Quickly emerging 4G access technologies including LTE and WiMAX promise to deliver the first true mass-market mobile broadband experience, unlocking a host of new applications that will enhance the user experience both at work and at play. While all this new access capacity is a major step forward, everything grinds to a halt if the backhaul network does not scale accordingly. For this reason, many mobile operators are evaluating next generation packet microwave solutions for their performance, scalability, reliability, and low total cost of ownership.

When selecting a microwave solution, many factors such as deployment flexibility, reach, capacity, and of course cost, come under review. Yet spectral efficiency — an equally, if not more important consideration — is often overlooked. Just as we have seen spectrum availability issues in the Radio Access Network (RAN), microwave spectrum is facing similar congestion challenges in many parts of the world. This is leading to reduced availability of larger channels and increased pricing for popular frequency bands. Spectrum is becoming an increasingly precious resource.

With capacity requirements increasing and spectrum availability decreasing, service providers will need to extract the maximum value from their spectrum investment. In the coming years, spectrum licensing costs will have the potential to make or break the backhaul business case and become a significant barrier for operators.

SPECTRUM LICENSING TRENDS

Many of the world’s telecommunications regulators have implemented new measures to more carefully manage the available microwave spectrum. Several European countries including France and Russia have essentially eliminated larger channel bandwidths (56 MHz and above) in order to encourage greater efficiency in smaller channels. The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the independent regulator in the UK, is addressing spectrum congestion with a pricing strategy that favors higher frequencies and smaller channel sizes.

While all other cost elements will remain relatively fixed, spectrum cost is set to rise dramatically, becoming the dominant cost for operators deploying broadband mobile networks. This is due to the fact that many existing microwave backhaul solutions will not scale sufficiently within existing spectrum allocations, resulting in additional spectrum investment for operators.

Backhaul spectrum, like other highly valued finite resources, is being consumed at rapid rate. With microwave spectrum congestion becoming a real issue in many regions, decreased availability and increased cost has meant fewer options for service providers looking to expand their spectrum footprint. Furthermore, adding channels could have implications to the long-term viability of their business model.

In order to address these issues, next generation microwave systems are leveraging a suite of technologies including higher order modulation, XPIC, packet-based architectures, and new bandwidth optimization techniques to boost spectral efficiency to new levels. This is enabling operators to provide much more capacity in smaller spectrum allocations, which is a key requirement for 4G networks.

Looking forward, backhaul networks will continue to evolve in order to deliver higher levels of spectral efficiency, staying ahead of bandwidth demands of future mobile networks. In addition, advances to existing techniques will be complimented by new architectures such as micro or pico-cells, as well as software defined and cognitive radios.

Click Here to download DragonWave's white paper (3.3Mb PDF), “Take Microwave Spectral Efficiency to a New Level.”

For more information on the industry's highest spectral efficiency packet microwave solutions, visit www.dragonwaveinc.com

Copyright © 2010 by Maravedis Inc. All Rights Reserved.
No reproduction without consent.