Mobile operators may be able to offer better coverage from the moment new cells or data services go on line, and save carriers precious capital at the same time, with a service to be unveiled Monday by ScoreBoard Inc.

ScoreBoard tests the performance of mobile networks and makes the results available to carriers along with software tools that help them use the information to optimize performance. With the addition of its Growth Management service, operators will be able to use the same kinds of data to build in better performance as they expand into new coverage areas or create new networks, said Joy Nemitz, senior vice president of marketing and business development at ScoreBoard.

Factors such as the power setting on each cell, the distribution of different frequencies among cells, and the interference created by hills and buildings can cause poor signal quality and dropped connections.

The problem may become even more critical as new mobile data networks are set up using technologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), according to Phil Marshall, an analyst at Yankee Group Inc., in Boston. GPRS networks in many cases will be built alongside existing voice systems in urban areas, using the same spectrum.

"The overlay networks are essentially consuming capacity in environments that are already capacity-limited," Marshall said.

In addition, with economies around the world struggling and a lot of European operators' capital tied up in 3G (third-generation) mobile spectrum licenses, carriers need to use equipment and spectrum as efficiently as they can, he added.

ScoreBoard has offered its network optimization service for existing networks since 1996. It hires subcontractors to drive monitoring trucks throughout a coverage area to test network coverage. The resulting data can help carriers offer better service and make better use of their infrastructure and their licensed spectrum, Nemitz said. After the data is processed and stored on Scoreboard's servers, carrier engineers can access those servers and analyze the numbers in a variety of ways to improve their networks.

With the Growth Management service, operators will be able to combine the real-world data about their existing networks with predictions based on that data in order to figure out where to set up new cells or how to configure an overlay network. The predictive data for each area will carry a rating that shows how closely it may predict what's needed.

"It gives them a confidence level ... they've never had before," Nemitz said.

GPRS overlay networks may play a more important role in mobile data, for a longer period of time, than had been expected, Yankee's Marshall added. Operators are looking to GPRS, which can transmit data packets at up to 115K bps, to cultivate a market for the faster 3G packet networks. The 3G rollouts, which had been expected in 2002 and 2003, now are more likely to happen in 2004 or 2005.

ScoreBoard provides network optimization services to TDMA (Time-Division Multiple Access) mobile operators in North America and is now entering the European and Asian markets with a service for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) carriers that was introduced in February. In addition to help on GPRS rollouts, ScoreBoard will offer assistance to carriers setting up EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) networks. The Growth Management service has been in beta testing at AT&T Wireless and was made generally available Monday.

IDG News Service

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