A case study of Finnish mobile operator Elisa Corporation shows significant cost and coverage benefits from deploying HSPA 3G services in the 900MHz band for rural and urban areas, 3G equipment suppliers association GSA said in a statement.
The experience of Elisa Corporation is a testament to trends already seen with low frequencies in Latin America, where the 850MHz band has been used, Alan Hadden, president of the GSA told BNamericas.
"The bands are different...but it's a potentially similar approach," Hadden said.
The Elisa Corporation study showed that 3G coverage with UMTS900 can save 50-70% of mobile network costs versus UMTS in 2100MHz, which includes capex and opex, GSA said.
The case study confirmed that end-user data speeds were the same for UMTS900 and 2100 MHz systems, but UMTS900 can provide the same geographic coverage with fewer than half the number of cell sites.
The majority of 3G/HSPA networks worldwide operate in the 2100 MHz band, though in Latin America the 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands are the main bands in use.
The operator saw the rollout of UMTS900 in suburban and rural areas as a natural extension of its initial 3G deployment in the more heavily populated areas where 2100 MHz was used.
Elisa recognized that indoor coverage was a key benefit in more populated areas as the operator was able to reuse existing GSM900 sites and frequencies to fill in the areas not covered by the UMTS2100 network already in operation.
"Once we have completed our GSM site conversion and established nationwide 3G coverage, we will expand our UMTS900 rollout into urban areas to create a nationwide UMTS900 network," Timo Katajisto, CTO of Elisa, said.
According to Hadden, "a clear opportunity for operators is shown in this case study that low frequencies are much more than just covering rural areas." It actually shows that the higher frequency bands become an overlay to lower frequency bands in high density areas as opposed to the other way around, he said.
"There are steps, in the beginning it can be rural and in a second step you can continue that low frequency buildout into the urban areas and create a nationwide network," Hadden said.
The increasing availability of dual band devices capable of operating in high and low frequency bands - namely phones, PC modems, embedded laptops, and routers - will be essential, according to Hadden.
As there is more experience of using the 850MHz band in Latin America than 900MHz elsewhere, there are currently more dual band devices available for 850MHz.
According to GSA, of 805 HSPA devices available, over 300 have 850MHz capacity, while only 33 have 900MHz capacity.
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