On the Cost of Meeting Future Demand in WCDMA Networks

The success of the second generation cellular systems combined with the success of the Internet led to a hyped expectation of future demand of wireless data services. The intense investments in the UMTS networks that followed this hype will have a great impact on the wireless industry during the next decades. The UMTS networks possibility to meet future demand in a cost effective way will be a key factor in understanding the future business climate. This report analyses the cost of meeting the future demand in the UMTS networks. This will be done by proposing and implementing a techno-economic bottom up model for calculating the UMTS network cost. The bottom up model is implemented in an excel spread sheet for dimensioning both access and core network. The model captures all expenditures required to deploy and operate a mobile network. Three scenarios have been created in order to evaluate the network costs in the years 2003-2015. The results show that the UMTS networks are able to manage over 1GB of asymmetric packet switched traffic, 500 minutes of voice, and 200 minutes of video telephony at a production cost of 6-16 euro a month depending on how the running costs are calculated