Regional Operation and Maintenance In Contemporary Gsm Network

Abstract

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is one of the most widely adopted standards for cellular communication. The internship performed at the Regional Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. has provided a comprehensive perspective of basic concepts in GSM, as well as issues related to the fault management of GSM network. The fundamental architecture of GSM consists of three major systems which are the Switching System (SS), Base Station System (BSS) and Operation and Support System (OSS). GSM uses Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) for control signal purposes. Within the major systems, functional units such as MSC (Mobile Services Switching Center), BSC (Base Station Controller) and BTS (Base Transceiver Station) actively take part in call set up process. During the internship, the overall work flow and specifics on O&M activities were closely observed and studied. Generally, GSM operators execute planning, implementation and O&M sequentially. As far as the O&M in Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. is concerned, it acts as a functional group to address faults occurring at various nodes of the network. These faults differ in nature based on the type of network element and its corresponding functions. Therefore, the task of O&M is further subdivided to provide appropriate support for fault management. The common complaints from the users originate mostly due to the performance degradation of the network caused by these faults. Hence, the O&M division undertakes appropriate measures by organizing several subgroups within its functional periphery to manage these faults and reduce the overall prospect of fault occurrence. The basic structure of the Teletalk Network and descriptive information about fault management are given by the co-workers of the Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. and also from my supervisor.