INTRODUCTION:

Robi Axiata Limited, formerly known as AKTel, is a joint venture between

Axiata Group Berhad, Malaysia (92%) and NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan (8%).

Robi is the third largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh with more than 20
million subscribers as of August 2012.

Robi boasts of the widest international roaming service in the market, connecting
over 500 operators across 207 countries. It is the first operator in the country to
introduce GPRS. Robi uses GSM 900/1800 MHz standard and operates on
allocated 12.8 MHz frequency spectrum.[

Robi Axiata Limited is a joint venture company between Axiata Group Berhad,
Malaysia and NTT DOCOMO INC, Japan. It was formerly known as Telekom
Malaysia International (Bangladesh) which commenced operations in Bangladesh
in 1997 with the brand name AKTEL. On 28 March 2010, the service name was
rebranded as ‘Robi’ which means Sun in Bengali.

Axiata Group Berhad, formerly TM International Berhad (TMI), today unveiled its
new company name and logo–. The new name and logo marks a major milestone
in the company’s history and signifies its presence as a key regional player in the
mobile telecommunications market. The rebranding exercise, which has been
planned since its demerger from Telekom Malaysia Berhad in April 2008, will
further establish Axiata as an independent regional identity with its own distinct
aspirations and strategies. Following the demerger, Axiata has developed into one
of the largest mobile players in South East Asia with nearly 90 million customers
across 10 countries.

AKTEL was incorporated on 15 November 1997 as a Joint Venture company

between Axiata (70%) and AK Khan & Co. (30%). The AK Khan Group recently
completed the sale of its entire shareholding of 30% in AKTEL to NTT DoCoMo.

1
The company operates GSM 900 and 1800 cellular services under a 15-year
license granted in November 1996.

Edotco Bangladesh was launched as an independent business on June 1, 2013 and

is part of the Malaysia based Axiata Group with Mobile Telephone and Network
Infrastructure operations in 8 countries. It is the market leader in Bangladesh and
has the following list of customers:

i. Robi Axiata Limited

ii. Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd
iii. Grameenphone Ltd (GP)
iv. Banglalink Digital Communications Ltd (BL)
v. Ollo Bangladesh Ltd
vi. Qubee
vii. Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB)
viii. Ranks Telecom (Ranks Tel)
ix. Tomato Web (pvt) Ltd
x. Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (Citycell)
xi. Radio Foorti

edotco Group has 12000 towers and counting. edotco Bangladesh owns and
operates in more than 6,000 BTS Tower sites throughout Bangladesh and
expanding. The large estate allows operators to be located immediately on
existing towers when expanding coverage and capacity. With an operation
dedicated to the management of BTS sites edotco Bangladesh is able to offer
significant improvements in network availability.

edotco Group (edotco) is Axiata’s new communications infrastructure solutions

and services company, established in 2013. Given its network of over 13,000 sites
in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and 12,000km of fibre network
in Pakistan, edotco will be generating new opportunities for the Group by
providing best-in-class infrastructure solutions for telecommunications operators
and other businesses.

2
It can be summarized as:

3
TECHNOLOGY HIERARCHY:

The ROBI Technology team is divided into six parts. The technology hierarchy is
given below:

TECHNOLOGY
TEAM

Central Regional
Operation Operation IT &
Planning Compliance Implementation
Charging
(COP) (RO)

Figure: ROBI Technology Hierarchy

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Planning :
Planning begins with clearly understanding the user requirement. A user
requirement shows what service the user expects in time, space and service. In
space, the requirement defines precisely which geographic areas are to be
covered; in service, the specification may define the call types to be supported,
the service for packet transmission or the data throughput; and, in time defines
the way the user expects the network to evolve.

The planning part again divided into five parts:

PLANNING

Radio Transmission Internet Intelligent

Core Network Protocol Network
Network Network
Planning Network Planning
Planning Planning
(CNP) Planning (INP)
(RNP) (TNP) (IPNP)

Figure: Planning Classification

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Radio Network Planning (RNP):
This comprises all sorts of engineering and planning services relevant to network
operators, regulatory organizations and system suppliers, including:
‒ coverage analysis and studies
‒ frequency planning & coordination services
‒ network design (cellular and transmission)
‒ network implementation
‒ network optimization: coverage, interferences, capacity
‒ geo data: consulting, generation, conversion and acquisition
‒ project management

Core Network Planning (CNP):

Core Network Planning meets the requirements from experienced professionals,
dealing with operational and planning aspects of the mobile core networks

Transmission Network Planning (TNP):

The Transmission Network Planning process generates a network plan that
provides a high-quality network, with an immense of spare capacity at very low
cost. In practice, a transmission network planning engineer has to use his or her
expertise to balance three factors:

• Cost
• Quality
• Capacity

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Internet Protocol Network Planning (IPNP):
It plans the security in IP network and maps O & M and troubleshooting. It
provides strategic operations and planning of DCN. It also includes planning of IP
Core network element & deletion of all garbage from the systems.

Intelligent Network Planning (INP):

Intelligent Network Planning (INP) is an integrated and optimized software system
designed to enable equipment providers to deliver high-performance network
systems that accelerate, analyze and secure network traffic and applications. The
INP includes both critical run-time components and tools for developing network
systems using the latest processors including Intel Xeon processors based on the
Sandy Bridge micro architecture.

Central Operation (COP):

The central operation is divided into 4 parts:

CENTRAL OPERATION
(COP)

System Support
Service Charging Service (SS)
Operation
Operation Operation
Support System or
Center
(OSS) (SCO) Back Office
(SOC)
(BO)

Figure: ROBI COP Classification

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Operation Support System (OSS):
Operations Support Systems (OSS), or operational support systems in British
usage, are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers to
manage their networks (e.g., telephone networks). They support management
functions such as network inventory, service provisioning, network
configuration and fault management.

It is also divided into two parts. They are:

1. EMS

2. INMS

Service Charging Operation (SCO):

It does the following operations:

• Prepaid & Recharge operation

• Postpaid Billing, Roaming & Interconnection.

• Prepaid Product Configuration

• Postpaid Product

• VAS charging & CRM operations

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Service Operation Center (SOC):
SOC is divided mainly into three parts. They are classified like this:

SERVICE OPERATION CENTER

(SOC)

Customer Problem
Monitoring First Level Support (FLS)
Management (CPM)

CN Monitoring CN FLS Terminal Problem

RAN Monitoring RAN FLS Non-terminal Problem

Tx Monitoring Tx FLS Calling Problem

RM Monitoring RM FLS VAS Problem

Figure: ROBI SOC Classification

 Monitoring:
The monitoring has four parts:

• Core Network Monitoring.

• Radio Access Network Monitoring.

• Transmission Monitoring.

• Revenue Management Monitoring.

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 First Level Support (FLS):
The First level support is divided into four parts:

• Core Network FLS

• Radio Access Network FLS

• Transmission FLS

• Revenue Management FLS

 Customer Problem Management (CPM):

CPM consists of four parts:

• Terminal Problem:

− Prepaid & Recharge operation

− Charging Problem

• Non-terminal Problem:

− Radio Network Problem

− BTS, BSC Problem

• Calling Problem:

− If any MSISDN is barred in HLR.

• VAS Service Problem :

− Bundle Problem

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The CMP has an Escalation Matrix:

If 4days+ Operational issues

No RO RO
coverage

Poor RO RO
coverage

Call drop RNO RO

Mute call RAN RO

Voice RNO RO
distortion

Call RNP RO
congestion

Echo RAN RO
during call

Cross RAN RO
connection

Figure: Escalation matrix

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System Support (SS) or Back Office (BO):
This section performs the following operations:

• 2nd level support for Network and Business critical systems.

• Smooth operation with highest level security of

• CN/RAN/IN/VAS/Transmission/ Packet and IP network.

• Centralize Configuration

• Support and maintain all commercial campaign

• Evaluate and recommend new technology’s impacts and its applications for
the deployment into the network.

Systems Support can be divided into 6 parts. They are:

SYSTEM SUPPORT
(SS)

RAN CNO TxBo IPNO TRO CNC

Figure: ROBI SS/BO Classification

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 RAN : Radio Access Network:
• It supports radio parts

• It is responsible for BTS & BSC maintenance

 CNO : Core Network Operation:

• Packet Switch (PS):

− It provides second line and 24-hour support for all PS Core nodes
(SGSN, GGSN, BG, DNS, CG, and Firewall) escalated from SOC
inspection & Field Engineers.

− Integration support: Support testing between PS Nodes to HLR,

BSC, OCS, GMSC, OSS, billing system, etc

• Circuit Switch (CS):

− It provides second line and 24-hour support for all Core nodes
(MSC/MGW) escalated from SOC surveillance & Field Engineers.

− Integration support: Support testing between MSC/VLR to

HLR/AUC, BSC, SCP, VMS, SMS, OSS, billing system, etc

 TxBO : Transmission Back Office:

• It ensures Transmission network availability to 99.97%

• It ensures supervision, trouble shooting and guiding of Operation and

maintenance of different vendors SDH Radio, MUX and Optical
Transmission Network.

• It ensures resources allocation, protection declaration of all vendors’

transmission equipments in AXB networks.

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 IPNO : Internet Protocol Network Operation:
• It maintains the security in IP network

• It manages of O & M and troubleshooting

• Provides strategic operations planning, Maintenance and support of

DCN

• It does Performance check of IP Network

• It provides consistency check of IP Core network element & deletion of

all garbage from the systems.

 TRO : Transmission Regional Operation:

• It fixes fiber damages.

• It looks after ROBI transmission link.

 CNC: Central Network Configuration:

It ensures End to End network configuration focusing on Core Network (MSC,
MGW, HLR, and SG) and Radio Access Network (BSC, BTS) within pre-decided
timeline with 24-hour support.

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The Work Flow of ROBI COP is given below:

Vendors
System Support / Back
Monitoring First Level Support Regional Operation ( NSN,HUAWEI, ERICSSON
Office
)

Figure: Workflow of ROBI COP

Regional Operation(RO):

• It provides onsite support 24/7.

• It Maintain different nodes/elements physically.

Compliance:
• Security

• Performance

• Report

• Audit

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Implementation:

• To implement any kind of new projects.

• To add/remove new components in old projects.

IT & Charging :
• Firewall Security

• Authentication

• Software management

• Login backup

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GLOBAL SYSTEM for MOBILE
COMMUNICATION:
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spécial
Mobile), is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute (ETSI) to describe protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular
networks used by mobile phones. As of 2014 it has become the default global
standard for mobile communications - with over 90% market share, operating in
over 219 countries and territories.

2G networks developed as a replacement for first generation (1G) analog cellular

networks, and the GSM standard originally described a digital, circuit-switched
network optimized for full duplex voice telephony. This expanded over time to
include data communications, first by circuit-switched transport, then by packet
data transport via GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) and EDGE (Enhanced
Data rates for GSM Evolution or EGPRS).

Subsequently, the 3GPP developed third-generation (3G) UMTS standards

followed by fourth-generation (4G) LTE Advanced standards, which do not form
part of the ETSI GSM standard.

"GSM" is a trademark owned by the GSM Association. It may also refer to the
(initially) most common voice codec used

In 1982, work began to develop a European standard for digital cellular voice
telephony when the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations (CEPT) created the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee and later
provided a permanent technical support group based in Paris. Five years later, in
1987, 15 representatives from 13 European countries signed a memorandum of
understanding in Copenhagen to develop and deploy a common cellular
telephone system across Europe, and EU rules were passed to make GSM a
mandatory standard. The decision to develop a continental standard eventually
resulted in a unified, open, standard-based network which was larger than that in
the United States. In 1989, the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee was transferred
from CEPT to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

17
In 1987 Europe produced the very first agreed GSM Technical Specification in
February. Ministers from the four big EU countries cemented their political
support for GSM with the Bonn Declaration on Global Information Networks in
May and the GSM MoU was tabled for signature in September. The MoU drew-in
mobile operators from across Europe to pledge to invest in new GSM networks to
an ambitious common date. It got GSM up and running fast.

In this short 37-week period the whole of Europe (countries and industries) had
been brought behind GSM in a rare unity and speed guided by four public officials
Armin Silberhorn (Germany), Stephen Temple (UK), Philippe Dupuis (France), and
Renzo Failli (Italy). In 1989 the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee was transferred
from CEPT to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

In parallel, France and Germany signed a joint development agreement in 1984

and were joined by Italy and the UK in 1986. In 1986 the European Commission
proposed reserving the 900 MHz spectrum band for GSM. The world's first GSM
call was made by the former Finnish prime minister Harri Holkeri to Kaarina
Suonio (mayor in city of Tampere) on July 1, 1991, on a network built by Telenokia
and Siemens and operated by Radiolinja. The following year in 1992, the first
short messaging service (SMS or "text message") message was sent and Vodafone
UK and Telecom Finland signed the first international roaming agreement.

Work began in 1991 to expand the GSM standard to the 1800 MHz frequency
band and the first 1800 MHz network became operational in the UK by 1993. Also
that year, Telecom Australia became the first network operator to deploy a GSM
network outside Europe and the first practical hand-held GSM mobile phone
became available.

In 1995, fax, data and SMS messaging services were launched commercially, the
first 1900 MHz GSM network became operational in the United States and GSM
subscribers worldwide exceeded 10 million. Also this year, the GSM Association
was formed. Pre-paid GSM SIM cards were launched in 1996 and worldwide GSM
subscribers passed 100 million in 1998.

In 2000, the first commercial GPRS services were launched and the first GPRS
compatible handsets became available for sale. In 2001 the first UMTS (W-CDMA)
network was launched, a 3G technology that is not part of GSM. Worldwide GSM
subscribers exceeded 500 million. In 2002 the first Multimedia Messaging Service

18
(MMS) were introduced and the first GSM network in the 800 MHz frequency
band became operational. EDGE services first became operational in a network in
2003 and the number of worldwide GSM subscribers exceeded 1 billion in 2004.

By 2005, GSM networks accounted for more than 75% of the worldwide cellular
network market, serving 1.5 billion subscribers. In 2005 the first HSDPA capable
network also became operational. The first HSUPA network was launched in 2007.
High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and its uplink and downlink versions are 3G
technologies, not part of GSM. Worldwide GSM subscribers exceeded three billion
in 2008.

The GSM Association estimated in 2010 that technologies defined in the GSM
standard serve 80% of the global mobile market, encompassing more than 5
billion people across more than 212 countries and territories, making GSM the
most ubiquitous of the many standards for cellular networks.

It is important to note that GSM is a second-generation (2G) standard employing

Time-Division Multiple-Access (TDMA) spectrum-sharing, issued by the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The GSM standard does not
include the 3G UMTS CDMA-based technology or the 4G LTE OFDMA-based
technology standards issued by the 3GPP.

Macau planned to phase out its 2G GSM networks as of June 4, 2015, making it
the first region to decommission a GSM network.

GSM SPECIFICATION:
GSM was designed to be platform-independent. The GSM specifications do
not specify the actual hardware requirements, but instead specify the network
functions and interfaces in detail. This allows hardware designers to be creative in
how they provide the actual functionality, but at the same time makes it possible
for operators to buy equipment from different suppliers. The GSM
recommendations consist of twelve series which are listed in the table below.
These series were written by different working parties and a number of expert
groups. A permanent nucleus was established in order to coordinate the working
parties and to manage the editing of the recommendations. All these groups were
organized by ETSI.
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GSM PHASE:

In the late 1980s, the groups involved in developing the GSM standard
realized that within the given time-frame they could not complete the
specifications for the entire range of GSM services and features as originally
planned. Because of this, it was decided that GSM would be released in phases
with phase 1 consisting of a limited set of services and features. Each new phase
builds on the services offered by existing phases.

PHASE 1:

Phase 1 contains the most common services including:

 Voice telephony.
 SMS.
 International roaming
 Call forwarding
 Call barring.

Phase 1 also incorporated features such as ciphering and Subscriber Identity

Module (SIM) cards. Phase 1 specifications were then closed and cannot be
modified.

PHASE 2:

Additional features were introduced in GSM phase 2 including:

 Advice of charge
 Call waiting
 Call hold
 Calling identification
 Conference calling
 Closed user groups
 Additional data communications capabilities

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GSM NETWORK COMPONENTS:

The GSM network is divided into two systems. Each of these systems are
comprised of a number of functional units which are individual components of the
mobile network. The two systems are:

 Switching System(SS)
 Base Station System(BSS)

In addition, as with all telecommunications networks, GSM networks are

operated, maintained and managed from computerized centers.

The SS is responsible for performing call processing and subscriber related

functions. It includes the following functional units:

 Mobile services Switching Centre(MSC)

 Home Location Register(HLR)
 Visitor Location Register(VLR)
 Authentication Centre(AUC)
 Equipment Identity Register(EIR)

The BSS performs all the radio-related functions. The BSS is comprised of the
following functional units:

 Base Station Controller(BSC)

 Base Transceiver Station(BTS)

GSM GEOGRAPHICAL NETWORK STRUCTURE:

Every telephone network needs a specific structure to route incoming calls to the
correct exchange and then on to the subscriber. In a mobile network, this
structure is very important because the subscribers are mobile. As subscribers
move through the network, these structures are used to monitor their locations.

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CELL:

A cell is the basic unit of a cellular system and is defined as the area of radio
coverage given by one BS antenna system. Each cell is assigned a unique number
called Cell Global Identity
(CGI). In a complete network covering an entire country, the number of cells can
be quite high.

LOCATION AREA:

A Location Area (LA) is defined as a group of cells. Within the network, a

subscriber’s location is known by the LA, which they are in. The identity of the LA
in which an MS is currently
Located is stored in the VLR.When an MS crosses the boundary between two cells
belonging to different LA’s, it must report its new Location Area to the network1.
If it crosses a cell boundary within a LA, it does not report its new cell location to
the network. When there is a call for an MS, a paging message is broadcast within
all the cells belonging to the relevant LA.

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GSM ARCHITECTURE:

MOBILE STATION (MS):

A mobile station (MS) comprises all user equipment and software needed
for communication with a mobile network.
The term refers to the global system connected to the mobile network, i.e.
a mobile phone or mobile computer connected using a mobile
broadband adapter. This is the terminology of 2G systems like GSM.
In 3G systems, a mobile station (MS) is now referred to as user equipment (UE).

MS (Mobile Station) =MT (Mobile Terminal) + TE (Terminal Equipment)

In GSM, a mobile station consists of four main components:

 Mobile termination (MT) :

It offers common functions of a such as:

radio Transmission and handover, speech encoding and decoding, Error
detection and correction , signaling and access to the SIM. The IMEI code is
attached to the MT. It is equivalent to the network termination of
an ISDN access.

 Terminal equipment (TE) :

It is any device connected to the MS offering services to the user. It does

not contain any functions specific to GSM.

 Terminal adapter (TA):

It provides access to the MT as if it was an ISDN network termination with

extended capabilities. Communication between the TE and MT over the TA
takes place using AT commands.

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 Subscriber identity module (SIM) :

It is a removable subscriber identification token storing the IMSI a unique

key shared with the mobile network operator and other data.

In a mobile phone, the MT, TA and TE are enclosed in the same case. However,
the MT and TE functions are often performed by distinct processors.
The application processor serves as a TE, while the baseband processor serves as
a MT, communication between both takes place over a bus using AT commands,
which serves as a TA.

Base station subsystem (BSS):

The base station subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular
telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between
a mobile phone and the network switching subsystem. The BSS carries
out transcoding of speech channels, allocation of radio channels to mobile
phones, paging, transmission and reception over the air interface and many other
tasks related to the radio network.

BSS (Base Station Subsystem) =BTS (Base Transceiver Station) + BSC (Base Station
Controller)

Base transceiver station (BTS):

The base transceiver station, or BTS, contains the equipment for
transmitting and receiving radio signals (transceivers), antennas, and equipment
for encrypting and decrypting communications with the base station
controller (BSC). Typically a BTS for anything other than a picocell will have
several transceivers (TRXs) which allow it to serve several
different frequencies and different sectors of the cell (in the case of sectorised
base stations).A BTS is controlled by a parent BSC via the "base station control
function" (BCF).

The BCF is implemented as a discrete unit or even incorporated in a TRX in

compact base stations. The BCF provides an operations and maintenance (O&M)
24
connection to the network management system (NMS), and manages operational
states of each TRX, as well as software handling and alarm collection.

A network may be any wireless technology, like Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) or Wi-Fi. However, because a BTS
is associated with mobile communications technologies, it refers to the
equipment that creates the "cell" in a cellular network. Sometimes, an entire base
station, plus its tower, is improperly referred to as a BTS or cell phone tower.

As part of a cellular network, a BTS has equipment for the encryption and
decryption of communications, spectrum filtering equipment, antennas and
transceivers (TRX) to name a few. A BTS typically has multiple transceivers that
allow it to serve many of the cell's different frequencies and sectors.

A parent base station controller (BSC) controls all BTSs via the base station control
function (BCF) - either a separate unit or integrated with the TRX for compact
base stations. The BCF provides a connection to the network management system
(NMS) and manages the transceiver's operational states.

The function of the BTS remains the same - no matter what type of wireless
technology is used.

The functions of a BTS vary depending on the cellular technology used and the
cellular telephone provider. There are vendors in which the BTS is a plain
transceiver which receives information from the MS (mobile station) through
the interface and then converts it to a TDM (PCM) based interface, the Abis
interface, and sends it towards the BSC. There are vendors which build their BTSs
so the information is preprocessed, target cell lists are generated and even
intracellular handover (HO) can be fully handled. The advantage in this case is
fewer loads on the expensive Abis interface.

The BTSs are equipped with radios that are able to modulate layer 1 of interface
Um; for GSM 2G+ the modulation type is Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK),
while for EDGE-enabled networks it is GMSK and 8-PSK. This modulation is a kind
of continuous-phase frequency shift keying. In GMSK, the signal to be modulated
onto the carrier is first smoothed with a Gaussian low-pass filter prior to being fed
to a frequency modulator, which greatly reduces the interference to neighboring
channels (adjacent-channel interference).

25
Antenna combiners are implemented to use the same antenna for several TRXs
(carriers), the more TRXs are combined the greater the combiner loss will be. Up
to 8:1 combiners are found in micro and pico cells only.

Frequency hopping is often used to increase overall BTS performance; this

involves the rapid switching of voice traffic between TRXs in a sector. A hopping
sequence is followed by the TRXs and handsets using the sector. Several hopping
sequences are available, and the sequence in use for a particular cell is continually
broadcast by that cell so that it is known to the handsets.
A TRX transmits and receives according to the GSM standards, which specify
eight TDMA timeslots per radio frequency. A TRX may lose some of this capacity
as some information is required to be broadcast to handsets in the area that the
BTS serves. This information allows the handsets to identify the network and gain
access to it. This signaling makes use of a channel known as the Broadcast Control
Channel (BCCH).

Base station controller (BSC):

The base station controller (BSC) provides, classically, the intelligence behind the
BTS’s. Typically a BSC has tens or even hundreds of BTSs under its control. The
BSC handles allocation of radio channels, receives measurements from the mobile
phones, and controls handovers from BTS to BTS (except in the case of an inter-
BSC handover in which case control is in part the responsibility of the anchor
MSC). A key function of the BSC is to act as a concentrator where many different
low capacity connections to BTSs (with relatively low utilization) become reduced
to a smaller number of connections towards the mobile switching center (MSC)
(with a high level of utilization). Overall, this means that networks are often
structured to have many BSCs distributed into regions near their BTSs which are
then connected to large centralized MSC sites.
The BSC is undoubtedly the most robust element in the BSS as it is not only a BTS
controller but, for some vendors, a full switching center, as well as an SS7 node
with connections to the MSC and serving GPRS support node (SGSN) (when
using GPRS). It also provides all the required data to the operation support
subsystem (OSS) as well as to the performance measuring centers.

26
A BSC is often based on a distributed computing architecture, with redundancy
applied to critical functional units to ensure availability in the event of fault
conditions. Redundancy often extends beyond the BSC equipment itself and is
commonly used in the power supplies and in the transmission equipment
providing the A-ter interface to PCU.
The databases for all the sites, including information such as carrier frequencies,
frequency hopping lists, power reduction levels, receiving levels for cell border
calculation, are stored in the BSC. This data is obtained directly from radio
planning engineering which involves modeling of the signal propagation as well as
traffic projections.

NETWORK SWITCHING SUB-SYSTEM:

Network switching subsystem (NSS) (or GSM core network) is the component of a
GSM system that carries out call switching and mobility management functions
for mobile phones roaming on the network of base stations. It is owned and
deployed by mobile phone operators and allows mobile devices to communicate
with each other and telephones in the wider public switched telephone network
(PSTN). The architecture contains specific features and functions which are
needed because the phones are not fixed in one location.

GSM is a cellular network, which means that cell phones connect to it by

searching for cells in the immediate vicinity. There are five different cell sizes in a
GSM network—macro, micro, pico, femto, and umbrella cells. The coverage area
of each cell varies according to the implementation environment. Macro cells can
be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is installed on a mast or a
building above average rooftop level. Micro cells are cells whose antenna height is
under average rooftop level; they are typically used in urban areas. Picocells are
small cells whose coverage diameter is a few dozen metres; they are mainly used
indoors. Femtocells are cells designed for use in residential or small business
environments and connect to the service provider’s network via a broadband
internet connection. Umbrella cells are used to cover shadowed regions of
smaller cells and fill in gaps in coverage between those cells.

Cell horizontal radius varies depending on antenna height, antenna gain, and
propagation conditions from a couple of hundred metres to several tens of
kilometres. The longest distance the GSM specification supports in practical use is
27
35 kilometres (22 mi). There are also several implementations of the concept of
an extended cell,[13] where the cell radius could be double or even more,
depending on the antenna system, the type of terrain, and the timing advance.

Indoor coverage is also supported by GSM and may be achieved by using an

indoor picocell base station, or an indoor repeater with distributed indoor
antennas fed through power splitters, to deliver the radio signals from an antenna
outdoors to the separate indoor distributed antenna system. These are typically
deployed when significant call capacity is needed indoors, like in shopping centers
or airports. However, this is not a prerequisite, since indoor coverage is also
provided by in-building penetration of the radio signals from any nearby cell.

The NSS originally consisted of the circuit-switched core network, used for
traditional GSM services such as voice calls, SMS, and circuit switched data calls. It
was extended with an overlay architecture to provide packet-switched data
services known as the GPRS core network. This allows mobile phones to have
access to services such as WAP, MMS, and the Internet.

Figure: GSM Architecture.

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MOBILE SWITCHING CENTRE:
The mobile switching centre, abbreviated as MSC Server or MSS, is a 2G
core network element which controls the network switching subsystem elements.
Alternatively or adaptively, MSS can be used in GSM networks as well,[1] if the
manufacturer has implemented support for GSM networks in the MSS. Since an
immediate upgrade of existing GSM network to 3G is not viable due to various
issues like handset incompatibilities and high expenditure, most manufacturers
do implement GSM support in MSS. In fact, MSS along with other 3G network
elements such as media gateway (MGW), can be configured to support GSM
network exclusively and can be considered as an upgraded version of existing
GSM mobile switching centres. The MSC Server is standards-based and
communicates with other distributed elements using industry open standards
such as media gateway control protocol, megaco/H.248, session initiation
protocol, M2UA and M3UA. The MSC server incorporates industry standards as
defined by ETSI, ITU, GSM, 3GPP and 3GPP2 and other leading standard bodies.
The MSS supports the regulatory environment set by governing bodies via its
support for E911, CALEA/legal intercept, wireless and local number portability,
TTY/TTD, and Number Pooling requirements.

Alternatively MSS is also called an MTS-U (Motorola telephony soft-switch)[4] in

Motorola terminology, and as MSC-S[5][6] in Ericsson terminology. MSC server
functionality enables split between control (signaling) and user plane (bearer in
network element called a media gateway), which guarantees better placement of
network elements within the network.

MSC server and MGW make it possible to cross-connect circuit switched calls
switched by using IP, ATM AAL2 as well as TDM

A mobile switching center (MSC) is the centerpiece of a network switching

subsystem (NSS). The MSC is mostly associated with communications switching
functions, such as call set-up, release, and routing. However, it also performs a
host of other duties, including routing SMS messages, conference calls, fax, and
service billing as well as interfacing with other networks, such as the public
switched telephone network(PSTN).

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The MSC is structured so that base stations connect to it, while it connects to the
PSTN. Because cellphones connect to these base stations, all forms of
communication, whether between two cell phones or between a cell phone and a
landline telephone, travel through the MSC.

A small network operator may employ only one MSC, while a large operator
requires multiple MSCs. The MSC plays a significant role in handovers, particularly
handovers involving multiple base station controllers - known as inter-BSC or
intra-MSC handovers - as well as those involving multiple MSCs, known as inter-
MSC handovers.

In an inter-BSC handover and upon detecting that a mobile device is approaching

the edge of its cell, a BSC requests handover assistance from its MSC. The MSC
then scans a list of adjacent cells and their corresponding BSCs and facilitates the
handover to the appropriate BSC.

As mobile phones move, it is important for the MSC to determine each phone’s
location to effectively facilitate routing communications between them. For this
task, the MSC works with a large database known as the home location register
(HLR), which stores relevant location and other information for each mobile
phone.

Because accessing the HLR uses many network resources, most operators employ
visitor location registers (VLRs). These are relatively smaller databases, which are
integrated with the MSC. Some carriers deploy one VLR per MSC, while others set
up one VLR to serve multiple MSCs.

HOME LOCATION REGISTER:

A home location register (HLR) is a database containing pertinent data
regarding subscribers authorized to use a global system for mobile
communications (GSM) network. Some of the information stored in an HLR
includes the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and the mobile station
international subscriber directory number (MSISDN) of each subscription.

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The IMSI uniquely identifies each Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and serves as
the primary key for each HLR record. The MSISDN (also called the mobile
subscriber integrated services digital network) is a list of the telephone numbers
for each subscription. Other information stored in the HLR includes services
requested by or rendered to the corresponding subscriber, the general packet
radio service settings of the subscriber, the current location of the subscriber and
call divert settings.

Because cell phones, and their respective SIMs, are mostly mobile, the HLR serves
as the main source of recent location information. The HLR is updated each time
the SIM transfers into another location area. The HLR also plays a significant role
in short message service (SMS) message sending. Before the SMS Company
forwards the message to the intended recipient, it scans through the HLR to find
which mobile switching center (MSC) the recipient has recently used.

If the target MSC reports that the recipient’s phone is not available, a message
waiting flag is set in the HLR. If the recipient appears in another MSC (for
example, when flying to another city), he still receives the message because the
MSC will notify the HLR once the recipient is detected in its jurisdiction.

Other cellular components actively working with the HLR include the gateway
mobile switching center (G-MSC), visitor location register (VLR) and the
authentication center (AUC).

The HLR is the reference database for subscriber parameters. Actually HLR Having
all the detail like customer ID, customer number, billing detail and for prepaid
with IN intelligent network its has detail of current recharge of prepaid user so far
its is very complex but i just make it in simple word for you.

Various identification numbers and addresses are stored, as well as

authentication parameters. This information is entered into the database by the
network provider when a new subscriber is added to the system. The HLR
database contains the master database of all the subscribers to a GSM PLMN.

The data it contains is remotely accessed by all the MSCs and the VLRs in the
network and, although the network may contain more than one HLR, there is only
one database record per subscriber – each HLR is therefore handling a portion of
the total subscriber database.

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The subscriber data may be accessed by either the IMSI or the MSISDN number.
The data can also be accessed by an MSC or a VLR in a different PLMN, to allow
inter-system and inter-country roaming.

The Basic Parameters stored in the HLR are listed below:

 Subscriber ID (IMSI and MSISDN)

 Current Subscriber VLR (Current Location)
 Supplementary Services Subscriber to (Caller Tone, Missed Call Alert, Any
Other Services etc.)
 Subscriber Status (Registered or Deregistered)
 Authentication Key and AUC Functionality
 Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number

VISITOR LOCATION REGISTERS:

The VLR contains a copy of most of the data stored at the HLR. It is,
however, temporary data which exists for only as long as the subscriber is “active”
in the particular area covered by the VLR.

The VLR database will therefore contain some duplicate data as well as more
precise data relevant to the subscriber remaining within the VLR coverage (here
coverage means status of customer of last lac location area code updating )

The VLR provides a local database for the subscribers wherever they are physically
located within a PLMN, this may or may not be the “home” system. This function
eliminates the need for excessive and time-consuming references to the “home”
HLR database.

The additional data stored in the VLR is listed below:

1. Location Area Identity (LAI).

2. Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI).
3. Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN).
4. Mobile status (busy/free/no answer etc.).

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Location Area Identity:
Cells within the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) are grouped together
into geographical areas. Each area is assigned a Location Area Identity (LAI), a
location area may typically contain 30 cells.

Each VLR controls several LAIs and as a subscriber moves from one LAI to another,
the LAI is updated in the VLR. As the subscriber moves from one VLR to another,
the VLR address is updated at the HLR.

Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI):

The VLR controls the allocation of new Temporary Mobile Subscriber
Identity (TMSI) numbers and notifies them to the HLR. The TMSI will be updated
frequently; this makes it very difficult for the call to be traced and therefore
provides a high degree of security for the subscriber.

The TMSI may be updated in any of the following situations:

 Call setup.
 On entry to a new LAI.
 On entry to a new VLR.

Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number:

As a subscriber may wish to operate outside its “home” system at some
time, the VLR can also allocate a Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN). This
number is assigned from a list of numbers held at the VLR (MSC). The MSRN is
then used to route the call to the MSC which controls the base station in the MSs
Current location.

The database in the VLR can be accessed by the IMSI, the TMSI or the MSRN.
Typically there will be one VLR per MSC.

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Authentication CENTER:
The main function of the AUC is to authenticate the subscribers attempting
to use a network. In this way, it is used to protect network operators against
fraud. The AUC is a database connected to the HLR which provides it with the
authentication. Parameters and ciphering keys used to ensure network security.

EQUIPMENT IDENTITY REGISTERS:

The EIR is a database containing mobile equipment identity information

which helps to block calls from stolen, unauthorized, or defective MSs. It should
be noted that due to subscriber-equipment separation in GSM, the barring of MS
equipment does not result in automatic barring of a subscriber.

GSM SERVICE AREA:

The GSM service area is the entire geographical area in which a subscriber
can gain access to a GSM network. The GSM service area increases as more
operators sign contracts agreeing to work together. Currently, the GSM service
area spans dozens of countries across the world from Ireland to Australia and
South Africa.
International roaming is the term applied when an MS moves from one PLMN to
another when abroad.

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2G Calling Procedure:

The 2G calling procedure is described step by step below:

1. Random Access Channel is set up between Mobile Phone and BTS.

2. Traffic Channel is set up between BSC and Mobile Phone.
3. MSC informs the BSC to assign voice channels and encryption to the
Mobile Phone which completes the first part of the call connection
process.
4. MSC sends the recipients MISSION to the HLR.
5. HLR uses Mission to find its corresponding IMSI and current Serving
MSC.
6. Serving MSC receives IMSI code and generates a MSRN which is passed
back to the HLR.
7. The HLR receives the MSRN code and forwards it to the MSC.
8. MSC receives the MSRN and prepares to route the call across the
network towards its destination.
9. MSC routes call across network using Transit layer.
10.The MSC uses the MSRN and examines the recipients details stored
within its own VLR to find their Location Area code.

IMSI-International Mobile Subscriber Identity:

 Home country code.

 Network operator ID
 Mobile phone unique ID

MSISDN-Mobile Phone Subscribers ISDN Number:

 Mobile Phone Number.

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Figure: Calling route

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Conclusion:
Robi Axiata Ltd. is one of the top mobile companies in Bangladesh. It covers
the whole Bangladesh by its network. There are many product and services of
ROBI that is available in market. At this moment the company is in growing
position. Robi‟s decisions are based on facts from market research and coverage
survey. The company also monitors it's competitor's activities and is proactive in
marketing decisions. For any company, whether it is small or big like Robi, Human
Resource Management is one of the major tasks to do. Because without the
proper support from the employees, the organization may find it difficult to
achieve its goal. So recruitment and selection is very important for any
organization. Recruitment and selection allows an organization to assess the
vacancy and choose the best personnel who will lead the organization in future.
Robi‟s recruitment and selection process is a very developed and effective one.
Robi is determined to achieve its goal and target and be e established in the
market with the support of its each and every employee. However, they have
some major changes to do in terms of resourcing policy and HRIS. If they can do
so as they have planned, then Robi‟s Human Resource Division will be more
effective and efficient.

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