MTS, the largest mobile network operator in Russia, and Huawei jointly implemented the world's first commercial use of Smart 8T8R in Moscow recently. The operator's 4T4R networks were upgraded to 8T8R in the city's hotspots, increasing capacity by 1.9 times and improving user experience by 2.1 times.
Such performance boost greatly relieves the capacity pressure on the networks while ensuring high-quality service experience. The success of this deployment reflects the two's strong innovation capabilities, and is an important part of MTS's strategy to build high-quality 5G-ready 4G networks.
With the rapid development of mobile Internet applications, services such as HD videos and online gaming are posing huge challenges to the MBB network capacity. The Smart 8T8R solution maximizes network capacity and user experience by utilizing existing site and spectrum resources. This is fundamental for operators to meet common capacity requirements.
The Smart 8T8R solution incorporates software-defined antennas (SDAs), FDD dual-band 8T8R RRUs, and Huawei's innovative algorithms. This solution is one of the important solutions that Huawei provides to facilitate the transition to 5G. With one-time hardware deployment, it enables software upgrades on demand, capacity increase of 2G, 3G, and 4G sectors, and smooth upgrade to 5G. This is crucial for operators to reduce fixed capital and operational expenses.
SDA supports flexible software configuration of 4T4R multi-sector or 8T8R three-sector, enabling 2G, 3G, 4G, as well as 5G three-sector and multi-sector to flexibly co-exist without secondary antenna investment. This means that operators can expand network capacity and upgrade to 5G technology without needing to replace antennas, fully protecting their investment.
The dual-band 8T8R RRU is the first ever product in the industry that supports both 1.8 GHz and 2.1 GHz FDD bands, reducing tower space and rent. In addition, this module supports power sharing between different bands and RATs, improving user experience in cells.
Dmitriy Sivkov, Director of MTS Moscow Development Department, said, "MTS provides premium service experience through leading technologies. The commercial use of Smart 8T8R enhances user experience and protects network investment, as well as diversifies the options for developing networks and services. MTS will continue to explore and implement more technological breakthroughs with Huawei to build top-quality networks."
Source: https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2020/12/mts-commercial-use-smart-8t8r