JUN 2013

20

A Universal Architecture for Small

Cell Backhaul Radio

31

VOL. 15 NO. 3 ISSUE 146

CMHK Partners with ZTE for LTE

Microwave Backhaul Deployment

35

ZTE: Leading R&D on 100G

and Beyond

VIP Voices

Movicel:

We Are Delivering Superior Value

to Our Customers
An interview with Movicel CEO Yon Junior

Telefonica UK:

Moving Beyond Traditional Services

An interview with Peter Bailey, messaging and voice business
manager, and Leon Veiro, LBS messaging architect of Telefonica UK

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

A Flexible Unified Architecture

for Point-to-Point Digital
Microwave Radios
Tech Forum
Using Cloud Radio to Deliver
Promises in the 4G Era

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES
Editorial Board

CONTENTS

Chairman: Pang Shengqing

Vice Chairmen: Chen Jane, Zhao
Xianming, Zhu Jinyun
Members: Chen Jian, Feng Haizhou,
Heng Yunjun, Huang Liqing, Huang
Xinming, Jiang Hua, Li Aijun, Li
Guangyong, Lin Rong, Li Weipu, Lu
Ping, Lu Wei, Lv Abin, Sun Zhenge,
Wang Shouchen, Wang Xiaoming, Wang
Xiyu, Xin Shengli, Xu Ming, Ye Ce, Yu
Yifang, Zhang Shizhuang

Sponsor: ZTE Corporation

Edited By Shenzhen Editorial Office,
Strategy Planning Department
Editor-in-Chief: Jiang Hua
Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Huang
Xinming
Editorial Director: Liu Yang
Executive Editor: Yue Lihua
Editors: Jin Ping, Paul Sleswick
Circulation Manager: Wang Pingping

Editorial Office
Address: NO. 55, Hi-tech Road South,
Shenzhen, P.R.China
Postcode: 518075
Tel: +86-755-26775211
Fax: +86-755-26775217
Website: wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/
publications
Email: [email protected]

A technical
magazine that keeps
up with the latest
industry trends,
communicates
leading technologies
and solutions, and
shares stories of our
customer success

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

Movicel:
We Are Delivering
Superior Value
to Our Customers
Movicel is a leading mobile operator in Angola. Its networks cover 18 provinces
all over the Angola. Today, one third of population is using Movicels voice or
data services. ZTE Technologies recently interviewed Movicel CEO Yon Junior.
He talked about the cooperation with ZTE, the challenges of operating in
Angola, and Movicels strategy.

Telefonica UK:
Moving Beyond
Traditional Services
Peter Bailey, messaging and voice business manager, and Leon Veiro, LBS
messaging architect of Telefonica UK talked about Telefonica UKs market
strategy and challenges in upgrading their network. They also shared their
experience in LBS deployment and their views on the cooperation between
Telefonica UK and ZTE.

VIP Voices
07

Movicel: We Are Delivering Superior Value to Our Customers

10

Telefonica UK: Moving Beyond Traditional Services

Reporter: Yang Chunyu

Reporter: Teli Mendhir

Tech Forum
Using Cloud Radio to Deliver Promises in the 4G Era

13

By Zhu Xiaodong

Success Stories
Converged CS/IMS and IMS Hosting
Solution Helps TAG Smoothly
Implement VoLTE

28

By Zhao Wenxian and Tu Jiashun

CMHK Partners with ZTE for LTE

Microwave Backhaul Deployment

31

By Li Lina

33

Zain: Winning the Future by

Refarming Spectrum

By Li Lanqing

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

16

A Flexible Unified Architecture for Point-to-Point Digital

Microwave Radios
By Thanh Nguyen, Ying Shen and Andrey Kochetkov

20

A Universal Architecture for Small Cell Backhaul Radio

23

ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW for Intelligent Microwave Network Planning

25

Carrier-Class Ethernet Microwave: The Best Choice for Mobile Backhaul

Press Clipping
ZTE: Leading R&D on 100G
and Beyond

35

Source: Light Reading TV

By Ying Shen and Ed Nealis

By Ren Haixia and Wang Yi

By Xu Changchun

Solution
37

Legacy Service Inheritance in VoLTE

By Jiang Yonghu and Lu Wei

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

ZTE News

ZTE Wins Telkom

Indonesia FourYear IPTV Network
Construction Contract

9 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE

has announced that it signed a fouryear IPTV network constr uction
contract with Telkom Indonesia.
According to the contract, ZTE
will construct, operate, and maintain
a low-bit-rate IPTV network for
Telkom from 2013 to 2016. ZTE will
provide Telkom Indonesia with IPTV
system equipment including high
definition (HD), standard definition
(SD) and low bit rate devices, as well
as set-top box (STB). On the systems
side, ZTE will operate, maintain, and
host equipment, and provide end-toend network optimization.
Z T E s I P T V c o n s t r u c t i o n
model helps guarantee and develop
IPTV multi-screen business at low
bandwidth. FEC fast error correction
and ARQ automatic retransmission
request a re used i n packet loss
compensation for live broadcast and
video on-demand.

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

ZTE Passes

100 Million Unit

Milestone in Broadband CPE Shipments

10 A p r i l 2 013, Sh e n z h e n
ZTE an nou nced that it has been
r a n ke d No. 1 for b ot h F T T H C PE
revenues and shipments for 2012 by
telecommunications market research firm
Infonetics.
According to an Q4 2012 Infonetics
market share and forecast report entitled,
Broadband CPE and Subscribers: PON,
FTTH, Cable, and DSL, ZTE ranked
No. 1 for both FTTH CPE revenue and
shipments in the past year, with a global
share of 19.8 percent and 30.9 percent,
respectively. ZTE also shipped more
than 100 million broadband CPE devices

by the end of 2012, the achievement

cements ZTEs place as a global leader in
fixed network operations and large-scale
FTTH applications.
Broadband proliferation and rapid
internet development has led to a surge
in user demand in recent years. ZTE is
dedicated to cooperation with operators
to provide home users with end-toend ser vice platfor ms, management
platforms, access networks and home
terminals. The companys products offer
carrier-class QoS assurance, decrease
TCO, reduce energy consumption and
ensure superior user experiences.

ZTE Wins Angola EDEL Smart

Electricity Meter Project
10 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE
announced it has won a smart electric
meter turnkey project with Angola EDEL.
Under t he ag reement, ZT E will
provide complete smart meter solutions
to EDEL, i ncludi ng equipment,
construction, personnel training and
OAM. ZTEs customized smart meter
solution supports multiple tariffs and
has enriched functionality. It prevents
el e c t r ic it y b i l l a r r e a r s , i m p r ove s
management eff iciency and reduces
oper at ional cost s of ma nu al meter
readi ng. T he ZTE com mu nications
modu le for t h is proje ct i ncludes a

power line carrier that supports remote

centralized meter reading.
As a reliable partner of the electrical
power industry, ZTE provides complete
smart grid solutions, said Wang Yiwen,
CTO of ZTE Government and Enterprise
Network in the Middle East and Africa.
We are proud of the recent partnership
with EDEL because it illustrates how
ZTEs technology is green, reliable, and
efficient.
EDEL is responsible for electricity
distribution and supply in Angolas
capital, Luanda, and has a 65 percent
market share.

ZTE News

ZTEs IPTV Solution Wins

Best Asian Service Platform
of the Year Award
10 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE is
pleased to win the Best Asian Service
Platform of the Year prize at the Broadband
TV Connect Infovision Awards Asia
ceremony in Hong Kong. The company
clinched one of the worlds most authoritative
prizes for broadband multimedia services for
its innovative IPTV service platform solution
for Jiangsu Telecom. The award followed
other top industry accolades earned by ZTEs
IPTV division.
We want to thank the Broadband
TV Connect Infovision Awards judging
panel for this award, said Fang Hui,
vice president at ZTE. ZTE is dedicated
to developing innovative multimedia
services and offering the most advanced

technologies to our customers to enable

them to stay ahead of market trends. The
award will empower us to accelerate the
development of superior IPTV solutions,
generating more value to customers
globally with innovative concept and
excellent delivery.
The Broadband TV Connect Infovision
Awards Asia ceremony, taking place
at the Broadband Asia & TV Connect
Asia conference in Hong Kong, rewards
outstanding technology solutions developed
in broadband and connected entertainment
services. The Broadband Asia conference is
part of the series of Broadband World Forum
(BBWF) events organized by the IEC and
mainstream operators around the world.

ZTE Gains No. 2 World Ranking for

WLANs Shipped
24 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE
announced it has been ranked No. 2
in the world in WLAN access point
shipments.
According to the March 19 Gartnerpublished, Market Share: Enterprise
WLAN Equipment, Worldwide, 4Q12
and 2012, ZTE held No. 2 world market
share in the WLAN coordinated access

point category at 12 percent after it

shipped 1 million units during the year.

ZTE Successfully
Tests TD-LTE OneLine Base Stations
9 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE
announced it has completed successful
testing of its TD-LTE one-line base
stations solution. The base stations
are the indust r ys f irst TD-LTE
commercial solution that supports an
LTE-advanced relay function, a key
step in commercial base station use
and global 4G development.
This new solution was tested by
the Guangzhou arm of China Mobile.
Guangzhou has Chinas largest TDLTE network and is home to extremely
complex coverage scenarios that
pose great challenges for networking.
ZTE tested its one-line base stations
in three typical scenariosa blind
spot, outdoor covering indoor and
outdoor remote coverage. The test
data shows that deployment of the
TD-LTE one-line base stations can
improve performance on cell edges by
200 percent and edge coverage by 50
percent.
The one-line base station solution
has only one external power cord,
baseband, RF, and an antenna unit in
a container that can be easily carried
by a single person. Its protection
level is as h ig h as I P65, wh ich
satisfies deployment outdoor scenario
requirements. This solution reduces
energy consumption for network
coverage, helping operators build
green TD-LTE networks.

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

ZTE News

ZTE First-Quarter Net Profit Rises

35.9%

as Operational Review Drives Rebound

26 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE

reported a 35.9% increase in net profit
in the first-quarter, as the companys
operational review continued to
deliver improvements in cash flow and
profitability.
Net profit attributable to shareholders
of the parent company rose to RMB 205
million in the first quarter, and basic
earnings per share increased to RMB 0.06.
Operating cash flow in the first quarter
significantly improved compared to a year

earlier. ZTEs gross profit margin has

expanded for two consecutive quarters,
as the company strengthened efforts to
control costs. Revenue dropped 2.8% to
RMB 18.09 billion.
Since the second half of 2012, ZTE
has stringently enforced measures to
focus resources on key products and
markets, target higher-margin contracts,
improve cash f low management and
reduce cost s, u nder t he compa nys
operational review. This has helped the

ZTE Partners with Wiktors at LLB Exhibition

23 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE
has launched an iPad videoconferencing
software application and a
videoconferencing system partnership
with Swedish distribution firm Wiktors
at the Ljud, Ljus och Bildmssan (LLB)
exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden.
T he Z T E Z X V10 iSe e T10 0 i i s
a multimedia software terminal that

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

complies with the H.323 protocol and

provides a brand-new experience in
convenient communication, and easy
collaboration for tablet PC users. iPad
users can download and install it through
the AppStore, to easily and freely enjoy
video communications with any H.323
protocol-based conference terminal or
multipoint control unit (MCU).

company achieve a more optimal product

and customer mix, and an improved
cost structure. The company achieved
combined savings of RMB 350 million
in selling, administration and research
costs in the first quarter compared with a
year earlier. The results of the operational
review, combined with the disposal gain,
allowed the company to overcome the
negative effects from currency fluctuation
and asset write-downs to record higher
net profit.
Looking ahead to the next reporting
period, equipment investment by the
telecommunications industry is expected
to be focused on broadband conversion
of wireless and wireline networks and the
construction of ancillary facilities. The
Group will commit its efforts to product
innovation and solution-based operations
with a st rong focus on mainst ream
products and improve R&D efficiency.
The strategy for populous nations and
mainstream carriers will be reinforced,
as we seek to concentrate on markets
i n wh ich we clai m st reng t hs wh ile
vigorously expanding in the government,
enterprise and service segments. The
Group will continue to implement the
settlement system to facilitate resource
management and control, so as to refine
cost management and enhance operating
efficiency.

ZTE News

Telekom Austria Group Selects ZTE as Sole Supplier

to Deploy Converged Voice Network

2 May 2013, Vienna, Austria ZTE
is to provide a CS/IMS converged voice
network for Telekom Austria Group. ZTE
is realizing this project under collaboration
with Kapsch Carrier Com (KCC), a well
experienced local system integrator.
Under the agreement, ZTE will deploy
a mobile circuit-switched softswitch
network to replace the existing mobile core
network for Telekom Austria Group in its
northern operational districts, including
Austria, Slovenia and Liechtenstein. ZTE
will also build a new IMS network in these
branches.
The converged voice network for
Telekom Austria Group is based on a cloud
solution helping to reduce TCO. Using an
IMS hosting solution, the centralized IMS
core will be deployed to serve various
branches of the Group independently,
enabling the rapid launch of new services
and giving the Telekom Austria Group

centralized management and control of its

networks.
The newly-built IMS network will
support various scenarios including RCSe
and VoLTE to enable full convergence of
the operators fixed and mobile networks.
The IMS RCSe service will provide a
carrier-class multimedia experience to
users, helping the operator to deal with
the challenges from internet-based OTT
providers. The IMS network also helps to
achieve standard VoLTE service.

ZTE USA Excels in U.S. Market

as It Accelerates Smartphone Adoption

29 April 2013, Richardson, TX

Z T E USA c ele b r a t e s it s 15t h
A n n ive r sa r y i n t he U.S. m a rket.

As the No. 5 handset vendor in the

U.S. market, the companys success
is the result of its history of being
t he a ccele r at or t h at pla ce s g re at
communications technology into the
hands of end users.
ZTE USA entered the U.S. market in
1998 with modest expectations. Today,
the company works with all of the
major U.S. carriers, including AT&T,
Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, MetroPCS,
US Cellular, Cricket and TracFone.

ZTE Cloud-Based
Education Sharing
Service Debuts at Arab
Summit
7 May 2013, Shenzhen ZTE
announced the debut of the Education
Sharing Ser vice (ESS), its cloudbased education solution, at the Arab
Education Summit in Amman, Jordan.
E SS i nt eg r a t e s i n s t r u c t io n a l
de sig n , c ont e nt a nd e ducat ion a l
technologies to provide an extensive,
stable and effective physical network.
The resource is targeted at Arabic
speakers and is based on ZTEs cloudchannels-terminals pattern, which
allows simultaneous access to multiple
network resources. This eliminates
constraints on time and space, and
creates an improved experience for
students and teachers.
ESS provides a range of products
of dif ferent si zes, such as sma r t
classroom, smart campus, and regional
cloud platforms. It also provides a
variety of services that cover different
phases of informatization of education.
This enables seamless management
of all elements from infrastructure
to applications. In addition, ZTE
also provides custom ized and
individualized solutions for various
need s i n K-12 educat ion , h ig he r
education, vocational education and
corporate training.
ZTEs education solutions have
been successfully implemented at the
national level in 11 countries, such as
China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique,
Nigeria and Turkey.

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

VIP Voices

Movicel:
We Are Delivering Superior
Value to Our Customers
Reporter: Yang Chunyu

Movicel CEO Yon Junior

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

VIP Voices

He talked about the cooperation with

ZTE, the challenges of operating in
Angola, and Movicels strategy.

ovicel is a leading mobile

o p e r at or i n A ngola . T he
company has grown rapidly
since its founding in 2002. Movicel
launched its first LTE network in May
2012 and became the only operator to
concurrently run four mobile networks
C D M A , G S M , U M T S a n d LT E .
Movicels networks cover 18 provinces
all over the Angola. Today, one third of
population is using Movicels voice or
data services. ZTE Technologies recently
interviewed Movicel CEO Yon Junior.

Q: What made you join Movicel

one and a half years ago?
A: A ngola is one of the most
energetic and exciting count r ies in
the world, and telecom munications
is a key part of Angolas present and
f ut ure. There is g reat potential for
telecommunications development in
this country. In our industry, working
for Movicel is a land mark in ones
career. I joined Movicel to deliver the
best telecommunications services to the
Angolan people. It is my duty to help in
the present and future development of
this country.

Q: You have worked for Brazil

Telecom and Telefonica. What
are the challenges of operating in
Angola compared to Brazil?
A: Challenges in Angola and Brazil are
pretty much the same: providing good
services, fair prices and universal access
while also ensuring a fruitful return
for shareholders. Good services and
reasonable prices are vital to attracting
customers. Universal access should also
be considered. The environment in the
two countries is actually very similar;
the authorities have a good vision of the
role of their regulatory bodies.
Q: The average monthly net
income has greatly increased
since you joined Movicel. What are
the key drivers behind Movicels
success? What specific measures
have you taken?
A: Thank you for your appreciation.
The success Movicel has achieved today
can be attributed to our whole team. As
the Chinese saying goes, When people
are of one mind and heart, they can
move Mt. Tai. Our success is a credit
to everyone involvedwhich includes
definitely ZTE. I think the key drivers of
Movicels success are quality, coverage
and network capacity for both data and
voice services. We also have an easy-toJUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

VIP Voices

Q: What do you expect from the

cooperation bet ween ZTE and
Movicel?
A: ZTE is a good partner for Movicel.
Although we are just at the beginning of
our journey together, there is still much
more to come. I expect we will cooperate
very well and achieve win-win outcomes
in the future.

understand product portfolio supported

by easy-to-find point of sales.

satisfactory products and services and

expand our business.

Q: What is the status of Movicels

4G network? Is there a new
deployment plan?
A: Movicels 4G network has received
widespread attention. Financial Times
feat u red the net work in its special
issue about A ngola. Not long ago,
BBC also interviewed us. Our status
has improved a lot. We have made
g reat cont r ibut ions to 4G wi reless
communications and created history.
Next, we w ill do ou r best to of fer

Q: How has ZTE contributed to

Movicels growth?
A: ZTE is a great partner for us. Movicel
would not be in the position it is without
the bold partnership with ZTE. You
company has played an important role
in Movicels growth in recent years.
It h a s p r ov id e d onb oa rd , c ut t i ngedge technology and has a dedicated,
committed team that has a sense of
urgency. ZTE is our partner of choice.
Thank you ZTE!

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

Q: Movicel and ZTE have

cooperated on on-the- job
training. How is this going? Has
it been helpful for Movicel?
A: Every company must have this onthe-job training. It is important for our
employees to k now how to perfor m
properly. Good on-the-job t raining
helps improve our efficiency and image.
Cooperation between Movicel and ZTE
on this project is going very well. Every
step is under control. More than 90%
of our team are locals, which makes us
very proud. Training is a must, and ZTE
delivers extraordinary well.
Q: What is Movicels strategy for
the next three years?
A: Movicel has developed well and
fast. We are now number one in the
hearts of Angolans. This encourages
u s t o c o n si s t e nt ly p e r fo r m b e t t e r
than expected and deliver super ior
value to our customers. In the next
three years, we will maintain our fast
g row t h a nd t a ke ba ck ou r lea d i ng
market position.

VIP Voices

Telefonica UK:
Moving Beyond
Traditional Services
Reporter: Teli Mendhir

Peter Bailey (L), messaging and voice business manager of Telefonica UK

and Leon Veiro (R), LBS messaging architect of Telefonica UK

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

10

VIP Voices

elefon ic a U K i s t he s e c ond
biggest mobile operator in the
U K. T he company is always
exploring new ways to expand their
operations and business. Telefonica UK
is one of the leading mobile operators
who have been able to capitalize on
real time location information of its
subscribers to generate revenues from
location based advertising. ZTE has
cooperated with Telefonica UK on the
passive data collector (PDC) to deliver
this capability. As part of the successful
del ive r y of PDC, ZT E wa s also
awarded the GMLC contract. Recently,
ZTE Technologies interviewed Peter
Bailey and Leon Veiro of Telefonica
UK. Peter is the messaging and voice
business manager, and Leon is the LBS
messaging architect. They talked about
Telefonica UKs market strategy and
challenges in upgrading their network.
They also shared their experience in
LBS deployment and their views on the
cooperation between Telefonica UK and
ZTE.
Q: Can you introduce Telefonica
UK and its business?
A: Telefonica UK is a leading provider
of mobile and broadband services
to customers and enterprises across
the United Kingdom. We have our
headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, and
we have customer service centres in
Leeds, Glasgow, and Bury and Preston
Brook, Cheshire. We have 23 million
customers and 450 retail stores. The
company is part of Telefonica UK
Europe, and the UK operations are a
leader in non-voice services, including
text, media messaging, games, music

11

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

and video. Telefonica UK also offer

connections via GPRS, HSDPA, 3G and
WLAN.
Q: How long have you worked at
Telefonica UK? What has made
you stay there?
Peter Bailey: I worked for Telefonica
UK for 17 years. Ive stayed there
because its a company that really
appreciates its people. The company
has given me so many opportunities to
develop myself and progress my career.
Leon Veiro: I worked in the company
for 25 years and concur with Peter.
Telefonica UK has provided excellent
opportunities to develop my career and
exposed me to a range of projects and
technologies that have satisfied my thirst
for knowledge.
Q : W h y d i d Te l e f o n i c a U K
decide to upgrade the original
equipment?
A: This was driven by our need to deliver
higher numbers of location lookups and
greater volumes of location intelligence
without affecting core network cost or
ease of paging a mobile.
Q: What did you expect to achieve
after the upgrade?
A: We expected the network to allow
Telefonica UK to lead the industry in
location-based advertising. The network
will have lower cost-per-mobile location
lookup and significantly higher lookup
volumes, moving from the low hundreds
per second to many thousands per second.
It will provide location intelligence
and push the locations of a specified
subscriber when they have moved into

a specified area. Also, it will be able to

maintain location accuracy.
Q: Why did you decide to partner
with ZTE on the project? What
do you think of ZTEs technical
solutions and engineering
performance?
A: The new LBS solution was initiated
with an RFP process. There were a few
other vendors with similar solutions,
but ZTE fitted with our requirements,
and they had previous experience
implementing a similar solution in
another T1 network. Their knowledge of
and experience with LBS products has
been impressive, and their engineering
has been fantastic. On occasions, we
have noticed that ZTE could benefit from
strengthening its delivery processes for
a Tier 1 customer and better managing
necessary changes in this area. We have
worked with ZTE to close any gaps,

VIP Voices

and we are pleased to say that ZTE has

been receptive to our feedback and has
markedly improved.
Q: Have you encountered any
problems with the network? If so,
how have you solved them?
A: Of course we have had to overcome
some initial difficulties. Integrating eight
internal interfaces was complex and
required close collaboration between
many parts of Telefonica UK. We were
challenged by language barriers between
core ZTE developers and Telefonica UK.
This was alleviated by ZTE providing
an English front end. There were also
evolving requirements. The initial
contracted evolved significantly over the
delivery cycle. Although Telefonica UK
ended up with a far superior solution,
teams were challenged from technical,
financial, and delivery perspectives.
However, there were positives, such as

the great collaboration between ZTE,

Telefonica UK, and O2 Media. A great
deal of hard work was put in by all
parties.
Q: How is the project running
now? What is your next priority?
A: The platform was completed ahead
of schedule. Although there were a few
teething issues, the PDC has been stable
for some months and has great capability.
The output has been throttled to 15%
of the traffic present. This is not a PDC
issue but more a transport and back-end
challenge.
Next on the agenda is to integrate ZTE
GMLC into the PDC iVAS platform. It
is imperative that we improve location
accuracy.
Q: Has Telefonica UK deployed
any LBS services? What are the

prospects of LBS in the UK?

A: The flagship LBS service that the
PDC is responsible for is the You Are
Here O2 Media product. This pushes
location-based advertising to more than
10 million subscribers. In essence, O2
Media will be able to fence certain areas
of the Telefonica UKs network and will
be notified in real time via the PDC if
an O2 Medias subscriber physically
moves into the fenced location. Locationbased advertising will then be triggered,
and an MMS or SMS will be sent to the
subscriber. An example of this might be
discounted coffee offered by a nearby
caf when the customer moves into the
vicinity of a caf.
Q : W h a t i s Te l e f o n i c a U K s
strategy to enhance its position in
the future?
A: Telefonica UK will continue to deliver
great telecoms services to its customers and
will also use its trusted brand to diversify
out of the traditional markets into areas
such as banking, heath care, advertising,
insurance, and security.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

12

Tech Forum

Using Cloud

Radio

to Deliver Promises in
the 4G Era
By Zhu Xiaodong
Zhu Xiaodong, CTO of European
Marketing, ZTE

n recent years, mobile broadband has become an essential part of daily life, and
mobile communication has entered the cloud era. As mobile technology evolves
towards LTE, many operators are having to manage 2G, 3G, and LTE networks
simultaneously and are facing challenges such as interference between networks. To
fulfill their promises to end users, operators need help to efficiently deploy and manage
their complex networks.
The LTE Forum at MWC 2013 was sponsored by ZTE. At the forum, mobile operators,
service providers, and providers of infrastructure solutions sat down together to discuss
various LTE challenges and solutions. ZTE brought to the table its cloud radio solution,
which involves using the cloud for mobile access, mobile coordination, and mobile
management so that the operators network resources are used optimally. This allows
the operator to adapt to complex transmission scenarios and keep their promises in the
LTE era.

4Gs Promise
Confucius once said, If a person
cannot keep their promise, then I dont know
what they can do. What does 4G promise?
In the 2G era, the promise was voice calls
anywhere, anytime. This promise was kept.
In the 3G era, the promise has been mobile
data anytime, anywhere. This promise has

13

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

also been kept.

In the 4G era, what is the promise?
Is it 100 Mbps LTE and 1 Gbps LTE-A?
No. High peak download speeds are
features, not promises. Promises of 100
Mbps or 1 Gbps cannot be kept. 3GPP
claims that the promise of LTE is truly
global mobile broadband. There are two

Tech Forum

aspects to this promise: First, LTE is

global. UMTS in Europe, CDMA in the
US, and even TD-SCDMA in China all
converge to LTE. So LTE is truly global.
Second, LTE is ubiquitous mobile
broadband, and a certain amount of
bandwidth is reserved for everybody.
With mobile broadband, you need to
provide speeds of at least 1 Mbps to
2 Mbps anywhere, anytime.
Current Reality
People sometimes say that LTE
networks are capable of 20 Mbps to
60 Mbps, and with speeds such
as these, the LTE promise is kept.
H o w e v e r, s u c h s p e e d s a r e o n l y
achieved in certain locations and
u n d e r c e r ta in c o n di t i ons. W ha t i f
more and more people come onto the
network or a network is expanded to
another area? Currently, if you are
near a base station or traffic is light,
bandwidth is very high. However, if the
load is high and you are near an edge,
customer experience drops dramatically.
Network capacity does not change
in proportion to customer traffic. Where
there is no coverage, mobile data
might be needed. More importantly,
traffic moves as people move. How
can we ensure that capacity changes in
proportion to traffic?

Cloud Radio: Delivering the 4G Promise

This year, ZTE launched a cloud
radio solution. Cloud radio is not a
single technology; it is a combination
of many technologies. One of these
technologies is C-RAN (cloud pooling).
If fiber is available, then BBUs can be
centralized so that traffic can be handled
in a centralized way.
Another of these technologies is
cloud P-Bridge. If small cells have been
deployed but there is not enough fiber,
CAT5 copper lines can be used for cloud
pooling.
Because small cells have smaller
radiuses, interference is severe.
Therefore, a virtual super cell can be
built that comprises many small cells or
even one macro cell. With a super cell,
the same cell ID is used for many small
cells so that interference is reduced and
customer experience is improved.
If an operator does not have enough
fiber, a cloud coordinator and cloud

scheduler can be used.

Cloud Pooling
ZTE offered cloud pooling last
year. We worked with China Mobile to
build many trial networks. BBU sites
were centralized, and at the remote site,
only fiber was used to connect with the
remote radio head. In this way, rooms
did not have to be leased at each radio
site, and capex and opex were reduced.
With centralized BBUs, resources can be
allocated in a centralized way to handle
tidal traffic. Inter-site CoMP can be
implemented easily with cloud pooling,
and this greatly improves customer
experience at the cell edge.
Cloud Super Cell
If small cells are deployed in a
macro cell, CoMP does not work
very well. Therefore, cloud super cell
technology is introduced. With this
technology, many low-power nodes
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

14

Tech Forum

ZTEs cloud radio solution helps operators fulfill

their 4G promise in any kind of backhaul situation.

are used as one cell so that there is no

handover and interference between
cells (even if the cells radiuses are very
short). When super cells are combined
with other new technologies, such as
carrier aggregation, mobile traffic can
be handled very smoothly. Small cells
are used not only for hotspots but also
for high-speed trains. Super cells can
handle high-speed handovers without
dropouts, even when the train is
running at 250 km/h.

Cloud P-bridge
CAT5 copper lines are already
present in many indoor environments.
How can CAT5 be used with C-RAN
technology? ZTE invented P-Bridge,
which compresses the CPRI interface
below 1 Gbps (usually around 800
900 Mbps). In this way, CPRI data can
be transported through copper lines.
With local C-RAN, capacity can be
significantly increased, the network
can be easily installed, and capex and
opex can be dramatically reduced. ZTE
has already tested this technology with
SoftBank, and it is available now.
Cloud Coordination
Many operators, especially in
Europe, do not have enough dark
fiber. This means they have to share
fiber with other operators or share
fiber with fixed networks or even

15

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

enterprise services. IP fiber has two

problems. First, unlike dark fiber, IP
fiber is usually below 1 Gbps (roughly
400500 Mbps). This is not very fast.
More importantly, the latency of the
IP fiber can be as high as 4 ms, and
C-RAN technology cannot really be
used with this latency. ZTE therefore
developed a new technology called
cloud co-ordination that can be used
for soft bit combining. To reduce the
need for bandwidth, the after-process
data (soft bits) is used, not the raw
data (CPRI data). We combine the
soft bits for two eNode Bs. With this
kind of coordination, throughput and
capacity for cell edge users can still be
improved, even when there is only the
IP backhaul network.
Cloud Scheduling
Many operators still have very
limited fiber and use microwave for
LTE backhaul. The good news is that
ZTE has developed a technology
called centralized scheduler. Scheduler
equipment is added at the central office
side, and X2+ interface is used to
connect the centralized scheduler and
eNode Bs. Only scheduler information
is sent to the centralized scheduler, so
bandwidth needs are low. Moreover,
there is no need for very short latency.
The cloud scheduler allows resources
from one cell to be added to another

when a user moves from one cell to

another. Throughput at the cell edge
can also be greatly improved. This
technology is also available now and
has been simulated and tested in real
networks.
Simulation and Trial Results
If an operator has dark fiber/OTN
with very high bandwidth and very
short latency (below 100 s), celledge throughput can be increased by
94% compared to that in a traditional
network. For IP-RAN or IP fiber, if
the bandwidth is less than 1 Gbps and
latency is below 4 ms, more than 83%
increase in cell-edge throughput is
obtainable. If an operator has no fiber
but has microwave with latency below
100 ms, throughput can be increased
by 30% using cloud scheduling. For
about 5% of cell-edge users, in some
circumstances, throughput can be
tripled.
The Key Takeaway
The promise of 4G is truly global
mobile broadband, and this promise
must be kept. Traffic grows very quickly
every year. By 2020, there will be at
least a hundredfold increase in traffic.
A traditional network design is no longer
feasible. ZTEs cloud radio solution helps
operators fulfill their 4G promise in any
kind of backhaul situation.

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

Thanh Nguyen received his BE and ME degrees from the University of ElectroCommunications, Tokyo. In January 2011, he joined the Microwave Product R&D
Group at ZTE USA. Prior to that, he was a senior microwave radio systems engineer
at Harris Corporation and Aviat Networks. He worked for more than 20 years at BellNorthern Research (BNR) and Nortel Networks as a research scientist and later a
senior manager responsible for systems design and development of high-capacity
SONET/SDH microwave radios. He received the Order of Excellence for Technical
Achievement from president of Northern Telecom Canada.

A Flexible Unified Architecture

for Point-to-Point Digital Microwave Radios
By Thanh Nguyen, Ying Shen and Andrey Kochetkov

Introduction
4G wireless networks are the next
wave of mobile multimedia networks,
a n d 4 G LT E i s f a s t b e c o m i n g a
reality. The backhaul point-to-point
microwave radio is a key part of a 4G
LTE network and is important to the
overall success of the network.
Point-to-point microwave radios
have gone from being all-indoor
radios to being split-mount and
outdoor radios . In the pas t, mos t
microwave radios comprised rack-

mounted indoor radio units. Bulky

elliptical waveguides had to be used
to connect these units to antennas
on a tower or rooftop. Industry later
devised a split-mount radio system
comprising an indoor unit (IDU) and
outdoor unit (ODU), both of which
are mounted onto the back of the
antenna or connected to the antenna
u s i n g a s h o r t w a v e g u i d e . To d a y,
industry is gravitating towards an all
outdoor radio unit (AOU) mounted
on the back of the antenna. These
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

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Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

AOUs contain the RF components

as well as the circuitry for tributary
interfaces, modem, and network
management.
In a 4G network rollout, operators
want their microwave equipment
to be scalable and interchangeable
and to share common elements for
all capacities and frequency bands.
From the vendor s perspective, an
architecture that supports various
platforms with as many common
denominators as possible is also
highly preferable. This has become a
key design requirement for point-topoint microwave radio. Here we give
an overview of design commonalities
in transceiver architecture, mechanical
concept, antenna interface and
duplexer, and software and production
test flow.
Common Transceiver
Fig. 1 shows a traditional split radio

with an IDU, ODU, and antenna. An IDU

typically comprises a modem, mux circuits,
a controller, and a power module. The
ODU up-converts the IF signal received
from the IDU into an RF signal. The ODU
then amplifies the RF signal before sending
it to the antenna. The RF signal received
from the antenna is down-converted to an
IF signal and passed through a multistage
gain control circuit before being sent back
to the IDU.
An AOU integrates modem and
network functionalities with IF and RF
functionalities. IF and RF signal processing
is similar to that in an ODU; therefore,
a transceiver that is common to both
platforms is a logical design requirement.
Such a transceiver has the following
characteristics:
It supports both I/Q interface for the
AOU and TX IF interface for the
ODU.
It has two detectors in the transmitter
chain. The first detector is placed in the

ODU

IDU

Up Converter

DC
NMS
LMT
STM-1

Modem/
Mux/
Controller/
PWR

Cable
Mux
Circuitry

Controller
Duplexer
DC/DC
Converter

E1
GbE

Power
Amplifier

RSSI

Down Converter

Low-Noise
Amplifier

Figure 1. ODU block diagram.

17

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

ODU to compensate cable loss, and it

is bypassed in the AOU application.
The second detector is used to detect
the level of the power amplifier (PA)
and also for alarm purposes in both
applications.
It supports wide filter bandwidths
for digital predistortion (DPD).
Open loop DPD parameters are
characterized through calibration
and then applied to the modem lookup table (LUT) to correct the nonlinearity of the PA.
It has a PA bias control to reduce the
bias when the power level is low.
It supports RF loopback for selfdiagnosis.
It supports on-board local frequency
reference. Alternatively, it supports a
reference from the digital board in the
AOU or IDU for future hitless and
coherent applications.

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

Common Duplexer for the ODU

and AOU
The transmit and receive ports of
a duplexer connect to the transmit
and receive ports of a transceiver.
Because the transceiver and duplexer
are common to the ODU and AOU,
the connection between the two
is also common. In the ODU, the
common duplexer common port
extends from a hole in the ODU
enclosure and connects to the
antenna. For an AOU, a waveguide
extension is added to bridge the
distance between the duplexer and
the antenna.

Common Mechanical Concept

Fig. 2 shows the ODU and AOU.
The transceiver is mounted to a
casting for heat sinking. The interface
card is mounted to the same casting
as the transceiver. The transceiver
and interface card are connected
through a pair of mating connectors.
One connector is installed on the top
of the interface card, and the other
is installed on the bottom of the
transceiver.
The AOU physical cross-section
has the same concept. The transceiver
is mounted to a casting for heat
sinking (as in the ODU). In the AOU,
the digital card is mounted to its own
casting. The transceiver has a dual
footprint for the connector: A footprint
on the bottom is used in the ODU,
and another on the top is used in the
AOU. A flexible circuit is used in the

AOU to bridge the gap between the

connectors of the digital card and the
transceiver. By simply relocating the
connector, the ODU and AOU have
the same transceiver.

Common Antenna Interface and

Common Mounting Mechanics
The common port of a duplexer
connects to the antenna. It pass
transmit and receive signals between
the antenna and the ODU and AOU.
This connection is a waveguide
connection. For an ODU, the antenna
feed mates with the duplexer through an
opening in the casting of the common
duplexer port. For an AOU, the antenna
feed mates to the waveguide extension
which mates to the duplexer. Both the

Antenna

Antenna

WG
Ext.
Digital Card

Duplexer

Duplexer

Transceiver

Interface Card

ODU

Transceiver

AOU

Figure 2. The ODU and AOU.

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

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Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

IDU
Software

AOU
Software

RF Components Control Software

Adapter
Database

Application Modules
Loops
Control

Synt he sizer
Control

Parameters

Monitor

OS Abstract Layer
Drivers

Operation System

RF Hardware

Figure 3. RF component control software block diagram.

ODU and AOU castings have four

mounting posts of identical dimensions
so that the same antenna can be used
on both radio units.
Common Software
Common software is used to
control RF hardware and provide
a generic interface for system
configuration. The software design
has the following common features
for both ODU and AOU:
application modules are isolated
from the operation system by using
an OS abstraction layer. Software
for controlling RF components can
be based on different operation
systems.
a g e n e r i c i n t e r f a c e i s u s e d t o
communicate with an IDU via a
telemetry channel (in the case of an
ODU) or is used to communicate with

19

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

other modules that are not controlled

by RF components control software
via an inter-task communication
mechanism (in the case of an AOU).
bandwidth and modulation-dependent
data is stored separately from the RF
component control software. This data
is stored in the form of bandwidth/
modulation profiles that can be
updated separately using software.
Each frequency band has its own set
of bandwidth/modulation profiles, and
the RF component control software
does not need to be changed when
hardware with a new frequency band is
introduced.
Common Test Flow
A common test flow is used for
both ODU and AOU. The ODU
has a duplexer, transceiver (TRX),
interface (INFC) module, and

O D U m e c h a n i c s . T h e d u p l e x e r,
TRX and INFC first go through
their own module pass/fail test
stations. Then, the TRX, INFC
and ODU mechanics are integrated
into a radio frequency unit (RFU).
This unit undergoes RF and DPD
calibration and is then integrated
with a duplexer so that it is now
dependent on a frequency band. It
then goes through a final ODU test
f l o w. T h e A O U s h a r e s t h e s a m e
TRX and duplexer with the ODU
and has a similar test flow.
Summary
ODU and AOU radio platforms
can have a flexible, unified
architecture by exploiting common
design elements in radio hardware,
software, and test flow. This design
conserves valuable area on the
transceiver and allows the transceiver
size to be minimized. Cost is also
saved by reducing the size of
mechanical components. The use of
a common transceiver, duplexer, and
antenna greatly reduces the number
of unique components that must
be designed, tested, and stocked.
This significantly improves time to
market and minimizes the need for
design resources. Greater volumes
have been passing through common
manufacturing assemblies, and
greater attention has been paid to the
economics of scale.

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

Ying Shen received his PhD from McMaster University, Canada, in 1993. He was elected an
IEEE senior member in 1997 and joined ZTE USA as a site manager of the North Carolina
R&D Center in 2011. Over the past 20 years, he has held senior management positions at
Harris Corporation, Harris Stratex, and Aviat Networks. Dr. Shen has published more than
50 papers, and he currently holds or has applied for more than 35 US patents. He has led
many design teams that have released and responsible for at least 120 various products such
as RF/microwave chips, devices, modules, subsystems and systems into mass production
for frequency range from 2 GHz to 110 GHz. On numerous occasions, Dr. Shen has been a
reviewer and session chairman for international conferences on microwave communications.

A Universal Architecture for

Small Cell Backhaul Radio
By Ying Shen and Ed Nealis

Background
Demand for mobile data is in
soaring worldwide, and the boom is just
beginning. Small cells, carrier WiFi,
and backhaul are the top three solutions
alongside backbone fiber networks that
will support this mobile data explosion.
Small-cell base stations will typically
be deployed in addition to the existing
macro layer. The key requirements for
small-cell backhaul will be
low total cost ownership (TCO)
fast deployment and installation
minimal regulation
coordinated frequencies
ubiquitous coverage in hotspots and
in line-of-sight (LOS) and non line of

sight (NLOS) environments.

Backhaul is a key challenge. The
top three small-cell backhaul candidates
are fiber, NLOS sub 6 GHz MIMO, and
millimeter wave point-to-point (PtP)
LOS radios at 60 GHz or E-bands.
There is no single solution, and
the combination of these technologies
depends on cell location, coverage size,
and capacity requirements. Here, we
describe a universal architecture for smallcell backhaul radio when the backhaul
needs to use the wireless connection.
Universal Small-Cell Backhaul
Radio Architecture
The top three requirements for
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

20

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

TRY #4
TRY #3
TRY #2
TRY #1

Sub 6 2x2 MIMO Modem

Data and PWR

POE and
Switching

CPU

Sync E/1588

References

Network
Processor

FPGA

EPLD/Flash/
EEprom

60GHz/E-band Modem
EMC

60GHz/E-band TRX

DC/DC

Figure 1. Universal small-cell backhaul radio architecture.

5GHz Beam: 40 deg

60GHz Beam: 3-4 deg

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

Figure 2. Proposed dual LOS and NLOS small-cell backhaul radio.

21

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

small-cell backhaul are low cost,

easy installation and LOS and
NLOS coverage. If the link distance
is a maximum of a few hundred
m e t e r s , m a x i m u m a v a i l a b i l i t y is
99.99%, and street-level light poles
and utility poles are used, 5 GHz and
60 GHz are the most effective bands,
respectively, for NLOS and LOS smallcell backhaul applications. 5 GHz is
a sub 6 GHz band, and 60 GHz is
an unlicensed band that has unique
oxygen absorption characteristics for
frequency reuse. It also provides wide
spectrum availability.
Fig. 1 shows a universal NLOS
and LOS small-cell backhaul radio
architecture. The data and DC power are
obtained directly from the small cell.
There are two separate data channels:
one goes to a sub 6 GHz NLOS channel,
and the other goes to a 60 GHz/E-band
LOS channel. In normal operation,
t h e s u b 6 G H z NLOS channel and
60 GHz/E-band LOS channel work
simultaneously and provide maximum
throughput. If the sub 6 GHz or 60 GHz/
E-band channel does not work because of
in-band interference, blockage, multipath
fading, or hardware failure, the system
provides automatic hitless switching. A
universal small-cell backhaul needs to
have the following key features:
fully integrated dual-band solution
flat antenna for 60 GHz band or E-band
dipole or microstrip antenna for sub
6 GHz band
auto mechanical or electrical tuning
with auto alignment
combined NLOS and LOS for various
coverage needs
multi-gigabits-per-second hitless
throughput
carrier Ethernet switching to support
MPLS/MPSL-TP standards, QoS
scheduling, protection, and OAM

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

support for Sync E or IEEE 1588v2 for

precision timing transport

power over Ethernet (POE).

Both 5 GHz and 60 GHz are

unlicensed bands and are available in all
countries. 5 GHz time division duplex
(TDD) can support up to 600 Mbps
throughput with advanced 4 4 MIMO,
and 60 GHz full duplex FDD or TDD
can support up to 10 Gbps throughput.
Fig. 2 shows the proposed small-cell
backhaul. Fig. 2 (a) shows a concept
of this dual LOS and NLOS combined
radio. 5 GHz NLOS uses either four
dipoles (folded or unfolded) or four
microstrip antennas, and 60 GHz LOS
uses flat antenna, as shown in Fig. 2 (b),
(c) and (d). The 5 GHz NLOS MIMO
provides a typical antenna beamwidth of
about 40 degrees, and 60 GHz point-topoint LOS provides a typical beamwidth
of three to four degrees.
Installation is one of the most
important aspects of small-cell stations
and backhaul radios because of the
potential costs involved in mounting,
installation, maintenance, and coverage.
Fig. 3 shows a mechanical auto

2-axis Active Alignment

Bracket Assembly

alignment concept. Two dimensional

azimuth and elevation auto mechanical
tuning is achieved by using two separate
step motors that are integrated in the
back of the radio mounting mechanics.
Mechanical alignment greatly decreases
installation time and increases link
availability and liability due to weather,
environment, multipath and other factors.
The radio provides the required DC and
control signals to the tunable mounting
mechanism so that this mechanism
can automatically align the radio and
enhance the radios performance during
installation and operation.
If the cost of the 60 GHz CMOS
module is further reduced and the
transceiver is developed, dual-band
radios will inevitably use phase array
or digital beamforming techniques
at 60 GHz, as shown in Fig. 3 (b).
With either phase array or digital
beamforming techniques at 60 GHz, the
radio will be capable of independent
electronic beam tuning for both 5 GHz
NLOS and 60 GHz signals.
Furthermore, the dual-band concept
can be extended to any NLOS and LOS

Independent Electrical Beam Steering

Mechanical Beam Steering

(A)

(B)

Figure 3. Auto alignment and tuning.

frequency combination, such as 2.4 GHz,

2.6 GHz or 3.4 GHz NLOS combined
with E-band LOS.
The dual-band concep t c a n b e
extended to triple band offering or
selective switching bands in NLOS and
can be combined with either 60 GHz or
E-band LOS.
Summary
A universal LOS and NLOS tunable
small-cell back radio architecture
provides
the flexibility to use unlicensed bands
for installation and network build-out
in international markets.
flexible backhaul solutions when
there is no fiber available and the
small-cell station needs wireless
connectivity. (The proposed package
provides the solutions for both LOS
and NLOS environment.)
a compact flat antenna that avoids
the traditional parabolic perception
of a public antenna. A flat antenna
also provides a clean integrated
solution so that a small-cell network
can be a part of the future digital
infrastructure of a city.
mechanical tuning, which greatly
reduces the installation requirements
and alignment difficulties. This
significantly increases link
availability.
a development path for electronic
turning capability using phase array
or digital beam forming at 60 GHz
when CMOS technologies get
mature.
a T D D / F D D r a d i o t o s u p p o r t
combined NLOS and LOS
traffic and also to support hitless
switching when one of the paths has
performance or LOS problems. This
greatly increases system availability
and liability.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

22

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

ZTE UniPOS
CNP-MW
for Intelligent
Microwave
Network Planning
By Ren Haixia and Wang Yi

s communications become
more enriched and diversified,
people are demanding more
from radio communications. Microwave
transmission is an important part of radio
communications, but it has developed so
rapidly that traditional network planning
technologies cannot deal with it. Network
complexity increases as TDM networks
have evolved to hybrid TDM-IP or all-IP
networks. Joint, intelligent planning of
radio and microwave networks is needed
to address present and future needs.
An intelligent planning tool must
have the following functions:
i n t e l l i g e n t b a t c h a n a l y s i s o f
microwave link line of sight
a u t o m a t i c n e t w o r k t o p o l o g y
planning based on the condition and
requirements of links
a u t o m a t i c l i n k p a r a m e t e r

23

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

matching based on the parameters

and performance indicators of
links
unified planning platform for radio
and microwave networks and for
seamless data integration
end-to-end service planning that
includes preliminary network
planning, in-depth planning, and
network OAM planning.
ZTE has developed a microwave
network planning tool called UniPOS
CNP-MW. This tool builds on traditional
network planning technologies but
allows more intelligent microwave
network planning. ZTE UniPOS CNPMW improves customer satisfaction by
speeding up the network design process
and reducing TCO. This tool is now
widely used in pre-sales planning and for
project execution.

Features of ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW

ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW is part
o f ZTEs r ad io n etw o r k p l a n n i n g
platform and uses intelligent planning
technologies for microwave network
planning. The tool has all the functions
of traditional network planning
technologies, but it also supports
intelligent planning of large networks. It
can be used in a variety of transmission
network planning scenarios.
Automatic topology planning
ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW can be used
to quickly generate a large network
topology. It can provide a topology
plan when a radio network suffers from
frequent site changes. If site properties,
antenna height, maximum direction
number, link depth and other parameters
are set, ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW can

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

automatically search for and use a

particular topology. With this function,
efficiency of topology planning increases
more than 30% in flat regions and 60%
to 70% in hilly regions.
Intelligent LOS analysis
LOS is greatly affected by terrain.
Tr a d i t i o n a l n e t w o r k p l a n n i n g f o r
undulating terrain requires manual LOS
analysis, which is inefficient. With
intelligent LOS analysis, LOS routes are
analyzed in batches when parameters
such as clearance and antenna height
have been set.
Intelligent capacity planning
As TDM networks evolve to
TDM-Ethernet and all-IP networks,
network planning becomes more
difficult because of the features of IP
services. Convergence of services and
network scaling of different carriers
varies according to the network layer
an d cus tomer levels. As a result,
more factors need to be taken into
consideration when planning a network.
Parameters such as convergence site,
redundancy rate, and convergence rate
may be set according to service trends.
Intelligent capacity planning is used
to automatically calculate the capacity
of the entire network and output the
transmission requirements for the
upper-layer transmission network. This
ensures rapid and comprehensive data
exchange.
Intelligent planning technologies help
make network planning more efficient
and reduce network planning costs.
One-click antenna height optimization,
intelligent template-based link matching,
one-click batch parameter configuration,
and flexible conversion of planning result
forms mean that planning personnel do

Table 1. Network planning efficiency before and after ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW was used.

Unit

Scale
(Number of Hops)

Time Required
for Pre-Sales
Planning
(Hours/person)

Time Required
for After-sales
Planning
(Hours/person)

Topology planning

Hop

150

Capacity planning

Hop

150

Hop

150

Hop

150

N/A

14

Hop

150

N/A

10

40

Scenario

Task

Before
Link planning
CNPMW
Frequency planning
was used
Engineering design
Total
Topology planning
Capacity planning
After
Link planning
CNPMW
Frequency planning
was used
Engineering design

Hop

150

1.25

1.25

Hop

150

0.25

0.25

Hop

150

0.5

Hop

150

N/A

9.5

Hop

150

N/A

16

6 / 8 100 = 75%

24 / 40 100 = 60%

Total
Efficiency improvement

not need such a high degree of skill in

using microwave planning software.
Efficiency is improved, and instances of
incorrect are reduced.
Efficiency of ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW
in a Typical Scenario
Microwave network planning
includes a pre-sales bidding phase and
a project execution phase. These two
phases have different requirements in
terms of improving energy efficiency.
In the pre-sales bidding phase, topology
analysis, capacity planning, and link
performance analysis can be affected by
frequent site changes in a radio network.
In the project execution phase, plan
modification, frequency configuration,

and report-making can be affected by

limited frequency resources.
The Sri Lanka 150-hop microwave
network project is a typical model for
analyzing the efficiency of microwave
network planning. After ZTE UniPOS
CNP-MW was used, network planning
efficiency increased 75% in the pre-sales
bidding phase and 60% in the project
execution phase.
In the future, ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW
will have more network planning modules,
including automatic frequency planning,
automatic IP address planning, intelligent
loop management, and intelligent ACM.
These will make network planning more
intelligent and improve network planning
efficiency.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

24

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

Carrier-Class Ethernet Microwave

The Best Choice for Mobile
Backhaul
By Xu Changchun

ith the rapid growth of

mobile networks, service
traffic has surged in recent
times but operators have not profited
from this surge. Traditional circuitswitched networks, such as SDH
networks, are expensive and cannot
be easily scaled. Packet-switched
transmission reduces the number
of network layers, lowers network
construction cost, allows scalability and
integration, and helps operators transition
to integrated service. This is the trend of
network development.
Compared with circuit-switched
transmission, packet-switched
transmission is more cost efficient,
manageable, and scalable, but it is
inferior in terms of service protection,
monitoring, and QoS. To address these
problems with packet networks, the
Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) proposed
carrier-class Ethernet, which is regarded
as the ideal solution to improving QoS in
packet networks.
Microwave transmission equipment
is widely used in mobile backhaul
networks because it is cheap, reliable,
and flexible and can be quickly put into
commercial use. A report by Infonetics

25

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

in 2011 shows that the number of

new microwave backhaul networks
has soared since 2011, and by 2014,
microwave backhaul networks will
account for 50% of the global network
market. Microwave transmission is an
important mobile backhaul solution.
ZTE is experienced in microwave
transmission and has put forward an
advanced carrier-class microwave
solution that solves problems associated
with packet transmission.
Standardized Services
MEF 6.1 defines three generic
service constructs, and MEF 10.2
defines an Ethernet service management
model from a user perspective. These
two technical specifications ensure that
users are provided with generic and
standard services that are independent
of manufacturers. This effectively helps
customers plan and integrate Ethernet
services into network infrastructures
and allows customer edge equipment to

easily access Ethernet services.

ZTEs microwave products strictly
comply with MEF 6.1 and MEF 10.2
and fully support the standard services
defined in these specifications. ZTEs
microwave products have obtained MEF
9 and MEF 14 certification. They are
easy to manage; they allow convenient
service expansion; and they can be
deployed in any network scenario.
Scalability
As mobile networks evolve from
2G and 3G to LTE, the demand for
bandwidth has grown significantly,
and operators have had to expand their
mobile networks. For service security,
expansion, and maintenance, the traffic
of different users must be separated.

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

However, this requires more than 4096

VLANs. ZTEs microwave products
solve the problem of insufficient VLAN
IDs by using stacked VLANs defined by
IEEE 802.1ad. This allows new service
deployment and service separation.
ZTEs microwave products support
VLAN translation in 1:1, 1:2, 2:2, or 2:1
mode and can therefore be applied to any
complicated networking scenario.
Microwave transmission capacity
is restricted by frequency resources
and wireless modulation technologies.
In a typical 56 MHz, 256-QAM
configuration, the maximum theoretical
transmission capacity of a single carrier
is about 400 Mbps, which is insufficient
to meet the transmission requirements
of 3G and LTE aggregation links. ZTE
NR8000 series microwave products
maximize microwave transmission
bandwidth by using the following
technologies:
co-channel dual polarization/crosspolarization interference cancellation
(CCDP/XPIC). A horizontal

polarization wave and a vertical

polarization wave can be used to
provide two transmission channels
for a single carrier. This doubles
transmission capacity.
physical link aggregation. By binding
multiple microwave links together,
greater transmission capacity is
possible.
header compression (HC). Redundant
or repeated fields of a user packet
are replaced or compressed and then
decompressing at the peer end. In
typical configurations, when HC
and XPIC functions are enabled, the
transmission capacity of a single
carrier reaches 1.06 Gbps.
adaptive code modulation (ACM).
Upgrading the modulation mode
increases the bandwidth so that
extra services can be transmitted
and critical services can also be
transmitted with 99.999% reliability.
Reliability
ZTEs microwave products support
ITU-T G.8031 Ethernet linear protection
switching (ELPS). When more than

one path is available on the network,

the paths can be configured to a 1:1
protection-switching architecture. The
network services on a failed working
path can be switched to a protection path
in 50 ms. With ELPS, ZTEs microwave
products provide carrier-class availability
for critical services such as voice
signaling.
Ethernet ring protection switching
(ERPS) eliminates redundant paths
and protects the ring topologies,
which are often used on microwave
backhaul networks. Early ring
protection mechanisms using Spanning
Tr e e P r o t o c o l p r o v i d e 1 s e c o n d
service switching; however, this is
not carrier-class protection. ZTEs
microwave products support ITU-T
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

26

Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul

Recommendation G.8032 ERPS and can

switch services in less than 50 ms.
The link aggregation mechanism
binds a group of physical paths into a
logical link to balance loads, increase
bandwidth, and provide dynamic link
protection. ZTEs microwave products
support IEEE 802.3ad-compliant
Ethernet link aggregation and RF link
aggregation, both of which protect
multiple layers, including the physical
layer and data-link layer.
QoS
Although microwave equipment
allows for flexible networking and rapid
deployment, it has weaknesses. It is
sensitive to weather, and the bandwidth
in the microwave links fluctuates
frequently. This inevitably leads to
traffic congestion. A QoS mechanism
is required in order to use microwave
transmission equipment for carrier-class
operation.
A set of mature IP/MPLS QoS
mechanisms are already available.

DS Domain

These include the widely used DiffServ

mechanism. DiffServ manages QoS
policies by domain so that the same QoS
is maintained for a particular class of
service traffic in a domain. With Diffserv,
a network is divided into DiffServ
domains based on OAM requirements.
Traffic is classified with a PHB mark and
conditioned at the boundaries between
DiffServ domains. Class-based traffic
discarding and scheduling performed by
a node in a DiffServ domain is defined as
per-hop behavior (PHB).
The early Ethernet was a set of
networking technologies for LANs that
did not have QoS processing capability.
ZTE follows IP QoS principles and
incorporates the DiffServ concept and
architecture into Ethernet. ZTE replaces
the DSCP of a frame with S-VLAN Pri
bits for PHB marking. S-VLAN DEI bits
are used for packet color marking, and
QoS policies are managed by dividing
them into DS domain, network ingress
policy, and network element egress
policy (Fig. 1). The ZTE microwave QoS

Network Ingress Policy

DS Domain

Traffic Condition (TC)

CAR

DSname

Classification

CARID

Port

Simple classification
ACL
MarkCos (PHB)
CARID

CIR
CBS
EIR
EBS
Coupling Flag
Color Mode

Network Element Egress Policy

Congestion Management
& Avoidance (PHB)
CoS
Discard Policy
Scheduling Policy
Shaping
...

Discard
Taildrop
RED
WRED
Scheduling
SP
WRR
DWRR
WFQ

Figure 1. QoS policy management.

27

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

mechanism has well-defined ideas, and

port-based configuration is replaced with
traffic-based configuration.
Service Management
In early microwave backhaul
solutions, microwave transmission
equipment did not provide effective E2E
service management tools that made
service deployment and troubleshooting
more efficient. Future service
development could not be supported.
C a r r i e r- c l a s s E t h e r n e t e q u i p m e n t
provides complete service management,
including network monitoring and
diagnosis, as well as fast service
provisioning. E2E service management is
indispensable for carrier-class Ethernet.
ZTEs microwave products provide an
E2E service management solution that
integrates E2E service provisioning with
monitoring, troubleshooting, and QoS
tools. This significantly improves OAM
efficiency, reduces opex, and maximizes
profits for operators.
As networks evolve and new services
emerge, telecom operators are coming
under enormous pressure from the internet
industry and count on elaborate service
operation as a key approach to increasing
revenue. Carrier-class Ethernet is an ideal
choice for operators because it allows for
service expansion, service management,
QoS guarantee, and reliability. Microwave
transmission in mobile backhaul is
becoming more operational. ZTEs
microwave products make the switching
architecture of traditional Ethernet carrierclass. Service provisioning, scalability,
reliability, QoS, and service management
of a traditional Ethernet network are
transformed.

Success Stories

onverged CS/IMS and IMS Hosting

Solution Helps TAG Smoothly Implement VoLTE
By Zhao Wenxian and Tu Jiashun

The new ZTE CS/IMS network opens up the future for Telekom Austria Group. It
will enable us to easily expand our business and give our customers the best possible
experience of the latest fixed and mobile communication services, said Hans Pichler,
CTO of Telekom Austria Group.

elekom Austria Group (TAG)

is Austrias largest information
and communications services
provider and one of Europes leading
full-service carriers. TAG operates in
Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belar us,
Slove n ia , t he Re pu bl ic of Se r bia ,
t he Re public of Macedon ia a nd
Liechtenstein. With intense competition
i n t ele c o m i n d u s t r y a n d w it h t h e

development of internet services, TAG

is facing challenges like most other
operators. First, they must efficiently
t r a n sfor m t he m s elve s i nt o a f u l lservice operator while reducing costs
and increasing revenue. Second, they
must urgently upgrade their network
to cope with the rapid development
of wireless broadband. Third, if they
remain a traditional operator, they will

lose market share because of competition

from the internet. All these factors push
traditional operators to transform as
soon as possible.
TAG launched an IMS project in
the second half of 2011. It planned to
construct an IMS-based network to offer
a variety of services, including MMTel,
RCSe, SCC, and future fixed/mobile
convergence (FMC). TAGs idea of start
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

28

Success Stories

Belarus

Austria
Liechtenstein
Slovenia
Croatia

Republic of Serbia

Bulgaria
Republic of Macedonia

Figure 1. IMS deployment for TAG.

MMTel AS/SCC AS, ATCF, MSCs/

MGCF, ENUM/DNS, EMS, and LIG
a r e b a s e d on t he ETCA pl at for m .
Media-plane elements such as MRFP,
MGW/ I M-MGW, and SBC are also
ba sed on t he ETCA plat for m. T he
universal hardware platfor m allows
for lower operational costs, f lexible
dimensioning, and smooth migration.

the centralized IMS core will be able to

independently serve various branches
of the Group. This will allow TAG to
rapidly launch new services and centrally
manage its networks.
The new IMS network will support
rich communication suite-enhanced
(RCSe) and voice over LTE (VoLTE)
scenarios so that TAGs fixed and mobile
networks can be fully converged. These
networks serve for access endpoints such
as IP PBX, softphone, LTE terminals,
and RCSe.

Leading IMS hosting solution

By using middleware-based multiple
instances, ZTEs IMS system supports
multitenancy. A number of countries
share one IMS core but the system looks
as if it is a dedicated physical instance
that does not interfere with or depend on
other OpCos in the system.
Multitenancy allows one IMS system
to serve multiple OpCos on the same
hardware. It is especially useful for a
multinational car rier who has some
small OpCos or has an unbalanced user
distribution among multiple OpCos. It is
also attractive to carriers who want to save
costs at the beginning of IMS deployment.

Highlights of TAG IMS Network

small and grow fast is a level-headed

plan with multitenancy at its core.
ZTE is an industry-leading provider
of end-to-end IMS network solutions and
has passed strict proof-of-concept tests
and evaluations. In collaboration with
Kapsch CarrierCom, an experienced
local system integrator, ZTE will help
TAG deploy a converged CS/IMS voice
network. ZTE will offer a standardsbased, best-in-class, carrier-grade IMS
solution.

Advanced ETCA platform with highperformance and reliability

ZTEs universal hardware platform
is called enhanced telecom computing
a rch it e ct u re ( ETCA) a nd is ba se d
o n a d v a n c e d t ele c o m m u n ic a t io n s
c o m p u t i n g a r c h i t e c t u r e (AT C A)
core technologies. ETCA is used for
a l l Z T E I M S p r o d u c t s . Sig n a l i ng
and ser ver elements such as CSCF,

Vienna

Converged CS/IMS Voice Solution

for a Future-proof Network
ZTE will deploy a mobile circuit
sw it che d (CS) sof t sw it ch net work
t o r e pl a c e TAGs ex i s t i ng mobi le
core net work i n Au st r ia , Sloven ia
and Liechtenstein. At the same time,
ZTE will build a new IP multimedia
subsystem (I MS) net work i n t hese
markets (Fig. 1).
The converged voice solution is
based on a telco cloud and helps
reduce TCO. With IMS hosting (Fig. 2),

29

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

HSS

BSS

NMS CCF/CDF/CGF/OCS

IP

SIP/SIP-I

IMS Core
MMTEL/SCC AS
EMS

NE for Vienna

SIP AS

SPN

CSCF

ISUP
RCS AS
MGCF/IM-SSF
E1

ENUM/DNS

I-SBC

NE for
Liechtenstein

Middleware
OS

PSTN

HW

MGW/MRFP
E/P-CSCF/A-SBC

Vienna

OpCos have their own

Liechtenstein
OSS/BSS

xSDL/LAN
Fixed

LTE
Mobile

LIG

xSDL/LAN

LEMF/LIC

Fixed

LIG
LTE
Mobile

LEMF/LIC

Figure 2. TAG IMS hosting architecture.

Service Package
Charging Policy
Provisioning
Maintenance

Success Stories

It also reduces capex and opex.

Features of IMS hosting solution
include:
multiple instances on one board
for optimal resource use. Multiple
instances share the same hardware
(e.g. board level), and the resources
are balanced among multiple OpCos.
This is especially useful for uneven
user distribution among OpCos.
highly f lexible configuration and
ma nageme nt f u nct ion s t hat a re
dedicated to each OpCo and that do
not affect other OpCos.
same hardware platform for all IMS
elements. IMS elements, including
signaling elements such as CSCF,
MMTel AS and ATCF, and media
elements, such as MRFP, MGW and
SBC are based on the ETCA platform.
l a r g e c a p a c i t y a n d f l e x i b l e
configuration.
fulfills the regulatory requirements
on LI, NP and EC for multitenancy
architecture.
implementation of different services
for different OpCos.
Comprehensive VoLTE/eSRVCC solution
ZTE provides a complete product
portfolio based on the VoLTE solution.
ZTE participated in the first-ever VoLTE
interoperability test, which was hosted
by the MultiService Forum (MSF) and
backed by GSMA. It was held at the
Vodafone Test and Innovation Centre
in Dsseldorf, Germany. Test scenarios
included VoLTE basic interoperability,
global roaming, and interconnection as
specified by GSMA.
In the TAG network, MME and HSS
are ready for eSRVCC (Fig. 3). ZTE
provided an eMSC that was integrated

CS

SCC AS

Enhanced MSC

UTRAN RAN

IMS

UE A
(Calling)

ATCF/ATGW
UE B
(Callee)
eNode B

EPC

Figure 3. ZTE IMS eSR-VCC solution architecture.

with MSCs and MGCF.

SCC AS was introduced, and this
can be integrated with MMTel AS or
deployed separately. ZTE recommends
integrating SCC AS and MMTEL AS
to save cost. ZXUN SSS supports all
standard supplementary services for voice
and also supports IP Centrex/Converged
Centrex ser vices, converged ONLY
service, VCC service, CS/IMS number
sharing, enterprise applications, and ICS
solution.
AT C F a n d AT GW h ave b e e n
introduced into the eSRVCC specification
as a result of ZTE. ATCF/ATGW is
deployed in the visit network. ATCF
anchors the media flow in a visit network
during handover. The remote IMS UE
does not take part in the handover in
order to avoid voice service interruption
caused by long signaling routing. ATCF
and ATGW are collocated with SBC on
the same hardware platform.
T he solut ion s up p or t s a si ng le
nu mber for SRVCC subscr iber s i n
the CS and IMS domains. It helps the
operator save number resources and does
not affect any existing services when the

subscriber registers in the CS network.

In March 2013, ZTE successfully
made the first VoLTE call in Europe
over TAGs commercial network. LTE
handsets were used, which improved
connection time and provided perfect
voice quality.
Customer Benefits
IMS hosting centralizes
infrastructure and lowers TCO. As a
tenant, each OpCo shares the HW, SW
and maintenance. The IMS RCSe service
prov ide s ca r r ie r- cla s s mu lt i me d ia
experience and helps the operator deal
with challenges from internet-based
over the top (OTT) providers. The IMS
network also helps provide standard
VoLTE ser vice (eSRVCC, enhanced
single-radio voice call continuity). The
new mobile softswitch and IMS network
helps TAG signif icantly expand its
network capacity, and this allows the
operators customer base to grow rapidly.
ZTEs highly integrated core network
equipment will significantly reduce the
networks physical footprint so that the
TAGs capex is reduced.

JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

30

Success Stories

CMHK Partners
with ZTE for LTE
Microwave Backhaul
Deployment
By Li Lina

hina Mobile Hong Kong

(C M H K ) , a w h o l l y - o w n e d
subsidiar y of China Mobile,
was established in 1997. CMHK was
the first PCS (GSM 1800) operator to
launch mobile services in Hong Kong,
which is one of the biggest economies in
the world. The high-rise buildings and
dense commercial districts are signs of
the citys prosperity, but they also give
rise to a complicated radio environment
and are a challenge for mobile network
construction. Through the use of cuttingedge GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSPA, and 4G
technologies, CMHK has been providing
customers with professional, innovative
communication services. CMHK is now
one of the largest mobile broadband

31

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

operators in Hong Kong and has the

greatest potential.
CMHK operated a Hong Kong-wide
GSM 1800 network to provide GSM voice
and data to mainland customers roaming
to Hong Kong. Previously, CMHKs
lack of 3G networks meant it lagged
behind other mainstream operators in
Hong Kong. Therefore, CMHK made 4G
network construction its key strategic
goal. CM H K boug ht a n FDD 2.6G
license at auction in 2009 and launched a
commercial FDD LTE network in early
2012. It also bought a TDD 2.3G license
at a high price and launched a commercial
TDD LTE network at the end of 2012.
LTE net works are being rapidly
deployed. Mobile backhauls need to have

large capacity and wide coverage because

fiber is limited and site rental fees are
high. ZTE has rich experience in network
construction, project management, and
managed services in Hong Kong. Guided
by a customer service philosophy, ZTE
provided CMHK with a highly reliable,
expansible microwave transmission
solution that provided high coverage even
with limited fiber resources.
CMHK had never used microwave
in its network before. ZTE took into
consideration transmission cost at end
sites when proposing the microwave
solution to CMHK and also drew on the
experience of deploying microwave in
CSLs mobile network. In the CMHK
proje ct , m ic rowave s we r e u se d t o

Success Stories

connect end sites to the network and

provide backhaul for 2G, 3G, and LTE
sites. Ericsson FDD-LTE sites had to be
connected with ZTE TDD-LTE sites on
the LTE side. Because various types of
services had to be carried on the network,
high QoS and stability were of paramount
importance. Hong Kongs Office of the
Communications Authority (OFCA) was
strict in granting an access license to
radio equipment. Quickly obtaining an
equipment certificate from the OFCA and
helping CMHK deploy the microwave
solution as soon as possible were major
issues.
Because of CMHKs pressing need
for microwave backhaul, ZTE set a tight
schedule for the project. To evaluate
the overall performance of microwave
products f rom different equipment
suppliers, CMHK asked for both lab and
field tests. After discerning CMHKs
specific requirements, ZTE responded
quickly by obtaining an OFCA certificate
for spectrum test in the first week. The
testing equipment arrived at the site, and
ZTE completed the site survey in the
second week. This laid a good foundation
for subsequent tests.
In the multivendor interoperability
test, ZTEs self-developed microwave

equipment NR8250 operated smoothly

with existing FDD-LTE equipment by
Ericsson. NR8250 also outperformed
other microwave products from Ericsson,
A lcat el-Lucent , a nd Comba i n t he
subsequent QoS and link stability tests.
As a result, ZTE was shortlisted as a
candidate partner for CMHK.
ZTE took into consideration CMHKs
existing network conditions and future
evolution needs and adopted a highly
customized all-IP microwave backhaul
solution. NR8250 was used to provide
high data throughput and low latency. It
supported dynamic allocation between
emulated TDM and Ethernet services
without any bandwidth loss. This helped
CMHK solve the issue of 2G, 3G, and
LTE coexistence and pave the way for
smooth transition to future IP services.
NR8250 has integrated module slots
for f lexible network upgrade and also
provides enhanced Ethernet performance
for high link reliability and stability.
By the end of 2012, ZTE had delivered
and commercialized the first phase of
the microwave project. According to the
deployment plan agreed upon by both

ZTE and CMHK, ZTE will complete the

deployment of all microwave sites by the
end of 2014.
CM H K was responsible for t he
project execution. ZTE provided technical
support in the early stages of professional
network planning to assist CMHK get
link certificated by OFCA. ZTE also
developed a one-click deployment tool for
efficient installation. This tool provides
off line parameter configuration that
lowers the skill required of the on-site
deployer. It also increases the success rate
of one-time site deployment and greatly
reduces costs for CMHK.
In the customer satisfaction survey
conducted by ZTE at the beginning of
2013, CMHK praised ZTEs microwave
equipment and expressed their expectation
for further cooperation with ZTE. The
partnership with ZTE is most important
for successful project implementation. We
expect further cooperation with ZTE to
expand and share the microwave backhaul
network, said Feng Yaojin, microwave
project director of CMHK.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

32

Success Stories

Zain: Winning the Future

by Refarming Spectrum
By Li Lanqing

audi Arabia is the largest country

in the Middle East and the worlds
biggest oil producer. Oil exports
have made Saudi Arabia a very wealthy
country with high per-capita income.
Saudi Arabia has 54.8 million mobile
users and mobile phone penetration
rate of more than 180 per cent. In this
high-end communication market, users
are concerned about network quality,
new technologies, and high-speed data

33

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

services.
Zain was est ablished in Kuwait
i n 1983 a nd now operates i n eig ht
countries across the Middle East and
Africa. Zain acquired Saudi Arabias
third GSM license in July 2007 and
began constructing a GSM network in
August 2008. It has become the third
largest mobile operator in Saudi Arabia
and had about 10 million users at the
end of 2011.

Opportunities and Challenges

Zain focuses on mobile service and
before its network transformation it had
GSM, UMTS and HSPA networks. At the
end of 2011, Zains voice network covered
more than 400 cities and 59 highways.
Because of its short development history,
Zain lags behind r ivals in net work
coverage and number of sites. In the next
few years, the company has to invest
a huge amount of capital to rapidly
expand its network and catch up with its
competitors.
Use of Zains broadband services
t r ipled i n 2011 compa red w it h t he
previous year; however, Zain still only
has a small share of the whole broadband
market in Saudi Arabia, and there is huge
development potential for the company.
According to reports from international
consulting company Ov um, Zain is
growing rapidly and has grabbed market
share from the other two mobile operators
in Saudi Arabia. Zain has pressured
its competitors to retain their existing
customers and vie for new ones. In early
2011, Saudi Arabias three major operators
began constructing LTE networks at
the same time. The arrival of the 4G era
gives Zain the opportunity to compete
from the same starting line. However, the
challenge for Zain is to make full use of
existing resources to build a high-quality,

Success Stories

more efficient, more flexible network that

can smoothly evolve into 4G.
Network Modernization
In the region where the ZTE project
will be completed, Zain owns 900 MHz
a nd 180 0 M H z spect r u m for GSM
networks and 2100 MHz spectrum for
a UMTS network, but there is no idle
spectrum for LTE. Zain needs a solution
to this problem so that 2G, 3G and
4G networks can coexist. In addition,
Zains original network architecture and
equipment was outdated, expensive to
maintain, and could not smoothly evolve
to 4G. Given this, Zain turned to ZTE for
a wireless modernization solution.
Unified spectrum and capacity expansion
for 2G network
Originally, Zain had 471 GSM sites
that used the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz
spectrums. Zain significantly expanded
the capacity of its 900 MHz GSM sites
from S222 to S444 or S666, and at the
same time, cleaned the original 1800 MHz
GSM sites and transferred users to the
900 MHz network. After modernization,
there were 671 GSM sites, all of which
used the 900 MHz spectrum.
Expanding capacity for the 3G network
There were originally 145 UMTS 2.1G
sites with a maximum download speed
of 7.2 Mbps. After modernization, there
were 395 3G sites, of which 303 were
upgraded to DC HSPA+ with a maximum
download speed of 42 Mbps.
Core coverage for 4G
T h e o r i g i n a l 18 0 0 M H z G S M
spectr um was released for the FDD
LTE network, and 150 FDD LTE sites
with a bandwidth of 10 M bps were
deployed in dense urban areas. Tests
showed that the networks downlink
speed reached 74.7 Mbps and its uplink

speed reached 27.83 Mbps.

Win the Future
Through network modernization,
Zain created an all-IP network and saved
transmission resources. SDR base stations
based on ZTEs Uni-RAN platform were
used to converge 2G, 3G and 4G networks
and to support smooth evolution from 2G
and 3G to 4G. This helps Zain quickly
enhance network performance and roll
out new services.
ZTEs macro base stations have
single-carrier power of 40W/TRX and
cover a wide area, which reduces the
number of required base stations. The
base stations have a unique dual-PA
macro base station module that halves the

number of modules needed for the same

configuration. This significantly reduces
network construction costs.
The solution allows 2G, 3G and 4G
networks to share towers, power supply,
protectors, and transmission facilities and
enables antennas and feeders to be reused
when upgrading from1800 MHz to LTE.
Through network modernization, Zain
has solved the problems associated with
spectrum shortage and has optimized its
network architecture. Overall, Zain has
significantly improved the quality of its
network and gained a competitive edge in
the market. The 2G, 3G and 4G multilevel
network better meets the needs of the
market and positions Zain well for the
future.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

34

Press Clipping

ZTE: Leading R&D on

100G and Beyond

January 28, 2013

Source: Light Reading TV

Zhensheng Jia, Ph. D.

Assistant Director and SMTS of Optical Labs, ZTE USA

Rs Todd Townsend recently

interviewed Dr. Jia Zhensheng,
assistant director and senior
member of tech nical staff (SMTS)
of Optical Labs, ZTE USA. Dr. Jia
introduced the technical advantages
of 100G products, especially the DSP
and SD-FEC modules. He also talked
about field deployments worldwide and
pioneering achievements in 400G and
1T research.
LR: What are the technical
advantages of 100G over 40G, and
what possibilities does 100G open
up for operators?

35

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

Todd Townsend

LRTV

Dr. Jia: The 40G ecosystem is not that

healthy as a result of frequent changes
in technology. Take modulation formats
for example. We have everything from
PSBT, DPSK, and DQPSK all the way
up to coherent QPSK. Standardization
has also been missing f rom the
begin ning, and the supply chain is

unstable. By contrast, 100G is a single

technology directly aimed at PM-QPSK
and all the 100G standards are ready
for mass deployment. We know that
100G provides much higher capacity
than 40G and signif icantly reduces
operational cost for carriers if they
scale up their infrastructure. More and

Press Clipping

More and more operators have already decided

to skip over 40G and deploy 100G. We believe that
100G era is coming and is going to take off.

more operators have already decided

to skip over 40G and deploy 100G. We
believe that 100G era is coming and is
going to take off.
LR: What advantages does ZTE
have in 100G?
Dr. J i a: Z T E h a s a lway s b e e n at
the forefront of optical transmission
technology. After the release of sample
100G products at the end of 2009,
ZTE launched the f irst commercial
products in 2011. We think ZTE has
been inf luential in three key areas.
The f irst area is coherent detection
with DSP capability. ZTE pioneered
t he u se of a 40 n m process for
excellent chan nel equalization and
longer t ra nsm ission dist a nce. T he
second area is soft-decision forwarde r r o r c o r r e c t io n (SD - F E C ). Z T E
implemented 15% turbo-product code
(T PC) SD -FEC on t he 10 0G MSA
transponder to achieve 1500 km or
more t r a n sm is sion d ist a nce. T h is
can result in 11.1 dB net coding gain.
The third area is f lexible aggregation
a n d l a r ge c r o s s - c o n n e c t . We c a n
cross connect and aggregate 3.2 Tbit
client signals of any granularity, from
ODU0, ODU1 all the way up to ODU4
ODU f lex signals.

LR: What R&D is ZTE doing on

beyond 100G?
Dr. Jia: ZTE has put great effort into
40 0 G a nd 1T R&D. I n Se pt embe r
last yea r, we released the news at
the European Conference on Optical
Communication that we had succeeded
with single-carrier PM-QPSK, which
makes 400G single-carrier ultralongh a u l t r a n s m i s sio n p o s si ble. Wit h
Deutsche Telecom, we transmitted 2450
km of mixed 100G, 400G, and 1 terabit
signals over the optical infrastructure
i n Ger ma ny, wh ich i ncludes eig ht
nodes. We also transmitted 24 Tbit
DW DM sig n a l s a n d a ch ie ve d t h e
highest single channel rate (11.2 Tbit/s)
using superchannel technology. These
achievements were the first of their kind
in the industry.
We have released seven practical
40 0G a nd 1T protot y pes ai med at
different application areas for customers.
As the leading industry innovator, we
have filed patents on optical modules,
a lgo r it h m s , f r a m i n g , a n d s y s t e m
optimization.
LR: How will ZTE products be
used in 100G and beyond?
Dr. Jia: ZTE has completed dozens of
tests on 100G and has commercially

deployed 100G products for operators

such as China Telecom, China Unicom,
China Mobile, China Education
Net work , TATA Com mu n icat ions,
a n d Ho n g Ko n g P C C W. Z T E h a s
ach ieved t he longest t ra nsm ission
distance, highest receiver sensitivity,
and fastest provisioning time in recent
tests with China Telecom and China
Mobile. In October 2012, ZTE and
T-Mobile f inished deploying 100G
on T-Mobiles existing 10G backbone
net work i n Au st r ia. ZT E ha s also
started deploying 100G on the China
Education Network.
I n ou r f ield t r ials with DT, we
a c q u i r e d q u a nt it a t ive k n owle d ge
a b out t he t r a d e - of f b e t we e n d at a
rate and transmission distance. We
also acquired k nowledge about the
t rade - of f bet ween i mplement at ion
complexity and spectrum efficiency.
We t h i n k t he s e ex p e r ie n c e s h ave
been critical for allowing operators to
strategically scale their networks into
future backbones.
ZTE is a leader in beyond-100G
R&D. We believe that we will keep
up this momentum and continue to
lead the industry in developing optical
transport systems to support customer
needs.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

36

Solution

Legacy Service
Inheritance in

VoLTE

By Jiang Yonghu and Lu Wei

o i c e o v e r LT E ( Vo LT E )
delivers packet-switched voice
and multimedia services over
an LTE network. The IR.92 standard for
VoLTE, defined by GSMA, uses a subset
of IMS functions. Better user experience
requ i res h ig h- qu alit y i nteract ions
bet ween multimedia ser vices, LTE
transport networks, IMS, and legacy
services. Enhancing user experience is a
core strategy of operators.
Challenges
When evolving from 2G and 3G
to LTE, the same phone numbers are
usually retained so that users can enjoy
new IMS and LTE multimedia services
but continue to have legacy 2G and 3G

37

ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013

Multimedia
Service

LTE
Network

User
Experience

IMS

Legacy
Service

Figure 1. Service concept with LTE and IMS.

services such as prepaid, VPN, and

personal ring-back. When VoLTE and
IMS are introduced into a network,
mobile operators need to guarantee that
customers can still use legacy services.
The main challenges of legacy services
in VoLTE are:
t h e e x i s t i n g S C P h a s b e e n i n
service for several years. It is hard
to modify the SCP and use an IPbased ISC interface to interact with
the IMS network and provide legacy
services for users.
legacy services are delivered by
different SCPs that have different
service logics or different customm a d e fe at u r e s. T he r efor e it i s
difficult to do interoperating testing

Solution

(IOT) with each SCP.

operators have invested heavily in
legacy SCP platforms, so they dont
want to reinvest any more when
introducing IMS and VoLTE. The
ideal solution is to reuse the legacy
IN system and use a simple data
configuration on SCP but do not
upgrade software or change service
logic or IN interfaces.

Legacy SCP

PPS

VPN

NP

SCP needs to be upgraded to support

the ISC interface

ISC

S-CSCF

Legacy Services in VoLTE

Figure 2. SCP upgrade solution.

SCP upgrade
To i n t e r a c t w i t h S - C S C F, t h e
existing SCP platfor m needs to be
upgraded to support the ISC interface.
S-CSCF triggers legacy services to SCP
according to the standard IMS traffic
f low. This is the simplest and most
standard way that legacy services are
inherited.

Legacy SCP
No need to upgrade the IN system
PPS

NP

CAP1/2/3
(23.078)
IM-SSF

SCP reuse
SCP reuse i nvolves I M-SSF
functionality and an overlay mechanism.
T he I M- SSF d ef i ne d i n 3GPP TS
23.218 provides IP multimedia service
switching, which mediates ser vice
requests between IMS legacy service
deliver y platfor ms, such as INSCP.
W he n i nt e r c on ne c t i ng t he lega cy
network, the IM-SSF supports standard
protocols such as CAMEL, INAP and
MAP. Vendor-specific protocols are also
supported. From an IMS perspective,
IM-SSF is just a SIP application server.
IM-SSF acts as an SIP back-to-back
user agent (SIP B2BUA) and breaks
the call coming from the originating
party. It creates a new call leg towards
the ter minating par t y. This allows
modifications to be made on the session.
From a gsmSCF perspective, IM-SSF
acts similar to a GSM SSF. To minimize
modifications on the network and make

VPN

iFC for CAP based services

SINAP
Reusing the existing CS core network
Overlay mechanism
MGCF
or MSCs

ISC

ISC

iFC for SINP based services

S-CSCF

Figure 3. SCP reuse solution.

full use of the existing infrustructure,

an overlay mechanism is also used for
legacy services. The existing MGCF
or MSCs are used as SSP to trigger
legacy services (Fig. 3). This avoids
interoperating testing of the IMS system
and SCP platform.
In SCP reuse, existing IN services
can be reused by IMS users without
the need to upgrade the legacy SCP.
Only some modifications are made to
SCP. Multiple IN services can also be
triggered by S-CSCF in one session.
This means that multiple iFCs are
subscribed in HSS.

Conclusion
Inheriting legacy services is an important
requirement when introducing VoLTE into
the network. Operators need to take into
consideration investment, impact on network
operation and end users, and services to be
inherited. An ideal legacy service inheritance
solution should have minimal impact on
existing network and users, and it should
protect operator investment. ZTE supports
all the abovementioned solutions for legacy
service inheritance in VoLTE. The solutiuon
based on IMS-SSF has been successfully
deployed by CSL, a leading mobile operator
in Hong Kong.
JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES

38