Dodoma, Tanzania – December 19, 2011
Improved mobile services, coverage for Vodacom Tanzania customers
Nokia Siemens Networks modernizes Vodacom’s nationwide network, enhances performance, reduces energy consumption, prepares for LTE
Vodacom Tanzania is modernizing its GSM and 3G networks nationwide to improve performance and capacity, providing more reliable, faster, mobile broadband services. Under a five-year contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is implementing its Single RAN (radio access network) platform for the network modernization and expansion. In addition, the vendor is deploying additional GSM and 3G base stations to expand coverage. The company will also deploy its software features to increase network capacity and efficiency.
“It’s our key priority to constantly improve the quality of service for our customers by increasing our network capacity, performance and coverage across the country,” said Dana Bakker, manager of executive operations, Vodacom Tanzania. “To achieve this, we selected Nokia Siemens Networks to be our long term partner based on its technology capability and efficient services support.”
“We awarded managed services contract to the company previously. We believe it is the right approach to make one partner responsible for both managed services, and network upgrade and expansion. This allows the company to fully understand our network requirements,” added Bakker.
“Vodacom required a radio access platform that can increase spectral efficiency and network capacity, and reduce capital and operating costs as well as energy consumption,” said Gideon Geyser, head of customer team Vodacom Tanzania at Nokia Siemens Networks. “Our flexible, scalable single radio access platform fulfills all these requirements for Vodacom. This multi-technology platform can prepare Vodacom’s network for LTE, helping the operator get the most out of its investments today and tomorrow.”
Under the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is implementing its Single RAN platform based on its award-winning, compact, energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio Base Station*. This platform will replace Vodacom’s existing GSM and 3G base stations. This multi-technology platform is able to run GSM, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and LTE, and can be defined to roll out a particular technology with a simple software update. The company also provides its Liquid Radio based Self Organizing Network (SON)** for the radio access and core network as well as its NetAct powered network management solutions.
In addition, Nokia Siemens Networks provides its Orthogonal Sub Channel (OSC-Half Rate) and Dynamic Frequency and Channel Allocation (DFCA) GSM software features*** to increase the network capacity and efficiency.
The company’s services including network planning and optimization, network implementation as well as care services ensures rapid modernization and expansion of the network.
For more information on Nokia Siemens Networks’ mobile broadband capabilities and a video overview on this, please click here. To share your thoughts on the topic, join the discussion on Twitter using #mobilebroadband.
About Vodacom Tanzania
Vodacom Tanzania Limited is Tanzania’s leading cellular network offering state-of-the-art GSM communication services to more than 10 million customers across the country with more than 8 million M-PESA registered customers. Vodacom Tanzania is a subsidiary company of Vodacom Group (Pty) Limited, South Africa.
Vodacom Tanzania has deployed state of the art technology, thereby enhancing its product portfolio and positioning itself as the market leader for any communication solution. For voice, data, leased lines, PABX connectivity, international connectivity, WiMAX solutions, remote communication solutions over satellite or Mobile Money Transfer solutions, Vodacom Tanzania addresses the need.
About Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com
Talk about Nokia Siemens Networks’ news at http://blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com and find out if your country is exploiting the full potential of connectivity at www.connectivityscorecard.org
Media Enquiries
Nokia Siemens Networks
Abdallah Harati
Head of Marketing and Communications – Africa and Latin America
Phone: +254 702 121 110
E-mail: abdallah.harati@nsn.com
Media Relations
Phone: +358 7180 31451
E-mail: mediarelations@nsn.com
Vodacom Tanzania Limited
Mwamvita Makamba
Chief Officer: Marketing and Corporate Affairs
Phone: +255 754 710865
E-mail: mmakamba@vodacom.co.tz
*Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Multiradio Base Station opens a smooth evolution path from GSM and 3G to LTE with just a software upgrade. Building on the company’s market-leading Flexi platform, the software definable Flexi Multiradio Base Station enables to run GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ LTE concurrently in a single unit. With the introduction of the Flexi Multiradio Base Station into the market, a 70% improvement in power saving has been achieved compared to a cabinet-based site, used earlier. We have already shipped our LTE-capable Flexi Multiradio Base Station to more than 200 operators globally.
**Liquid Radio: There is a natural ebb and flow of capacity demand on mobile networks as smartphone, tablet and other smart device users, switch between applications at different times and locations. Part of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Liquid Net, Liquid Radio self-adapts its capacity and coverage accordingly.
Through baseband pooling, Liquid Radio repositions base station components to achieve extreme scalability. Liquid Radio also manages unified heterogeneous networks to optimize broadband access. Furthermore, active antenna technology creates more compact, simpler sites that support multi-radio, multi-band and multi-technology access, providing up to 65% capacity gain.
SON: Nokia Siemens Networks’ industry-leading SON Suite is part of its Liquid Radio and is based on hybrid architecture with intelligence residing both in the distributed network elements and in the centralized NetAct Operations Support System (OSS). This ensures that all areas of SON i.e. self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing are addressed efficiently in an unparalleled way with the highest level of automation and richest set of features commercially available for use today.
At the core of SON Suite is the market leading multi-technology, multi-vendor NetAct network management system and Flexi Multiradio Base Station supported by core network solutions. The SON Suite bypasses time-consuming manual processes in network operations to improve operational efficiency. This is done through introduction of automatic network configuration for handover processes, self-healing for secure uninterrupted end-user services coupled with minimizing the need for drive tests. It also helps operators introduce new technologies and expand networks faster with the proven industry-leading SON Plug and Play feature for automated Base Station network integration that was launched in September 2009. Nokia Siemens Networks SON Suite provides operators with reliable and scalable automation features for fast time to quality.
***Orthogonal Sub Channel (OSC) and Dynamic Frequency and Channels Allocation (DFCA) are Nokia Siemens Networks’ innovations. OSC can increase the voice capacity up to twice the existing capacity in a network, and can increase EDGE data throughput up to 30% based on measurements in commercial networks. Dynamic Frequency and Channel Allocation (DFCA) can up to double the voice and data capacity in spectrum limited cases by enabling more carrier units. Both OSC and DFCA can also improve network quality. OSC feature is available in two flavors namely Dual Half Rate (DHR) providing extreme capacity with Adaptive Multi Rate Half Rate (AMR-HR) speech quality and in Dual Full Rate (DFR) proving better AMR-Full Rate speech quality, both DHR and DFR can be implemented to same networks.
