AfricaCom 2015 – innovation is set to shine
One of the pleasures of attending AfricaCom is gaining insight into the most recent innovations in network architecture, and particularly in understanding how the business case for a mobile network can be improved by technical innovation.
The macroscopic telecoms environment features exponentially growing customer demand for data, delivered within a flat-to-declining ARPU envelope.
This is particularly the case in Africa, and is driving a number of phenomena in all parts of the modern mobile network.
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One example is tower sharing, whereby operators can reduce their capex and opex by amortising the costs of infrastructure across their combined subscriber bases.
Another example is the use of so-called ‘digital dividend’ ex-broadcast spectrum at 700 and 800MHz to create LTE coverage across wide areas more cost effectively.
The physical propagation characteristics of these low frequencies mean that a given LTE base station can provide coverage to a larger radius.
In turn, that means more subscribers are served by a single base station.
These approaches help in delivering services more cost effectively because they both increase the degree to which infrastructure is shared amongst subscribers.
The neat part is that this increased sharing does not compromise the user experience in any way.
This is because users’ data demands in mobile networks are statistically mutually asynchronous.
In other words, it doesn’t matter how many other subs might use a given set of network resources throughout the day, only the number using those resources at a precise instant.
In the backhaul segment of the network, another example of a technology which can enhance network ROI is PMP microwave.
Just as in the previous two examples, PMP microwave increases the amount of sharing of infrastructure that occurs.
In this case, a single hub radio and its RF channel is time-division multiplexed amongst amongst multiple 3G or LTE base stations, avoiding the need for dedicated hub backhaul hardware for each base station.
Again, because of the statistical asynchrony of backhaul requirements, there is no difference in the service delivered to the base station or end user.
Using efficient technology in this way can create TCO savings of nearly 50% for the backhaul network.
African mobile operators are world leaders in adopting all three approaches described above, and in making a virtue of the necessity to do so.
Because the growth in data demand shows no sign of abating, creating a relentless need to deliver more bits for the same cost, these techniques are becoming increasingly relevant in all regions of the world.
As in previous years, the CBNL executive team will be attending AfricaCom 2015 and look forward to meeting our customers and media from across the continent.
If you are attending AfricaCom and would like to meet us at the event, please email Chris Wright, CBNL’s Marketing Director, at cwright@cbnl.com who will be happy to schedule a meeting for you at the CBNL suite.