05 December 2022
The challenge of densification
More than 700 million people living in cities across India depend on their smartphones to connect to the internet for work, leisure, education, medical support and more.
In recent years, mobile data usage has exploded in India’s urban centres: in 2021, demand for 4G data increased by 31%. Currently the average consumption is 17Gb per user per month and growing. With the move to 5G, demand for data will increase at an even faster pace.
MNOs in cities usually pursue network densification efforts to support growing demand, minimize network congestion and maintain customer quality of service (QoS). However, adding new infrastructure is challenging in crowded public spaces where network capacity shortages are also increasingly common.
Construction and management of networks in these environments comes with layers of complexity. Space and right of way negotiations on private and publicly owned property can stall efforts. Once commissioned, building sites can be tough to access, while construction scheduling is often regulated to low-use periods. Additionally, MNOs must train operational staff to work in these demanding locations. These challenges are exacerbated when multiple operators target the same locations.
Simplifying urban networking
Urban network-as-a-service (NaaS) improves the economics of urban densification and offers a less disruptive, shared solution for MNOs to expand and improve coverage, particularly in difficult-to-deploy, crowded areas. A single, shared network can support growing demand and ultimately reduce customer churn, with a much smaller footprint than side-by-side private networks.
Under the model, a third-party neutral host, or NaaSCo, deploys a shared radio access network and transport network that can be leased to multiple operators while acting as a single intermediary between location owners. The NaaSCo plays a vital role as a specialist in planning, building, and operating the network. As a result, there are fewer financial, logistical, and technical burdens for MNOs leasing the network.
Urban NaaS also drives ancillary benefits including energy efficiency gains due to the lower volume of equipment drawing power from the grid. Additionally, it minimizes public disruption in crowded areas by limiting the amount of construction and improves the performance of MNOs’ neighbouring sites by offloading the toughest traffic.
A neutral-host urban NaaS solution
The large stations along the Mumbai Suburban Railway system provide an ideal proving ground for urban NaaS. These locations are notoriously difficult to access for construction and maintenance, have limited space and placement options for new equipment, and experience heavy demand for mobile data throughout the day.
In 2019, CloudExtel secured exclusive rights with RailTel, the telecom subsidiary of Indian Railways, to launch a neutral-host NaaS pilot project at nine stations along the western suburban transit system in Mumbai, with Mumbai Central as the pilot station for launch beginning in early 2022. At peak times, more than one train per minute travels through the station, amounting to more than 230,000 passengers daily. While the station offers free public WiFi, slow network speeds and swapping between cellular and WiFi networks proved to be a less than ideal connectivity solution for travellers.
CloudExtel needed to prove the technical and commercial viability of its approach as the first demonstration of urban NaaS in India. Working with the Telcom Infra Project (TIP) to define the business model and Nokia for technology and equipment, CloudExtel worked to demonstrate how the solution could meet aggressive service level agreement (SLA) targets for partner MNOs Vodafone Idea Limited and Bharti Airtel Limited by operating and optimizing the network.
The technology needed to be implemented and managed with a minimal footprint due to the limited space and power at the site. Six remote radio units were placed strategically across the station’s waiting area, five platforms and three pedestrian bridges, utilizing a single backhaul unit. The power drawn from the equipment was minimal, and the small number of units minimized the impact of installation and day-to-day operations.
The neutral-host NaaS solution evidenced that it could meet and exceed partner SLA targets while adhering to RailTel’s space and operational requirements in the four-month trial. The station experienced a tenfold service quality improvement, from 4Mbps to 40Mbps peak throughput, and an uplift of more than 20% organic traffic in the local area. Currently the solution is carrying 990Gb of payload across two MNOs every day.
The CloudExtel solution offers a lower total cost of ownership in comparison to the existing self-deployed operator solution, resulting in delivering a lower cost per Gb. Other benefits include improved QoS, increased speed, and enhanced payload and experience for network subscribers; reduced risk of customer dissatisfaction and churn; flexible, cost-effective solution designed to scale and support multiple MNOs sharing the same active infrastructure.
Down the tracks
Following the Mumbai Central Station pilot, CloudExtel is expanding the shared NaaS network model to eight additional stations across Mumbai, serving up to 2 million travellers daily. This neutral-host urban NaaS solution will improve connectivity where individual MNO solutions are not economically or logistically viable. This demonstration of the benefits of urban NaaS will help drive acceptance of shared urban networks across India and other parts of the globe.
