Ceragon : Enables Large Mobile Operator in Asia to Reach Over 50% Population Coverage in Record Time

The challenges:

Reach over 50% population coverage | Deploy ultra-fast 4G network | Prepare network for 5G | Speed up cell-site acquisition and connectivity (backhaul/fronthaul) | Ramp up network capacity easily | Accelerate subscriber acquisition rate

A large mobile operator in Asia kicked off an ultra-ambitious plan to deploy hundreds of thousands sites across the country. Its objective was to provide over 50% population coverage within six months, and to reach 75% within another 12 months. The project included a massive site acquisition effort and an extremely large-scale network rollout and commissioning. With 10s of millions of subscribers joining the network, it also required a very quick capacity ramp-up across the entire network. This operator chose Ceragon as its strategic partner to support its goals with a unique wireless backhaul solution.

The solution:

All-outdoor cell sites | High-capacity, high-efficiency wireless backhaul | Multicore technology | Remotely upgradable solution | Radio expert services

In order to rapidly deploy its infrastructure in any environment across the country, the carrier adopted Ceragon's multicore technology and installed all-outdoor cell sites with wireless backhaul connections. By teaming up with Ceragon for wireless backhaul and with other leading vendors for RAN and networking, the operator successfully created a state-of-the-art, scalable and compact all-outdoor configuration that doubles capacity on the fly. Today, wireless backhaul infrastructure comprises the lion's portion of the mobile operator's network.

Ceragon's all-outdoor wireless backhaul solution enabled the operator to:

• Remotely double wireless backhaul capacity from 100-200Mbps to 0.5-1Gbps with Ceragon's unique 'one click, double the capacity' feature, which supports huge capacity ramp-up and does not require onsite presence, service interruption or any additional hardware.
• Accelerate service ramp-up that simplifies rollout of innovative 4G services.
• Leverage 4x4 LoS-MIMO technology to resolve capacity crunch in its backbone links without using additional spectrum and to achieve 1-2Gbps capacity, eliminating the need to switch to a fiber-based infrastructure.
• Provide full support for design and planning including onsite investigation, installation and commissioning, and integration.
• Optimize full-outdoor sites, where all-outdoor radios ease site acquisition, ensure quick deployment, and minimize floor dimensions in tower or monopole scenarios.
• Shorten the duration for site acquisition and site connectivity (backhaul) by 50%, by eliminating the need for indoor rack space for the networking unit or for a shelter used for other equipment.
• Simplify operations and contribute to faster time to market with 80% fewer part numbers in the network by utilizing a single box that combines both radio and networking functionality and comes with 1+0 and 2+0 configurations.
• Reduce power consumption by 70% and increase power efficiency, since the lack of an indoor unit eliminates the need for an air-conditioning system and its power consumption.
• Benefit from improved security and vandalism resistance, since installing all-outdoor equipment high above the ground leads to additional security while requiring vandals to use extreme measures to physically reach the equipment.