Cutting the Cost of Network Rollout

Ericsson has introduced new radio network site and transmission solutions for its Ericsson Expander offering which the company says will help mobile operators to serve low-spending users profitably by cutting capex and opex by 30 percent or more in new coverage areas. The enhanced Ericsson Expander solutions not only improve radio network performance - so that areas can be served by up to 50% fewer radio sites - but also address other major cost areas, such as power consumption, transmission, and network rollout.

The new Expander site and transmission solutions offer total site solutions including preconfigured radio base stations, antennas, power and installation systems, transmission solutions, and services.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Ericsson's vice president Product Management GSM RAN, says: "With these new solutions, we are not only exploiting our technology leadership to make step-wise changes in radio network performance, we are also making use of our experience in network rollout to address 'softer' issues that influence operators' total cost of ownership. We're making it possible for operators to open up the world of mobile communications for people in rural areas or those with low disposable incomes."

Jan Signell, president of Ericsson South East Asia, believes these solutions will be well received in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, where there will be tremendous growth in the number of new mobile users in the next five years. "As penetration grows, the lower-spending segment of the population becomes increasingly important. This is why we are focusing on cost-optimized solutions to help our customers grow this segment in a profitable way," Signell says.

"Seeing that this is one of the major challenges for our customers in this region, we have made cost-optimized solutions a key focus area. We are also looking at ways to leverage our strong regional presence and economies of scale to further lower costs. One step we are taking is reducing the cost of materials and build, which represents a significant percentage of total cost of ownership."

Key to achieving low total cost of ownership with the new Expander site solutions is Ericsson's latest GSM radio and microwave transmission products. These include: new antenna systems, such as Ericsson's unique modular high-gain antennas (MHGA) that provide even wider coverage; the new GSM radio base station 2x16, which improves radio performance and reduces power consumption by 20-30 percent; and the Macro Main Remote RBS 2108/2111 base stations, which provide low-cost entry solutions and fill in coverage in areas such as villages or hilly terrain where providing wide-area coverage with few sites is difficult. These solutions simplify site location and significantly reduce network rollout time."

Posted to the site on 22nd June 2006