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News
Issue #2001 - 17
(Apr. 2001)
(Updated
April 25, 2001)
TECHNOLOGY
BT Comes Up With New Ways to Keep Network Deployment Costs
Low
The huge cost of 3G
licenses has left many European Telecoms debt ridden, forcing them
to seek new ways to generate revenue. One company that has come up
with an innovative way of making money is British Telecom: rent out
its telephone boxes to mobile firms.
As Britons are turning to the mobile phone, payphone revenues are
slowly eroding, leaving a lot of telephone boxes gathering dust. BT
intends to turn these telephone boxes into mini base stations to
allow mobile firms to patch up holes in their network coverage. The
transmitters of these low-powered base stations or microcells
promise better quality coverage in high-density urban areas,
complementing the existing microcells placed in shops and on street
signs.
The company said that the successful testing of five phone boxes
fitted with low-powered mobile phone microcells has attracted the
attention of several mobile firms looking for additional sites.
Initially, the telecom will offer over a thousand locations,
increasing to 5,000 over the next two years.
In addition, to alleviating network black spots, the transmitters
could reduce the number of large transmitters and, in turn, dampen
the backlash the industry has received from environmentalists, who
see these large towers as posing a health risk.
(Sources Reuters and BBC News)
Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: Cellular
service providers must think creatively to use existing towers and
any other asset they own to hang their microcell equipment in order
to keep costs of network deployment low and improve coverage. This
is innovative thinking on part of BT and others but you can not
raise telephone pay booths in the sky to improve coverage because
signals do need some elevation for improved coverage.
Note: This news release may contain
forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in
developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology
architectures. All trademarks used in this summary are
the property of their respective owners.
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