Bharti Airtel利用自由空间光通信扩大覆盖范围并提高容量

December2024 The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobileecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovationfoundational to positive business environments andsocietal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power ofconnectivity so that people, industry and society thrive.Representing mobile operators and organisations acrossthe mobile ecosystem and adjacentindustries, the GSMAdelivers for its members across three broad pillars:Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions,and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, GSMAIntelligence is the definitive source of globalmobile operator data, analysis and forecasts, andpublisher of authoritative industry reports and research.Our data covers every operator group, network andMVNO in every country worldwide–from Afghanistanto GSMA Intelligence is relied on by leading operators,vendors, regulators, financial institutions and third-partyindustry players, to support strategic decision-makingand long-term investment planning. The data is used as We invite you to find out more atgsma.comFollow the GSMA on X:@GSMA Our team of analysts and experts produce regularthought-leading research reports across a range of Author Shiv Putcha, Director, Research and Consulting This research was supported by Taara, a divisionof X, the Moonshot Factory of Alphabet. Copyright © 2024 GSMA Intelligence Contents Executive summary.......................................................................................4 1. Connecting the unconnected.....................................................................5 2. What is free-space optical communications?.............................................7 3. Case study: Bharti Airtel deploys FSOC....................................................8 4. Conclusions.............................................................................................11 Executive summary Connecting theunconnected remains a challenge Despiteoperators makingconsiderable progress building out mobile networksaround the world, acoverage gap of 4% of the global population persists. Thisequatesto 350 million people.Thirty-onecountriesrecordacoveragegap of 10% orabove. These countries tend to have sizeablecommunitieswho arepredominantly rural,low-incomeandliving insparsely populated areas. Fibredoesnotoffera universal solution,whilewireless radio has capacity challenges For most mobile operators, fibreis the preferred transport technology, as it provides the highestcapacity reliably and at the lowest cost per bit. Fibrecannot always be laid point to point in astraight line, as there are obstacles and no-go zones that force a circuitous route or simply renderdeployment impossible. The business case is also frequently tough for fibredue to the high costs Emerging technologiessuch asfree-space optics canhelpplug the coverage gap Operators and service providers are beginning to look at emergingtechnologies–such asfree-space optical communications(FSOC)andnon-terrestrial options(e.g.LEO satellites)–to provideconnectivity to remote and underservedareas.FSOCisof interest tomobile operatorsasit useslight beams in the high terahertz spectrum range(unlicensed).As well ascost advantages in termsof spectrum use, there are additional benefitsin terms oflow energy useandease of deployment. Bharti Airtel has deployed FSOC in India Bharti Airtelhas deployed FSOCin four statesinIndia. The primary use case is mobile backhaul.Fibreis prohibitively expensive to deploy in dense, urban areassuch asMumbai,andother partsof the country where fibredeployments arechallengingforseveralreasons.Microwaveis mucheasier to deploy than fibre. However,considering the growingdemand fordata in India, itis not along-term solution fornetworkcongestion,due to relative capacity limitations in the radiofrequency 1. Connecting theunconnected Despite significant growth, coverage and availability gaps persist The mobile industry has seen spectacular growth in recent decades.Operators have deployednetworks atsignificantscale around the world and built out the networks to deliver mobile The remaining 4%amounts to 350 millionpeoplearound the world who remain unconnected.The4%coverage gapis a globalpercentage,withseveral countriesrecordingalargergap of 10% orhigherintheir markets. These countries tend to have sizeable communitieswho arepredominantly There is the added challenge oftheusage gap, which is significantly larger than the coverage gapin many countries.Theusage gaprefers tothose who live within the footprint of a mobilebroadband network but do not use mobile internet services.Theusage gap exists for a number of Underserved communities remain across the world, in emerging, LMICandadvanced markets.Suchgroupslack broadband access for a variety of reasons. In many cases, the primary reasonsare physical. Either the village or site is simply too far away to connect, or itis locatedininhospitable terrain,such asin mountainous areasoronislands too f