Huawei has announced the commercial launch of the Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) feature on LTE networks in Cologne, Germany. The 3GPP standardized ANR feature is one of the important features of overall Self-Organizing Network (SON) solution. 

The ANR function can automatically manage and optimize the relationship of neighbor cells, improve the efficiency of operation and maintenance and reduce the operating expenses. ANR prevents failed handovers due to missing neighbors and continuously improves network performance. It also reduces the operators' need for manual planning and the creation of neighbor relations. See Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) for more details on its functionality.

Cologne's LTE network was officially launched for commercial use in April, 2011. According to Huawei, it began verifying ANR functions and features for use on the LTE network, including neighbor detection, automatic adding, and neighbor deletion in October, 2011. At the upcoming 2012 Mobile World Congress, Huawei plans to display its SingleSON solution, which includes features such as the multi-mode ANR.