Ericsson, MTN Test First UMTS 900 MHz Roll-Out in Africa

Ericsson has said that it successfully trialed a 3G network at 900 MHz for the first time on the African continent with operator MTN Ghana. Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the access, transport and transmission of 3G UMTS 900 MHz, where roll-out will begin in Q2 2010. Additionally, Ericsson developed advanced special features and assisted with the spectrum optimisation of GSM to free up just 3.8MHz required for UMTS 900 MHz.
Lars Lindén, President, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, said by leveraging off their existing installed Ericsson 3G Radio Access Network and enabling UMTS in 900 MHz, not only can voice, video and high speed data calls be carried over the network, but operators benefit from having one network delivering all services with the lowest total cost of ownership.
According to a GSMA report, UMTS 900 provides between 44% (in urban areas) and 119% (rural areas) increased coverage per Node-B compared with UMTS 2100. This is primarily due to the propagation characteristics of the lower frequency band and leads directly to lower CAPEX and increased mobility benefits, providing a new option, with greater service capability, for operators who may wish to replace their GSM networks.
Eben Albertyn, chief technical officer, MTN Ghana, said that Ericsson's solid position as an established infrastructural provider in the local and international market and the diverse connectivity services they are able to offer MTN Ghana, allows them to continue to grow their network coverage locally as well as into many rural and remote sites - bringing voice and data services to our growing subscribers.
The trial was completed with legacy 3G RBS 3418 main-remote equipment, previously installed by MTN Ghana.