Huawei’s ‘Butterfly’ mobile network site solution has seen its first commercial deployment in Bangladesh, the Chinese vendor announced. The solution reduces equipment, transmission, construction and power supply costs, with the aim of extending rural/suburban network coverage by trimming operators’ total cost of ownership (TCO) by 30% – particularly relevant in Bangladesh where approximately 70% of the population lives in rural areas. Butterfly sites support concurrent GSM/UMTS services and ‘a smooth evolution to LTE,’ Huawei adds, whilst also claiming that the solution has already ‘expanded the profitable coverage area by 40%’ in suburbs of Dhaka. Huawei’s press release did not name its initial mobile network operating partner.