TeliaSonera and Ericsson have announced testing of  Self-Organizing Network (SON) functionality in a live LTE network. TeliaSonera and Ericsson successfully tested the Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR feature) in a live LTE network in Sweden last week. According to company statement, the ANR feature has now been proved in a live network with full user-equipment support.

New 4G/LTE networks are being deployed around the world. While operators' requirements on cutting operational expenditure remain, managing these new networks risks increasing the workload for time-consuming activities. A key topic in the telecom industry has been the introduction of a high degree of automation. Many of the labor-intensive tasks that operators do in a 2G/3G network need to be automated. All these new automated solutions being introduced on the market are collected under a Self-Organizing Network (SON).

Managing neighbor cell relations to ensure optimal traffic handling to each device is one of the most labor-intensive areas for a mobile operator. The introduction of LTE multiplies the effort needed in this area for operators. The standardized Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR) feature is now being introduced as the first feature in the overall SON solution.

ANR automatically sets up necessary neighbor relationships based on actual network conditions, thereby preventing failed handovers due to missing neighbors. In this way, ANR continuously secures and improves network performance. It also reduces the operators' need for manual planning and the creation of neighbor relations.

The tests in the 4G/LTE network were based on Ericsson LTE radio access and Ericsson Evolved Packet Core (EPC) packet core. The ANR feature primarily provides a function in the radio access network with policy planning and visualization in OSS and some functional interaction with the core network.