Explosive growth in mobile broadband requires massive capacity expansions, while operators’ CAPEX and OPEX budgets are limited and ARPU growth is reaching saturation. Therefore, it is paramount to ensure that network investments are carried out exactly where and when needed. Research conducted in a Tier-1 operator has shown that manual capacity planning can lead to over-investment in some areas, while others cannot serve their traffic demand with the required Quality of Service.

To provide the intended Quality of Service and make accurate investment decisions, adding capacity exactly when and where required, MTN Group has selected Optimi as a preferred supplier for Automated Traffic and Transmission Planning.

As required to ensure a consistent and balanced design, Optimi is providing MTN with xDimension, an end-to-end solution that integrates automated capacity planning and configuration management for RAN, Core and Transmission, supporting 2G/3G, WiMax and LTE.

With the current growth in data traffic, the availability of an integrated Transmission planning module is critical, since transmission requirements in mobile networks are expected to explode as available capacity upgrades for the 3G radio interface, such as 64QAM and MIMO, are rolled out.

Optimi’s MEA Sales Director, Faisal Ashour, commented: “We feel honored to have been selected, once again, by MTN. We are sure that MTN will immediately benefit from the competitive advantages of the xDimension solution in terms of more accurate budget planning and more efficient day-to-day operations.”

Mr Navi Naidoo, General Manager for Network Technology at MTN Group, highlighted: “The growth in mobile broadband is demanding more capacity at all levels, and these capacity upgrades need to be planned in the sharpest possible way, satisfying performance requirements with current CAPEX and OPEX budgets. To carry out this challenging task, we have selected Optimi’s xDimension because it demonstrated to be a comprehensive, flexible and technically sound solution that thoroughly addresses all our needs in this arena.”