Berlin  Fan Meile

  The Challenge

The Fan Meile has traditionally proven to be an extremely challenging environment when it comes to the provision of reliable cellular coverage and capacity. The area comes with strict planning regulations prohibiting the use of visible cellular equipment, yet it sees footfall from a huge number of attendees at the large events it plays host to throughout the year Site wide 11kV/415V substations, 11 kV reticulation and communications backbone.

“We are immensely proud to lead the way with this new technology and provide our customers with high-bandwidth services no matter how challenging the environment. Following the successful launch of this service we will now look to expand the scope of the system to utilise the full capabilities of this technology, and shift the capacity from the base station hotel to other sites as required.”

  The Solution

Vodafone and Telefónica chose to use our intelligent digital DAS solution idDAS to provide reliable cellular coverage along the length of the Fan Meile. The use of idDAS for this deployment brought about a multitude of benefits to the operators and their customers alike.

The pre-existing system provided only single-band, single-operator coverage for Vodafone only and with no LTE; idDAS allowed for multi-band and multi-operator coverage, all on the same system. The solution meant that Vodafone and Telefónica customers would now receive UMTS and high-bandwidth LTE coverage on the route for the first time.

In partnership with experienced Berlin integration partner SXF-Plan, we took a base station hotel 25 km away from the site and connected it, via fibre cabling, to 27 idDAS digital remote units (idRUs) concealed from view in underground enclosures along the length of the street and around the Brandenburg Gate.

By utilising the innovative idDAS system, the fibre count was drastically reduced on the long distance link. idDAS allows a reduction from 2 x 27 fibres to a possible minimum of two fibres, providing significant reduction in fibre rental cost

The system currently comprises of a total of 80 sectors, 40 per operator (20 UMTS and 20 LTE). However it has been designed to support up to 160 to 216 sectors, meaning there is plenty of flexibility for expansion in the future as the location requires it.

  The Benefit

The system architecture used on the Fan Meile minimises both CAPEX and OPEX costs for each operator involved. The significant reduction in fibre means CAPEX costs have been drastically brought down compared to alternative solutions.

Also, as the system is inherently multi-operator, the cost of the entire system is automatically shared.

idDAS also eliminates the need for passive combining of multiple operators and technologies, avoiding potential PIM (Passive Intermodulation) problems by feeding each BTS signal separately and directly into the system.

idDAS is very flexible in its design, allowing Vodafone and Telefónica the ability to expand the system with more capacity and more frequencies, or to incorporate other carriers or route high-bandwidth services to nearby venues, as required.

With the ability to shift capacity that idDAS brings, there is the potential for other nearby venues to benefit from and share the improved cellular coverage now available. For example, during an exhibition at a nearby convention centre, the capacity could be shifted there to help serve the hundreds of visitors who will be attending the event at the planned peak periods. The capacity can then be shifted back to the Fan Meile once the exhibition has finished.

The system was tested to the full during its debut, with over one million people attending the New Year’s Eve celebrations on the Fan Meile in Berlin – one of the largest NYE parties in the world! With a maximum throughput of 70 Mbit/s measured during the party (a figure that has grown with the planned MIMO introduction), the system has proven to be a huge success for all involved and customers of Vodafone and Telefónica stand to benefit for a long time to come.