Wireless Carrier

Base Station Backhaul

Transform backhaul challenges
into market advantage

The undisputed leader in designing and

developing unlicensed Point-to-Point, LTE
and WiMax systems, the name Motorola
has become synonymous with high
performance, security and
reliable connectivity.

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

Transform Backhaul Challenges

into Market Advantage
As subscribers demand for bandwidth is exploding, their
expectations for where service is available are also expanding
quickly. Accommodating this surge can be a challenge for service
providers, particularly when natural and man-made obstacles
or low-density rural areas limit your options for building out the
core transmission system. But if you can overcome these barriers
and deliver ubiquitous, high-quality connectivity in more areas,
adverse circumstances can become competitive advantages.
Subscribers select and stay with service providers that deliver the
bandwidth needed to drive their apps.
The latest generation of smart-phones generates about 30
times more data traffic than previous phones, and LTE and
WiMAX handsets will consume even more bandwidth.
30% of US mobile owners are now browsing the mobile
Internet, according to comScore. Burgeoning demand is
forcing service providers such as AT&T to consider moving
away from unlimited data plans to control usage.

Number of Cell Sites in Live Commercial Service

600,000
Pure Ethernet Voice and Data
Pure Ethernet Data Only
Hybrid TDM/Ethernet
400,000

200,000

End
2008

End
2009

End
2010

End
2011

End
2012

End
2013

Source : Heavy Readings Ethernet Backhaul Quarterly Tracker Service

Demand is increasing for wireless access in rural and

hard-to-reach areas.
IP backhaul is now opening new options to fill gaps in narrowband TDM-based microwave infrastructure and accommodate
temporary and emerging market demand.
With wireless IP backhaul you can grow as you go. Service
providers can avoid big up-front planning and installation costs
and more closely match capacity upgrades to demand and
revenue. Wireless IP links are a cost-effective way to provide
connectivity quickly and economically in a broader set
of environments.

2 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

Legacy Limitations
Today, about 50% of global backhaul runs on licensed microwave
links, most of them TDM-based. The other half is carried by copper
and fiber. This infrastructure paradigm can limit service provider
growth and agility in two ways: First is its inability to accommodate
obstructions when needed to restore service quickly in the wake of
a natural disaster. Second are the capital limitations which prevent
infrastructure build-out from keeping pace with demand, particularly
in rural areas. Status quo wireless microwave links are leaving
these problems unsolved. A broader array of flexible and easily
deployable solutions is needed to accommodate these challenges
and supplement existing investments.
2009 Global Cell Site Connectivity

Copper 15%

Fibre 37%

Microwave 48%

Most vendors new products offer incremental improvements over

legacy TDM-based links. Continuing to invest capital only in this
type of infrastructure solution can boosts costs, risks bottlenecks
that impede access and puts pressure on average margin per user.
With a partner like Motorola that has the domain expertise and
a broader product portfolio required to address all of your service
challenges, you can expand your reach and grow along with
market demand.
As a global communications pioneer, Motorola is an
undisputed leader in designing reliability and performance
into broadband networksmost notably those tested
by extreme conditions. The name Motorola has become
synonymous with secure and reliable connectivity, even
when connecting across large bodies of water and tough
non-line of sight environments, both urban and rural.
The unrivaled performance of Motorolas family of PTP products
is possible due to Motorolas unique combination of technologies
which includes Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO),
intelligent Dynamic Frequency Selection (i-DFS) and Adaptive
Modulation. These technologies work together to overcome
obstacles, mitigate interference and enable long-distance
communications with high spectral efficiency and up to fivenines of reliability.

3 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

A Wireless World
IP-based wireless backhaul infrastructure delivers the agility
and speed of execution essential to addressing both anticipated
and unanticipated capacity demands. With wireless backhaul
solutions, assets are not buried, so equipment can be quickly
redeployed as needs change.
Fill gaps in your backhaul infrastructure and gain operational
flexibility by leveraging the full breadth of Motorolas PTP portfolio
to find the right product for virtually any need. Expand to new
markets that have been economically or physically infeasible.

Hard-to-Reach Markets
Each network includes tower location real estate
constraints that create hard-to-reach areas. When
licensed band backhaul is deployed, tower locations
are additionally limited by line of sight constraints. That
can leave gaps in the coverage area even when very
high towers are used and that leads to dissatisfied
subscribers and missed revenue opportunities.
Our unlicensed non-line of sight links have no such restrictions.
Links can be deployed to get around partial obstructions.
Motorolas unlicensed band products incorporate features that
mitigate interference, such as monitoring the whole spectrum
in real-time, choosing the channel that supports the highest
throughput, and generating alarms if the channel gets degraded.
Use of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) with intelligent
OFDM enables the radios to leverage the full strength of multipath RF and reflected signals to create solid and highly reliable
connections. That means areas that were previously too costly to
serve due to inaccessibility now become viable.

Connecting to Hard to Reach Locations

It was Motorolas unlicensed technology that originally enabled

wireless providers to extend broadband services to remote areas
and backhaul traffic with unprecedented efficiency. Motorolas
broad, proven PTP portfolio has a link for virtually any throughput

4 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

and non-line-of-sight requirement. Motorola radios have

exceptional link performance through better spectral efficiency,
dynamic frequency selection, horizontal and vertical polarization
and high power.
PTP LINKPlanner determines the optimal PTP link type and
antenna combination to establish carrier-grade, reliable links
to hard-to-reach areas.
PTP radios such as the PTP 500 or PTP 600 offer data rates
of 105 and 300 Mbps respectively and distances of up to 155
and 124 miles line-of-sight with external antennas.
Motorolas built-in T1/E1 port supplemented by a
RAD multiplexer as needed supports 2/2.5G tower
communications backhaul.

Emergency Recovery
When a backhaul network fails due to issues such as high
winds, floods or other forces of nature, re-establishing
service quickly is critical to keeping subscribers satisfied.
Emergency workers are also increasingly dependent upon
wireless broadband devices to coordinate disaster relief,
including exchanging images and video to communicate
rescue and repair requirements in near-real time. Robust
bandwidth can be critical to facilitate these efforts.

microwave links often dictate the size of antenna that must be

used. A solution can begin to function and deliver revenue in a
fraction of the time required for other solutions.
After emergency needs are addressed, service providers can
leverage the investment in wireless IP backhaul equipment
redeploying it to fulfill other temporary needs, such as supporting
heavy bandwidth demand at outdoor sporting events or festivals.
Motorola products enable rapid design and implementation
so that a high-confidence plan is in place before a truck
roll. We designed our links to be easy to install so that
deployment is streamlined.
PTP LINKPlanner quickly and easily determines which
potential Cell-On-Wheels locations can be reached with
a PTP line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight link at the required
throughput.
Lightweight, low-power PTP 500 or PTP 600 Ethernet bridges
can be pre-mounted on Cell-On-Wheels portable antenna
booms with spatial diversity antennas for maximum link
budget flexibility. PTP systems are engineered to withstand
severe weather conditions and wind speeds up to 202 miles
per hour (325 km/h).

Rapidly deployable wireless IP backhaul links quickly reestablish connections to base stations to dramatically
reduce downtime and loss of revenue. Our unlicensed
band radios deploy quickly with no delays waiting
for a spectrum license. The ability to rapidly
deploy a backhaul recovery solution is a
major advantage of using our license
exempt Motorola PTP links as
is the flexibility of antenna
solutionssince licensed
Backhaul failure due to forces
of nature can be complicated
and costly to repair. Motorola
deploys wireless links quickly
with minimal delays.

5 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

Developing New Markets

New markets often have initially lower subscriber density and
unproven revenue streams. But few service providers can afford
to build out speculative infrastructure. Making a smaller initial
investment in a new market and investing further as revenue
expands can be an efficient way to drive profitable growth.
Wireless IP backhaul enables service providers to move quickly
to capture new opportunities as they emerge, or respond to
changing conditions ahead of the competition.
As emerging markets grow into established service areas, some
links can be transitioned to licensed band or fiber links, and the
initial wireless IP backhaul equipment can be easily redeployed
to the next new opportunity area. Motorola PTP products offer
excellent scalability to meet the ever-increasing demand for more
bandwidth in more places.

Motorola can offer turn-key wireless backhaul networks with

its end-to-end PTP portfolio and relationship with Extreme
Networks for MPLS or PBB switching solutions as well as
integration with legacy 2/2.5G wireless voice infrastructure.
Motorola PTP backhaul networks are easy to plan with
PTP LINKPlanner, which helps quickly determine the best
backhaul network design based on terrain height profiles,
obstructions and antenna heights. PTP LINKPlanner also
recommends the most capital-efficient radios and antennas
to fit reliability and service demands.
Motorola PTP units are known for being easy to deploy.
They can be quickly mounted, configured and even aligned
with a built-in alignment tool that generates an audible
tone when the maximum RF signal is achieved. Each unit
also has a built-in diagnostic tools that supports efficient
troubleshooting and full radio optimization.

Develop new lower density

markets with a low initial
backhaul investment

6 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

Future-proof with Wireless IP

Beyond short-term opportunities, service providers adopting
wireless IP backhaul can start the transition to a new, more
efficient transmission system. They can create hybrid environments
that combine licensed microwave and unlicensed wireless IP
backhaul to ensure robust, ubiquitous performance today while
initiating a smooth migration to an all-IP-based network.
Legacy networks employed costly SDH and PDH transmission
links using time division technologies to backhaul aggregated
narrowband traffic to a large and expensive central office switch.
Redundant microwave equipment and dual polarization were
essential for protection because so much traffic was aggregated
in a single direction and spectrum became congested. This
required a second pair of radios for each hop, adding to capital
and operational costs.

Same Capacity & Reliability Lower $

TreeStar

Hybrid Ring
Tree Star

Hybrid Ring
Tree Star

Nodes

24

24

24

Total Hops

28

24

24

Protected Hops (+1 radio)

10

OPEX Hops (+1 Radio)

Total Radios

65

55

48

Self Healing
Better use of capital (no hardware in standby mode)
Angular diversity, hops point in different directions
Optimized for Next Generation all IP networks
PTP800 Licensed hop
364Mbps or Long Range

Expand/split ring to grow capacity

PTP600/800 Unlicensed
hop to distant rural
community or island

Evolution to fiber as data

throughput demand grows
Flat ring based architecture provides consistent
and reliable connectivity in all directions

7 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul

Wireless IP networks can be deployed using flat ring-based

architecture, so traffic can be distributed by design through one
of several routes. Less traffic is concentrated in any one direction
and can be rerouted at many different nodes in the network by the
distributed switching. The network has inherent redundancy and
is much better at delivering mixed services of data (multimedia)
and voice since bandwidth is much more easily directed where it
is required. Capital and operating costs are significantly reduced.

Seize the Opportunity

Unprecedented demand for access means service providers must
address short-term network gaps while architecting for the future.
Now is the perfect time to turn this challenge into a market
advantage. Let Motorola help you address todays opportunities
rapidly and cost efficiently while building agility and efficiency into
your network infrastructure to satisfy tomorrows network demands.

The result is a network design with the flexibility and reliability

essential for future requirements and optimized to deliver the
latest services in a highly competitive marketplace. As service
providers transition to this architecture, Motorolas expertise
and product breadth delivers unmatched ability to employ hybrid
solutions using both licensed and unlicensed band to drive a
complete solution.

Experience Matters
The right partner is critical to help transform transmission system
challenges into opportunities. Motorola has deep expertise in
integrating with 2G, 3G, WiMAX and LTE core infrastructure and
is a market leader in the unlicensed Point-to-Point market as well
as in mobile devices. We understand how to develop highly robust
RF communications links.
Our Point-to-Point links are used for military and public
safety systems where lives depend on systems working
at all times.
We know how to design transmission systems that work
together to deliver rock-solid performance.
The mean-time-between-failure based on current field
performance of our PTP 300/500/600 is over 100 years.

8 | Wireless Carrier Base Station Backhaul | Transform backhaul challenges into market advantage

Motorola delivers seamless connectivity that puts

real-time information in the hands of users, giving
customers the agility they need to grow their
business or better protect and serve the public.
Working seamlessly together with its world-class
devices, Motorolas unrivaled wireless network
solutions include indoor WLAN, outdoor wireless
mesh, Point-to-Multipoint, Point-to-Point networks
and voice over WLAN solutions. Combined with
powerful software for wireless network design,
security, management and troubleshooting,
Motorolas solutions deliver trusted networking and
anywhere access to organizations across the globe.

motorola.com/wns

GO-27-107