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E-band plays a key role in India

24. 05. 2023 Wednesday / By: Robert Denes / Industrial / Exact time: BST / Print this page

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E-Band itself offers very high peak capacity (up to 10 Gbps) and there are a number of techniques including Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM), Cross-Polarization Interference Cancellation (XPIC) that can help further improve E-Band performance and double the capacity.

According to the latest Nokia MBiT 2023 report, mobile data traffic in India has jumped 3.2 times over the past five years to reach 14.4 Exabytes per month in 2022, while the average monthly data traffic per user has doubled to the 19.5. Gb. is expected to more than double by 2024, 5G will be the new accelerator. Flawless 5G connectivity requires a transport return path that can support massive connectivity, super-high data rates, and ultra-low latency.

While fiber to towers has grown in the country over the years, there is still a lot to be done as laying fiber is tedious, time consuming and capital intensive. There are currently close to 750,000 telecom towers installed in India (more to come) and about 33-35% of them are fiber compared to advanced 5G markets like US, Japan, China, Korea where over 70% of towers are - the fibrous. Microwave backhaul remains one of the most popular, robust and cost-effective backhaul technologies due to its ease of deployment. However, traditional microwave backhaul (below 42 GHz) is insufficient to keep up with the growth of mobile traffic. CSPs in India are looking for an alternative wireless backhaul solution that is scalable in bandwidth.

E-band is the solution Millimeter wave E-band (80 GHz) has emerged as a viable wireless backhaul solution for CSPs to support the extreme speed, latency and capacity demands of 5G and improve the 4G service experience, especially in urban and in a dense urban environment. where ultra-low latency and ultra-high capacity are key requirements and link distances are relatively short, offering wider channel bandwidth. The small size of the antennas, the easy installation (a few hours versus months of cable laying) in any terrain and the cost-effectiveness (fixed cost) further justify the advantages. The return on investment can begin on day one, especially in areas where installing fiber optic fiber is impractical or expensive, or where it is difficult to obtain permission from civil authorities.

E-Band itself offers very high peak capacity (up to 10 Gbps) and there are a number of techniques including Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM), Cross-Polarization Interference Cancellation (XPIC) that can help further improve E-Band performance and double the capacity. In addition, E-band can be used in combination with conventional microwave bands using Carrier Aggregation techniques over a single physical link to achieve fiber-like capacity over longer distances.

E-band backhaul can also complement a fiber solution for enterprise connectivity, for example in situations where fiber can be used to connect key locations and then E Band can be used to expand last-mile connectivity capacity for businesses. Given the growth in mobile data traffic in India, E-band can play a key role in accelerating the digital transformation and growth of high-speed mobile broadband in the country. Nokia's state-of-the-art Wavence UBT Microwave platform fits this scenario perfectly. During the 5G field trials carried out in the country with the partner CSP, it demonstrated the full use of E-Band technology in the field of 5G mobile backhauling.

The Nokia UBT-m family includes the industry's most compact radio units operating in the E-band. The UBT-m portfolio satisfies the needs of operators in both urban and rural environments, with extremely high performance, both in full outdoor and split mounting configurations. Nokia SteadEband, a stabilized antenna, can overcome common E-Band problems such as tower vibrations and thermal movements. Combined with the high-performance Wavence UBT-m family, it can increase the typical E-Band connection distance by up to 50 percent, helping mobile operators to provide multi-gigabit 5G connections to their customers or 5G mobile networks, providing the highest capacity and ultra-large. - low latency, said Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks, Nokia India

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