ZTE to install 60,000 new 3G enabled sites

NEW DELHI, INDIA: ZTE claims that it has received order from various telecom operators to set up 60000 new Software Defined Radio (SDR), with Baseband Unit (BBU) and Remote Radio Unit (RRU) enabled sites for the financial year 2010.

“We will put up 60,000 new SDR sites in this financial year across 23 circles across India,” said Chen Guanqing, vice-president, After sales and service, ZTE Telecom India. “More than 90 per cent of these sites will be for wireless communication and rest of the sites will be mix of Next-Generation-Network (NGN) and wireline network.”

He said these sites will support 2G, 3G and 4G network. These sites will easily facilitate infrastructure sharing but will depend on business model of operators and their interest in infrastructure sharing.

With this, the total number of telecom sites installed by ZTE will touch 1,10,000. ZTE claims to have covered close to 1500 rural blocks in the last one year through 17,000 sites.

ZTE will recruit 1000 new staff to manage these new 60,000 sites. Out of this 1000 staff, 80 per cent will be for technical support and 20 per cent will provide management support.

SDR solution based on BBU and RRU are now being widely adapted by telecom operators as by this solution 20 to 30 per cent CAPEX can be saved and 30 to 50 per cent network building period can be shortened when compared to traditional way. The minimum feeder is needed between RRU and tower due to fiber connection between SDR BBU and RRU which will save 60 per cent feeder cost at least.

The cost for 2G and 3G site sharing is also saved effectively as the GSM and WCDMA baseband capacity in BBU module can be flexibly configured to meet the requirement. The multi-carriers feature based on Multi Carrier Power Amplifier (MPCA) of RRU module enables smooth evolution for later expansion and the multi-frequencies. Power consumption in these sites is 40 per cent less due to the multi-carriers technology application which leads to saving power.

ZTE claims to have registered 100 per cent growth in last financial year and had clocked revenue of $ 1 billion from Indian market.