Haul or Nothing for Mobile Operators

Choosing the right backhaul strategy is a tricky problem considering the fact that operators are expanding and enhancing their network along with keeping an eye on costs, performance, and the needs of subscribers

Choosing Whe right backhaul strategy is a tricky problem consdering Whe fact What operators are expanding and enhancing their network along with keeping an eye on costs, performance, and the needs of subscribers

Rapidly increasing growth in data traffic across mobile infrastructure is stretching networks to their limit. One area of the network that is feeling the pinch is backhaul—namely taking the traffic from the cell site back to the network core. Typically, 3 technologies can be used for backhaul—copper cabling, fiber cabling or microwave links. Microwave being the technology of choice, provides an excellent combination of reliability, cost, and rollout speed for network operators.

Choosing the right backhaul strategy is a tricky problem considering the fact that operators are expanding and enhancing their network along with keeping an eye on costs, performance, and the needs of subscribers. According to the DoT, operators have invested around R 67,718.95 crore to acquire 3G spectrum in the country. But there hasn’t been much profit mainly because of low adoption of 3G services in India.

This is largely due to pricing of the services, low penetration, and quality of services. Compared to the 50% fiber pen- etration in the west, the penetration in India is around 15%, considering the fact that 3G and broadband wireless airwaves were auctioned only in 2010. Optimal mobile backhaul solutions would become more critical as the data traffic grows.

The potential challenges for microwave backhaul include conflicts between increasingly congested networks, the limited availability of spectrum, the need for higher modulation schemes in radios to provide greater capacity and the ability of antennas to protect those radios from interference.

It is into this landscape of technical hurdles and financial constraints that operators must step in search of the most effective backhaul solutions.

Technical Hurdles

While microwave backhaul is not the only solution operators can choose, it is still cost effective and reliable in rugged environments. For this reason, microwave backhaul is seeing increased popularity amongst operators worldwide.

The rising data traffic is leading operators to deploy increasing number of both conventional macro and newer small-cell base station links. This, in turn, puts greater pressure on microwave backhaul throughput—that is, the speed at which data from the wireless network can be fed back to the core network. More microwave backhaul links are being deployed in networks, resulting in a higher risk of signal interference in congested areas.

The best microwave backhaul is one which produces highly directional, pointto-point beams that minimize interference and uses the available spectrum effectively. Today, the microwave antenna is designed to address three of the greatest challenges faced by operators which include rapidly increasing data traffic, spectrum scarcity and return on network investment. These antennas are engineered to maximize the use of wireless spectrum, while withstanding heavy demands in data growth. An innovative improvement in radiation pattern helps squeeze more out of available spectrum and typically yields 40% higher link density.

Financial Challenges

Few of the operators have chosen to pursue the false economy of reducing capital expenditure on new infrastructure by buying substandard microwave antenna which has the knock-on effect of reducing network service quality in the long term. A false economy is one where the operators spend more on identifying and replacing faulty components which affect the backhaul network’s performance since they would have bought substandard equipment at low cost. This also results in poor subscriber churn and negative revenue for the operator.

The Long Haul

The skyward trend of data traffic shows no signs of slowing, with the UMTS Forum recently predicting that voice and data traffic on mobile networks will grow more than 30-fold during the coming decade.

Higher quality infrastructure will help operators in the long term and also save them from the effect of false economy. Clearly, many operators face tough choices in the years ahead. The decision to invest in higher quality infrastructure cannot be taken lightly in the current climate. However it’s also clear that operators should avoid extreme approach towards lowering the capex at any cost, or they may find that the choices of today become the problems of the future.