Charles F. Moreira

Mr John Stefanac(left) and Dr. Markku Ellila

Up to 90% of 3G network costs go into its outside infrastructure, including base stations, wired or wireless backhaul connections to the core, towers, other civil works and site rental, according to Dr. Markku Ellila, Nokia Pte Ltd director or Radio Networks product Management.

"With MoRAN, operators can save up to 50% of their 3G network rollout development costs, so they can roll them out faster and wider, including into rural areas," said its Asia-Pacific vice-president, John Stefanac.

With MoRAN, operators have their own separate call and message switching equipment in the core and transceiver equipment in the base stations but the rest, including antennas, are shared.

Each operator operates its on 3G services and billing systems over the same network, while subscribers have a choice of at least two networks.

A MoRAN-based shared network shared by Vodaphone and Singtel-Optus began running about six months ago and is now operational in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia and is being rolled out in Adelaide and  Perth.

Nokia has been promoting MoRAN throughout South-East Asia and Stefanac and Ellila were here to interest the two local 3G operators and two new 3G licensees to adopt it.

If they do, hopefully they'll pass their savings onto subscribers as lower 3G charges and more extensive coverage.