Deliver Your News to the World

“Height matters” – The need for Cell-Site Infrastructure Sharing in Crowded Mobile Networks

CCI Press Release – Industry Viewpoint
Cell-site equipment sharing offers major cost savings for mobile operators with no compromise on network performance through the use of specific enabling solutions.


WEBWIRE

Cheltenham, UK, 23rd November 2011 – “Sharing cell-site infrastructure in today’s competitive and crowded mobile environment must be increasingly accepted as standard practice by operators, if they are to reduce unnecessary costs and obtain optimum capacity and coverage levels over which to deliver the high-value content and services that, today, form their core, revenue-generating activities.”
 
These comments, by Peter Jackson, Director in Europe for leading provider of wireless base station enhancement products, Communications Components Inc. (CCI), reflect the growing need for increased levels of cell-site co-operation and equipment sharing between operators. By doing so, environmental impact is reduced and the performance of all parties competing for bandwidth and coverage from the same tower can be optimized, fairly. Currently, however, only around 15% of mobile operators engage in network sharing activities.*
 
“As wireless networks continue to grow, greater daily demand for services has increased the pressure on cell sites to deliver more in terms of capacity and coverage,” Jackson continued. “In turn, site running costs have risen and one obvious way to defray these costs is by sharing key network infrastructure. In some cases, this enables operators to decommission existing cell sites to avoid unnecessary duplication of coverage, which, in turn, leads to huge savings.”
 
He said that efficient equipment sharing – not simply sharing a tower – will deliver increased site capabilities without impacting network performance. By using equipment such as low-loss combiners and multiplexers, capex and overall opex will be significantly reduced by enabling operators to share infrastructure viably, including RF equipment such as antenna systems. It also enables the addition of new technologies such as LTE, without compromising network quality.
 
Jackson illustrated the benefits of sharing citing the effect the positioning of an operator’s antenna system has on coverage and range: on a tower supporting four mobile operators in the same band, where each has its own antenna system, there is usually a minimum vertical-separation requirement of 2m between antennas to avoid cross coupling and interference. If these operators are not sharing, their 3m-high antenna systems, plus the 2m vertical separation between each, will take up 18m of a 30m tower. However, the RF signal coverage and range will lessen the closer to the ground the antennas are, with the bottom antenna achieving worst propagation and the operator/owner of that antenna achieving worst coverage for its subscribers.
 
“Good customer experience relies on good housekeeping at the base station,” said Jackson, “In the case of antenna systems, height really does matter and is a key factor in delivering good coverage. If all these operators shared a single antenna system, as well as other relevant and practical RF equipment, not only would they benefit from optimum height and tower positions resulting in optimum range and coverage, but they would also make major opex and capex savings in the process.”
 
*(source: A.T.Kearney)
-ends-
 
Notes for Editors
 
NB: PHOTOGRAPHY IS AVAILABLE TO ACCOMPANY THIS RELEASE
 
About CCI – www.cciproducts.com
Founded in 1996, Communication Components Inc. (CCI) is one of the fastest growing providers of base station enhancement products. The company’s innovative solutions are designed to enable service providers to maximize their base station investments through capacity expansion and coverage enhancement.
CCI solutions are designed for applications in PCS, 2G/3G GSM/EDGE, 3G/UMTS, CDMA/WCDMA, 4G/LTE, and AWS scenarios, with thousands already deployed with leading MNOs around the world.
The company’s capacity expansion products enable base stations to increase traffic without adding feeders and antennas, and with no loss of coverage, and its coverage enhancement solutions are custom designed to seamlessly integrate with existing BTS equipment.
CCI also specializes in turn-key in-building systems for applications from small office through to large campus-wide solutions.
The company also provides full field installation support services, from design assistance to site commissioning.
CCI is headquartered in New Jersey, USA, with European offices in the UK and Switzerland.
 
For further information, please contact:
Peter Jackson
Director – Europe
CCI
T: +44 7721 632636
E: pjackson@cciproducts.com



WebWireID149556




 
 Communication Components
 Cell-site sharing
 Infrastructure sharing
 low-loss combiners
 multiplexers


This news content may be integrated into any legitimate news gathering and publishing effort. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.