ZTE has released a capacity planning tool (CPT) for LTE radio access networks. The company said the software incorporate system modelling and simulation features developed by accessing real world data from networks. The tool can model scenarios for dense urban, urban, suburban and rural environments.
ZTE told Mobile Europe that the capacity planning mode can:
- derive network configuration from traffic requirements
- simulate traffic capacity based on network scale
- evaluate traffic experience based on network configuration and offered traffic
- support all typical frequency bands (2.6GHz, 1.8GHz, 800MHz, etc) for macro planning scenarios
However, ZTE said that in "this phase", the solution focuses only on macro layer capacity planning, rather than taking into account small cell and micro cell deployments within LTE spectrum. "With the evolution of CPT, multi-layer hetnet capacity planning function will be supported," a spokesperson told Mobile Europe. The tool is also limited just to the radio network, and does not model backhaul or core network ca
Wang Shouchen, vice president of ZTE, said, “In the near future, ZTE will also launch other versions based on different network scenarios to meet the customer’s needs.’’
ZTE’s own claim is that its CPT offers a more than 20% improvement in accuracy and an efficiency advantage of more than 80% over "traditional solutions". It defined traditional solutions as "carrying out capacity planning by pre-simulated spectrum efficiency based calculations, and highly complex system level simulations."
ZTE also said the Capacity Planning Tool has been designed to work on desktop PCs, instead of being a server-based solution.
The Chinese vendor also said it has now won 38 LTE commercial contracts, and is working with more than 100 operators in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Middle East on trial LTE networks. It is "committing increasing resources for the development of LTE and evolving future technologies" it said.
Earlier this month, ZTE warned that it would show a loss of up to RMB1.75 billion (€220 million) for the first nine months of operation in 2012. Top management said they would be taking a pay cut until things pick up, as the vendor blamed the losses on weak investment from international operators and a "change in operators' procurement mode" in China.