Roshan to extend mobile service to Afghanistan’s hard-to-reach areas

On 02.16.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Afghanistan’s Roshan has selected a base transmission system (BTS) from Lotus Solutions and Services to extend mobile phone service to some of the hardest-to-reach areas of the country.

Lotus has partnered with industry leaders to design and launch the Lotus BTS. Airspan Networks provided the backhaul, while ip.access supplied the GSM/EDGE access controllers and Deltenna delivered the antenna. The Lotus system was successfully tested in Colorado last year.

According to Amiruddin Ahmad, CTO of Roshan, the Lotus BTS will allow them to extend their network easily and profitably into the more remote parts of the country at an affordable cost. The technology in the Lotus solution, coupled with the company’s skills in deploying infrastructure, makes it possible for them to bring their innovative mobile services to previously un-served and under-served users.

Installing new sites in the mountainous parts of Afghanistan requires considerable logistical capabilities. The Lotus solution with its integrated access and backhaul in a self-contained form factor results in no equipment at the bottom of the tower and greatly simplifies deployments. No clean rooms, microwaves or air conditioning systems are needed. Another key feature is the low power consumption of less than 200W for a sector with two access and one backhaul radio interfaces. In many regions, a generator can be substituted for solar power.

Lotus Solutions and Services is a division of Asia Consultancy Group (ACG), a company that was founded by people who deployed the first wireless telecommunications network in Afghanistan. ACG has extensive experience in the hard-to-reach areas of Asia, including deployment and operation of base stations on top of the Salang Pass in Afghanistan at 12,700 feet above sea level.

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TeliaSonera modernizing and expanding network in Norway

On 01.11.11, In Mobile, By Editor

TeliaSonera, owner of Norway’s second largest mobile operator, is modernizing and expanding its network for improved coverage and speed. Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is entering a 3-year contract to modernize and expand the northern part of TeliaSonera’s Norwegian network and to roll-out 4G/LTE in the same region. Ericsson will, as part of the modernization process, replace the existing 2G and 3G radio base stations with its multi-standard RBS 6000 developed for GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA Evolution and LTE.

The contract expands Ericsson’s engagement with TeliaSonera in Norway, which until now has been a customer within 4G/LTE. Ericsson will deliver the multi-standard radio base station RBS 6000 and related services including network roll-out, implementation and support. The contract also includes Ericsson’s microwave technology MINI-LINK.

Claes Nycander, CTO and SVP of Mobility Services at TeliaSonera, says: “We are building a new world class mobile network in Norway with 2G, 3G and 4G access to offer our customers an enormous coverage and speed improvement. We have selected Ericsson to deliver the northern part of the Norwegian network based on their high quality technology and competitive total solution.”

Robert Puskaric, Head of Region Northern Europe Central Asia, Ericsson, says: “It’s exciting to see that TeliaSonera continues to build out 4G/LTE in Norway and that they are modernizing and expanding their 2G and 3G network. There is a massive growth in data traffic and modernization is needed to continue to offer the best experience as new services are introduced to the consumers. We are glad to be part of that journey and proud that we are now also TeliaSonera’s vendor within 2G and 3G in Norway.”

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NSN launches New Flexi Base Station Controller

On 11.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

­Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced a new Flexi BSC (base station controller) that offers up to 80% reduction in energy consumption along with a 40% increase in capacity over existing base station controllers.

The new Flexi BSC also provides operators the ability to move to all-IP for communicating among the base station, base station controller and mobile switching center with two new transport features – Packet Abis and A over IP. Maximum cost savings can be achieved using IP over Ethernet transport, the common transport technology for GSM, 3G and LTE.

According to Prashant Agnihotri, head of GSM/EDGE product management, Nokia Siemens Networks, higher voice capacity with fewer base station controllers reduces energy consumption, a major cost for operators, along with simplifying operations and maintenance resulting in lower OPEX. The company is committed to driving scalable products that maximize operators’ investment and provide a clear roadmap to all-IP. Whether it is greener networks, capacity, functional evolution or transmission, the new Flexi BSC is a milestone product.

Flexi BSC is future-proof, providing for the first time in the industry a handling capacity of 4,200 transceivers and over 25,000 Erlangs in a single cabinet. This implies that, with the new Flexi BSC configuration, operators can replace up to 32 existing base station controllers in the field.

The new Transcoder TCSM3i configuration also offers 40% more capacity while maintaining the compact size.

Flexi BSC also provides an evolution path to Nokia Siemens Networks’ Multicontroller BSC that can be used to extend the capacity of Flexi BSC. The latest software for Flexi BSC and Transcoder TCSM3i is based on 3GPP Release 8 and the commercial deliveries are in progress.

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Motorola brings Android to AT&T

On 03.08.10, In Mobile Phones, By Editor

With Motorola BACKFLIP hitting the market, AT&T breaks its record and plunges into the market with its first Android device. The highlight of the model as the name indicates is a MOTOBLUR skin with a full QWERTY keyboard.

The Motorola BACKFLIP is indeed a standard Android phone with a QWERTY keyboard on its back. Its features include 528MHz CPU, HVGA touchscreen, 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM and a 5MP camera. The phone has a connectivity of 7.2Mbps HSDPA (and quad-band GSM/EDGE of course), WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

This is just an example. AT&T is all set to get other Android devices beside the Motorola BLUR. The next to emerge is a Dell Phone, probably the Dell Mini 3iX and HTC phones(s).

The Motorola BACKFLIP is priced at 349 US dollars with no contract or 99 dollars after a 100 dollar mail-in rebate on a 2-year 30 dollar a month contract.

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HSDPA growth continues

On 09.20.06, In Mobile, By Editor

This is good news for South African cellular providers who were amoungst the first in the world to back this new technology.

According to GSA, 58 HSDPA-enabled devices have now been launched by 18 suppliers. The majority of these devices are handsets (26 models), ahead of PC cards/embedded modules (24), USb HSDPA modems (4) and wireless routers (4).

Sixteen HSDPA devices are capable of operation at 850 MHz, in support of major 850 MHz HSDPA network deployments in Australia and North America, and potentially in many more markets throughout the Americas, Asia and elsewhere.

Forty-seven HSDPA devices (i.e. 81%, and representing an increase of 28 models in 6 months) also support GSM/EDGE, thus ensuring service continuity and the best user experience of mobile broadband services.

The survey total of 58 devices excludes a rapidly increasing number of notebooks, laptops and tablet PCs with embedded wireless wide area networking (WWAN) capability for HSDPA broadband access.

The survey notes 16 PC products from 8 PC manufacturers, which have been launched mostly in partnership with mobile network operators.

HSDPA is fast becoming a mature technology with South Africa forming one of the 37 countries to offering this service commercially.

A recent related survey by GSA stated that the number of HSDPA networks planned, in deployment or launched has reached 120 in 55 countries, of which 58 are providing commercial services in 37 countries today. GSA forecasts that the number of commercial HSDPA networks world-wide will reach 85 by end 2006.

HSDPA and the local market

The growth of HSDPA worldwide is a good indication of the increasing importance of being able to connect anywhere.

In Africa the evolution of the Internet seems to have slipped quickly to wireless mobile technologies as the infrastructure needed for fixed line connectivity represented a problem for many African nations.

Wireless mobile connectivity in Africa has become the market which has been predicted to dominate.

In South Africa the cellular providers are fast gaining in the data arena on the fixed line provider, Telkom, due to the incumbent’s inability to meet the needs of the South African market place.

The number of fixed lines in South Africa has fallen and to add to this problem Telkom are unable to deliver ADSL services fast enough to potential subscribers.

Many are choosing the easy to install mobile services of the cellular companies as a way to bypass months of waiting for a Telkom ADSL installation.

Telkom have started to improve their service delivery but the process is too slow for many who are now content to stick with the more expensive but better serviced cellular offerings.

Source- http://www.mybroadband.co.za

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