+K)×DSs contained in one DSA work in load sharing mode and K×DSs are permitted to be faulty. All the nodes can be distributed in different places geographically; Open interface: The interfaces in line with ITU-T X.500 and LDAP standards are open to NEs and service platforms of the third party; Multi-network and multi-service

handling: Support synchronously subscriber profile storage and service hand l ing in PSTN, PHS, GSM, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA, IMS, WiMAX and broadband/narrowband access networks.

ZTE’s USPP solution is highly recognized by operators and the market research firms such as IDC for its technical advancement and maturity. It has been put into widespread commercial use in Hong Kong’s CSL and Vietnam’s Vinaphone, becoming the No.1 brand of CDB in the industry.

Focus

ROOT

Subseriber1 Subseriber2 Subseriber3

PrepaidService

HLRService

HLRService

HLRService

AccountInformation

CallingGroup SS Data SS Data GPRS

Settings SS Data

services. The directory server stores data in a flexible tree structure, which is suitable for convergent storage of the same subscriber profile model. Moreover, to ensure data security, the directory server defines the data backup and authority control mechanism; to meet the requirement of CDB for open and service agnostic interface, it adopts open LDAP interface for data access, which is independent of specific data structure.

ZXUN USPP composed of Front End (FE) and Back End (BE) can provide NE functions based on data storage in the communication network such as HLR, HSS, EIR, MNP and AAA, as shown in Figure 4. The FE provides TDM and IP signaling interfaces as well as the application processing function; the BE, also called Universal Directory Server (UDS), adopts the DS structure to implement data storage. ZXUN USPP has the following features: Large capacity: Store up to 100 million subscribers;High reliability: Adopt the disaster-tolerant, load control and warning mechanism to ensure network security; High performance: Utilize the main memory database and the parallel processing technique to ensure high-performance service handling; Loose coupling: As services and data are loosely coupled, data of different NEs can be stored in the same USPP, and the data change of one NE has no impact on the data of another NE; Smoothing expansion: The service processing capacity can be expanded only by adding the relative boards or rack; the load can be shared by adding a FE node; the subscriber profile can be expanded by adding the DSA; Geographical redundancy: The FE can provide 1+1 redundancy or N+K load-sharing and redundancy capability,

Figure 3 DIT structure

Service Access

AAAFront End

Other AppFront End

ProvisioningFront End

HLRFront End

HSSFront End

Front End

LDA

P

LDA

P

LDA

P

LDA

P

Q&

M S

yste

m

Back End: UDS

Profile DSA-1

Profile DSA-nIdentity DSA

Nd_1

Nd_2

Nd_3

Nd_3Nd_2

Nd_3

Nd_1

Nd_1

Nd_2

Figure 4 USPP architecture


Happy belated bir thday to you, GSM. Late last year, GSM technology c e l e b r a t e d i t s 2 1 s t

birthday—quite remarkable considering that the average life cycle in the technology world is only about five years. With WCDMA now the largest driver of the total mobile infrastructure market, and 4G now in its infancy, the big question remains how much longer we may expect this 21-year-old technology to survive.

While the significant growth in data traffic is the main driver of growth in the WCDMA market, the growth in voice traffic, a product of the rapidly growing subscriber base, is the main driver of growth in the GSM market. The total GSM subscriber base currently stands at nearly 3.5 billion—more than four times the number of WCDMA and CDMA

subscribers combined. In the first quarter of this year, the GSM market had net subscriber additions of 532 million over the first quarter of 2008. This was more than four times the number of WCDMA and CDMA net additions combined. To support this large incremental growth, the second largest number ever of GSM base stations was deployed, resulting in solid year-over-year revenue growth.

So where are we seeing this emerging growth of GSM? While we are now seeing a migration of GSM subscribers t o W C D M A subscribers in d e v e l o p e d regions such as North

America and Western Europe, strong and sustained subscriber growth in emerging regions such as India, China, and Africa (the three largest areas of GSM growth) is spurring significant GSM network rollouts. China and India each average between eight and ten million new

The Evolution of GSM to WCDMAJune 2009, by Scott Siegler (Source: Dell’Oro Group)

Third Eye

�0 ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Third Eye

GSM subscribers per month. Even with such enormous growth, the mobile penetration rate in each country has yet to rise above 50% as compared to over 90% penetration in the developed world. With such low penetration, these regions offer tremendous growth opportunities.

Growth in India’s GSM subscriber base has become so rapid that many networks have approached their maximum capacity. In a region where price elasticity is very high, the affordability of mobile handsets is becoming an increasing contributor to the growth in GSM subscribers. We expect phone prices to decline to the “magic” price point of $20 in 2009, which will encourage even greater GSM growth. BSNL, with its network currently running at full capacity, has been unable to grow its GSM subscriber base as fast as the other large Indian operators. Therefore, the operator currently is floating a $6.5 billion tender to remedy its network constraints; this tender is currently in the process of being finalized. In addition to BSNL, other large GSM spending plans by

Indian operators include Tata ($2 billion in 2009), Bharti ($2.5 billion in 2009), Datacom ($5 billion over the next two years), and Aircel ($5 billion over the next two years).

While India experienced a record number of subscriber net additions in December to end 2008, in 1Q09 it experienced a new record number of net additions each successive month during the quarter. In January, it set a new record with 8.5 million net subscriber additions, followed by 9 million net additions in February and ended the quarter in March with nearly 11 million net subscriber additions. (Note, because Reliance does not break out its GSM subscriber base from its CDMA subscriber base, the net addition numbers that we cite here for India as a whole do not include net GSM subscriber additions from Reliance, which means the monthly growth in net additions is even more impressive than what we have reported). Indian operators will continue to invest heavily to support this substantial subscriber growth. While the two largest Indian

operators, Bharti and Reliance, have each stated that they have already seen their Capex peak, and we expect total spending in India to be lower in 2009 than 2008, operators still have plans for future heavy spending.

The GSM subscriber base in China grew an average of 8 million subscribers per month in 1Q09, growing the subscriber base to over 614 million. While both China Mobile and China Unicom have given guidance that their GSM spending in 2009 will be less than 2008 levels (we estimate GSM spending will be approximately 35% less), as with the Indian operators, both Chinese GSM operators will continue to strongly invest to expand their network coverage and capacity during 2009. In the first half of the year, both operators plan to focus the majority of their CAPEX spending on the deployment of their new 3G networks.

In Africa, with subscriber net additions of nearly 6 million over the last 12 months, the subscriber base has grown to nearly 300 million, a 30% growth rate, over the same period.

In the early years of 4G commercial service, operators will provide mobile devices that use legacy GSM networks for voice traffic and push the high-bandwidth data traffic to the next-generation networks.

�1ZTE TECHNOLOGIES August �009

Africa is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, with Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt being the fastest growing markets in the region. With mobile penetration under 40%, Africa represents another region poised for tremendous growth.

So how will 3G in the emerging regions impact the GSM market? 3G rollouts in China have begun and in a very big way. 3G licenses in China finally were issued in January 2009, and all three mobile operators aggressively began rolling out their 3G networks. In 1Q09, this rollout was the most material driver of the total infrastructure market. China Unicom’s first-phase WCDMA rollout has been the largest and most rapid deployment ever, and was the principal contributor to the worldwide WCDMA market realizing a record number of Node B shipments. 3G in China will continue to be a significant driver of the total infrastructure market as the three Chinese operators plan to spend nearly $60 billion on 3G rollouts over the next three years, including over $20

billion in 2009. With respect to the two Chinese GSM operators, in 2009, China Unicom plans to spend over $6 billion on its WCDMA network and China Mobile plans to spend nearly $9 billion on its TD-SCDMA network. We expect the GSM spending by China Mobile and China Unicom to accelerate during the second half of the year.

While both state-owned Indian operators—BSNL and MTNL—are currently deploying WCDMA networks, the commercial auction for 3G licenses in India is expected to take place by the end of 2009. However, we do not expect 3G to have a material impact on the market until 2011 (though small deployments will begin before then). Voice is by far still the leading driver of growth in India, and therefore investment there will be focused on building out GSM networks. Africa, like India, is a very low ARPU region. Africa is seeing some WCDMA deployments; however, once more we expect GSM to continue to drive the region for the next several years.

Given the strong influence of these

emerging regions, we believe the GSM market will continue to see very strong net subscriber additions (over 100 million), and we expect base station deployments to peak in 2009. By 2011, the GSM subscriber base finally will begin to flatten as the rate of migration of GSM subscribers to 3G networks, particularly in emerging regions, begins to increase rapidly. In 2013, we expect to see the GSM subscriber base begin to decline. In 2013, we expect that over 60% of base station shipments will be for equipment refresh and modernization ra ther than ne twork expans ion . Operators will need to continue to maintain their GSM networks—even as the mass migration of GSM subscribers to WCDMA commences—because the GSM networks will continue to provide highly profitable roaming charges as well as supplemental and redundant coverage for WCDMA and next-generation networks (e.g., LTE and WiMAX). In addition, in the early years of 4G commercial service, operators will provide mobile devices that use legacy GSM networks for voice traffic and push the high-bandwidth data traffic to the next-generation networks.

While it is clear that the growth of the WCDMA market will be the most significant driver of the total mobile infrastructure market for many years to come, we do not believe that WCDMA success will come at the expense of the GSM market. Put another way, we believe the two technologies will co-exist, which means we fully expect to be wishing GSM a happy birthday for many more years to come. In fact, we would not be too surprised if GSM reaches the big 30th birthday in 2017, at which point we may finally find ourselves saying a last farewell and thanking it for its many years of great service.

�� ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

3G Research Progress of

Evolution Technologies3G

Research Note

To meet the explosive growth of mobile subscribers and the i r demands fo r new services, it is necessary

to develop the technologies that can provide high data rate and low latency communication. To better compete with existing operators and manufacturers, the emerging operators and manufacturers are in urgent need of the systems that can deliver quality services at relatively low cost. Besides, the existing operators also hope to enhance their competitive edge using new technologies. All these lead to the evolution of 3G technologies. Currently, 3GPP has specified two 3G radio access evolution technologies: HSPA+ and LTE/LTE-A.

Research Progress of HSPA+When evaluating the LTE technology

in early 2006, some global leading telecom suppliers and terminal vendors, led by Ericsson, proposed the HSPA evolution (HSPA+) technology. HSPA+ has three versions: Release 7 (R7), Release 8 (R8), and Release 9 (R9).

HSPA+ R7 involves improved L2 for the downlink and the enhanced physical layer technology such as Higher Order Modulations (HOMs) and Multiple-Input Mult iple-Output (MIMO). HSPA+ R8 deals with improved L2 for the uplink, the combination of HOM and MIMO, and the use of MBMS. HSPA+ R9 focuses on the research of Dual-Cell HSDPA (DC-HSDPA) and Home NodeB. HSPA+ R7 and R8 have been released, and HSPA+ R9 will be initiated in 2009-2010.

Research Progress of LTE3GPP kicked off the LTE program

in late 2004 and froze the specifications for LTE as Release 8 in March 2009. The pending issues and technical enhancements not covered in R8 will be discussed in R9 if they do not affect the availability of R8. Figure 1 shows the evolution of LTE.

Compared with previous 3G systems, the LTE system comes wi th the following innovations:■ Advanced radio access technologies:

OFDMA and SC-FDMA■ Fast scheduling technology: Having

a scheduling interval of only 1ms■ Flexible bandwidth configuration:

Supporting both narrow bandwidth (such as 1.4MHz, 3MHz, etc.) and wider bandwidth (such as 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz)

■ Flexible flat system architecture (see Figure 2): Making possible flexible networking and full use of the existing IP transmission technologies. The LTE eNodeB integrates the functions of the NodeB and RNC.

Han Cuihong

Figure 1 LTE milestones

MME / S-GW MME / S-GW

E-UTRAN eNB eNB

eNB

X2

S1S1

S1 S1

X2X2

Research Progress of LTE-AdvancedIn March 2008, 3GPP RAN held a

workshop on IMT-Advanced technical requirements, indicating the formal evolution to IMT-Advanced. IMT-Advanced is planned by ITU-R, while the further enhancement for LTE is

Figure 2 LTE architecture

3GPP-3G LTE

RAN #26 meetingRAN #32 meeting■ Initiate LTE SI

■ Develop target requirements and solicit candidate technical solutions

■ Initiate LTE SI■ Initiate LTE WI

RAN #39 meeting■ Release the first

version of LTE R8

■ Freeze PHY specification, with some minor issues relating to other layers left over

■ ASN.1 is not completed

LTE SI LTE WI

LTE milestones 2004-12 2006-06 2007-06 2008-03 2008-12 2009-03 ......

■ Release stable LTE R8 and freeze the functions

RAN #42 meeting

RAN #43 meeting


layer started research into LTE-A after the 3GPP RAN #43 meeting held in March 2008;

■ Evaluate the air interfaces and output a complete technical report into TR36.814 in the 3GPP RAN #44 meeting held in June 2009;

■ Start to define the LTE-Advanced specification after the 3GPP RAN #45 meeting to be held in September 2009.

ZTE has been actively involved in drafting the LTE standards. It has submitted more than 450 FDD LTE proposals and 360 SAE proposals to 3GPP by the end of 2008. The company takes a leading position in the standardization of TDD LTE. For example, its commitment to the research topic regarding the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) has been highly recognized in the industry. Besides, ZTE has also actively joined the standardization organizations like NGMN and LSTI, and participated in drafting the standards for operators. In 2009, ZTE will work with terminal vendors to conduct the LTE Interoperability Test (IOT).

System Performance LTE-Advanced LTE

Peak rateUplink 1000Mbps@100MHz 100Mbps@20MHz

Downlink 500Mbps@100MHz 50Mbps@20MHz

Control-plane delay

Idle to connected <50ms <100ms

Dormant to active <10ms <50ms

User-plane delay (without load) Lower than that of LTE <5ms

Spectral efficiency

Peak Downlink: 30 bps/Hz @≤ 8×8, Uplink: 15bps/Hz @≤4×4

Downlink: 5bps/Hz @ 2×2, Uplink: 2.5bps/Hz @1×2

Average Downlink: 3.7bps/Hz/cell @ 4×4, Uplink: 2.0 bps/Hz/cell @ 2×4

Downlink: 3 to 4 times of R6 HSPA @ 2×2, Uplink: 2 to 3 times of R6 HSPA @1×2

Cell edge Downlink: 0.12bps/Hz/cell/user @4×4Uplink: 0.07 bps/Hz/cell/user @ 2×4 N/A

Mobility ≤350km/h, ≤500km/h@freq band ≤350km/h

Flexible bandwidth deployment Continuous spectrum @>20MHz, Spectral convergence

1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20MHzSupport paired spectrum and unpaired spectrum

named LTE-Advanced by 3GPP. In the workshop, 3GPP initially identified that the requirements for LTE-Advanced would be higher than the minimum requirements for IMT-Advanced. The requirements for LTE-Advanced specified by 3GPP are provided in TR36.913. Table 1 compares the performance requirements for LTE and LTE-Advanced.

The 3GPP RAN1 group has started research into LTE-Advanced, and other 3GPP RAN groups have started working on LTE-Advanced after the RAN plenary meeting held in March 2009. Currently, the 3GPP RAN1 is working on technical evaluation of LTE-Advanced and will output the evaluation results into TR36.814. The techniques to be evaluated involve:Spectrum Aggregation: It aims to provide wider access bandwidth for LTE-Advanced, which can finally outperform IMT-Advanced and become a candidate technique for the next generation radio access communication. The basic spectral converging solution was worked out in late 2008 and will be revised in 2009 by adjusting related channels such as Synchronization

Channel (SCH), Random Access Channel (RACH), Paging Channel (PCH), and Control Channel (CCH).Uplink Multi-Access: It focuses on advantages and disadvantages of the different multi-access techniques adopted in the uplink. In March 2009, DFT-precoded OFDM was written in TR36.814.Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) Transmission: The specific CoMP solution to be completed in September 2009 focuses on the design of special measurement, use of Reference Signal (RS), and enhancement of X2 interface.Relay: It focuses on application scenarios, delay, etc.Enhanced MIMO: It focuses on uplink SU-MIMO, downlink higher-order (8x) MIMO, etc.

In 3GPP, the work on LTE-Advanced was s tar ted in 2008 and wil l be completed in 2011. The work progress and plan are as follows: ■ Work out the requirements in the

3GPP RAN #42 meeting held in December 2008;

■ All 3GPP RAN groups except the one responsible for the physical

Table 1 Comparison of performance requirements for LTE and LTE-Advanced

�4�4 ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Research Note

and current network conditions, a large number of operators have selected the EPON-based “FTTP+DSL” solution because it is compatible with existing subscriber cables and can dramatically increase user bandwidth through the fiber deployment. In this mode, however, ADSL/ADSL2+ is unable to provide a downlink bandwidth of 18Mbps, and the 1.25G trunk access bandwidth of EPON has become a bottleneck for further enhancement in network capacity. Therefore, in order to connect more high-bandwidth users with a single piece of trunk optical fiber, the next generation PON and DSL technologies must break through the uplink and downlink bandwidth restraints. They should also be operated on the existing network architecture to ensure smooth transition and reduce the cost of operators.

Golden Combination of “VDSL2+10G EPON”

The golden combination of “VDSL2+10G EPON” has emerged to address the abovementioned requirements, with the

hope of leveraging the “FTTB+DSL” mode to carry value-added services of ultra-high-bandwidth.

VDSL2 provides a higher bit rate than ADSL2+ and can be backwards compatible with ADSL2+. Featuring better QoS, higher line utilization and multiple power control mechanisms, VDSL2 is becoming the major last-mile access technology for global operators such as Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, AT&T in North America, Sasktel in Canada, CSIT in Sweden, SingTel in Singapore, ELISA in Finland, and Turk Telecom (TT) in Turkey.

10G EPON is compatible with EPON and has trunk access bandwidth 10 times that of EPON, with its symmetric uplink bandwidth reaching up to 10Gbps. EPON can be smoothly upgraded to 10G EPON by replacing the OLT EPON line card and ONU EPON uplink card with the 10G EPON cards, without any change to the original FTTB optical fiber topology, the copper cable topology, or even the power supply and auxiliary connections. As the 10G EPON industry chain is getting mature and the 10G

As users are demanding i n c r e a s i n g l y h i g h e r bandwidth, it is imperative for operators in China to

make good use of existing abundant twisted-pair cable resources occupied by over 450 million subscribers in the era of FTTx optical broadband access. Before choosing a technology, the operators need to take into account the sustainable evolution of communication network. What technology can help the operators cost effectively increase their network bandwidth?

Evolution Background of DSL and PONWith the booming demands for

services such as personal video, high-speed Internet gaming and HDTV, users are putting a high requirement on the service bandwidth. Recently, the operators in China have planned to offer end users a transmission speed of 20-30 Mbps or even 50-100 Mbps, which presents new technical and solution challenges.

There is no doubt that FTTx is the optimal solution for increasing user bandwidth. Taking into account the cost

Golden Combination of for Fiber Optic BroadbandShi Ying

“VDSL2+10G EPON”


10G EPON prototype at PT/Expo Comm China 2008. As the 10G EPON industry is getting mature, the large-scale commercial deployment of 10G EPON is just round the corner.

F r o m t h e n e t w o r k p l a n n i n g perspective, when deploying the access network, the operators should solve the problems with distance, bandwidth and crosstalk between DSL users according to the user service type and the distribution of other user services in the same cable. They should select a reasonable construction scheme to meet the bandwidth requirement. Profiles 8b, 12a and 17a can be configured for the FTTZ, FTTC and FTTB deployment scenarios respectively. The three profiles are used to provide a downlink bandwidth of at least 20Mbps, 30Mbps and 40Mbps over a distance of 1km, 500m and 300m respectively. Moreover, the profile 30a can be used to deliver ultra-high-bandwidth services (100Mbps bandwidth on both the uplink and downlink) over a distance of 300m.

After the large-scale deployment of VDSL2, interference may easily occur between VDSL2s and between VDSL2 and ADSL2+ in the same bunch of cables due to the spectral overlay. Such Far End CrossTalk (FEXT) resulted from subscriber lines of different length can be eliminated by using the UPBO and DPBO techniques.

With no alteration to the existing n e t w o r k a n d g r e a t b a n d w i d t h advantages, the golden combination of “VDSL2+10G EPON” can dramatically increase the speed of access network at a low cost, making possible the cost-effective transition to FTTH network for end users. The technical compatibility demonstrated by the golden combination will have a far-reaching impact on the network deployment and sustainable development.

EPON applications are quite in line with the FTTB network construction plan in China, the golden combination of VDSL2 and 10G EPON becomes the tendency for transition from copper wire to optical fiber in the country.

Network Evolution SchemeFor the current “EPON+ADSL2+”

users, if a bandwidth of 4Mbps is planned for each of them, their demands for ordinary Internet access and non high-definition video services can be satisfied; if a few users need to access high-definition or ultra-high-definition streaming services and the total bandwidth required exceeds 18Mbps, it is only necessary to insert several VDSL2 cards onto the ONU and replace the ADSL2+ modem with the VDSL2 modem; if all the bandwidth required continues to increase, it is only necessary to replace the OLT EPON line card and ONU EPON uplink card with the 10G EPON cards, replace the ONU ADSL2+ card with the VDSL2 card, and replace the ADSL2+ modem with the VDSL2 modem. That is to say, the whole upgrade process only involves the replacement of related cards and modem without any alteration to the ODN network and equipment architecture (see

Figure 1), thereby effectively protecting the operators’ investment.

Key Points of Network EvolutionTo implement the ultimate FTTB

network, we should pay attention to the maturity of the industry chain, and make a plan to solve the problems that may occur during the network deployment. We need to focus on the availability of 10G EPON and the maturity of the industry chain, so as to evaluate the feasibility of the evolution route. We also need to make a plan to solve problems with distance, bandwidth and line interference that may occur during the deployment of VDSL2.

From the industry chain perspective, the 10G EPON standardization work began in 2006 and the related standards will be released in September 2009. Based on the EPON IEEE 802.3 standard, 10G EPON is compatible with EPON in wavelength and ODN. The 10G EPON industry chain has developed rapidly: In July 2008, PMC took the lead in the industry to announce the 10G EPON demo product; in the fourth quarter of 2008, several vendors announced their mass supply of 10G EPON optical modules; in October 2008, ZTE rolled out the world’s first

Figure 1 Evolution of FTTB and DSL

�6�6 ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Figure 1 Outdoor three-dimensional coverage solution

With the urbanization trend accelerating, wireless communications have to be t e s t ed under

various wireless propagation scenarios —skyscrapers, commercial centers, huge national stadiums and trans-city express railways. Wireless networks are faced with unprecedented challenges in terms of coverage and system capacity. How can the TD-SCDMA network constructed by ZTE fulfill the objective of communications of 3G mobile networks at any time and any place?

Seamless Outdoor Three-Dimensional Coverage

With a reference to the traditional idea of layered coverage while considering the coverage of points, lines and areas in different scenarios, ZTE’s TD-SCDMA outdoor three-dimensional coverage solution (shown in Figure 1) meets various coverage demands through adopting the distributed architecture of NodeB where the Remote Radio Unit (RRU) is detached from Baseband Unit (BBU) and fed with baseband signals through optical fiber.

For ho t - spo t a reas wi th h igh subscriber density and big traffic per subscriber, such as Olympic stadiums,

ZTE provides the B328, a BBU with a support for up to 144 carrier sectors, to ensure zero-fault operations.

F o r p l a c e s w h e r e n e w s i t e constructions are expensive and site acquisition is difficult, ZTE provides the B326, a new generation large-capacity and compact macro BBU, which can be inserted into the rack for transmission equipment.

For street corners, where signal attenuation changes significantly, the R01, a single-antenna RRU, can extend cell signals and enlarge the overlapping

coverage area in the handover, hence increasing the handover success rate at the corners.

For downtown pedestrian streets, which have a strong waveguide effect, ZTE makes use of multiple RRUs (R08is) to enable continuous linear coverage of pedestrian streets, further facilitating network operation and traffic balancing.

Innovative Indoor Multi-Path Coverage

High-end customers mostly use

ZTE’s TD-SCDMA Wireless Coverage Solution Liu Liangliang

BBU+RRUMacro Coverage

BBU+RRUPoint Coverage

BBU+RRULinear Coverage

Decorative Antenna

Decorative Antenna

RRU

BBU

BBU

RRU RRU

RRU BBU

Solution

��ZTE TECHNOLOGIES August �009

Figure 2 Indoor multi-path coverage solution

indoor services, which will be the major source of future profits. In such a situation, the quality of indoor coverage becomes a major concern of operators and a key standard in measuring high-quality networks.

Regarding indoor coverage, some of the questions to be considered are: How to decrease interference and build a high-quality network for the indoor environment that does not adopt a smart antenna? How to effectively use the indoor distribution system of the existing 2G network, hence helping the operator to curtail the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?

In a traditional indoor coverage scenario, all antennas are converged to the signal source through a main feeder line after they pass through the distribution system. As a result, the carrier-to-interference ratio on the trunk line is very poor. The indoor multi-path solution, which was first developed by ZTE, makes use of the Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode and divides paths according to signals segmented by floors. Signals are converged to the RRU through different feeder lines and converted to digital baseband signals before they are transmitted to the BBU. As noises are isolated in different channels instead of being superimposed

on the trunk line, the solution avoids a worsening of the signal-to-noise ratio on the trunk line and decreases system interferences.

The distributed architecture, which features centralized placement of BBUs and long-distance transmission of optical fibers, enables better sharing of baseband capacity among channels, supports long-distance traffic dispatching, and realizes the separation of coverage and capacity planning. Meanwhile, ZTE’s big-power RRU R11 is installed near the coverage area, thus decreasing losses of signals from the signal source to different floors. As no trunk amplifier is adopted, the existing GSM indoor distribution system can be conveniently used, effectively decreasing the Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) and Operation Expenditures (OPEX).

Express Railway Coverage Express railways have shortened the

distances between cities and placed high requirements on TD-SCDMA network constructions.

Due to the Doppler frequency bias, the system’s transceiving performance deteriorates and the user experience is poor. When the speed of the express train reaches 350km/h, or nearly 100m/s, users might experience handovers in

each 12 seconds, as the cell coverage is normally 1.2km. The frequent cell reselections and handovers can easily cause reselection failures and call drops.

In the TD-SCDMA system, uplinks and downlinks work in the same frequency band and, compared with other 3G standards, TD-SCDMA is more easily affected by the Doppler shift. ZTE makes use of its patented self-adaptive frequency bias algorithm, which can detect the frequency bias of the present sub-frame at the baseband layer in a real time, and introduce the frequency bias pre-adjustment mechanism to remove the Doppler frequency bias at the rate of up to 500km/h. Different types of RRUs in different physical positions are classified into a logic cell, hence avoiding intra-site handover, increasing the handover distance, and extending the handover interval.

In covering the trans-city express railway between Beijing and Tianjin, ZTE adopted the B326, which shares the same equipment room with the existing GSM system. Six 8-antenna sectors were combined into one cell. This solution not only decreased inter-cell handovers, but reduced coverage overlap. When the express train runs at a speed of 300km/h, the network enables an average handover interval of 42 seconds and smooth communications.

ConclusionBeing a leader in the commercial

appl ica t ions of the TD-SCDMA technology, ZTE is devoted to meeting challenges from complicated application scenarios. Based on innovative solutions, outstanding product technologies, and strong engineering capability, ZTE has the confidence in fulfilling any “mission impossible”, in providing seamless coverage through the TD-SCDMA system.

RRU

BBU

14-17F

11-13F

7-10F

4-6F

1-3F

�8 ZTE TECHNOLOGIESAugust �009

Engineering Service

Weapons of

Liu Enke

Ne t w o r k p l a n n i n g a n d optimization are an integral par t of the successful design and operation of a

communication network, especially for wireless network to provide seamless coverage and mobility to the users. Reasonable network planning can enhance the network coverage. The comprehensive planning reduces the capital expenditure of the system to the greatest extent. Network optimization is also very important due to the changes in the network structure, wireless environment, user distribution, and user behavior. Optimization deals with the network problems by analyzing collected data, system management data and user complaints. The optimization process presents some comprehensive solution, to make the network at the optimal

condition and increase network QoS. The traditional network planning and

optimization methods like Drive Test (DT) and Call Quality Test (CQT) are time-consuming, effort-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, it is difficult to reproduce the failures because the testing data can only be collected after the failures occur. Carriers’ requirements of low investment, high network quality and good user experience cannot be satisfied. Therefore ZTE introduces the management value-added tools called Measurement Report (MR), Call Detail Trace (CDT) and Call Trace System (CTS) to implement highly efficient network planning and optimization.

Measurement Report DT or CQT measures the user

experience by information such as

network coverage, call quality and so on. The tests, however, involve only some of the main roads and important places. Therefore the DT or CQT sample data are much less in amount than MR, and the analysis results are usually one-sided.

MR collects statistical data every 480ms over the traffic channel and every 470ms over the signaling channel. The data are used for network evaluation and optimization.

ZTE’s MR tool collects all common and special measurement reports for all cells by proportion and a collection center controls the process of NE data collection. The total size of stored data and storage time can be set. MR tool consists of data collection and data processing. The measurement data collected by MR can be used to assess a wireless environment status.

Mobile Network Optimization


By replacing the massive amount of conventional DTs and CQTs, the network operation and maintenance cost is reduced. Compared with DTs and CQTs, the measurement reports collected from the user conversation data are more helpful for network analysis. Additionally, the measurement data can be analyzed further to get information like the behavior patterns and distribution of users in cells.

MR is applicable to the following environments: ■ Cell traffic distribution analysis:

User location and cell t raffic distribution accordingly can be obtained by analyzing the periodical measu remen t r epo r t s du r ing user conversations. The traffic distribution then provides evidence for network optimization.

■ Real-time radio coverage evaluation: Radio coverage within a cell can be achieved from the measurement reports so that the extra cost of conventional DTs is saved.

■ Switchover analysis: Geographic distribution of switchovers and wireless environment information can be obtained by analyzing measurement reports before and after switchover. By analyzing the resources used by switchovers and locating hardware or software failures, success rate of switchover is increased. Switchover causes and failure causes can be calculated addit ionally by analyzing the switchover signaling process.

■ Malicious network traffic prevention: MR can be used to assess whether t h e r e a r e l a r g e n u m b e r s o f disconnected calls by checking the call signaling process. By calculating the paging messages, phone number

that originates frequent calls can be detected. Spam messages can be distinguished by checking the amount, region and time of message delivery.

Call Detail TraceCDT is a real-time call tracing tool.

This tool traces and collects all user information about a triggered call so as to provide statistics for network planning and opt imizat ion, user complaint handling and fault analysis.

ZTE’s CDT tool collects all details of a call at device side, records all cell phone information, all internal processing procedures and saves the call records of all successful and dropped calls as well.

CDT has the following advantages over the DT: firstly, CDT data are more widely distributed and accurate as they are based on actual traffic; secondly, no geographical limitation makes it suitable for complex terrain; thirdly, long-term supervision of cells is available by setting a testing time; fourthly, data are analyzed immediately after being received; lastly, initial configuration and operating cost of CDT is lower.

The call details collected by CDT can be used to handle user complaints, calculate cell services and discover call related abnormalities. The data are collected in advance throughout the network so that failures can be tracked.

CDT is applicable to the following environments: ■ Geographical Information System

(GIS) analysis for voice/data traffic: Voice/data service throughput for each location is analyzed to provide statistics for capacity optimization and expansion.

■ Call success rate calculation by circuit boards: The circuit boards

which have the lowest call success rate can be identified and the maintenance staff can check if they have any hardware problems.

■ Silence call analysis: Hardware failures can be detected by checking the call duration on a hardware resource.

■ Locating complaining user: Location of users making a complaint can be determined.

■ GIS analysis for voice quality, GIS analysis for call failures, abnormal short message analysis, pilot pollution analysis, GIS-based location during user conversations.

Call Trace System CTS collects signaling information

and internal processing procedures for a specific user and provides all the information for network optimization and user satisfaction improvement.

With the signaling data collected for individual users, ZTE’s CTS tool can be used to troubleshoot the communication failures for important users, as well as to examine the failure causes after user complaints are made.

ConclusionLimitations of traditional network

optimization hurdles can be overcome by the MR, CDT and CTS tools. Unlike DT, key data and detailed procedures of each call are obtained using software. ZTE’s CDT and CTS tools can be used to supervise and recall performance condition of each user throughout the network in real time, reducing the OPEX of carriers greatly. Bulk data analysis based on ZTE’s MR and CDT additionally provides statistics for network development and new service provision.


Documents

Vol. 11 No. 8 Issue 115 August/2009 - zte-deutschland.de · Vol. 11 No. 8 Issue 115 August/2009 A Monthly Publication Focus Operators’ Thoughts on Core Network—Surviving the Crisis