Network Sharing

A Business Perspective

Mohammad Hussain

Operators globally are embracing network sharing as a viable option to

reduce their operating expense and capital spending, improve and/or

expand coverage, reduce time to market, and to focus more on network

and technology refresh. With networks mature in most regions of the

world and service quality becoming the prime differentiator among the

operators, network sharing is inevitable.

Operators are more focused on the type of network sharing model to

use and how best to cooperate with their competitors in sharing their

networks while retaining control of their networks as much as possible.

This of course brings certain level of complexities into the network in

terms of execution and operations which needs to be managed carefully.

01

Globally, around 20% of operators engage in network sharing and it has

proven to be very effective in bringing down network costs. Network

sharing is prevalent in Europe, North America, and Asia. Companies

with shared networks in these countries prove to be more cost efficient

than operators that are not engaged in shared networks.

There are a variety of options that may be considered when assessing

the viability of network sharing. Passive sharing refers to the sharing

of building premises, sites and masts. Passive sharing is typically a

simpler form of network sharing, where there are still separate networks

that share the same physical space. Active sharing is a more complex

type of sharing and may include elements of the active layer of a mobile

network, such as Antennas, Radio’s, RNC’s, backhaul and transport,

as well as elements of the core network (such as switches). Roaming

in the context of network sharing means that one operator relies

on another operator’s coverage for a certain, defined footprint on a

permanent basis.

02

The sharing of sites and antennas, a combination of level one and level

two sharing, can reduce on an average 20-30% of CAPEX costs. If the

operators also share the radio network, there can be more savings,

whereby the operators can save between 25 and 45%. Finally, the sharing

of all the assets would decrease CAPEX by an additional 10%. Promoting

network sharing is a useful tool to encourage network deployment and

coverage improvement in developing and emerging markets and un-

served or under-served areas.

Roaming produces benefits primarily through delayed or reduced

investment in network infrastructure. This is particularly beneficial to new

entrants who require time to establish coverage footprints similar to that

of incumbents. Operators in Emerging markets have strong roaming

agreements, specially, in Middle East and rely on roamers to extend their

services and coverage in the visiting country for roamers.

03

We have discussed multiple types of approaches to network sharing

in this article. What model of network sharing to adopt depends on

type of Operator’s network and/or business model. Huawei has been

very active partner of operators in Network Sharing across the globe

and has lead operators to select a profitable network sharing scenario

and support in E2E network planning. With its state of the art tools

from traffic analysis, coverage mappings, user/terminal distribution, to

hotspot identifications, Huawei has been helping operators, globally, on

how best to supplement each other’s coverage gaps, help in faster and

affordable network establishment, and improving network quality and

user experience.

Huawei’s rich experience in Network Sharing with solutions such as

Multi-carrier Capable Radio Frequency Units that can handle carrier’s

from different operators such that each operator can independently

provision and control their own users. The SingleRAN solution from

Huawei, can easily be shared by multiple operators thereby reducing

Capex and Opex investments. Finally, Huawei’s consulting services

with experienced and skilled professionals, best practices, and thought

leadership offers best in class turnkey solutions for customers by

mapping business objectives to network and operational requirements

to produce business case based on optimal network sharing scenario

for the operator and develop detail E2E Planning & Design documents.

Huawei has successfully delivered 14 of 16 network sharing cases

throughout the globe in the past few years.

With ever increasing data usage, OTT players encroaching on the

shrinking revenues of operators there continues to be downward

pressures, on operators, to optimize costs, increase operational

efficiencies, and grow the business while providing superior E2E user

experience. In this environment, network sharing offers the solution

to operators to quickly overcome some of these challenges while they

expand and enhance their network.

04

05

I believe, Mobile Operators should consider network sharing as a

vehicle to cut operational and capital costs, and to focus more attention

on innovation and differentiation in customer-facing activities. Passive

Network Sharing is the simplest form for collaborating quickly, specially

for new and Greenfield operators, thereby expediting their rollout and

increasing coverage. Regulations could become an impediment for

operators if not balanced properly between demanding competition and

ensuring cost savings operators can realize by sharing their networks.

We are already seeing some relaxing of certain regulations, especially in

Europe, to encourage network sharing.