Tušmobil harness 900 MHz band to offer high speed data services to rural users and better indoor coverage in urban areas

Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Base Station minimizes costs and environmental impact of operator’s 3G network expansion.

"We looked at products from different vendors and found Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Base Station to be the best. Its flexibility, easy configuration and small footprint made it the ideal solution. In addition, it enabled us to keep the impact of our network roll-out and expansions on the environment to a minimum, thus helping us meet our ‘green’ commitments,"

Tušmobil chief technology officer Andras Pali.

Tušmobil d.o.o., Slovenia’s fastest growing operator, was planning to extend its mobile broadband services to rural areas of the country. In view of limited spectrum availability, it decided to refarm spectrum in the UMTS 900 MHz frequency band. Traditionally reserved for GSM services, this band provides better coverage both in terms of extended coverage in rural areas as well as significantly improved 3G services indoors at a much lower cost. With this move, the Slovenian operator was set to join operators such as Elisa in Finland and Telefónica O2 UK that had earlier tested the UMTS 900 MHz band for 3G services.

However, Tušmobil was faced with a few constraints. Having chosen to also utilize the UMTS 2100 MHz band, the operator was looking to optimize its investments and therefore needed network equipment that could be effectively deployed in multiple spectrum bands. At the same time, it wanted its new network to have a minimal visual impact to avoid any opposition from the local communities.

Challenges

  • Offer cost effective mobile broadband services to rural users
  • Scarce spectrum resources
  • Limit impact of network on local environment

Finding a compelling solution
Tušmobil selected Nokia Siemens Networks after evaluating several vendors. The reason was simple, says Tušmobil chief technology officer Andras Pali.

The Flexi Base Station is an award-winning product. This compact base station enables savings in site costs since it can be installed with a zero footprint – for instance, on walls – and does not require air conditioning. At the same time, the carbon dioxide emissions are significantly lowered with the energy efficient Flexi Base Station and energy savings are 70 percent higher than with traditional equipment.

Furthermore, the base station can work efficiently across different frequency bands and has three power amplifiers in each radio frequency module. In comparison, similar products from other vendors have one amplifier per module and require more modules to work in another frequency band. In Tušmobil’s case a major portion of the sites are multi-band sites and therefore minimizing the number of physical network elements was important.

Solution

  • Flexi Base Station with multi-band capabilities
  • Saves site cost with compact form factor and energy efficiency
  • Minimal footprint for lower environmental impact

Given the fact that the use of the UMTS 900 MHz band requires installation of one-third the number of base stations required in the UMTS 2100 MHz band, Flexi Base Station enables significant cost savings for operators. In addition to the Flexi Base Station, Nokia Siemens Networks has also provided Tušmobil its core solution, operational support systems (OSS), mobile backhaul solution, and its High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) solution.

Reaping the benefits
In addition to lower deployment costs, Tušmobil has also benefitted from a speedy roll-out with Nokia Siemens Networks’ solution. “Site installation with Flexi Base Station requires minimal time and resources. We can now deploy one person for four hours to complete an installation, which would have otherwise required two to three people working over a few days. Needless to say, this translates into considerable cost savings for us,” says Ian Butler, Director- Radio Network, Tušmobil.

The operator has also been able to reduce the visual impact of its network through the use of the artificial tree concept. As part of this initiative, the telecom network is made to resemble a tree with the base station gear on top of the tree or inside its ‘trunk’. The compact and robust nature of the Flexi Base Station has allowed the operator to achieve this.

Benefits

  • Attractive data services for rural subscribers
  • Improved 3G services for urban users indoors
  • Significant savings in implementation and site operational costs, and faster roll-out

Maximizing the benefits
Tušmobil has gone ahead of its peers in harnessing the UMTS 900 MHz band. It is one of the first operators in Europe to have tested urban mobile broadband deployments with this band, resulting in improved indoor coverage for users. In fact, Tušmobil’s UMTS coverage based on the 900 MHz band is evenly split between rural and urban areas of Slovenia.

Tušmobil continues to set new benchmarks in the Slovenian telecom market. The operator recently started work on simplifying its network and improving its coverage by migrating to an all-IP, HSPA+ network on the 900 MHz frequency band. This development marks the complete shift to an all-IP network, including IPv6 and Direct Tunnel for the first time in the world. As a result, Tušmobil subscribers will enjoy peak rates of up to 21 megabits per second (Mbps). Nokia Siemens Networks is providing the Flexi Multiradio Base Station, FlexiPacket Microwave and complete IP-backhaul platform for the expansion.