Helping Saudi Telecom Company handle the highest mobile traffic densities ever recorded

Providing mobile services to three million Hajj pilgrims roving among three cities in an area just five kilometers square is quite an achievement in itself. But serving them all at once is nothing less than a record-setting feat accomplished by strong partners using powerful technology and superior solutions.

“Before [2001] we had another vendor and we suffered from a lot of problems. So we swapped RF sites using Nokia Siemens Networks and we had great performance year after year. We’re getting really good help from Nokia Siemens experts, and they’re giving us tier 3 support, even monitoring the Hajj with us 24/7. It’s really a good experience with Nokia Siemens Networks, and we’ve had great success with them in the past years for Hajj. And everybody’s happy, actually.”
 
Bander Al-Qafari, Implementation and General Manager of the network sectors of Saudi Telecom Company

Connecting millions
Pilgrims from 100+ countries around the world want to share their joy with loved ones at home, especially on the holy days of Dhu al-Hijjah. Coping with such high-density traffic in such a confined space requires robust equipment and reliable performance
under critical conditions, particularly in the radio network. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) counts on our solutions and services to enable high-quality voice and data communication for the millions of Muslims who make the Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of  Mecca.

Nokia Siemens Networks is the sole supplier of GSM and 3G radio to STC at Mecca, Medina, and other pilgrim areas. Robust and resilient, both the radio access equipment and software have proven their merits under the heaviest traffic conditions during the Hajj.

Challenges

  • Provide mobile voice and data services to 3 million users roaming in five sq km
  • Support STC’s ability to offer GPRS, EDGE, 3.5G HSPA, video telephony, SMS, and MMS
  • Quickly build a huge network for seven days use
  • Develop half-rate, AMR, and other special features to handle ultra dense traffic

So much to do, so little time to do it
Heavy traffic during holy celebrations poses tough challenges, especially with a network that is largely temporary. What’s more, engineers have little time to plan, set up, and optimize a network for the seven-day event. The field force again put in a remarkable performance in 2008, setting up and rolling out 25 new sites, 57 site expansions, 81,000 square meters of indoor coverage, two new Base Station Controllers, and two new transcoders in just three months.

Solution

  • Turnkey GSM and 3G radio, plus 25 new sites, 57 site expansions, 81,000 square meters of indoor coverage, two new Base Station Controllers, and two new transcoders in 2008
  • 24/7 network surveillance, first-line maintenance, and remote support services
  • The custom Hajj Feature to improve call processing and boost Base Station Controller performance, alongside many more powerful software features

Unprecedented challenges, unparalleled solutions
On top of that, standard networks are ill-equipped to cope with so many and so very mobile callers. With burgeoning traffic in mind – it had increased 30% from 2006 to 2007, and again 30% from 2007 to 2008 – our solutioneers developed special, custom-made software solutions known locally as the Hajj Features to improve call processing and boost Base Station Controller performance.

Benefits

  • The means to provide full radio capacity, coverage, and reliable communications to millions of pilgrims
  • The ability to handle over 128 million voice calls (more than 1.8 million erlangs) over just 7 days, generating 29,683 erlangs for 2G and 1,000 erlangs for 3G
  • The network performance necessary to meet extreme spikes in subscriber demand and the service quality it takes to boost customer satisfaction

Mastering one of the world’s greatest communication challenges
24/7 field teams maintained the network, with nonstop monitoring and remote support services underpinning their efforts. With this vigilant network supervision, as well as the ability to tune network parameters and optimize sites on the fly, the joint field force succeeded in minimizing blocked and congested cells. Our solutioneers mastered one of the world’s greatest communication challenges, bringing reliable voice and data services to Mecca’s pilgrims and enabling STC to meet subscriber demand and boost customer satisfaction.

Powerful answers to realworld performance issues
The performance of STC’s network during the Hajj says much about our solutioneers’ ability to solve real-world communication problems and deliver powerful solutions to users’ and operators’ best benefit. Top-drawer equipment, reliable services, and smart, inventive solutions enabled this record-setting performance, with no downtime or outage observed within the network. STC’s management proclaimed Hajj services a “success,” adding that the results were “exceptional.”