Europe / ASIA : ZTE Corporation, a global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, launched what it believes is the world's smallest micro base station - the ZXWR R8840 at the 3GSM World Congress 2007. The remote radio unit (RRU), just 19 litres in volume and 17 kilogrammes in weight, is a fibre fed, compact W-CDMA radio which extends the coverage range of UMTS base stations.
"The world of cellular telecommunications is undergoing a fundamental
transformation. Operators are offering cheaper calls in the home by marrying new in-home micro base stations with the subscriber's own broadband for backhaul," said Fang Hui, General Manager of ZTE's WCDMA Product Range. "As 3G enjoys increased uptake, operators are looking to plug the gaps in their coverage with performance-boosting radio solutions, and deliver on promised network speeds."
The ZXWR R8840 is a remote radio unit (RRU) product designed as part of ZTE's WCDMA O&M plant operations and management solution, used together with baseband pool products (BBU) and base station products. The ZXWR R8840 saves considerable equipment space for operators. It unites the micro base station's small size and the macro base station's powerful coverage capability, helping to meet operators' requirements in both densely populated and urban areas. Its low power consumption considerably decreases the operator's OPEX. Moreover, it can support multiple frequencies and its maximum capacity of 4 carriers enables simple network upgrades in the future.
ZTE is also announcing the development of a smaller Home NodeB product at the 3GSM exhibition. This system, being developed together with Samsung Electronics, will allow mobile operators to take advantage of fixed-line broadband networks to relieve their cellular backhaul networks, improve indoor coverage and offer cheaper in-house calling tariffs. By the time the NodeB product is put into commercial use in the second half of 2007, ZTE's new generation base station family, including its micro base station, macro base station, RRU, and Home NodeB will enable operators to provide seamless coverage under all circumstances.
