Huawei and Ethiopia’s top operator, Ethio Telecom, declared that the first batch of Solar-on-Tower solutions in Africa has been successfully deployed commercially and is operating steadily.
What the Huawei-Ethio Telecom partnership intends to achieve
With this partnership, Ethio Telecom enters a new stage in its quest for a low-carbon, environmentally friendly transition. It will create a green network, promote clean energy applications, and establish a new standard for technology in African telecommunications.
The Solar-on-Tower solution creatively incorporates photovoltaic panels on telecom towers to solve the problems of scarce land and space for solar power system installation in urban areas.
Within two days of Ethio Telecom’s installation, the site could produce and consume its own solar energy.
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The first batch of the Solar-on-Tower deployment has shown that the solar power supply at the sites can last up to four hours while reducing the use of diesel generators from six to two hours. This achieves a 40 per cent reduction in fuel consumption per site.
Addressing challenges of limited land via Solar-on-Tower solutions
Space limitations prevent thousands of sites in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, from implementing more energy-efficient technologies, like conventional ground-based photovoltaic systems.
Solar-on-Tower is the first viable and effective way to speed up the transition from conventional energy when space is limited for Africa’s telecom sector.
Huawei and Ethio Telecom reaffirmed their commitment to continuing to collaborate to develop top-notch ICT energy infrastructure in the future, supporting networks’ low-carbon and green transformation and boosting their resilience.
Huawei’s GigaAAU FDD tri-band Massive MIMO solution drives Ethio Telecom’s 4G traffic by 70% in North Africa
In partnership with Etho Telecom, Huawei announced on August 15 the deployment of the first-ever GigaAAU FDD tri-band Massive MIMO site in North Africa.
GigaAAU FDD Tri-Band Massive MIMO is a cutting-edge technology developed by Huawei that integrates three frequency bands (1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, and 2.6 GHz) into a single Active Antenna Unit (AAU). This solution enables one-time tri-band deployment without increasing antennas, simplifying network expansion.
This groundbreaking solution greatly enhances Ethio Telecom’s network performance and user experience, making it a key driver of the region’s digital economy.
According to the operator’s live network statistics, the solution is operational. The network easily handles growing demands, as evidenced by the 70 per cent increase in 4G traffic.
Additionally, users’ perceptions of the average network speed have increased significantly by 68 per cent. Even during peak hours, users can enjoy immersive online gaming, seamless video streaming, and quick file downloads.
Huawei’s GigaAAU FDD tri-band Massive MIMO solution supports the industry’s highest transmit power, 720W. Combining three bands (1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, and 2.6 GHz) into a single AAU using state-of-the-art Real Wide Bandwidth and Compact Dipole technologies allows for one-time tri-band deployment without additional antennas.
Huawei’s GigaAAU FDD tri-band Massive MIMO solution handles complex traffic and interference
The solution employs intelligent beamforming and enhanced scheduling to handle complex traffic and interference.
This allows for intelligent interference avoidance and dynamic beam movement with users, increasing network speeds per user by 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
With off-peak power consumption close to zero, the solution also offers “0 bit 0 watt” energy savings. The solution has received significant recognition from telecom operators after being tested and implemented live on more than 20 networks worldwide.
Significant milestone of Huawei and Ethio Telecom’s age-long partnership
Ethio Telecom has advanced digital transformation with Huawei’s assistance for years while enhancing network competitiveness through innovation.
Both businesses successfully deployed the first FDD BladeAAU solution in North Africa, overcoming network capacity issues brought on by a lack of available antenna installation space.
As the GigaAAU FDD tri-band Massive MIMO site is now commercially available, the two-party partnership still produces significant outcomes, advancing Ethio Telecom’s digital transformation and providing customers with improved digital services.