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—— A future-oriented HSDPA network deployed by Telecom Italia

"I would like to thank Huawei colleague for the commitment and the capability to reach our target…… I know that we have overcome many problems, so I thank Huawei colleagues for the great support they gave us… I believe that the team has demonstrated, once again, its value and what we have reached together. " —— Roberto Baccini, Sicily Network CTO in Telecom Italia

Telecom Italia, "On the Fly" (PDF- 241K)

As a leader of Information and Communication Technology in Italy, and a major player on the world stage, Telecom Italia began seriously seeking the HSPA vendor best suited to rapidly and efficiently refurbish its existing networks. In early 2007, Telecom Italia entrusted Huawei with updating and expanding its local HSPA network in two major regions of southern Italy. This represented approximately 15% of Telecom Italia's existing 3G subscriber base.

Focusing on current and future TCO savings

Sicily has many exquisite and famous beaches, attracting tens of thousands of tourists each year. A large majority of the tourists are commercial business people who have an acute requirement for high speed mobile data services. Telecom Italia's existing network infrastructure was fairly dated, and its current network would only support loads of less than 3.6 Mb/s HSDPA. A major hardware update, then, was the only way to evolve the existing network to HSUPA.
In other words, if Telecom Italia wanted to increase its HSDPA speeds, enhance service, and achieve HSUPA in the near future, it either had to upgrade its old hardware or invest in new equipment.

As you are probably aware, IP is a growing trend in mobile network development. Unfortunately, Telecom Italia's existing network equipment simply was not capable of supporting IP RAN. They were being forced to augment their network with add extra pre-positive equipment, increasing their existing network inventory.

In Sicily, Telecom Italia used over 750 Node Bs. If the company wanted to upgrade its HSDPA speed from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps, it would have to invest in replacement boards costing 2,500 Euros each. Assuming a Telecom Italia engineer can swap-out a maximum of three boards per day, and add in time for debugging problems, it would take over 250 days to complete the project! If the engineer earns 200 Euros a day, you can see that the total hardware and labor costs for this project would be in excess of 2M Euros! Operators wanting to upgrade to HSUPA and IP-RAN must think long and hard about substantial costs involved in upgrading their networks.

The good news is that Huawei has a solution. Huawei's new generation Node B solution incorporates hardware that allows a maximum speed of 14.4 Mbps for HSDPA. Migrating to HSUPA only requires a simple software upgrade, allowing an "on the fly” transformation of Telecom Italia's network. This makes the upgrade decision easy for operators since they no longer need to be concerned about heavy upgrade costs. Huawei's equipment has a superior IP RAN capability and its IP transmission solution greatly reduces operators' transmission expenses. As Telecom Italia found out, Huawei's new generation Node Bs can deliver sizeable savings when used to enhance existing network technology.

Benefits of compact equipment — Distributed Node B

Sicily enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate; hot, dry summer days with temperatures over 104°F (40°C) — often soaring to 122°F (50°C). Telecom Italia's existing out-of-date Node Bs require a great deal of electricity to operate. The traditional macro Node B's power consumption, typically, is 1 kW under normal work conditions, so heat dissipation is a substantial problem. Telecom Italia's machine room requires special, purpose-designed air conditioning systems, compounding Telecom Italia's operating costs.

The key advantage of Huawei's Distributed Node B is it splits the traditional macro Node B into two parts: the BBU (Base Band Unit) and the RRU (Remote Radio Unit).

Huawei's BBU is compact in size and consumes a meager 60 W of power. Huawei's RRU is easily mounted on walls or poles. Using a passive cooling technique, no power is required to cool the uni — even when installed outdoors.

In Palermo, the capital of Sicily, the Distributed Node B allows Telecom Italia to share the existing site, cabinet, and antenna infrastructure with Telecom Italia's 2G equipment. In fact, owing to its high-efficiency power amplifier, Distributed Node Bs exhibit the same coverage as GSM networks, yet use less power without an associated increase in number of sites. The effect simultaneously reduces the impact on the environment and area inhabitants.

Thanks to Huawei's successful and smooth upgrade, the data service download speed of Telecom Italia's HSDPA network has grown fourfold—from 3.6 to 7.2 Mb/s. More importantly, Telecom Italia's network key performance indicator (KPI) indicates network quality has been greatly enhanced. With Huawei's support, Telecom Italia is well on its way to realizing its 3G goal.

Milestones

• November 2007, Telecom Italia launched its commercial HSUPA network, which is the first one in Italy.
• February 2007, Telecom Italia selects Huawei to provide HSPA solutions and support future "on the fly' upgrades to its 3G mobile network in Italy.
• December 2006, Telecom Italia completes lab tests on Huawei's equipment and technology, further cementing Telecom Italia's impression of Huawei as the technological leader in the UTRAN field.