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UMA and 2G/3G FEMTO Cell Deployment

UMA and 2G/3G FEMTO Cell Deployment

Mobile and internet has become the de-facto standard for communication in our day to day lives. Operators and service provider are using this as a great opportunity and coming out with innovative solution to gain maximum out of their investment.

One such innovation is Femto Cells. These are small base stations and access points which provide last mile access and also better coverage in densely populated areas.

The competing technologies in this space for deployment are using 2G/3G and UMA. This paper discusses the challenges between them explains a deployment scenario using both of these technologies.

2G/3G Based femto cells: These are small base stations where the air interface access is 2G or 3G and the backhaul is supported using IP.

UMA Based femto cells: These are femto cell implementation where the access network is IP (WiFi, DSL, and LAN) and can be used for access to 2G/3G services via the IP backhaul. This will fulfill the ultimate goal of fixed mobile convergence.

Rationale behind deployment:

2G/3G Femto Cells:

Operators have felt the need of using femto cells in the following cases:

Coverage in densely populated areas: Public places like airports, railway stations, fairs. Normal coverage is very poor in such places. A femto cell deployment is a lot of cost savings for the operators as compared to building macro networks.

Provide coverage to dead cell zones: Users are also located in terrain areas which have very poor cell coverage. Femto cell provide a very efficient solution in using the existing broadband connection in providing cellular coverage.

Need based cellular coverage: In cases of disaster relief, military operations, sea ports, mining, network testing femto cell provides very quick deployable solutions to provide cellular coverage.

UMA based femto cells:

Rationale for Femto cell deployment based on UMA also includes the cases described for 2G/3G femto cell deployment. The section below discusses the additional cases for UMA deployment

Provide integrated fixed and mobile services: This shall increase the operators share of customers total spend.

Provide cheaper call for roaming users: Users can use UMA to make cheap 3G/2G voice calls over IP. This can be used significantly for business travelers in airports and railways stations. Users have the options for using IP Phones or their laptop for these purposes.

Using the unlicensed spectrum to provide 2G/3G coverage: User is able to use their WLAN connection to access 2G/3G services, cutting the cost of 3G deployments. The technology provides seamless handover with 2G/3G network and can also be easily integrated to WLAN/LAN access points. Normal POTS (Plain Old Telephone Systems) can be used to make 2G/3G calls.

There is no interference with the macro 2G/3G networks, so the solution doesn’t require complex methods to limit the number of femto cells. Less maintenance required for service providers.

Best approach of a combined Femto Cell solution:

A dual mode handset requirement is the one area where a 2G/3G femto cell has an edge over UMA. Apart from this a UMA network is considered to very cost effective from the user perspective.

Operators have a choice today between UMA and 2G/3G femto cell, however the mass availability and cost effectiveness of dual-mode phone will keep them waiting for some time. The rate of adoption of dual mode phones will depend heavily upon the pricing and battery life. Some companies that have done successful trials with UMA are TeliaSonera (trials with Motorola), Kineto, and Nokia etc.

There are significant challenges for a mass market of femtocell. A combined femto solution deployment using both 2G/3G access points along with UMA is one of the best approaches to leverage capabilities provided by a Femto cell. There are access points available which are compatible with both 2G/3G and IP interface. Users want a simple solution such that the access point use is just plug_and_play with minimal configuration like WLAN routers or no configuration for devices like telephones. Availability and trials of such integrated solution for mass market is one area which the operators/vendors will be closely watching.