Communications service providers have created a new customer demand for faster, more reliable
services and increased network capacity for their subscribers with the use of smartphones and
tablets. This trend has been additionally strengthened by the dropping prices of mobile devices. All
of this is pushing traffic in access network to its limits. Apart from issues associated with finding new
business models for increasing revenues, operators are also investing in the roll out of their 3G/4G
network. How does one manage roll-out so that the millions of Euros spent actually entail an increase
in network & service quality?
Resource Inefficiency and Service quality – Two Main Challenges
Each operator can manage massive network roll outs to a certain extent. Aside from huge
investments, the main limitations are observed in resource efficiency and the capability to manage
both positive and negative impact on service quality. One of the ways of improving resource efficiency
is by automating the configuration management process.
So far, a typical approach is that the planner works with a planning tool and output is provided via
a file-based interface to the configuration department. The latter is then responsible for providing
configuration to the network. This means that input from planners is combined with current network
information (input from operations or ticketing systems). In fact, this means manually re-planning
the network, very often without tools or consistency checks that are available for planners. As
the configuration is then integrated in the network, planners have to also compare the exact
implementation effort with their plans, and manage changes. They can do so either by accepting
differences, or by rejecting and pushing engineers to update the configuration. All of this creates an
additional workload, which limits the operator’s possibilities to manage massive network roll outs.
Additionally, the output quality of the network is very often different from what was requested.
The second issue relates to the quality of services perceived by customers. When an operator is
conducting large network rollouts, the standard way of performing drive tests is not always the most
reliable. Additionally, together with standard coverage and population key performance indicators (KPIs), strategy decisions regarding site locations should take into account the impact on service quality. However, currently only a few operators have systems in place allowing for providing key quality indicators (KQIs) with aggregated services, based on specified criteria. So the decisions are purely based on standard coverage KPIs.
