A conversation with Ian Miller, director of radio access networks, Telefónica
Download a transcript of the interview and be the first to receive the smart RAN report
The complexity of mobile networks is increasing as their performance and capacity improve. This makes the task of optimizing the radio access networks even more important, but also more time consuming. To benefit from the new optimization tools that are available, Ian Miller, director of radio access networks at Telefónica, believes that automation is a key enabler.
Miller told us: “We found that it was almost impossible for engineers to keep on top of the constantly changing networks, and that we really needed an automated way of taking logs from the network and automating processes, like neighbor planning and antenna tilts, so that we could maintain network quality.”
We also talked about how to use quality of experience data to fine-tune RAN performance.
“We have had to broaden our horizons about the data sets we utilize,” Miller said. “Traditionally, we have used performance counters and drive testing. In a data world we continue to do these things, but we are also now looking at other solutions, like crowdsourcing data. [Now], we are deploying a more end-to-end, holistic customer experience that get a good appreciation of how long it is taking customers to do certain tasks and what task they are doing. They give an end-to-end view of performance, rather than just a pure element view.”
Read the full interview with Miller on how the evolution of technology and automation are changing the way we optimize the RAN.
This interview is part of our upcoming report “The smart RAN. Trends in the optimization of spectrum and network resource utilization.” We have also discussed this topic at length in our recent RAN Optimization webinar
