Handling voice and data traffic during mass events

A 3dB consult White Paper
Challenges and Strategies for
Mobile Network Operators in
Handling Voice and Data Traffic
During Mass Events (part I)
Mass events that bring together tens of thousands of people in a limited time and space are great ways of telling
how well prepared one or another Mobile Network Operator is for handling rapid traffic peaks.
Although subscribers are more forgiving during mass events when it takes several attempts to make a successful
call or send/receive/upload a photo, it can still leave a mark on the operators’ reputation and can affect
subscribers’ future choices.
There is also a general tendency of traffic shifting from voice to data – people are using more Instant Messaging
applications like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber and are also making calls through these apps. Another trend is the
upload of images to social media sites or even streaming live video either to friends and family or to social media
like Facebook Live. All this means that when in normal operations the Downlink data volume greatly exceeds
Uplink data, then especially during mass events the traffic distribution between DL & UL is equal or could even
be leaning towards uplink.
The goal of this White Paper is to give an overview of standard actions to be taken to grant the best possible user
experience in any type of mass event.
Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 Event Preparation
3 Changes during the duration of the event
5 Real Time Monitoring
Introduction
Experts in design and optimisation of mobile networks,
3dB consult offers design and optimisation services for
mass events like concerts, sports events, festivals, arts
events, etc. These services focus on improving the
performance of both the indoor solution for the arena (if
such is the case) and the outdoor coverage solution of
the surrounding area.
The aim of the services is to provide operators’
subscribers the best customer experience during the
event as well as outside the event.
3dB consult has extensive experience in the field of
sizing, preparation, optimisation and real-time
monitoring of mobile networks in mass events. We have
performed this type of service for several mobile
network operators in different countries, always with
highest quality and excellent results.
To guarantee the best service quality 3dB consult has
developed a proprietary tool for the operator to access
the event statistics, as well as information about the
actions being taken in case of degraded KPIs, easily and
in real time.

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©3dB consult 2017 www.3dbconsult.com
Challenges and Strategies for Mobile Network Operators
in Handling Voice and Data Traffic During Mass Events
Event Preparation
Preparation is key task to prevent network
degradations. Preparation is started several weeks
before the actual event takes place. With the
preparation analysis and actions, we prevent potential
problems as well as HW incidences, congestion
problems in 2G/3G or 4G technologies or a network
unsuited configuration.
For this activity is very important to possess correct and
detailed information on where and when an event will
take place and what is the expected attendance.
As part of the even management dimensioning and
network review of all BTSs, NodeB’s and eNodeB’s
involved in the event, special design inside the event
arena and all nodes inside event’s zone of influence
should be performed. With this study, the situation is
evaluated and the operator receives a full report on the
situation as well as actions to carry out.
For a more structured approach it is recommended to
split the events in categories based on suitable criteria.
It is common to categorise the events in three levels
based on the event attendance:
 Level 1 with maximum attendance (Large). An
event with more than 12,000 participants, e.g.
a football match.
 Level 2 with medium attendance (Medium). An
event between 6,000 and 12,000 participants,
e.g. a music concert.
 Level 3 with minimum attendance (Small). An
event with less than 6,000 participants, e. a
corporate event
Event preparation includes the following dimensioning
tasks and network check actions:
Figure 1: Event preparation actions
Dimensioning rules
Dimensioning rules and guidelines should be developed
to be followed for each technology and for each event
type and level.
 2G dimensioning can be based on voice traffic
Erlangs, data services blocking or both.
Following is an example of 2G capacity increase rule
used for a specific operator:
o Increase TRX number in case:
 GPRSBlocks > 1% WHEN % 3G usage<
50%
 Cell EDGE DL tput < 100kbps when % 3G
usage < 50%
 GPRSBlocks > 3% when 50% < % using
3G < 80%

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 For 3G dimensioning the focus is on radio resources,
CEs, power and carrier expansions based on
resource consumption. For instance:
o Ensure minimum levels of churn above 96% of
the traffic of its value:
 CSSR-CS and PS >98,2% by node
 Throughput >= 200 kbps by node  
 The principal capacity KPI’s to be reviewed and
monitored in 4G could be divided into two
categories:
o Critical KPI’s
 RRC Connected Interface User license
utilisation
 PUCCH utilisation
 Processor Load Level, CPU Load
o Non-critical KPI’s
 PRB utilisation
 Paging utilisation
 PDCCH utilisation
In addition to dimensioning tasks, parameterisation
scenarios are defined and differentially applied
specifically for high traffic situations for nodes involved
in the event. The parameterisation main goal is to
maximize the efficiency of existing resources while
maintaining the highest possible customer experience
and keeping accessibility values within right margins:
 Theidle parameterisation shouldencourageusersto
stay in LTE, 3G and 2G (in that order).
 By parameterisation and functionalities, thebalance
between cells of the same technology is maximised.
 Reducing ping-pong between technologies.
 Voice services are prioritised against data.
 Coverage will not be reduced by modifying the
CPICH power.  
For an operator to define suitable dimensioning and
parameterisation rules, it takes some research, some
theoretical calculations and a lot of experimenting. 3dB
consult possesses all this knowledge only by having
managed hundreds of events on a different scale
throughout the years.
Changes for the duration of the event
There’s often the question whether network changes to
handle mass event should be only logical (parameters),
or physical (antenna tilts and directions) or both. As
mentioned before, to achieve the best results each
event should be considered as unique and network
changes should be planned accordingly.
Indoor and outdoor design
It is extremely important to have consistency in the
indoor and outdoor design to ensure indoor cells are
covering inside and outdoor cells outside and that
handovers from one to another are performed
seamlessly, at the right signal strength and quality levels
and at the correct physical locations.
To guarantee everything works as per the design often
site visits are needed to adjust the thresholds and to
ensure outdoor cells are not interfering with the indoor
cells and vice versa.
Physical design
In the definition of the physical solution the key tasks
are correct antenna distribution and selection of the
antenna type depending on the frequencies and
technologies selected. Also, the distribution of the sites
must be considered to prevent interference between
technologies and different systems, overlap,
overshooting...
For indoor solutions such as football stadiums, parking
garages, business or commercial areas, the physical
design tends to be complex due to space limitations and
possible shadow areas that should be always omitted.
These limitations make the physical design critical!
In most cases a combination of dipole antennas, panel
antennas and omnidirectional antennas should be used
with the correct power limitation and azimuths/down
tilts in case of panel antennas.

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Figure 2: Example of dipole and panel antenna installation in MCE MONT OLIMPIC, Spain
It is not unusual, especially when there is not enough
space for the installation, that shared physical elements
(antennas, feeders) must be used. Physical sharing can
be both, between same operator’s different
technologies or between different operators’
technologies. In these cases, specifically selected
combiners, diplexers/triplexers must be used, adjusting
the physical system to compensate the extra losses and
electrical delay, that sometimes must be corrected with
the installation of amplifiers near antenna, for example
tower mounted amplifiers.
Logical design
As part of the Base station design, initial logical design
must be defined according to expected capacity, power
and resource demand. In case of a mass event it is
extremely important to prepare a precise traffic
estimation for triggering the necessary support actions
– ordering licenses to increase the capacity based on the
traffic forecast, increasing resource availability or
setting guidelines for the proper distribution of the
resources.
High capacity and access storm handling
features
On top of the network physical and logical design it is
equally important to make use of the high capacity and
access storm handling features that are available for the
particular vendor equipment. Again, these features are
not universal, so while some generalisations can be
made and common sense can be applied it is still
imminent to trial (test) the behaviour of the feature
using different parameter values.
Figure 3: Optional features deployment
Network
definition
strategies
Field
validation
Network
Deployment
Monitoring
customer
experience

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Following is a list of aspects to be reviewed as
minimum for different mobile technologies when
deploying high load scenarios.
GSM:
 Dimensioning of CCCH Channels
 review of PDCCH
 SDCCH channels (Ericsson) and PDTCH,
SDCCH channels (Huawei).
UMTS:
 Review SFs, tti2ms, CPICH (Ericsson rules
and Huawei rules)
 load sharing configuration
 power control channel configuration
 hsdpaUser configuration
 Dual carrier, Neighbour Relation,
BasebandPool
LTE:
 Common channel configuration and
dimensioning
 commonSrPeriodicity
 T302 timer
 number of RLC transmissions
 scheduling Algorithm
 Load Based Access Barring
 Dynamic Load Control
Real time monitoring
To be continued…
3dB consult
3db consult is a Telecomm Engineering and Consultancy Company with
extensive knowledge and experience on Mobile Networks Design, Managing
and Optimization.
In the market since 2004, for more than 12 years we have had the opportunity
to work in some of the most interesting and demanding MNO projects in
Europe, wherewe have always excelled inQualityand Reliability. Thankstoour
team of Engineers, the intensive training programs they undertake and our self-
produced sets of tools, we do provide for serious Network Solutions, both in
Consultancy and Engineering formats.
Do not hesitate to contact us for any inquiry or need you may have.

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