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Solving Indiana’s Backhaul Needs
The Assignment
Cell site backhaul costs were climbing out of control for AT&T in rural Indiana. Transport costs per site exceeded $18,000 monthly. Reliability was suffering due to small CLECs limited operational capacity to maintain cicuits and respond to outages. The capital cost had to be covered in 3 years of operation cost savings.
The Plan
Using CIC's microwave planning software, a microwave network was designed for a lower cost than 3 years of operating expenses. The microwave network incorporated all 75 sites and providing greater network reliability.
The Outcome
CIC designed and built a new system serving the 75 sites for a total cost of $6M, using Indianapolis as the hub. All equipment was preinstalled and pretested in cabinets at the warehouse before field installation. The project was completed two weeks ahead of schedule.
The work that CIC did on our Indianapolis project was flawless. They made my life easier, especially with the technical challenges that accompany a job of this size.
Tom McLaughlin ,
AT&T Wireless
Lifting antennas onto the RDC (MTSO) roof
CIC’s turnkey product included capacity planning, path engineering, designing, equipment procurement, permitting, leasing, installation, testing, integration, and hot cutover of the 75 sites. Using the tallest building in Indiana, the Bank One Center, as an aggregation hub, CIC installed 5 microwave dishes and routed a 3xDS3 path to the MTSO 17 miles north of the downtown location. Paths from 8 T1 to 3 DS3 were used to carry cell site traffic to their final destination at the MTSO. To support the antenna and to provide for future growth, CIC installed a rooftop stub tower at the Indiana RDC (MTSO).
Wiring cabinets before installation
To reduce mobilization time, CIC preinstalled and pretested all equipment in cabinets at their warehouse. CIC engineers also worked with AT&T staff to ensure that the new sites were integrated on a strict time schedule. When faced with the closing of the Andrew antenna manufacturing facility which delayed antenna shipments by two months, CIC was able to recover lost time and completed the entire project—including engineering, design, installation, testing, and integration—two weeks ahead of schedule.