Round 'em up!

To assist with its network upgrade for the Olympics in Atlanta, BellSouth Mobility is bringing in the herd. The company is using 10 cells-on-wheels (COWs) and eight cells-on-light trucks (COLTs) from Lucent Technologies around the north Georgia area-particularly at Olympic venues-to increase system capacity and coverage. Both COWs and COLTs are full-blown Lucent Series II macrocell sites similar to the ones deployed throughout BellSouth Mobility's network. Each COW can provide up to 200 available voice channels. Each COLT can provide 40. Channels are dual-mode capable. The carrier's only previous use of portable equipment like this has been in cases of emergencies. "We've used portable cells before, especially in disaster situations such as hurricanes," says Odie Donald, president of BellSouth Mobility. "But no one has ever used them on the scale that BellSouth Mobility will during the Olympics." COWs are somewhat permanent grazers that consist of a 8-foot by 20-foot trailer with an equipment building mounted on top that houses the cell site equipment. The transmission tower is a 62-foot-high telescopic pole. COLTs are roamers-small, portable trucks with 14-foot covered beds that hold equipment inside. COLTs also feature telescopic transmission towers that rise as high as 62 feet. For BellSouth Mobility, installation is fairly simple: Once the COWs and COLTs are in place, the carrier connects a T-1 line and a power source and integrates the site into the RF environment. Most of the COWs will stay in place throughout the games, but some of the COLTs will likely be transported from venue to venue as demand dictates.