Ericsson announced three WCDMA solutions: CDMA Flow of Users, Zero Touch WCDMA and Mobile Broadband Expander. The company said these updates represent a significant step toward realizing itsvision of mobile broadband for everyone.
Currently, there are 3.6 billion mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide, corresponding to a penetration rate of less than 50% of world population. Ericsson believes over ninety percent of the world’s population to be covered by WCDMA/HSPA mobile broadband networks by 2021.
- WCDMA Flow of Users allows operators to maintain an optimal flow of smartphone users through a 3G/WCDMA network. It uses a defined selection of software features and settings to automatically balance active user count and consumer experience. As a result, operators can maximize smartphone user experience, even during busy traffic-load conditions, while ensuring high-quality voice services. The solution is already proven in the field, with global operators successfully doubling – or better – their network uplink and downlink throughput performance, while substantially reducing dropped call rates.
- The Zero Touch WCDMA approach industrializes the Flow of Users solution across all features and parameters in a 3G/WCDMA network, resulting in what can be termed a gold standard. With a gold standard setting based on Ericsson recommendations, a Zero Touch period is introduced in the RAN software upgrade cycle. During the Zero Touch period, there is minimal need for an operator to configure or tune a network, except when dimensioning or expanding coverage. This radically reduces the management effort for a 3G/WCDMA installation, supports faster upgrades, and can triple operational efficiency, along with maintaining high-quality app coverage in both low and high traffic-load scenarios.
- Mobile Broadband Expander with Intelligent Antenna Sharing enables antenna reuse between existing GSM sites and new WCDMA equipment, as well as reuse of site power, microwave and transport infrastructure. Reusing resources in this way can reduce TCO by more than 60 percent compared with building a conventional site, and supports accelerated rollout of 3G technologies.
“The latest Ericsson Mobility Report shows that 20 new mobile broadband subscriptions are activated every second, and will reach 7.7 billion globally by 2021. 3G/WCDMA networks will continue to be the foundation as mobile broadband brings new possibilities to people and industries around the world. For operators, capturing this global opportunity requires performance, efficiency and innovation – exactly what Ericsson’s new WCDMA launches deliver. We are committed to broadband for everyone, and in terms of supporting coverage growth, these solutions represent some of the most important additions ever to our portfolio,” stated Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson.