Performance Analysis of a Live Mobile Broadband-HSDPA Network

Hutchison 3G is the first operator to launch a nationwide 3G UMTS network in the UK in 2003 to offer voice, video and data services to its customers. Hutchison 3G under the brand name of ´3´ launched 3GPP Rel 5 HSDPA networks worldwide. The network is capable of delivering data rates upto 14 Mbps nowadays. In Rel 7, 3GPP standardised HSPA Evolution (HSPA+) which was specified to deliver maximum user data rates upto 42 Mbps by using MIMO and 64 QAM in the Downlink. The data usage increased significantly once the High Speed Downlink Access (HSDPA) Rel 5 was deployed in the network. In order to deliver Mobile Broadband (MBB) services to its customers more efficiently, 3UK has started to focus on new features, which have been standardised by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in Rel 5/6/7/8 and the challenges ahead. Although HSDPA network performance was studied by other researchers, the aim of this paper is to analyse the Iub backhaul limitations with different traffic types through simulations. User traffic data was imported from the live network in Maidenhead and used in these simulations.