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By Zhao Yuan

Brazil, among other things, is most noted for being a breeding ground that produces top football players and teams, a tropical paradise, and its economy development in recent years has been nothing short of miraculous. From its famous tropical rainforests in the Amazon, to its great Iguazu Falls, from prosperous St. Paul, to the charming holiday hot spot of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, serving all the cheerful rhythms of the Samba, is chalked full of many delightful surprises for any would be tourist, and offers a very special and unique vitality all its own. In recent years, Brazil has also experienced rapid development in terms of its mobile market. With over 100 million mobile subscribers, Brazil now represents the 5th largest mobile market in the world.

Vivo, established in a joint venture between Telefonica and Portugal Telecom, is the largest mobile carrier in Brazil, with nearly 30 million subscribers. In August 2006, Vivo announced that it would construct a countrywide GSM network in Brazil. In December 2006, the Vivo GSM network was quickly launched. While most carriers throughout the world are in the midst of feverishly striving to establish 3G networks, Vivo made a rational decision to return to GSM. What factors led Vivo to make such a decision, and what is the story that lies behind its new network?


Why did Vivo select GSM?

"Roaming was an important factor in our selecting GSM," said Shakhaf Wine, the president of Portugal Telecom in Brazil. "Vivo has a lot of high-end users, who frequently take business trips and attend business activities in various countries. So, if there was no GSM network, these users would have to change their numbers when traveling abroad." As an industry-leading mobile communication carrier, the new GSM network certainly does not represent a makeshift creation of Vivo, but instead, should be viewed as a strategic decision made for justifiable reasons.

In Brazil, the world's 5th largest mobile communication market, with an annual growth rate of 35%, the mobile market is highly competitive. According to some early data that was released by Anatel, which is the telecom regulator in Brazil, Vivo's market share has been constantly cannibalized by other GSM carriers in Brazil such as, TIM, Claro and Oi, in 2006, despite it being in the No.1 position in the market and having 30% market share. Facing with this type of stiff competition, needless to say, Vivo was quite eager to make a breakthrough in the mobile market.

Since the first deployment of the GSM network in 1991, more than 690 GSM commercial networks have been constructed in over 210 countries worldwide. The number of GSM subscribers worldwide now exceeds 2 billion, and nearly half of the present subscribers were added over the past 30 months. At present, approximately 1000 new subscribers' sign up for GSM service worldwide every minute, and over 1 million new GSM subscribers each day. After 20 years development, GSM technologies have presently matured enough so that they are able to meet the demands for quick, cost-effective network construction, and 3G-oriented networks.

A recent analysis of a renowned telecom research institute concluded that, "Vivo wants to reseize lost market share through its new GSM network. It also hopes this network can smoothly evolve to 3G network in the near future."


New height, New rhythms

In an attempt to regain its advantages in the mobile market in Brazil, Vivo has devised a detailed GSM marketing plan. In order to implement this plan, a GSM network must first be successfully deployed. At a time when network construction and commercial application modes for GSM networks were already quite mature, Vivo placed even higher requirements for the deployment of its GSM network.

• Designing a 2G network with 3G technologies
  
  3G technologies are without doubt advanced. However, it requires huge investments in terms of time and money, as a consequence, it will also take some time before the network sees a substantial return on investments. In comparison, GSM networks have already attained mature business modes, and thus, require less investment. This is why more and more carriers are continuing to investment in 2G networks in such areas as: network adjustment, expansion, reconstruction, or new construction.
  
  In the new GSM network of Vivo, 3G technologies were widely adopted, which made it possible to make quick profits. The network is also capable of smoothly evolving into 3G era. With low costs, Vivo's 2G network can be easily upgraded to 3G, which helps to successfully protect existing investments.
  For Vivo, the most basic demand for its new network is that it is capable of handling extreme traffic peaks during the Brazilian Carnival. The new GSM network covers many tourist sites such as, Rio de Janeiro, which is known as the "Carnival Capital of the World", and represents the center of the Brazilian Carnival. During Christmas, New Year and the Brazilian Carnival each year, literally millions of tourists from all over the world gather on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro for spectacular fireworks shows and parties. During these holiday seasons, many people congregate in Rio de Janeiro to share their happiness and holiday spirit with friends and family members, and mobile phones have become one of the best communication tools for doing this.
  
  "We adopted underlay/overlay and interference cancellation technologies in order to improve network capacity and coverage quality in Rio de Janeiro, as well as other high traffic areas. We also adopted many 3G technologies such as, AMR/HR, to efficiently optimize voice quality and network capacity. As a result, the network can now easily handle the traffic peaks during tourist seasons," said Zhou Bin, Huawei's technical service manager for the State of Rio de Janeiro.
  
  Vivo has a lot of high-end customers. Hence, a major consideration of Vivo when it decided to construct its GSM network was to guarantee rich service experiences for these customers. Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, Vivo decided it would provide enhanced voice services and 3G service features in its GSM network.
  
  Regarding voice quality, Vivo in cooperation with Huawei decided to adopt its optimized voice algorithm background noise suppression technology, which helps to reduce interferences and handover that are caused by cell splitting, it also lengthens communication duration, and efficiently improves customer satisfaction. While bringing in more operation income, this technology has also helped to upgrade Vivo's branding. Moreover, the technology is suitable for half-rate applications and can readily improve voice quality in half-rate applications.
  
  Regarding services, Huawei also supported Vivo in preferentially allocating full-rate channels to high-priority users via enhanced eMLPP+HR hierarchical service mechanism. The mechanism has not only increased the system capacity by 80%, it also enables Vivo to handle a huge amount of traffic, while maintaining satisfaction from high-end customers.
  
  
• Intensive planning and deployment
  
  According to a recent forecast made by Teleco, a professional telecom consulting company in Brazil, the mobile market in Brazil will have 130-140 million new subscribers in the coming 7-8 years, while competition in the mobile market will largely be focused in the Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul states, which are the richest states in Brazil. These areas are all covered by Vivo's new GSM network.
  
  Take an example, Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro. This famous tourist hot spot has many scenic wonders and attractions such as, a 636-kilometer coast line, abundant lakes and hills, and dense virgin forests. Indeed, the city is located amongst the hills. However, in the eyes of network planning experts, the beautiful scenery has other implications such as: complicated landforms comprising, hills, mountains, the sea, forests and islands; a large, but unevenly distributed population; a hot and humid temperature year round; extremely high traffic during high tourist seasons, and all these have factors present great challenges to wireless networks.
  
  By collecting information pertaining to the distribution of the local population, economy, geographical landforms, and distribution of traffic in the existing network, the network planning team, which was jointly set up by Vivo and Huawei, made a reasonable forecast concerning the traffic in the new GSM network and conducted intensive network planning. The team also made use of the efficient network planning tool, U-Net, and simulated coverage under various conditions, on highly precise electronic maps. The U-Net tool was also used for automatic planning of frequency bands for the whole network, which in turn greatly improved planning efficiency and reliability.
  
  In areas with high density traffic, which also needed wide coverage, Huawei's dual density macro cellular BTS were used. For areas needing indoor coverage and areas with high traffic spots, Huawei's micro cellular BTS were adopted to enhance deep indoor coverage and absorb traffic. For areas with extra-high traffic, the dense frequency multiplexing mode was used to optimize network spectrum efficiency and increase network capacity. Since the subscriber quantity had greatly increased and the 850MHz frequency resources were quite limited, the 1900MHz frequency was accessed to set up a dual-frequency network. This helped to further improve network capacity and also efficiently catered to user capacity growth.
  
  Among the thousands of BTS in Vivo's GSM network, 80% of BTSs adopted Huawei's new-generation dual density BTS 3012AE. It was designed with 3G and innovative radio frequency technologies. While keeping uplink traffic and downlink traffic balanced, 3012AE also enables 3-5dB gains in both uplink and downlink, by improving receive sensitivity and using diverse technology. It can further increase the coverage radius by at least 20%, and reduce sites by 30%. 3012AE also features a large capacity and small size, and it supports remote and real-time monitoring and fault detection, hence, reducing both O&M workloads and costs.
  
  As the existing CDMA network of Vivo covers 85% of the territory of Brazil, the GSM network was constructed in the collocation site mode, which enables the sharing of resources by two networks. As a result, this has helped to save in terms of network construction costs and has also helped to shorten the duration of network construction. Shakhaf Wine, the president of Portugal Telecom in Brazil, recently introduced, "The two technologies will coexist and work on a unified 850MHz band class."
  
  
• Green BTS creating a harmonious environment
  
  Brazil is located in the southern hemisphere and over 80% of its territory is comprised of tropical areas, with a tropical climate. Thus, in order to work normally in such an environment as this, BTS, especially outdoor BTS, must be able to bear up under high temperatures. As electricity-based transmission is limited in open country areas, outdoor BTS must have low power consumption. In the industry, air-conditioning technology is always utilized when designing BTS. However, as air-conditioners consume lots of powers, traditional air-conditioning in BTS usually have backup power support that lasts for about 2 hours, with the typical S4/4/4 configuration. However, in areas with deficient electrical power, it is usually required that BTS have backup power support that last from 4-8 hours. This dilemma is quite troubling for many carriers.
  
  In consideration of this requirement, Huawei supplied its 3012AE, which adopts enhanced intelligent heat exchangers and enables low power consumption. 3012AE can work at 50°C in outdoor environment and can also offer backup power support that lasts from 4-8 hours, without any configuration of standby batteries. In the beautiful coastal areas that are covered by Vivo's network, ocean winds that are wet and salty result in a considerable degree of acidity and alkali content. Hence, in this type of environment, BTS can easily erode, which causes their normal working life to be shortened. 3012AE provides IP55 protection and is resistant against water, salt mist, and fungus. It can also works normally in temperatures that range from -40°C to 50°C, and is highly adapted to cope with the high-temperature, humid environment in Brazil's coastal areas.
  
  While environmental protection is a worldwide concern, some traditional BTSs present many difficulties in terms of network deployment, due to such factors as, their large power consumption and high radiation, which directly affects the services for terminal users. Vivo is dedicated to improving the experiences of its terminal users. Therefore, Vivo now requires that network deployment should have a minimum amount of influence on residents' lives. "The 3012AE BTS is an environment-protective, energy-saving and high temperature resistance product, designed by breaking through the quagmire of conventional ideas," said Zhou Bin.
  
  As 3012AE emits lower noise under normal working conditions, it is likewise very quiet during night operations, thus, making site acquisition easier. As the world's only 24 hour-day adaptive heat exchanger BTS, enabling energy savings and environmental protection, 3012AE is able to cater to a much larger environment than other products of the same type. Specifically designed with noise isolation technology, 3012AE is particularly quiet during night operations. Hence, it is quite suitable for almost any kind of residential environment.
  
  
• Efficient cooperation and operations
  
  The parent companies of Vivo, Telefonica and Portugal Telecom, have brought to Vivo a broad range of advanced management experiences, as well as highly efficient organizational operations. However, fast network construction is a systematic project that requires careful planning, and thus, presents considerable challenges in terms of a supplier's end-to-end network construction capability.
  
  Ricardo Balog, the network project manager for Huawei, when speaking about Huawei's rich and abundant experiences as a supplier, stated, "As a leading supplier that has supplied over 850,000 GSM TRXs, Huawei has successfully delivered more than 5,000 mobile projects worldwide." In Vivo's GSM project, Huawei followed a whole set of engineering operation procedures, which included: IC&E (Information Collection and Evaluation), ES&D (Engineering Survey & Design), NP (Network Planning), SI (Site Implementation), and NM&O (Network Monitor and Optimization). "These procedures proved to be very effective for the complicated Vivo project and greatly improved work efficiency."
  
  "Huawei also joined hands with Vivo to form a joint project team, which included senior experts and engineering technical staff from Vivo. Within a short period of time, the team implemented international qualifications on local cooperators to ensure the deployment of supplementary facilities and equipment installation. This guaranteed the timely delivery of the project," stated Balog.
  
  In order to better cater to Vivo's marketing strategy of first allocating numbers in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Vivo was temporarily required to deploy an additional site on the evening of December 11, 2006. The team quickly responded to this requirement. Upon receiving the requirement on the afternoon of December 11th, the team swiftly dispatched resources from subcontractors, allocated all the necessary equipment, and was able to deploy the site in only 10 hours time. It was very difficult to deploy this additional site on such short notice. Needless to say, the site is located inside a large-scale shopping mall. In order to avoid affecting normal business operations in the mall, the engineering group could only work on constructing the additional site after 10 pm in the evening. However, as was planned, the BTS was successfully installed on top of the 30-meter-tall building, which required complicated hoisting procedures. Faced with such difficulties, the team adopted flexible work methods and used local staff to finally deliver the site on time. This site was deployed faster than any site in the Vivo project, and splendidly represents Huawei's quick response to customer requirements.

The dance music started...

As Vivo deployed its new GSM network at a relatively late time, the network was designed to be easily upgraded to 3G. Vivo's budget for its new GSM network was in excess of several billion U.S. dollars. Since Vivo is a listed company, it had to use its money cautiously. All network equipment offers a smooth evolution toward becoming a 3G network. After Vivo's fast deployment of its 2G network it was able to enjoy profits quickly, which in turn has allowed it to obtain a leading position in Brazil in developing towards becoming a 3G network, in a 3G era.

Cesar Alierta, the chairman of Telefonica, recently stated, "Vivo's GSM project represents the largest mobile project for Telefonica in recent years, and furthermore, the network is capable of smoothly evolving to UMTS in the near future, thus, ensuring a long-term competition advantage for us."

According to Zhang Ping'an, the vice president of Huawei Latin America regional division, stated, "Huawei incorporates smooth evolution to 3G as a basis for its network construction in order to protect customer's long-term investments." With this consideration in mind, the new GSM network of Vivo adopted Huawei's EnerG GSM solution, along with all the essential network equipment that would enable a smooth evolution to 3G. The high density BTS controller BSC6000 adopted the All-IP platform in terms of design, which can be smoothly upgraded to 3G. BSC and RNC share the same platform, however, in the 3G era, RNC functions can be supported only via software upgrading. The LCLS (Local Call Local Switching) function can efficiently save at least 25% in terms of local transmission (from mobile to mobile), and by using the embedded MGW (Multimedia GateWay), at least 60% long-distance transmission can also be saved.

In February 2007, the 3GSM World Congress, which is a major event in the global communication industry, was held in Barcelona, Spain. All leading communication carriers and equipment vendors attended this conference. While many vendors were introducing new technologies and new products, a particular event drew much attention from various parties.

During the congress conference, Vivo held a grand ceremony to celebrate the success of its GSM network. At the ceremony, Roberto Lima, the CEO of Vivo, awarded and praised Huawei for its "Outstanding GSM network delivery and quality". He said, "In this very important project, Huawei fully proved the high caliber of its professionalism, along with its high-quality project management capabilities. Vivo is very grateful for Huawei's faithful execution of its promises and congratulates Huawei for its valuable contribution, which led to the great success of this project." Top executives from both Telefonica and Portugal Telecom were present to witness this historical moment.

The first phase of Vivo's GSM network was completed in late January 2007. Since December 2006, the new network has started allocating numbers. In just three months, over 300,000 subscribers registered as prepaid users, and 90% of them constituted new subscribers.

Roberto Lima said, "We don't want to give up the existing CDMA network, at least in the foreseeable future. Moreover, subscribers in Vivo's old network can choose to use Vivo's new GSM network without having to change their existing numbers." Thus far, thousands of BTSs deployed for phase one have all been put into operation, and 80% of them are outdoor BTS. The second phase of the project, network expansion, has also been launched. With constant optimization of the network, Vivo is looking forward to many more successes in the future.


Link: Telefonica's globalization dream comes true

Vivo has been the major sponsor of the Brazilian national football team for decades, and is now the largest mobile communication carrier in Brazil. It was founded by two shareholders, Telefonica Moviles and Portugal Telecom. Both of these companies are well-known names in the global telecom field, especially Telefonica.

As the largest full-service carrier in Spain, Telefonica has been operating telecom services in Spain for the past 80 years. In 1997, Telefonica became a privately owned company, which helped to boost its growth. In recent years, Telefonica has been executing an internationalization strategy and has made great strides and breakthroughs in the telecom industry in many countries. In the late 1990s, Telefonica was still rated No.14 among telecom carriers worldwide. However, after a series of successful expansions worldwide over the past 6 years, it has now become one of the four largest carriers in the world.
In Latin America, Telefonica is currently the largest carrier and has approximately an 82% share of the mobile market. Except in Guatemala, Telefonica has taken a leading position in the telecom markets of 12 countries and regions all over Latin America. Hence, it deserves its title as a leader in the mobile market in Latin America.

During the internationalization of Telefonica, Huawei was gradually able to win the heart of Telefonica from many other vendors. In November 2005, Telefonica and Huawei formally signed a strategic agreement in Madrid. According to the agreement, Telefonica selected Huawei as a strategic partner to help them achieve service innovations in 3G and the broadband fields, and the two parties further agreed to join hands in exploring the Latin America market. As the largest overseas service source for Telefonica, the Brazil market is of great importance to Telefonica. The GSM project of Vivo undoubtedly represents a major step for Telefonica in Brazil. By choosing Huawei to construct sites in the most prosperous areas in Brazil in Vivo's GSM project, Telefonica's aim was to prove Huawei's large-scale delivery capability. "With only 2-months planning and 4-months engineering, Huawei was able to build up an entirely new mobile network in Brazil", as was commented on by Mr. Javier, the CTO of Vivo. With the resounding success of the GSM project, Huawei was able to win, not only the trust, but high recognition from Telefonica as being one of the leading telecom suppliers in the world.

Cesar Alierta, the chairman of Telefonica, said, "We are happy to cooperate with Huawei in Latin America." Leonardo, who is the network director for Vivo, also stated, "The success of this network belongs not only to Vivo, but also to Huawei. Vivo and Huawei jointly made and witnessed a truly historical event. I believe that Huawei is not a manufacturer that is only focused on short-term business and profits, but will continue to be a long-time partner of Vivo and will continue to make major contributions in Vivo's future successes."

The Vivo project has strengthened the strategic partnership between Huawei and Telefonica Vivo. It is expected that during the internationalization process of Telefonica, Huawei will play a much more important role. In recent in New York, the Spanish government presented an award to Telefonica as being the "Enterprise with best Global Operations in Spanish-speaking Countries". This award perfectly represents and marks an important step toward making Telefonica's globalization dream come true.