Telefónica has chosen Comsearch, a CommScope company that focuses on spectrum planning and analysis, for optimizing its microwave backhaul link systems.
Telefónica will use Comsearch’s iQlink XG spectrum planning tool for microwave backhaul, expanding the standing relationship between the two companies by adding Comsearch’s software to the its locations worldwide.
According to Comsearch, the software counts detailed analysis for profile paths; interference analysis; and support for Adaptive Modulation (ADM) Radios among its features, as well as the ability to evaluate line-of-sight feasibility for each link quickly, based on data on the surrounding terrain and building data when available. Adaptive modulation boosts link throughput during favorable network and weather conditions while maintaining quality of service parameters when conditions are poor. The company said that the engineering algorithms its software relies on allows planners to “optimize the network using the smallest antennas at the lowest heights and with the lowest transmit power possible,” while building a comprehensive database of microwave links “to limit interference in congested areas and maximize spectrum use.”
Juan Manuel Caro, director of Operations and OSS at Telefónica S.A., said in a statement that with microwave networks getting more complex, “tools like iQ.link XG are mandatory for maximizing network resources and performance.”
Comsearch said its software solution is deployed in more than 300,000 microwave links globally.
A recent report from Infonetics Research said that the overall macro cell mobile backhaul market is currently being driven by LTE deployment and 3G network expansion, with microwave investments accounting for 48% of the more than $8.5 billion mobile backhaul equipment market in 2014. In particular, Infonetics noted that LTE network growth as well as “the ongoing HSPA/HSPA+ onslaught” is fueling Ethernet macro cell backhaul spending, especially microwave and Ethernet over fiber. Telefónica has been expanding its HSPA+ services, particularly in Brazil, through its mobile operator Vivo.
“Network design and optimization are so critical these days to ensuring that backhaul networks perform at the maximum level for supporting high-speed communications,” said Ben Cardwell, senior vice president of global wireless sales for CommScope.
