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——Vodafone Successfully offered HSUPA Service in Spain

"Vodafone Spain would like to thank Huawei for their great effort in the first phase of our project roll-out. Huawei's successful installation of more than 52 Node Bs in a single day! I'm quite sure that the expansion project will enable us to achieve further successes together and we look forward to continuing this outstanding partnership with Huawei. " ---- Jaime Bustillo, CTO of Vodafone Spain

Share the Success with Vodafone  (PDF - 264K)

Green base station on towers

Mobile network deployment on a large scale engenders two major concerns for operators: environmental protection and TCO decreases. In response to both, Vodafone Spain has adopted Huawei's green Distributed Node Bs for its 3G network.

These nodes possess several advantages. Ropes rather than cranes are sufficient to load a remote radio unit (RRU) onto a tower because of small and lightweight, and the RRU's location near the antenna allows optical fiber connections with the baseband unit (BBU). Feeder loss is decreased, coverage is greatly enhanced, and site numbers are reduced. Great TCO-savings are made, therefore, in network construction costs.

The Huawei's green base station eliminates air-conditioners by supporting natural heat dissipation, lower power consumption and high-efficient power amplification technology can utilize green environmental protection energy forms such as wind, solar and methane. Each base station can reduce power consumption to below 500W and CO2 output by 60%.

Statistics demonstrate that since Vodafone Spain employed Huawei's Distributed Node Bs to deploy its HSPA network, 30% less investment was required to facilitate a much more environmentally friendly network which is exactly why Huawei proved the right choice for Vodafone.

The best performance of UMTS & HSPA networks

In May 2007, Vodafone Spain fulfilled a UMTS/HSPA network throughput test while the test area was still under operation by the former operator. The results were not up to Vodafone Spain's standards compared with HSDPA Benchmark test standards.

Vodafone Spain strives to provide customers with the latest features, excellent network performance, and the fastest time-to-market. Upon swapping out equipment with Huawei's distributed Node Bs and optimizing the network, Vodafone Spain ran the HSPA Benchmark tests again. The tests were conducted over a period of one and a half months, focusing at critical points along the network. The results say it all: the average UMTS & HSPA network throughput of Vodafone Spain deployed by Huawei was 30% higher than that of the former operator. The stability of the network was also improved. Vodafone Spain awarded Huawei high recognition for their distributed Node Bs and their customer oriented service.

RAN sharing, TCO savings

According to industrial regulations in Spain, 3G operators have to complete 70% coverage within the time claimed. At the beginning of 2007, a key issue facing Vodafone Spain was how to balance anticipated TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) savings and expanded network coverage with the inevitable loss of independence. Vodafone Spain hopes that the RAN sharing solution fully supports partners with Logic RNC functions to enable them to optimize the balance between operational independence, TCO savings, and network expansion.

Vodafone Spain has now joined forces with another telecom giant, Orange, and signed a deal to share Huawei deployed radio access networks in regions surrounding Madrid, Valencia and Bilbao. RAN sharing brings greater flexibility in the management of essential infrastructure, speedier network deployment, and TCO savings of up to 30%. Easing the financial burden of heavy operator licensing fees, RAN sharing is fast becoming a major trend among leading 3G networks worldwide.

Vodafone Iceland covering 120km of Icelandic sea

It is known that Iceland has a 4970 km long coastline. Fisheries are the key industry here. Every day countless fishermen head out into the frigid waters. And they have long been dissatisfied with the state of telecommunications. Absolutely ensuring the quality of offshore communications, Huawei provided Vodafone Iceland an enhanced UMTS/HSPA solution that covered a real distance of 120 km, which combined an extended cell with two timeslots, power boosting technology(PBT), a transmitting diversity function and a 4-way receiving diversity function to improve the downlink gain and reception sensitivity in order to balance the uplink and downlink reception. The radius increase was boosted by 20% and the area by 40% It also had a 30% environmental improvement. Given Iceland's geographical terrain, the sites were placed on high land masses to increase coverage reach.

After the delivery of this offshore project, professionally collected statistics showed that the: Network index has been greatly improved since boosting off shore transmission capabilities. Plus the end users' experiences and satisfaction levels were significantly enhanced.

Milestones 

• December 2007, Vodafone awards Huawei UMTS/HSPA contracts in Romania and Greece with 50% and 100% market shares respectively. 
• October 2007, Vodafone awards Huawei UMTS/HSPA network contract in Hungary. As a result, Huawei becomes Vodafone Hungary's sole UMTS network supplier.
• June 2007, Huawei successfully helps Vodafone offer a High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) service in major cities like Madrid and Barcelona of Spain.
• May 2007, Vodafone awards Huawei 2G/ 3G network contracts in Iceland. 
• May 2007, Vodafone awards Huawei their 2007 Global Supplier Award — Outstanding Performance during the second annual Global Supplier Conference by Vodafone.
• March 2007, Vodafone and Huawei sign a network expansion contract that includes Barcelona, Madrid, and other major cities in Spain, providing Vodafone Spain 70% of the market share.
• March 2007, Huawei delivers Phase One of Vodafone's HSPA network project in Spain. 
• July 2006, Vodafone Spain chooses Huawei to build its UMTS/HSPA network in Madrid and other major cities in Spain.
  
• November 2005, Vodafone chooses Huawei as its preferred global 3G supplier.