Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, on Thursday launch  Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) feature on LTE networks in Cologne, the fourth largest city in Germany for commercial use.

The ANR function can automatically manage and optimize the relationship of neighbor cells, improve the efficiency of operation and maintenance and reduce the operating expenses.

After stringent testing and acceptance procedures, Huawei successfully launched the ANR feature into commercial use on the LTE network in Cologne. This release marks the first time that an ANR feature has been successfully launched on a commercial network in the world.

Deployed by Huawei, Cologne’s LTE network was officially launched for commercial use in April, 2011. In October, 2011, Huawei began verifying ANR functions and features for use on the LTE network, including neighbor detection, automatic adding, and neighbor deletion. Now that the ANR feature has been in commercial operation for three months, it allows for the automatic management and optimization of all neighbor relations without human intervention. It also is able to reach a handover success rate of 99 percent when network performance is stable.

With the growth in popularity of smart devices and the bandwidth support needed for social networks, mobile broadband networks are challenged with a burst of data traffic, pushing mobile communication in to a Giga World. As an operator’s best business partner, Huawei launched the SingleSON solution that helps operators efficiently manage networks that feature multiple modes and layers, reduces the cost of operation and maintenance, and enhances subscriber network experience.

At the upcoming 2012 Mobile World Congress, Huawei plans to display its leading SingleSON solution, which includes features such as the multi-mode ANR.