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Huawei Communicate Tata Indicom takes a firm step forward By Wu Yanning & Cai Huihan O n June 9, 2008, the India-based Tata Group announced its successful acquisition of Ford Motor’s two luxury motor brands: Jaguar and Land Rover. This news thrusts Tata into the limelight once again in the context of India’s meteoric economic rise. Presently synonymous with the image of a leading brand, the word “Tata”can be traced back to the mid19th century. Tata’s founder, Jamsetji, was accustomed to saying “Tata” (meaning “goodbye”) after each successful munitions supply to the British army. As time went on, Tata became the family name of India’s largest consortium. The unadorned origin of this family name exhibits the principles that the word Tata has carried forward for over 100 years: integrity, understanding, excellence, unity, and responsibility. In 1996, the Tata group and its 98 subsidiaries shifted their attention to the emerging mobile communications industry. Driven by the mission to serve the common Indian populace and provide universal communication services, Tata spearheaded the introduction of the CDMA standard to expedite mobile communication network construction. Ten years’ unrelenting effort rewarded Tata Indicom with rapid growth within a booming mobile communications market and India’s quickly developing 21st century economy. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) advocates a completely open market and full competition, which gives rise to an especially fierce competitive arena in the mobile field. TRAI’s policies have ensured that service charges decline continuously, which in turn has catalyzed the Indian mobile communications market to a degree that mirrors China’s communications miracle. Honed over a century, Tata has wasted no time in applying its legacy skills to exploit the nascent commercial opportunities, surpass its rivals, and rise to the top in the burgeoning mobile field. Diwali means opportunities External opportunities mean nothing if an enterprise lacks the necessary core strengths. In this context, Tata Indicom was fully aware of its own shortcomings. Tata Indicom began to construct its CDMA network during the mid-1990s. Restricted by the prevailing technologies, the network was based on time division multiplexing (TDM). The explosive growth in user requirements immediately created problems for the TDM networking platform given its multiple network layers, route complexity, low single-office capacity, and excessive number of offices. Additionally, network expansion greatly increased topological complexity, and both expansion and O&M costs rose geometrically as SEP 2008 . ISSUE 43 16 COVER STORY Tata Indicom takes a firm step forward opposed to linearly. Thus, the viability of the TDM network was seriously limited. With a population of almost 1.15 billion, India is the world’s second most populous nation. Culturally, Diwali denotes a key Indian religious festival relating to Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. During each Diwali, complicated religious rituals and extravagant celebrations result in elevated communication modes. Generally, people gather at temples to complete religious rituals and in squares or streets to celebrate with friends and family. Therefore, the impact of peak traffic on mobile networks is comparable to the world’s two other extreme traffic-generating events: Spring Festival in China and Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Major cities such as New Delhi, therefore, can experience network-paralyzing congestion in such an environment. Thus Tata Indicom realized that uninterrupted service coverage during the Diwali period would decisively augment its brand image. In the face of explosive subscriber growth, providing reduced prices coupled with a quality network experience are only the beginning. If an operator intends to attract and retain subscribers, it must also be able to commercially deploy new network services earlier than its competitors. However, India’s natural conditions and external environment form a restrictive ceiling; infrastructure construction can take several years. CN answers the question A century of development has given Tata a clear insight into the strength that technological milestones deliver. The company has consistently sought to overcome its weaknesses through technical innovations, an integral part of which has been to secure an innovative and experienced partner. To gain a more solid foothold in All-IP and ICT convergence, Tata Indicom planned the construction of a highly competitive network capable of meeting long-term strategic requirements via network topology optimization, network cost reductions, and enhancements to network efficiency. In order to achieve its goal, Tata Indicom selected Huawei as its partner to realize the IP transformation of its CDMA core networks (CNs), including those covering India’s three largest cities: New Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta. The CNs deployed for Tata Indicom utilize an AllIP softswitch distributed networking architecture. This not only optimizes network structure, but also affords considerable savings in transmission resources, which is especially beneficial to Tata Indicom, which leases long-distance transmission resources in great quantities. The All-IP network is simple and convenient to manage; its centralized and intuitive maintenance mechanism minimizes total cost of ownership (TCO) because the O&M process requires fewer maintenance personnel and management expense. An example of the advantages of All-IP softswitches is the situation in New Delhi. If the network in New Delhi was expanded using the architecture of the legacy seven TDM mobile switch centers (MSCs), additional MSC nodes would have been required. Network topology would have increased in complexity, and the cost of associated facilities would To tackle the atypical traffic peaks during Diwali, Tata Indicom selected a solution based on a highly reliable mobile softswitch complemented by professional core network service. 17 SEP 2008 . ISSUE 43 Huawei Communicate have skyrocketed, including equipment room construction and O&M, and power supply and cooling systems. Tata Indicom’s New Delhi network was greatly simplified with just four softswitch MSCs. Doing so significantly decreased construction costs and per line CAPEX, and curtailed the other expenditures mentioned above. High-density main equipment and streamlined accessory facilities can further lower equipment costs and power consumption. The high rents and unstable power supply which plagues Delhi means that savings are maximized if marginal costs are accurately calculated. To tackle the atypical traffic peaks during Diwali, Tata Indicom selected a solution based on a highly reliable mobile softswitch complemented by professional CN service. The Huawei softswitch can deliver an availability that reaches 99.99953%, which exceeds carrier-class requirements. The high-density mobile softswitch needs only 3 cabinets to support 3 million users, enabling the network to easily respond to the Diwali peak, during which over 1 billion Indians celebrate the festival. In terms of methodology, the Tata Indicom/Huawei Network Planning Team rigorously assessed Diwali’s traffic features. Based on the complicated user behavior during the festival, an advanced automatic computer model was adopted for network optimization. Various hidden network hazards were removed by using professional O&M tools and network resource adjustment strategies. To address India’s unique problems and enable rapid response and delivery, Huawei customized the entire process of design planning, supply chain, logistics, engineering, installation, and system commissioning. This yielded a highquality CN delivery solution suitable for overhauling the Tata Indicom network. Despite the unfavorable conditions, Huawei employed its experience and capabilities to deliver a superior solution in a shorter time compared with the common industry-wide practice. A kick start for the future Currently, Tata Indicom has set up a high quality, stable, and cost-effective CDMA mobile communications network that runs normally despite a steadily increasing user-base, and that has required neither new offices nor new equipment rooms. Tata Indicom sits poised to meet user requirements over the next 5 years by simply expanding the capacity in its 3 central equipment rooms. The company remains impressed by Huawei’s swift All-IP CN delivery and construction completion within a mere matter of months, as opposed to the previous standard of several years. This rapid delivery time won Tata Indicom sufficient time to overtake its competitors. In just 7 months after the network was commercially available, subscriber numbers increased by 5.2 million and the Answer Seizure Ratio (ASR) exceeded 97.5%. Network services ran uninterrupted during the Diwali traffic peak in November 2007, ratifying Tata Indicom’s short-term goals of achieving All-IP transformation, a highquality expansion scheme, and the clear enhancement of its brand image. From a cost perspective, Tata Indicom has benefited greatly from the All-IP network. On average, equipment room space has been reduced by 55% and power consumption by 60%. O&M expenses, including equipment room rental, power consumption, and standby power supply depreciation is over 50% less. Tata Indicom has revised its original maintenance mechanism, helping to reduce management costs. In New Delhi, for example, the former layered management architecture is replaced by a new flat O&M solution, in which all maintenance personnel work at a CN maintenance center, improving management efficiency and maintenance quality. Brij Mathur, the General Manager at Tata Indicom, reflected that: “Tata’s business objective is to attract 100 million subscribers by 2011. This means that our network needs to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic volume. Fortunately, Huawei can help us realize this objective as planned.” Tata Indicom is proceeding with an agressive All-IP network transformation for all its networks across the nation. With the help of a cost-efficient All-IP network, Tata Indicom plans to further develop and deploy new value-added services to explore the revenue potential of current and potential subscribers. Just as Tata Steel, Tata Power, and Tata Motors all lead their respective industries, Tata Indicom is also striving to be the leading enterprise in the communications industry. The strategic partnership between Tata Indicom and Huawei results in a win-win development for both companies in India’s communications market. Editor: Xu Peng [email protected] SEP 2008 . ISSUE 43 18