Microwave networks are quicker to install, secure and best of all, able to sustain high capacity services. John Cole, Product Line Director for Microwave Systems at Andrew Solutions explores how the total cost of ownership, backhaul performance, subscriber experience and in turn the subscriber churn is affected when equipment purchase for the network are determined by price instead of quality.

Microwave backhaul solutions have been known to offer operators multiple benefits. Initial set-up costs aside, microwave backhaul solutions are more cost-effective and economically viable to operate on a long-term basis. However, not all microwave solutions are equal. One must consider the stability of the product and how the antenna patterns will change over time. As such, having the right tools to simulate network situation along with antenna performance will take the guess-work out of the deployment and ultimately, saves money. With these in mind, the quality of the antenna is critical.
Equipment Consideration

Deciding on the type of equipment to make up the network requires the consideration of several factors. Choosing the right site to deploy the network is just the first step. Backhaul engineers should ideally be involved in the early stages of planning to ensure the likelihood of securing a backhaul friendly site. Factors such as the customer base and available capital also play a part in deciding the type of equipment to be purchased but ultimately the type of microwave radio equipment chosen will also be dependent on the type of service provided.

When choosing antennas, operators should consider opting for the more superior and spectrum efficient models. Less expensive models pose several issues – they impact both the amount of time dedicated to the network design and the costs associated with acquiring additional spectrum. In the long run, spectrum inefficiency will naturally impede the future growth of any network. For networks that operate on higher frequencies, the reduction of the fade margin due to threshold degradation means that potential link lengths will be reduced in order to meet network objectives.

Higher quality antennas generally offer greater spectrum efficiency, longer link lengths and even smaller footprint, if required. Optimising the spectrum used to deploy a backhaul network impacts cost in a big way especially when considering the investment required when needed to add more capacity in future to support LTE/4G networks. Longer link lengths help to reduce the amount of backhaul equipment required. The size of an antenna affects overall expenditure dramatically. Smaller but highly efficient antennas enable operators to reduce freight costs, the space required on a tower and warehouse space.

It is critical then, to consider the performance requirements of you network and choosing a lower cost antenna solution may be costly in the long run. For example, if nearly 30% of the network does not meet the objectives with the inefficient antennas, the cost of replacing the antennas can drive cost up by as much as 32%. This means that if you spend US$50m on antennas then you are overspending by approximately US$16m.

John Cole will be one of the speakers at this year’s CommunicAsia 2010 and he will be touching on how antenna performance in the short and long term can help to maximize spectrum allocation. He will be using a real microwave backhaul network to demonstrate the implications of antenna and planning tool choices on overall revenue.