The Manhattan Project AT&T Wireless invades the Big Apple with microcells >BY LARRY LUXNER, Special to Telephony

They'll never compete with Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty for attention. In all likelihood, few New Yorkers-let alone tourists-will ever notice their presence.

A forest of microcell antennas is quietly rising throughout midtown Manhattan that will make a world of difference to wireless customers. The network upgrade is part of a multimillion-dollar effort by AT&T Wireless Services to bolster its network against competition from old rivals such as Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile and newcomers such as Sprint PCS, Omnipoint and NextWave.

Dubbed "The Manhattan Project" by AT&T staff engineers, the $30 million-plus undertaking uses Ericsson equipment and technology to erect microcell antennas in strategic locations throughout the city.

"Three years ago, we had a very high-density macrocellular system that was getting filled to capacity," said John Rasweiler, a senior RF engineer for AT&T Wireless' Manhattan region. "We couldn't build any more macrocellular sites because of the building clutter. Signals would be shooting into high buildings and walls.

It is a common problem in urban areas, but it is particularly acute in New York, which has a population density of more than 24,000 people per square mile. That, along with the presence of hundreds of skyscrapers, made the region an ideal place for deploying microcells to improve signal quality while saving money.

"A conventional macrocell costs $500,000 to $1 million [to build], not to mention architectural plans and permits," Rasweiler said. "A microcell costs one-third as much and you don't have to build a room around it.

The microcell project began in earnest in the summer of 1994. So far, 55 microcells are on the air in Midtown Manhattan, a three-square-mile area bounded by 20th Street on the south, 65th Street on the north, Second Avenue on the east and Tenth Avenue on the west. Ten more microcells are currently under construction. AT&T Wireless has "a couple dozen" microcells in use in Lower Manhattan, Rasweiler said.

Each site uses Ericsson 882DM equipment, but AT&T plans to use Ericsson 884 base stations in the future. All cells are equipped for IS-136 time division multiple access (TDMA), AT&T's digital platform of choice. Antennas are typically placed on buildings between 25 and 50 feet above ground level and are carefully camouflaged to blend in with the surroundings.

"We have to be very sensitive to aesthetics so we don't deface what's considered a historical site," said Rasweiler.

The Lower Manhattan upgrade was designed to improve poor signal quality, while the Midtown improvements were driven by the high number of customers in that region, Rasweiler said. AT&T Wireless has about 1 million customers in the New York market and is upping its capacity all over the country in both its 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz markets.

"It's all driven by demand," said Mike Buhrmann, vice president of wireless strategies at AT&T Wireless in Seattle. "We're happy with the capacity of our TDMA systems, and as we require more capacity we'll put in more microcells. But it's not something we're going to put in everywhere because we don't need that capacity in every market."