POSITION PAPER

Deploying UMTS in the 900MHz Band

Deploying UMTS in the 900MHz Band

Coverage, Penetration, Cost Savings

During the 1980s, mobile telecommunications saw rapid growth in Europe, leading to the need for a common standard. The result was the Global Standard for Mobile communications (GSM), for which the 900MHz band was reserved. Since then, GSM has become the dominant global communication standard, with approximately 2.5 billion GSM customers worldwide expected in 2007.

In 1995, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Forum was founded to develop the third generation of GSM; 3G. By the end of 2006, there were some 100 million UMTS subscribers worldwide, with subscriptions growing at a rate of roughly 3.5 million per month. Originally, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) allocated 1900-1980MHz, 20102025MHz, and 2110-2170MHz for UMTS operations, with GSM occupying the lower frequency bands of 900 and 1800MHz. UMTS operating at these frequencies is not ideal. The increased frequency reduces cell range, resulting in a more costly network rollout and makes achieving GSM like coverage (>90% population) very challenging. Additionally, with the rapid roll-out of HSDPA (an evolution bringing broadband like speed to UMTS) and its less robust, higher-order modulation scheme (16QAM), building penetration from macro deployments becomes an issue. Given the limitations of the 2100MHz frequency band, the growing number of UMTS customers and the expiration of certain GSM licenses, the mobile telecommunications community is looking to potentially re-farm the GSM 900MHz band for UMTS. This paper outlines the benefits and challenges of transitioning to UMTS900, the target markets and Motorolas deployment solution options.

 Sources: http://www.cellular.co.za/gsmhistory.htm http://www.gsmworld.com/about/history.shtml

UMTS in 900MHz provides 2-4x signal coverage

UMTS 900 Benefits and Challenges

Benefits Deploying UMTS in the 900MHz band has many advantages for both rural and indoor networks, including: Signal coverage of 2 4 times the coverage in the 2100MHz band, resulting in a reduced number of base stations required for deployment, as shown in Table 1
Table 1: Site Number Reduction in 900MHz band Service 2100MHz band 900MHz band % site # reduction Circuit Switched, 64kbps 224 90 Packet switched, 384kbps 468 181

Lower power consumption, since the RF power amplifier (one of the largest electricity consumption item in a Node B) efficiency is much improved Challenges Challenges for the deployment of UMTS900 include: Regulatory Prohibitions. In many regions, including Europe, spectrum is still allocated in terms of technology Obtaining sufficient spectrum. Service providers require 5MHz of paired spectrum for UMTS Interference issues. Service providers will need to contend with interference issues due to spectrum crowding Gradual adoption. Some existing GSM service providers may choose to migrate to GSM with Enhanced (E)-EDGE, before moving to UMTS. This could delay reaching sufficient traffic density to achieve operational efficiency for UMTS900 Availability of handsets that are both compatible with 900MHz and able to switch seamlessly between 900MHz and 2100MHz.

60%

61%

Improved indoor coverage in urban areas. A 2006 study showed a 25% improvement in in-building penetration Added potential for re-use of existing GSM base stations, antenna systems and feeders if deployed within existing GSM sites Likely elimination of spectrum auctions and fees

 Source: Deployment of UMTS in 900 MHz band , UMTS Forum White Paper, October 2006  Source: Europe sees first W-CDMA 900MHz calls Nortel Qualcomm and Orange show off proof of concept , Robert Jacques, vnunet.com 24 January 2006  In-Band W-CDMA The Commercial Potential for 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz Deployment , A Shosteck Group White Paper, March 2005, p14

 Sources: In-Band W-CDMA The Commercial Potential for 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz Deployment , A Shosteck Group White Paper, March 2005 GSM Network Product Management Position Statement, UMTS Rebanding , Steven Bardy, 19 April 2006

Figure 1: Illustration of Additional Coverage Area Provided by GSM 900MHz

Target Markets and Motorola Solutions

Target Service Providers
GSM Service Providers GSM service providers that have or are planning to license UMTS have started to request UMTS re-banding, motivated by: Re-banding as an insurance policy, in case the bands are required in the future Taking advantage of UMTSs improved spectrally efficiency for voice service The ability to co-locate GSM and UMTS sites As illustrated in Figure 1, re-banding UMTS to GSMs 900MHz frequency band would provide additional coverage compared to UMTS 2100MHz. In addition to the improved coverage provided by UMTS900, service providers can gain significant savings by simply adding a UMTS/HSxPA (the combination of HSDPA and HSUPA) distributed base station such as Motorolas Horizon 3G-n fiber to their existing GSM sites. While the total value of the CAPEX/OPEX savings will vary per deployment, they will include elements of the following: Acquisition costs and site rental fees Construction and civil work costs, such as laying down concrete slabs, erecting towers and building the infrastructure Installation costs, such as cabling. In particular, Motorolas Zero Foot Printing solution simplifies the installation of the Node-B, by easily slotting it into an existing site 19 rack that would normally be left vacant for transmission equipments The ability to share many ancillaries such as antennas and feeders Sharing back-up power with an existing site. If more power is required, additional rectifiers can simply be added in the existing power bay Backhaul connection costs. Existing backhaul termination will already be present on site and extra capacity most likely available Limiting on-going expenses such as maintenance costs, since there are fewer sites deployed

 Source: GSM Network Product Management Position Statement, UMTS Rebanding , Steven Bardy, 19 April 2006

Motorolas Radio Access Network (RAN) product portfolio provides a number of installation options

UMTS Service Providers Service providers with existing UMTS licenses in the 2100MHz band are also interested in UMTS900 to grow their coverage into rural and less populated areas. The likelihood is that traffic will be handled in the UMTS2100 layer first and use UMTS900 to handle traffic in areas where there is reduced or no UMTS coverage (at 2100MHz). Motorolas current product portfolio, illustrated within the deployment options section, supports this capability.

Geographic Segmentation
Urban areas In urban areas, UMTS900 + HSxPA can be used in conjunction with GSM sites to add high speed mobile internet and data services to voice service. Customers will see improved Quality of Service for indoor coverage due to the enhanced penetration of HSxPA into building when operating at 900MHz. Rural areas There is a need to cost-effectively serve wireless data and voice services to rural areas. The enhanced coverage capability of UMTS900 with UMTS/HSxPA meets this need.

 Source: Deployment of UMTS in the 900MHz band UMTS Forum White Paper

UMTS/HSxPA 900MHz Deployment Options

Hardware strategy will vary by deployment. Motorolas Radio Access Network (RAN) product portfolio provides a number of installation options, including: The Horizon 3G-n macro Outdoor provides a robust, secure and flexible solution for installation in new sites. It supports a number of remote RF units to further extend the coverage of the network

macro

The Horizon 3G-n macro indoor Node-B allows for a low cost entry point for a network rollout

Services
Motorola offers an extensive range of both RAN design and RAN optimization services. Motorolas extensive expertise, unique tools and methodologies apply across virtually any network infrastructure deployment, Motorolas or otherwise. Motorolas UMTS RAN Design Service for HSxPA minimizes uncertainty during the decision-making phase of network planning. By avoiding overly simple network design assumptions, the system can be modeled much more accurately compared to one size fits all types of simulation. Motorola has also developed a multi-vendor UMTS RAN Optimisation Service capability, able to optimize capacity, coverage and quality in a rapid, highly accurate and cost-effective manner. The optimization provides the service provider with clear OPEX reduction opportunities and improved resource utilization.

The Zero Foot Printing Horizon 3G-n fiber offers a readily expandable solution, the ability to position the radio up to 40km away from the baseband unit offering great flexibility for rural coverage and because of its very small size, the ability to deploy it in existing GSM sites (adding UMTS/ HSxPA coverage) or existing UMTS/ HSxPA sites for capacity expansion The Horizon 3G-i fiber pico is ideal for dedicated coverage of strategic indoor environments (airports, large enterprises) where macro-cellular penetration is poor and capacity limited

Indoor

"Zero Foot Printing"

Conclusion
The precedence for UMTS in lower frequencies has been set by Cingulars deployment of UMTS850 in North America. Many service providers are likely to follow suit in the coming years, looking to deploy UMTS900 for cost savings and take advantage of the greater coverage and indoor penetration. In addition to the extensive range of market leading infrastructure equipment, Motorola has a range of support products and services for UMTS900 networks allowing service providers to maximize the benefits of UMTS/HSxPA at 900MHz.

Terms anD AbbreViations UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications 3G: Third Generation ITU: International Telecommunications Union QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation HSUPA: High Speed Uplink Packet Access HSDPA: High Speed Downlink Packet Access HSxPA: High Speed Uplink/Downlink Packet Access RAN: Radio Access Network

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