Hidden value: Aggressive traffic management gives CellularOne Puerto Rico a competitive edge

Cellular, personal communication services and paging service providers are facing a battalion of new competitors and are losing up to 30% of their customers annually.

Yet while these carriers battle to keep profit margins up and customer churn down, they may be overlooking a virtual arsenal of ammunition they already own: the data that is routinely captured on their network. Gathering and using such information to proactively improve network performance can provide a significant competitive advantage.

One of the most powerful benefits of monitoring wireless network traffic is the ability to predict trouble spots such as near-capacity cell sites, or to foresee network shortcomings through uncharacteristic traffic patterns. Other benefits include being able to anticipate interference from new construction or seasonal changes, and speeding network recovery when a failure occurs.

To fully benefit from the value of network monitoring, it is crucial to take the information one step further-to analyze it. Which cell sites are overloaded or underused? Where is a new antenna needed most? What would be the best angle for this antenna? Would it be profitable to build out the network, and where? When is the network being used the most-and the least? Network reports will answer these questions, and when the reports are promptly analyzed, they will help service providers optimize their networks.

A win in Puerto Rico CellularOne Puerto Rico is one service provider that is turning its information into intelligence. In 1996, the company called on Realogic, a Cleveland-based international consulting and systems integration firm, to narrow the search for an enhanced network management system.

The carrier's goals were simple. It wanted to increase customer satisfaction by reducing downtime, create reporting capabilities to trace traffic patterns for marketing and buildout plans, implement automatic alarms to warn technicians of current or potential network difficulties, and optimize the network.

Realogic recommended CNET's Options software package, which integrates RF propagation, traffic analysis and network monitoring functionality. Key to this endorsement was the system's traffic monitoring components, known as Traffic Trending Tool, which can be integrated with basic operating system network management software.

With the Traffic Trending Tool, CellularOne Puerto Rico is able to compare current traffic patterns with normal standards and send an alarm to its network operations center (NOC) if current traffic drops below or rises above the self-defined "normal" levels (Figure 1). This proactive management of the network has resulted in fewer trouble tickets, reduced system downtime and happier customers.

An aggressive traffic management system can be especially useful for network recovery. During a lightning storm or gale force winds, many things can cause cell sites to fail. An antenna can be turned, or a tree may fall.

Detecting a damaged cell site may take days if the service provider is depending on customer complaints or routine maintenance to identify the problem. Traffic management software will immediately indicate a dip in traffic.

This is especially important for CellularOne Puerto Rico, which is located where hurricanes can cause frequent cell site damage. Instead of being dispatched to each cell site to assess any damage as they were before, technicians now are automatically paged to the exact source of the failure.

CellularOne Puerto Rico's new traffic management system enables the company to approach network management strategically, instead of simply reacting to problems as they occur. The system gathers and filters various operational measurements from elements throughout the network to produce an accurate, real-time network view.

The system's analytical capabilities allow the company to consider many aspects of the equation-peak vs. non-peak equipment usage, optimization of current equipment and resource blocking. This information also allows the carrier to plan its network buildout up to one year in advance. Before building additional cell sites, a cost-conscious service provider will weigh the service effect of cell site behavior during peak traffic times against the cost of idle channels during off-peak times.

The traffic management system will allow a service provider to create a "traffic movie" of its network, overlaying cell site performance on terrain and roads and displaying its behavior in a frame-by-frame display. This movie allows the user to investigate traffic history. Traffic patterns over any designated period of time can be "played" frame-by-frame for the viewer.

By watching these patterns, traffic engineers may determine the cause of network problems and the best method for resolving them. That method could include capital investment, network reconfiguration or, for isolated occurrences, simply doing nothing. The last strategy would be appropriate if a traffic peak is caused by a traffic accident, for example, or even a passing parade.

By using traffic management, CellularOne Puerto Rico has tracked one particular noteworthy traffic pattern in its region: The network peaks during rainy Friday paydays. Because these odd traffic patterns can skew the results, they are no longer figured into the equation when considering network buildouts.

Once the network is built, CellularOne Puerto Rico's network management system helps optimize traffic flow throughout the network. With a real-time view of the network, technicians can pinpoint any surplus or deficiency and make adjustments to optimize the use of infrastructure, trunks and antennas, and to keep customers satisfied.

Shorter, smarter reports Technicians have always relied on network-generated reports to manage wireless networks. But the outcome is only as good as the information received.

Traditional network traffic reports produce a great deal of paperwork and require a trained technician to spend a significant amount of time analyzing the information. Before implementing its new network management system, CellularOne Puerto Rico would generate a three-foot stack of paper with 18 Excel spreadsheets each morning that would need to be evaluated.

Day-old information meant slow repairs and unhappy customers. Furthermore, without real-time network status, CellularOne was unable to be proactive with repairs or to optimize its network.

With its new integrated network management system, CellularOne Puerto Rico technicians now can view 23 near real-time reports of traffic trends and network performance. Each one- to two-page report features charts and graphs that are easy to understand and provide data such as call completions, call attempts, blocked calls or the number of analog or digital dropped calls-all in a meaningful format (Figure 2).

With these automatic reporting capabilities, CellularOne Puerto Rico has reduced its network operations center staff from 18 to 12, with three employees solely responsible for monitoring network traffic.

In addition to assisting with real-time network performance monitoring, the right reports may be a service provider's best ally when seeking approval for network buildouts from investors, management or local government officials.

A resource blocking report, for example, is a helpful way to link a dollar amount to network behavior to help gain financing for a network buildout. This report captures the amount of revenue lost in a specified amount of time because of dropped calls, cell site damage or overload (Figure 3).

For example, a service provider might notice that 25% of calls at cell site No. 15 are being dropped because the site is at full capacity. By using a resource blocking report, technicians can analyze not only the revenue those calls could have generated, but how long it will take to recoup the initial cost of installing a new cell site. Investors will more likely support the service provider that has gathered these reports.

CellularOne Puerto Rico's most recent attempt to gain approval to build an additional cell site was successful for all those involved. Not only was the company's request approved, but the investor's time was well used. The investor based its decision on data presented in charts, graphs and dollar amounts. CellularOne Puerto Rico received the answer it wanted in one day, compared with weeks or months as before.

Reports also are beneficial in spotting underused networks. Unused channels can easily be identified in a charted format. If one site is at 98% capacity but a second site is only at 40% capacity, the service provider could relocate some equipment to optimize the network investment.

CellularOne Puerto Rico also was able to trace defects in a vendor's software and products through its new network management system. The carrier then was able to work with the vendor to resolve the issue. Without the reporting capabilities, technicians might have continued to assume the error was in the company's own infrastructure.

Ultimately, a sophisticated traffic management system can help carriers offer their customers higher-quality calls, more dependable service with fewer dropped calls and less downtime, and better network accessibility. All this greatly reduces the likelihood that a customer will want to change providers.

By managing its own network information, a carrier can help keep customers satisfied.