  According to a research report global mobile penetration has reached 87 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Much of the growth in the telecommunications and data sectors in recent years can be attributed to developing marketing in the Asia Pacific region with service providers in countries like India and China rolling out large, nation-wide infrastructures. Together, these two countries hold the two largest mobile user bases in the world and much of their growth lies in both nations’ vast rural markets.
With cellular technologies opening up the hinterlands and connecting remote communities across the countryside demand for services from mobile operators has grown exponentially. However operators on both sides have faced multiple operational challenges as they work towards meeting subscriber demands without compromising on service delivery.
Competition, Costs and Covered Areas
The telecommunications industry has always been competitive. According to The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India currently has more than 900 million subscribers.
India has witnessed slow growth of 3G services but analysts have predicted that the 3G subscriber base in India is set to reach 74 million by the end of 2013 and 371 million by the end of 2017. The slow uptake of 3G has been attributed to the high price of services but experts predict that the lower costs of smartphones is set to push the 3G envelope to the next level in India within the months and years to come.
In China, the number of mobile users has crossed 1 billion that’s more than three times the US. China also has more than 150 million 3G users and has more than 400 million mobile Internet users. Also 3G market is set to contribute to huge revenue growth as more subscribers latch on to 3G.
With the telecommunications sector set to see exponential growth in these markets, competition amongst service providers is intense with multiple operators offering the masses different options. Operators in India and China have placed great emphasis on subscriber service levels. Their awareness of how keenly the market is being contested has led them to stipulate that their infrastructure should perform at the highest levels to avoid the risk of losing customers to the competition.
However, service providers in both countries faced similar challenges when dealing with traditional copper cables that are normally used to build network towers, rising copper costs, pilferage, stress on towers due to additional weight and transportations costs led to higher OpEx. Some leading service providers in China felt the need to identify a cable system that could support a large network that provided reliable indoor coverage.
For years, operators have faced rising cost when installing towers with standard corrugated copper cables. The world’s copper supply has stagnated but the demand for the metal has seen steady growth. Moreover, operators have constantly had to battle with theft in rural areas, where corrugated cables have their copper finishing scraped off to be sold illegally. Copper cables are also heavy which results in additional transportation costs from factory to base sites and they are difficult to install. However, there is good news too. For over a decade, many operators around the world have been using an alternative to standard corrugated copper cables. Designed to be lighter, stronger and more efficient, coaxial cable provide less tower loading, lower freight costs and easy installation. These cables are better than the corrugated cables as they are designed with solid triple-bonded construction with crush and tensile strength. They are also able to withstand difficult installations without cable stretching or denting damage to RF performance. It also comes with a foam filled inner conductor that offers superior weather resistance.
Trials that have been carried out in various parts of India and China using these cables have proven that the cables deliver consistent, superior performance, quality, consistency and lowest cost of ownership with savings of up to 15-20% over corrugated copper cables with zero maintenance requirements.
Major wireless operators in India have chosen to replace corrugated copper cables in their networks with coaxial cable in order to keep OpEx low. More than 100,000 sites in India are now deployed with such cables.
In China also, one of the operator have incorporated these cables into its designs and installations for its indoor coverage systems as the performance of the cable met with both their requirements for GSM and WCDMA systems. The cable assemblies provide a single passive intermodulation (PIM)-defeating jumper solution for every type of site architecture.
Several hundred million such cables have been deployed around the world over the past 10 years and many industry leaders have come to recognize that the these cables are an ideal alternative and investment for swift network deployments, easy manipulation during installation, and durability. Having met the various performance benchmarks of OEM customers and wireless operators around the world, these cables are ideal alternative to corrugated copper cables whether they are deployed in harsh outdoor climates or indoors.
-The writer of this article is Navin Vohra, Vice-President Wireless Sales Asia Pacific, and India, Commscope. |