To Beamform or Not to Beamform: Can Beamforming Help WiMAX Operators to Lower Deployment and Operating Costs?

As WiMAX operators deploy new networks or expand existing ones, they face multiple choices in the selection of base station equipment. How can WiMAX operators choose the hardware solution that is most cost effective and has the faster return on investment (ROI)?

We addressed this question by analyzing the capex and opex requirements for a five-year period, using radio access network (RAN) equipment with multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), beamforming (BF), and a combination of MIMO and BF.

MIMO equipment is less expensive, but requires a higher number of base stations. BF and BF+MIMO equipment costs more, but requires fewer cell sites to provide the same coverage and capacity.

Despite the higher RAN equipment costs, BF lowers the overall capex and opex as it requires fewer cell sites. In the BF case, 49% fewer cell sites are required in Year 1, and 20% in Year 5. For the BF+MIMO case, the reduction in cell sites is even larger, ranging from 57% in Year 1 to 34% in Year 5.

Fewer cell sites result in a 20% reduction in the discounted RAN costs over five years in the BF case, and in a 34% reduction for the BF+MIMO case.

You can download the PDF of the paper here.