Mobile Telephony

Module Objectives
By the end of this module you will be able to explain

• The difference between basic and mobile telephony

• The call routing process

• The commonly used mobile telephony terms

• The alternative technological platforms - GSM and

CDMA
History of Communication
History of Communication
History of Communication
Types of Communications

• Two type of communications

– Wire line
• Landline Phone

– Wire less
• Radio, Pager (Simple / One way Communication)
• Walky Talky (Half Duplex Communication)
• GSM/CDMA Mobile Phone (Duplex Communication)
What is Telephony?

• The word 'telephony' comes from a Greek word meaning 'far sound'

• Transmitting voice or digital information between two parties (the sender and
the receiver) by using the telephone or telephone - related technology

• Telephony can be categorized into

– Basic telephony
– Mobile telephony
Basic Telephony

• Communication between two fixed points

– landline telephones

• Communication over a fixed medium

– The telephone lines
– The sender and the receiver's physical location are fixed
Mobile Telephony
• Mobile telephony using frequency re use came into existence during the
1960s

• Personal handheld cell phone invented by Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola

in 1973

• GSM association formed in Europe in 1982

 Initially called Groupe Speciale Mobile
 Today known as Global System for Mobile Communication
 Cellular Terminology
GSM – Global System for Mobile Communications

GSM technology was based on the concept of one world one number It
originated in Dublin in Ireland

• GSM technology works on three frequency 900 / 1800 / 1900

• 900 MHz frequency covers a larger area ,however lacks in call clarity,
with 1800 MHz the advantage of excellent call quality is there

• 1800 MHz frequency works on DUAL BAND handsets while 900 MHz
works on single band handsets
Cellular Terminology

• SIM – Subscriber Identity Module

• The SIM card provides an individual identity to every mobile subscriber

• Every SIM card has a 19 digit number mentioned behind the card which is a
SIM no

• Sample SIM No 89 91 98 00 00 01 164046 9

• (19th digit is the check digit) ( 12/13th digit = 9 = DUAL IMSI )

Here
• 89 - Telecom ID
• 91 - Country Code for India ( TELECOM CODE )
• 98 - Mobile Network Code for Airtel
• 01 - Switch Configuration (changes with every 10 lac
SIM cards)
• 164046 - SIM Number
• 9 - Check Digit
Cellular Terminology

• SIM – Subscriber Identity Module

• The sim cards have different capacity for storage. Approximate of
phone numbers and SMS are as below.

• 8 k Sim - 150 Phone numbers and 10 sms

• 16 k Sim - 150 Phone numbers and 10 sms
• 32 k Sim - 250 Phone numbers and 30 sms
• 64 k Sim - 400 Phone numbers and 30 sms
• 128 k Sim - 400 Phone numbers and 30 sms
(Between 8k to 16k and 64k to 128k new features are added in to the
SIM card but storage capacity is not added much. These are approx
general figure and can be changed as per order given by operator to
manufactured.)
Cellular Terminology

• PIN – PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER ( Keeps

the mobile secure )
• It is a four digit number
• The customer can change the PIN no by going into to
Settings – Security Settings option – Change Pin Code
option
• If a sim card is changed the PIN no of the old sim card does
not remain, by default the PIN no of the new sim card will
be 1234
• Every time the customer will switch on his mobile , he will
have to enter the PIN no
• The facility where the mobile asks for a PIN no can be
deactivated from the handset itself by going to Settings –
Security Settings option –Pin code request - Off
Cellular Terminology

• PUK – Pin Unblocking Key

• It is a eight digit number
• If a customer enters a wrong PIN no three times the sim
will ask for PUK no
• The customer will get the PUK no from Customer Care
• The maximum tries for entering the PUK no are 10 times,
if the customer enters a wrong PUK no the tenth time ,
the sim card will be blocked
• The PUK no changes with the sim card
• The PUK no should be handed over only to the customer
after proper confirmation of details
Cellular Terminology

• IMEI – International Mobile Equipment Identity

- It is a fifteen digit number
- To know the IMEI no the customer has to key *#06#
- It helps to know regarding whether the handset is Original
or not

• BTS – Base Transceiver Station

- The tower for carrying the call traffic is called BTS

• BSC – Base Station Controller

- The calls from BTS are transferred to the BSC
Cellular Terminology
• MSC Mobile Switching Centre
• The calls from the BSC are routed to the MSC
• AUC Authentication Centre
• CDR Call Detail Record
• HLR Home Location Register
• VLR Visitor Location Register
• IN Intelligent Network
• POI Point of Interconnect
• SMSC Short Message switching center
• AUC Authentication Centre
- Helps in authentication of all MO/ MT calls
• HLR Home Location Register
- Has the data of all the active and deactivate subscribers of the
home circle
Cellular Terminology

• VLR Visitor Location Register

- Has the data of all In roamers and Out roamers
of the circle

• CDR Call Detail Record

- The detail of all the calls is recorded in the Call
Detail Record

• MSISDN Mobile Station International

Subscribers Dialling No
- Means the Mobile Number
Cellular Terminology

• IMSI International Mobile Subscribers Identity

- Gives the mobile customer an identity, Internationally
- IMSI are of two types Single and Dual IMSI
- Single IMSI A customer having a Single IMSI sim card can
roam in countries with direct tie- Up

• Dual IMSI If the 12th/13th digit of the sim card is the

number 9 then the sim card is a DUAL IMSI sim card
- To use the DUAL IMSI sim card in countries with INDIRECT TIE
UPS , the customer will have to key in the pin no as 2 (Pin no),
once the customer lands there to activate RIMSI(Roaming IMSI
)
- Once back in India, the customer will have to key in the 1
( Pin no) to activate HIMSI ( Home IMSI )
Cellular Terminology
• PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
- Landline in technical terms is called PSTN

• CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

- Works on Hopping frequency
- Tata and Reliance are the two CDMA operators
- Technology was developed by Qualcomm in
Canada
• MVPN Mobile Virtual Private Network
- CUG ( Closed User Group ) is also known as MVPN
- CUG is provided to corporate accounts
• POI Point of Interconnect
- It is applicable between two service providers
Cellular Terminology
Common Terms
• MO Mobile Originating (Calls originating from one’s
mobile)
• MT Mobile Terminating (Calls terminating on one’s
mobile)
• SEF Subscriber Enrolment Form (Form to filled for
activation for
post-paid)
• MEF Magic Enrolment Form (Form to filled for activation
for pre-
paid)
• In Roamers Customer’s from other circles come into roaming
• Out Roamers Customer’s from one circle roaming in other Circles
• ACD Automatic Call Distributor ( Helps in distribution of
calls to the call centre agents automatically )
• FOC Free of Cost
• PTP Promise To Pay

Continue…
Cellular Terminology
Common Terms
• Barring If the customer’s o/g or i/c facility is stopped
• Unbarr To activate the o/g or i/c facility for the customer
• TD/TW Temporary Disconnection/Withdrawal, where all the
facilities of the customer like o/g, i/g and sms are
not functional
• PD/PW Permanent Disconnection/Withdrawal, where the no of
the customer is released and made available for
resale
• FAT Free Air Time
• ADC Access Deficit Charge
• IUC Interconnect Usage Charge
• TAT Turn Around Time
• IVR Interactive Voice Response
• MIS Management Information System (Reports)

Continue..
Cellular Terminology

Common Terms
• NLD National Long Distance (STD calls)
• ILD International Long Distance (ISD calls)
• NR National Roaming
• IR International Roaming
• WR Western Roaming
• VAS Value Added Service
• SMS Short Message Service
• GPRS General Packet Radio Service
• MMS Multimedia Message Service
• EVMS Enhanced Voice Mail Service
• AON Airtel Online
• POS Payment Online System

Continue…
Cellular Terminology

Common Terms
• PDC Post Dated Cheque
• BNR Bill Not Received
• VAS Value Added Service
• SMS Short Message Service
• GPRS General Packet Radio Service
• MMS Multimedia Message Service
• EVMS Enhanced Voice Mail Service
• AON Airtel Online
• POS Payment Online System
• PDC Post Dated Cheque
• BNR Bill Not Received

Continue..
Cellular Terminology

Common Terms
• FCR First Call Resolution
• FTR First Time Resolution
• SR Service Request
• POP Pre on Post
• RMCA Reverse Missed Call Alert
• Churn If the customer wants to deactivate
his
connection
• Retention If the customer is prevented from
leaving the
network
• HUB High Usage Barring
• P-Barring Barring if the customer crosses his
due
date
Cellular Terminology
Names of Telecom Regulators
• TRAI Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

• TDSAT Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate

Tribunal

• BSNL Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

• VSNL Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited

• DOT Department of Telecommunication

• COAI Cellular Operator Association of India

Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts

• Each city is divided into adjacent

hexagonal cells
Cell66
Cell
Cell11
Cell Cell33
Cell
Cell22
Cell
Cell44
Cell
Cell55
Cell
Cell77
Cell
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts

 Each hexagonal cell has a Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

- A BTS consists of a tower and an enclosure containing
radio equipment

- It receives radio signals from the subscribers phones

 Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
 When a BTS reaches full capacity, it can no longer take calls
 The call has to be switched to another BTS with available
capacity

 This is done by a Base Station Controller (BSC)

 The BSC controls the routing of calls to BTSs

 Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
 The BSC routes the call to the Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

 The MSC performs the following functions

- AUC - Authentication Center
- HLR - Home Location Register
- VLR -Visitor Location Register
- CDR - Call Detail Record
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts

• AUC - the AUC authenticates the caller

– whether the caller is a valid subscriber
– whether the caller has call credit in case of prepaid
– whether the call should be barred – eg the caller might
have barred ISD calls
– if the caller does not have call credit, the call is
terminated at the AUC itself
 Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts

 HLR – the HLR check is performed by the MSC

 HLR – the MSC identifies the location of the caller within the
home network
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
• VLR – the VLR check is performed by the MSC

• VLR – the MSC identifies the location of the

caller outside the home network ie when the
customer is roaming

• Based on HLR and VLR check the call rate is

decided
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
• CDR – Call Detail Record
– CDR gets generated at MSC. Each MSC has multiple CHUs (Charging
Unit)
– In each CHU CDR gets generated in file which is in non readable
format
– Cut over of file at each CHU is based on two logics
• File Size
• Duration
• Both
– Mediation (Server at IT end for CDR processing) fetches file from
MSC and converts in ASCII format
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
• CDR – Call Detail Record
CDR contains:
– CDR Type
– Call Type
– A Party
– B Party
– Date and time of call mature
– Duration of Call
– IMSI
– IMEI
– SMSC number
– Call Drop Reason
– MSC ID
– Route
– Carrier
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
• Mediation
– Major functions of mediation are
• CDR Processing
– The source of collecting usage records i.e. the
network elements may vary, based on the functions
they handle. The various network elements has are
MSC, SMSC, and VMSC. Therefore, the mediation
device must have the ability to connect to every
network element and collect usage from it. Mediation
in turn converts CDRs in ASCII format, filters based on
requirement and attach usage type to each CDR
• Provisioning of command on HLR
– Mediation is common entity between billing system
and HLR. Both the system requires an interpreter to
understand language of each other. Mediation works
as an interpreter between both the systems.
Usage Processes

Billing Data ware

System house
Inter
connect
billing
Mediation
system
Switch

Usage File

Fraud
Usage events are management
generated outside system

Business
Intelligent
System
 Customer Billing Platform
• Billing – This module takes care of the Usage and Billing processes. This
module controls rating and Billing of all processes. The sub modules under
this head can be classified as:

– Roaming Processing – This involves activities

ranging from rating for in roamers and generation of
Tapout files to extraction and processing of Tapin
Files containing data for Out roamers
– Usage Processing – This involves activities
performed for extraction and rating of data in CDR
files

– Bill Run processes – These processes involves

activities starting with performing pre-bill checks to
running the Bill cycles and finally formatting and
printing the Bills
Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts

• If the receiver is on a mobile number

– The call is routed to the receiver from the caller's MSC
 Mobile Telephony - the
Nuts and Bolts
 If the receiver is on a landline number

– The call is routed to the landline service provider's

exchange from the caller's MSC

– From the exchange, the call is routed to the receiver

Call Routing

 Within same Operator

 One Operator to another Mobile operator
 One Operator to landline – Local
 One Operator to Landline – STD/ISD

FORWARD
FORWARD
 Within same Operator

9818574233
MSC

BSC

BSC

BACK
BACK
9818623985
 One Operator to another Mobile operator

9818574233 First Opertor MSC

BSC
Another Opertor MSC

BSC
9811622495

BACK
BACK
 One Operator to landline – Local

9818574233
MSC

BSC

PSTN
Local
Exchange

BACK
BACK
26225957
 One Operator to Landline – STD/ISD

9818574233
MSC

BSC

TAX /
GATEWAY

PSTN
Local
Exchange
BACK
BACK 03325742368
1-800-23682558
 Situation 1

 A person is traveling from area X to area Y within the city

 While traveling he is speaking over his mobile phone

 Suddenly, his signal starts becoming weak

 A minute later the signal strength picks up

 Situation 2

 A person is travelling from area X to area Y within the city

 While travelling he is speaking over his mobile phone

 Suddenly, his signal starts becoming weak

 A minute later the signal dies for an instant and the caller is
disconnected
x
What is the difference between the two situations?
Handover

• Handover is the process by which the call is switched from one base
station to another

• This happens when

– the caller is moving

– the base station is overloaded with call traffic
 Handover
 When the caller is moving away from a BTS, the signal
weakens
 When the call has to be transferred from one BTS to another in
a neighboring cell
– The receiving BTS may have free capacity and the
signal again picks up
– The call is transferred successfully across cells
 Handover
 When the caller is moving away from a BTS, the signal
weakens

 When the call has to be transferred from one BTS to another in

a neighboring cell
– The receiving BTS may not have free capacity and
the
signal dies
– The call is then dropped
 Call Drop

When an active call drops it is called as a call drop

This is a call that is abnormally terminated, ie released by
neither the caller nor the called party

Cell B

Cell A
Cell C

If Cell C is congested and handover is not possible

the Call continues to stay connected to the Serving cell
till the signal quality deteriorates and finally drops
 Call Drop

 Reasons for Dropping on traffic channel

- Interference (Bad quality on the serving cell)
- low signal strength (Increases Indoor Complaints)
- No handover definitions
- Faulty hardware
Cell B

Cell A
Cell C
 Call Congestion
 This is when a call attempt is not allocated a traffic channel due to
non-availability of channels

(Could be because of high offered traffic, circuit outage, blocked

TRUs etc)

 The time for which no resource is available is counted as

Congestion (Secs)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

All cells handling calls

Any fresh attempt will be blocked and the

congestion timer will start
Dialing Procedures

To call a Mobile from a Mobile

• Within same circle Simply call the mobile number eg 98980 12345
• GSM way +91-98980 12345
• Within India Prefix <Zero> before the mobile number eg 0 –
98200 12345
• GSM way +91-98200 12345 for another circle
• Outside India Call <double Zero><country code><mobile number>
eg 00 - 49 – 1773232119
• GSM way +49-1773232119 for a Mobile in Germany and +1-
3124985699 for a mobile in USA
• LDD Call #0<Country code><Mobile number>
eg <#0> <91> 9892011111 for a Mumbai customer in
Gujarat
 Dialing Procedures
To call from PSTN to Mobile
• Within same circle Simply call the mobile number eg 98980 12345
• Within India Prefix <Zero> before the mobile number eg 0 - 98200
12345 for
• Outside India Prefix <double Zero> and <country code> before the
local mobile number eg 00-91–9898012345
or call
00-49-1773232111 for a GSM in Germany

To call from a Mobile to PSTN / WLL

• Within same circle Prefix <079> before the PSTN number eg 079
27544527
• GSM way +91-79-27544527 for Ahmedabad
• Call to other cities
• TIP Or call <0> <area code><No> eg 0261-2474343 for
Surat
• Within India Prefix <STD code> before the number eg 022-
24972890 for Mumbai or 0141-4321212 for Jaipur
• GSM way +91-22-2497 2890 for Mumbai or +91-141-4321212 for
Jaipur
• Outside India Call <double Zero><country code><city code><PSTN
number> eg 00 - 49 – 561-8704343 for City
Kassel in Germany
• GSM way +49-561-8704343
GSM Terminologies
 Traffic
What is
traffic ?
 Traffic describes the use that is made of the network resource,
ie calls arriving and calls in progress

 Traffic is carried on a channel or a timeslot within a cell The

unit of measurement of traffic intensity in a network is the
Erlang

 An erlang can be defined as the average number of calls in

progress over a period of time viz when one channel is busy for
1 hour it generates 1 Eh of traffic
Traffic Utilization

• Traffic Utilization is the ratio of traffic that is offered

to a resource and its designed capacity

• The utilization becomes > 100%, when cells carry

traffic greater than their design capacity
(it results in increased blocking/ congestion)
 Interference

 Interference when a radio channel being used by a cell is

degraded by unwanted signals from other sources
(neighbouring cells)

 Leads to Subscriber perception of Call clipping and finally

increase in call drops
Typical Network
Problems
Poor Coverage
(Indoor/ Call
Outdoor) Congestion

NETWORK PROBLEMS

Call Drop Voice clipping

 Poor Coverage

Indoor Outdoor
Deep Indoor
First wall penetration Open Area
coverage coverage
Second wall Basement
penetration coverage Coverage
Solutions for Coverage Problems

Coverage Type Solutions

Indoor coverage - New sector/ Minimeg
antenna
- Antenna tilts
Deep Indoor coverage - New site /Booster
- New sector/Personal
antenna
Outdoor coverage New Site
 CALL DROPS

Bad Quality Lack of

coverage
Congestion
Call drop due to Call drop due to
bad quality lack/loss of
accompanied coverage
with speech cuts Call drop due to
congestion No network message
&voice breaks flashes
Solutions for Call Drops

CAUSE FOR CALL SOLUTION

DROPS
Bad Quality Optimization, new site in
area
Congestion Capacity Augmentation,
Multi Band cells
Lack of coverage New site , repeater
High Rise Buildings - Network Problems

• Latching to neighboring network-

subscriber latches to the neighboring network
Solution -
In-building site / manual selection to the network
Clipping and Call drop-Voice clipping followed by call
drop at full signal strength
Solution -
Optimization or in-building site
CDMA Technology
CDMA

• Code Division Multiple Access

• CDMA operates within a frequency band
• CDMA is not a chip dependent technology
– The connection is configured on the handset
CDMA

• CDMA is a spread spectrum technology

• A signal to be broadcast on the channel is first
"spread-out" over the entire bandwidth
• CDMA is only a means to transmit bits of
information
• IS-95 is a transmission protocol that employs CDMA
• All of the users of the system share the same
channel
• The signal is encoded using unique codes known
only to the transmitter and receiver
Advantages of CDMA

• Reliance/TATA Telecom has introduced

CDMA 2000 1.X technology
• 8~10 times more users than traditional
FDMA(AMPS)/TDMA(GSM)
• Improved Security and Privacy
• No sense of handoff when changing cells
• Greater Capacity (CDMA can carry-out 64
conversation at a unit time)
• GSM carry out only 7 conversations at a unit
time
 Advantages of CDMA …..

• Easy addition of more users

• If number of customers is less, then very
few BTS’ can cover the entire city
• CDMA is capable of providing all the
features that the GSM can provide
 Disadvantages of CDMA

• A big problem facing CDMA systems is

channel pollution
• the shrinking coverage phenomenon or site
breathing
• CDMA is relatively new, and the network is
not as mature as GSM
• Data transfer rate is almost similar to GSM -
9.6 kbps to 14.2 kbps
 Disadvantages of CDMA ….

• handsets with higher data rate are expensive and

are not easily available in the market
• CDMA is proprietary and is not widely known so
adding to new features to CDMA is difficult or
expensive
• Changing handset is NOT easy in CDMA as Handset
is user’s identity
• Operator’s intervention is required
 Advantages of GSM over CDMA
• Due to GSM's better error management and frequency hopping,
the interference of a co-channel site is greatly reduced
• In GSM, Speech quality is constant at a particular place at any
time. On the contrary, in CDMA quality will keep changing (e.g.
during peak hours)
• In fast moving vehicles, quality of reception is excellent in GSM
than CDMA
• Changing handset is easy in GSM as user can change SIM no
himself/herself
• In GPRS, Data rate is 171 kbps as compare to CDMA 2000-1.X’s
144 kbps
 Advantages of GSM over CDMA
• GSM is an open standard and is more elegant
way to develop the technology
• Adding new features to CDMA is difficult &
expensive
• Rate of Call-Drop is higher in CDMA than GSM
• CDMA is like plain Vanilla ice-cream
Telecommunication Terms Microsoft Excel
Worksheet
Thank You