The Evolution In RAN Optimization Tools For Small Cells, C-RAN And IoT

A conversation with Said Mokbel, VP of Wireless Technology Development, Chief Technology Office, TELUS

The way mobile operators optimize the RAN and maximize RAN resource utilization is changing a mobile networks become more complex, and subscribers – as well as IoT devices – use them more intensively. In this conversation with Said Mokbel, VP of Wireless Technology Development, Chief Technology Office, TELUS in Canada, we talked how IoT traffic characteristics change the way mobile operators can optimize the use of the network infrastructure they have.
Said told us: “We have focused traditionally on broadband, and trying to squeeze more bandwidth in and have wider channels, but I don’t think we have paid attention as much to the number of connections we need to serve, many of which could be stationary, or semi-stationary. And many of which do not need to transmit in a uniform fashion, or in a two-way duplex fashion.”
As the complexity of the network increases, automation is no longer a nice-to-have feature, but a necessity, as Said pointed out: “We’ve been experimenting with them for years, and deploying them. The optimization of small cells uses good RF engineering, but it also requires a lot of automation.”
Read the full interview to find out more about Said Mokbel perspective on how RAN optimization is changing as small cells, C-RAN and IoT become part of mobile networks.

Show more