Arieso partners with MTN South Africa to prepare its network for the 2010 Fifa World Cup

In preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Arieso, a provider of network optimisation and customer-centric network management solutions, has been working with MTN SA to implement a major expansion project for its network using its world-leading geo-location solution, ariesoGEO.

Over the past two years, MTN has made extensive investments worth billions of rands into the upgrading of its core network across the country to ensure its readiness for 2010.

“Our partnership with Arieso has enabled us to determine accurately which geographic areas need the most attention, to ensure that our network coverage is up to speed to handle the expected demand for both voice and data services,” said Sameer Dave, chief technology officer of MTN SA.

He continued, “As Africa's first global sponsor of this major international event, MTN has a responsibility to ensure that our network provides a seamless service to our current customers, and the thousands of international visitors expected in our country next year for the World Cup.”

Arieso assessed subscriber-generated network data to determine exactly where coverage needed improving. By understanding areas of high call density and identifying locations where users experienced dropped calls, drilled down to an individual building or street intersection, MTN has been able to target its investments effectively to achieve maximum benefits for its customers.

For this project, Arieso analysed two weeks' worth of data from MTN's network and assessed the traffic density, coverage, interference and pilot pollution to determine which geographic areas of the network would benefit most from additional investment.

The data was collected in mid-June, a period that included two major sporting events with the British Lions rugby tour and the Fifa Confederations Cup – a perfect data sample ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

ariesoGEO was able to pinpoint exactly where to channel improvements without the need for expensive and inaccurate drive testing. The information will be used to improve mobile broadband coverage country-wide and reduce the number of dropped calls in the network.

“As the World Cup approaches, we needed to explore different ways of enhancing our customer experience,” said Thaigan Govender, general manager of radio network planning and optimisation of MTN SA.

“With many thousands of roaming users set to arrive for the World Cup, MTN needed to ensure that its network was running at the peak of its capabilities. ariesoGEO has provided MTN with all the information it needs to make these decisions and puts it in a strong position to provide a high-quality user experience ahead of this major tournament.”

ariesoGEO uses data transmitted by mobiles in the normal course of conducting a call and requires no additional hardware, such as network located probes, or GPS capability in handsets, to provide real time or historical analysis.

Arieso Arieso is a leading provider of subscriber experience geo-location, capital budget management and automatic network optimisation solutions for wireless networks. Headquartered in the UK and with offices worldwide, Arieso delivers innovative solutions that have achieved cost savings and enhanced network performance for leading network operators around the world. Arieso's clients include AT&T, O2, Sprint, Telefonica and Vodafone. For more information, please http://www.arieso.com. MTN Group Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in SA under the share code: 'MTN'. As at 31 March 2009, MTN recorded 98.2 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, SA, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 Fifa World Cup SA and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East. Visit http://www.mtn.com and http://www.mtnfootball.com. View this news release online at: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090915006024/en

Headline

Comment

Name

Email

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Please enter the CAPTCHA characters below