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VNL Solution Offering
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Vodafone RFI
Release version 1.9

VNL SOLUTION OFFERING – VODAFONE RESPONSE
Copyright
© VNL-2011 – All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer
No part of this document may be reproduced in any

form without the written permission of the copyright
owner.
The contents of this document are subject to revision

without notice due to continued progress in
methodology, design, and manufacturing. VNL shall
have no liability for any error or damage of any kind
resulting from the use of this document.
Trademark List
WorldGSM® is a trademark owned by Vihaan

Networks Limited. All other product or service names
mentioned in this document are trademarks of their
respective companies.
Page 2 © VNL 2011, All

rights reserved
Contents
1. Introduction 6
1.1 The Opportunity 6
1.2 Rural Scenario 7
2. VNL WorldGSM System8
2.1 Architecture & Deployment philosophy 9
2.2 Wide Range Products & Solutions 12
2.2.1 BSC 12
2.2.2 BTS 13
2.2.3 Power 14
2.2.4 Transmission 16
2.2.5 OMC 17
2.2.6 Solution Offerings 18
2.2.7 Local Switching 20
2.2.8 Broadband Solution Offerings 21
2.2.9 Optimization Features 24
2.2.10 Active Infra Sharing 26
3. VNL Capabilities 28
3.1 What we do 28
3.2 Services Capabilities 28
© VNL 2011, All rights reserved Page 3

3.3 Reliability 29
3.4 Deployment References 30
Appendix.A Case Study BSNL India 31
Appendix.B Future RoadMap 35

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Figures
Figure 1: Rural Tele-density Comparison (2004 –

2009) 6
Figure 2: VNL Cascading Star Architecture 10
Figure 3: Capacity Augmenting Steps 11
Figure 4: Architecture Comparison 12
Figure 5: VNL BSC500i 13
Figure 6: VNL BTS 14
Figure 7: CCU-250 14
Figure 8: OMC - Total Site Management 17
Figure 9: VNL Rural Site 18
Figure 10: VNL Village Site 19
Figure 11: Local Switching using LSB 20
Figure 12: Rural Site 2-2-2 with Broadband (Top

section) 22
Figure 13: Rural Site 2 TRX with Broadband(Top

Section) 22
Figure 14: Village Site 2-2-2 with Broadband 23
Figure 15: Village Site 1 TRX with Broadband 23

1. Introduction
There are many potential markets that are currently

not able to access even basic telephony services.
GSM is the most accepted standard, having achieved

full economy of scale and will continue to be the
standard for coming decades. However, the
deployment of traditional GSM transmission
equipment is simply too expensive and complex to
provide an acceptable business case in low income,
rural areas. This is the main reason that these areas
lack even basic telephony and data services.
1.1 The Opportunity
With low Tele-densities in African, Asia Pacific and

other markets, and the growth trend in the last
few years, the Opportunity hasn’t changed in
last 5 years
The Next Billion Profitable mobile Subscribers can

be Rural
Figure 1: Rural Tele-density Comparison (2004 –

2009)

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VNL gives Operators the chance to deploy

affordable mobile coverage to rural markets.
1.2 Rural Scenario
Few facts about the current Global Rural Scenario :
1. 2.6 billion people across the world are still

unconnected
2. No Infrastructure solutions for the rural challenge
3. Urban models have failed
4. No sustainable business model to motivate

anyone to go to rural areas
Key Challenges faced by Rural are Power, Cost,

Remoteness and Technical Skills.
Contrary to what the actual requirements are,

Conventional Solutions are:
1. Power hungry
5. Very expensive to build
6. Very expensive to operate
7. Requires skilled engineers

8. Designed for a high ARPU, high-density user base

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2. VNL WorldGSM
System
VNL has developed a whole new approach for

building out telecom infrastructure in remote areas
by re-engineering traditional GSM for a whole new
purpose.
VNL has delivered mobile and local access wireless

solutions that are profitable for operators through
substantial reductions in the cost of acquiring,
deploying, and operating its network. VNL’s core
product, WorldGSM® is at the heart of all of VNL’s
sustainable rural mobile wireless infrastructure
solutions.
VNL’s WorldGSM® use case shows that in both small

and large system deployments, VNL’s solution is able
to substantially reduce the capital cost per
subscriber while slashing network operating
expenses
WorldGSM® is the least expensive, fully functional,

wireless solution that combines cellular switching
and base station controller functionality. It
represents a very substantial improvement in current
mobile wireless thinking, enabling the migration of

networks from being highly centralized to distributed

and associative in nature.
VNL WorldGSM®, re-engineered GSM for rural

markets can be substantiated using following
characteristics:
1. Cascading Star Architecture – unique, optimized for

rural
9. Simple to deploy – compact, modular, virtual self-

assembly
10. Near Zero Opex – near zero maintenance, Remote

Maintenance.
11. Entirely solar powered – completely off-grid
12. Low Capex – fully self-contained modules
13. Extremely low power consumption –

light bulb wattage
14. Fully standards compliant
15. Broadband ready
2.1 Architecture & Deployment

philosophy
The VNL WorldGSM™ Cascading Star Architecture™

is an incremental rollout solution that separates
capacity from coverage. It poses less risk to mobile
operators in areas where traditional GSM cannot
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offer a solution to the problem with an acceptable

return on investment.
The key elements in a WorldGSM™ rollout are the:
 Rural Site solution (RBTS backhaul & power)

 Village Site solution (VBTS backhaul & power)
Figure 2: VNL Cascading Star Architecture
Key Characteristics of Cascading Star Architecture

can be enumerated as :
1. BSC is placed at operator’s last site, having

connectivity to the core network/ISP cloud.

2. Upto 5 Rural Sites in one direction.
3. Upto 3 X directions per BSC (limitation due to

transmission band availability @ 2.4 GHz).
4. Upto 20Km of hop-distance between BSC-Rural Site

and Rural Site – Rural Site, connected over 2.4 GHz
ISM band in point-to-point mode.
5. Upto 10Km of hop-distance between Rural Site and

Village Site, connected over 5.8GHz ISM band in point-
to-multipoint mode.
6. Upto 12 Village Sites per Rural Site.
Details of Network elements are mentioned in the

next Section.
In a rural scenario, most of the traffic stays within

the local area. 80-90% of the coverage area does not
require high capacity; it is mainly a coverage
requirement. However, around 10-20% of the
covered area will require comparatively more
capacity to provide a satisfactory quality of service.
The incremental steps of augmenting the capacity

can be explained with the figure below.

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Figure 3: Capacity Augmenting Steps
A traditional architecture calls for additional power

consumption as the Capacity requirement of the
entire coverage area is met thought a central site,
leading to high power consumption. These high
power, high capacity indoor equipments require
extra power for airconditioning & additional foot-
print accordingly.
Figure 4: Architecture Comparison

2.2 Wide Range Products & Solutions
VNL WorldGSM key components are described in the

sub-sections below.
2.2.1 BSC
Key Characteristics & features of the BSC/BSS can be

highlighted below:
1. Each BSC magazine supports up to 50 TRX
16. 3GPP & ETSI
17. Voice, SMS, SMS-CB and Data
18. Power control and Handover
19. Codec: AMR HR
20. Radio resource management

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21. All GSM frequency bands
22. Hierarchical cells
23. Integrated PCU
24. All GPRS coding schemes
25. Redundant configuration for high availability
Figure 5: VNL
BSC500i
2.2.2 BTS
Key Characteristics & features

of the BTS/BSS can be
highlighted below:
1. Abis Over Satellite
2. Handovers
3. Receive Diversity
4. Frequency Hopping
(Synthesizer)
26. TDM & IP Based Transport using TDM over IP
27. UL & DL DTX
28. Dynamic Power Control
29. Power Savings by TRX Shutdown

Figure 6: VNL BTS
2.2.3 Power
VNL Power system is comprises of a Charge

Controller Unit, which manages the charging from
Solar Panels, external emergency charging, current
supply from batteries etc.
Figure 7: CCU-250

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Key characteristics of VNL Power system are:
 System voltage: +24V (negative ground)

 Fully solar powered without the need of any fixed
diesel generator set or AC Grid Supply (Also
works in Hybrid Mode)
 No active cooling or climate control needed
 Temperature compensated, digitally controlled
float/boost charge voltages
 Real time calculation of the battery state of charge
(SOC)
 Remote monitoring of battery voltage, state of
charge, charging current, and system temperature
at OMC
 Built in AC/DC converter for supplementary
charging through portable generator and for
intermittent AC power After 72Hours days of
substandard weather, external emergency
recharging supported
 Ensuring Solar Photovoltaic panel and AC/DC
charging currents will not exceed safe limits for
the battery
 Disconnect load when battery voltage drops too
low to protect battery from deep discharge
 User configurable alarms to indicate low voltage,
high temperature, and load disconnect, module
cleaning required, and battery replacement
required
 Manual/remote power reset and load disconnect
 Nominal site power for up to 3 days during
completely overcast skies

 Battery life in the field is at least 3 years (80%

capacity remaining), for ambient temp at around
25 deg C and full discharge cycles
2.2.4 Transmission
General Features
1. Two tier architecture

a. Tier1 for long distance point to point connectivity
i. BSC-RBTS
ii. RBTS-RBTS
b. Tier2 for short distance point to multi point
connectivity
i. RBTS-VBTS
30. Single point network management from OMC-T
31. Carrier grade system
32. Unlicensed and licensed bands supported
33. End-to-End wireless E1 transmission over IP
network
Innovative Transport Solutions
IP Based Transmission
1. Extremely Low power
2. QoS support & Bandwidth Management
34. Robustness and Secure
35. Auto Discovery of Nodes.
Wide Range
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1. Microwave
3. Wi-Fi Networks
4. E1 / T1
5. IP Networks
6. Satellite Networks
2.2.5 OMC
The integrated OMC Solution from VNL is based on
the principle of Total Site management, as
represented in the figure below.
Figure 8: OMC - Total Site Management
General Features
1. Integrated OMC
7. Supports all FCAPS functions
8. Convenient user interface for the following operational

needs

a. Reports
b. Status monitoring
c. Scheduler
d. Remote software Upgrade
e. Fault localization across networks
36. Interfaces
a. SNMP , FTP on South bound interface towards NEs
b. 3GPP CORBA on North bound interface towards

operators NOC
37. Java based architecture ; works on Linux
2.2.6 Solution Offerings
2.2.6.1 Rural Site
VNL Rural Site can be represented as below:

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Figure 9: VNL Rural Site
Key Characteristics of VNL Rural Site.
1. Solution for large sized umbrella coverage
38. Up to 2/2/2 TRX configuration
39. Long Haul Point to Point Transmission connectivity
a. From BSC side (up to 20Km)
b. To other RBTS site (up to 20Km)
40. Point to Multipoint backhaul to VBTS
41. Solar based Power System
a. (up to 72 Hours autonomy)
42. All Electronics is Tower Mounted (minimal

footprint)

43. Output Power: 40dBm
2.2.6.2 Village Site
VNL Village Site can be represented as below:
Figure 10: VNL Village Site
Key Characteristics of VNL Rural Site.
1. Capacity solution for specific areas
44. Available in 1-2 TRX
45. Transmission System to connect to RBTS Site
46. Solar based Power System
a. (upto 72 Hrs autonomy)
47. Pole Height : 9/12 Meters
a. (Roof Top or Ground Based)

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48. Radiated Power: 33 dBm
49. Very easy to install & maintain
2.2.7 Local Switching
Local Switching find application in areas like Remote

Islands / Rural Areas, connected via expensive
satellite backhaul or sea-bed cables.
Figure 11: Local Switching using LSB
VNL LSB Solution enables local calls to be routed

within the local system without connecting back into
a satellite or host network, thereby leading to
enormous savings on the highly expensive
transmission media (typically Satellite backhaul).

2.2.8 Broadband Solution Offerings
VNL has found a new way to extend mobile networks

using sustainable energy and simple, affordable
structures that bring voice and broadband
connectivity to rural areas.
World GSM®: Voice and broadband for the

village
VNL’s Unique Deployment architecture enables the

operators to share the IP Backhaul with GSM and
Broadband equipments. The broadband offering is
optional in nature, giving the flexibility of
customizing the Solution to the operators.
Additional network elements required for a

Broadband included Solution are :
 Relevant supports/mounts for upto three

additional Broadband antennas.
 Up to three Access Point units or 3 Sector Wifi BTS.
 Solar Powered System (additional batteries for
very low power Wifi APs).
Figures below represent the Broadband included

Rural and Village sites.

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Figure 12: Rural Site 2-2-2 with Broadband

(Top section)

Figure 13: Rural Site 2 TRX with

Broadband(Top Section)
Figure 14: Village Site 2-2-2 with Broadband

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Figure 15: Village Site 1 TRX with Broadband

2.2.9 Optimization Features
VNL Product design has been carefully optimized for

Rural requirements. Multiple criteria have been
targeted to achieve the purpose.
Transmission Optimization Features
 Optimized Packet based Transmission

 Support of ISM Band optimizes cost, as no license
fee required.
 Optimized architecture for sharing backhaul
between CS, PS and Broadband traffic.
 QoS support, Bandwidth management, robustness
and Security.
 IP based transmission feature of clock extraction
enables the clock extraction without use of
external clock.
Power Optimization Features
 Very effective power savings on TS level.

 Load based TRX shutdown helps in saving Power
at low traffic conditions.
 VNL architecture, as explained in Section 2.1
enables power savings, while ensuring fulfillment
of coverage and capacity requirement. This is
achieved by separating coverage and capacity. Pls
refer Product datasheet
 VNL Solution design has been carefully done and
features like Broadband (not EDGE) have been
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introduced for high bandwidth applications,

keeping in mind PA power back-off of EDGE.
802.11n ready broadband solution provides high
spectrum efficiency, with no license required for
operation.
 VNL VBTS and RBTS have very low power
consumption of 40 W and 65 W per TRX.
 VNL PICO BTS to be available soon, which will
further optimize the power consumption.
Data Offload
 Broadband feature helps in offloading data traffic

from PS.
 Feature of pushing Data call from PS to broadband
is in Roadmap.
Design for minimizing manpower skills for

deployment
 Minimum or no skill required in site installation.

The site has been designed on line with “IKEA”
philosophy, where semi-skilled or even unskilled
people can assemble a site using pictorial
instructions in just a matter of few hours.
 Auto Discovery of Nodes feature ensures auto-
configuration of nodes once they are powered on.
The node is detected automatically configuration
is transmitted after suitable authentication.
 The configuration of the Radio network has been
simplified. Operator needs to input only the
resource requirements e.g. no. of channels of a

particular type needed. The system deploys

optimally converts into TRX specifications and
implements the same.
Performance Optimization
 VNL offers elaborate KPI and performance

counters to monitor the network performance.
2.2.10 Active Infra Sharing
VNL realizes the benefits of infrastructure sharing

and offers a customized solution focused on rural
market requirements. WorldGSM™ is a solar powered
network infrastructure, a new approach designed
from the ground up, for low income rural users. The
USP’s are:
 Low Cost: Substantial reduction in capital expense
and operational costs compared to mainstream
technology
 Low Power: Completely independent of a non-
existent or unreliable power-grid
 Ease of Deployment: Removes the dependence of
on a skilled workforce
 Modeled for Purpose: Uses business models that
take into account local resources and limitations
The WorldGSM™ infrastructure sharing solution
offers operators an innovative way to share the
complete active infrastructure along with passive
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infrastructure. Anchor operator network identities

like MCC, MNC are used for the shared infrastructure.
All calls, SMS and supplementary services are
available to the roaming MS.
The WorldGSM™ infrastructure sharing solution
provides the flexibility for extending fault
management from the network OMC to the
operator’s existing NOC.

The main advantages of active infrastructure sharing

are:
 Significant reduction in Site Acquisition Cost

 Harmonization of Transmission Cost
 Optimal land area requirement, thus reducing
overall infrastructure footprint
 Increase operational efficiency - Fast Network
Rollout
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 Site Rental costs are reduced with lower OPEX and

O&M costs

3. VNL Capabilities
3.1 What we do
 Low Power purpose designed electronics.

 Ultra low Operational Costs
 Reach the Rural customer profitably.
 Put Capacity where you need it.
 Integrated transport allows Broadband with the
same equipment.
 Unique architecture reduces power hungry
network elements and Generators.
3.2 Services Capabilities
 Solution Sales
o Equipment and software sales to operators

and Integrators
 Professional Services
o Helping operators plan, deploy, upgrade &

maintain rural networks
 Fully managed networks
o Fully outsourced and managed World GSM®

networks

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3.3 Reliability
VNL handles reliability aspects required for any

carrier grade system by design, ensuring Five 9’s
availability (depending on services Plan). Field
deployed VNL RBTS and VBTS have an operational
lifetime of 20 years. VNL has opted for 1+1 High
Availability (HA) option. Some of the examples are;
 Cards in the BSC rack are redundant

 The power supply and CPU in the OMC are
redundant
 The full power system block with Battery , Charge
Controller and Solar panel work in redundant
mode.
There are many inherent design features in the site

design, Installation and Commissioning practices
that increase the reliability
 We use only 1.5 m RF jumper cable between BTS

and antenna
 Battery is housed below solar panels
 There are no exposed cable trays and cables are
routed from inside the tower legs
 2V cells are used in place of mono-blocks
 Power system; the weakest link- is directly
monitored and is addressable from the OMC
 All outdoor boxes are rated IP55 or better
 Connectors are non reversible and are mistake
proof
As a quality focus all VNL equipment pass through

the temperature cycling tests at the time of
manufacturing. All third party components are

carefully checked during the inward QC process e.g.
 VSWR of all antennas are checked in the IQC.

 Random samples of the mechanical housings are
given to third party lab for checking IP grade

3.4 Deployment References

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Appendix.A Case
Study BSNL India


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Appendix.B Future
RoadMap
Please refer to the RoadMap Attached as part of

submission
B.1 Common RAN
Key future Hardware Platform evolution targeting

towards common technology RAN can be described
in this section.
Common RAN Solution
1. Drastically reduces CAPEX and OPEX
50. Easy Operation and Maintenance

51. Shared Technologies, like GSM, LTE and broadband

in a single cabinet makes the system ready for future
deployments
52. Multi Standard Radios.
53. MCPA based RAN, with split architecture.
54. Medium to High Capacity PBX based Solution

having Local switching Capabilities, HLR Cache etc.,
with Remote Radio units.

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VNL Solution Offering

Release version 1.9

© VNL-2011 – All Rights Reserved

No part of this document may be reproduced in any

The contents of this document are subject to revision

WorldGSM® is a trademark owned by Vihaan

Page 2 © VNL 2011, All

1.1 The Opportunity 6

1.2 Rural Scenario 7

2. VNL WorldGSM System8

2.1 Architecture & Deployment philosophy 9

2.2 Wide Range Products & Solutions 12

2.2.6 Solution Offerings 18

2.2.7 Local Switching 20

2.2.8 Broadband Solution Offerings 21

2.2.9 Optimization Features 24

2.2.10 Active Infra Sharing 26

3.2 Services Capabilities 28

© VNL 2011, All rights reserved Page 3

3.4 Deployment References 30

Appendix.A Case Study BSNL India 31

Appendix.B Future RoadMap 35

Page 4 © VNL 2011, All

Figure 1: Rural Tele-density Comparison (2004 –

Figure 2: VNL Cascading Star Architecture 10

Figure 3: Capacity Augmenting Steps 11

Figure 4: Architecture Comparison 12

Figure 5: VNL BSC500i 13

Figure 6: VNL BTS 14

Figure 8: OMC - Total Site Management 17

Figure 9: VNL Rural Site 18

Figure 10: VNL Village Site 19

Figure 11: Local Switching using LSB 20

Figure 12: Rural Site 2-2-2 with Broadband (Top

Figure 13: Rural Site 2 TRX with Broadband(Top

Figure 14: Village Site 2-2-2 with Broadband 23

Figure 15: Village Site 1 TRX with Broadband 23

© VNL 2011, All rights reserved Page 5

There are many potential markets that are currently

GSM is the most accepted standard, having achieved

1.1 The Opportunity

With low Tele-densities in African, Asia Pacific and

The Next Billion Profitable mobile Subscribers can

Figure 1: Rural Tele-density Comparison (2004 –

Page 6 © VNL 2011, All

VNL gives Operators the chance to deploy

1.2 Rural Scenario

Few facts about the current Global Rural Scenario :

1. 2.6 billion people across the world are still

2. No Infrastructure solutions for the rural challenge

3. Urban models have failed

4. No sustainable business model to motivate

Key Challenges faced by Rural are Power, Cost,

Contrary to what the actual requirements are,

5. Very expensive to build

6. Very expensive to operate

7. Requires skilled engineers

© VNL 2011, All rights reserved Page 7

8. Designed for a high ARPU, high-density user base

Page 8 © VNL 2011, All

VNL has developed a whole new approach for

VNL has delivered mobile and local access wireless

VNL’s WorldGSM® use case shows that in both small

WorldGSM® is the least expensive, fully functional,