The wireless network OEMs are launching ever more compact macro base stations, and Huawei has scored the first commercial deployment for its Blade Site offering.
Marketed as ‘zero footprint’, the product will be rolled out by Lithuanian cellco Omnitel, whose network Huawei is modernizing to support GSM, 3G and LTE simultaneously. The Blade unit claims to reduce deployment time by 75% compared to a conventional unit and can integrate the baseband unit, RF and power modules while supporting the various network modes.
Omnitel, a subsidiary of Nordic operator TeliaSonera, is the largest cellco in its Baltic state and also has the biggest 4G network, covering 65% of the population. Its CTO, Mindaugas Varanauskas, said: “As we continue our 4G network roll-out across Lithuania, the deployment of the Huawei Blade Site solution will accelerate the speed of network construction and reduce operational expenses, enabling us to deliver on our goal of providing the best 4G network experience to our customers more efficiently.”
Blade Site is a sister product to BladeRRU, a remote radio unit which Huawei launched in 2012. The latter separates the baseband processing, while Blade Site provides an all-in-one approach. BladeRRU has been deployed by China Unicom and others.