AirTel Uses Compression on its Backbone to Cut Upgrade Costs

AirTel, India's largest mobile operator and a member of the Bharti Tele-Ventures group, has deployed the CVS compressed voice system from RAD Data Communications to maximise bandwidth utilisation of leased lines between mobile switching centres (MSCs). CVS is based on RAD's Kilomux-2100 multiplexer.

AirTel provides cellular services to 1.5 million subscribers across 16 telecom circles, or regions. "Since customers in each telecom circle can choose from among four different mobile service providers, AirTel must remain competitive to win subscribers," explains Mr. Naveen Rao, General Manager of Marketing at MRO-TEK, RAD's Indian partner. "RAD's CVS solution allows them to lower the cost of service and deploy services quickly."

A Kilomux-2100 located at each one of AirTel's MSCs compresses traffic from six E1 lines onto one E1 line. This significantly reduces the number of E1 lines that AirTel has to lease from the incumbent carrier, and that, in turn, yields the lowest possible connectivity costs between MSCs. Due to the large geographic area they comprise, telecom circles often require deployment of more than one MSC.

In anticipation of traffic surges in particular regions due to political demonstrations or festivals and other cultural events, AirTel has configured RAD's CVS between base station controllers (BSCs) and MSCs that are connected by a single E1 line. This enables AirTel to accommodate spurts of increased cellular traffic in those regions.

Given that it was one of the first cellular operators in India, the AirTel backbone, in certain areas, is based on a microwave-based PDH network with a capacity of 16 E1 lines, insufficient for today's demand for bandwidth. Since CVS increases the transport capacity of the PDH network, AirTel can now deliver all services over this network, without the need to upgrade to an SDH network, an expensive undertaking that had been under consideration before CVS was installed. "CVS enables AirTel to provide value-added services over limited bandwidth," Rao concludes."

Posted to the site on 26th March 2003