Mobile broadband backhaul network migration from TDM to carrier ethernet

With the rollout of Long Term Evolution the capacity of the radio access network backhaul needs to be upgraded to 100-150 Mb/s. Nextgeneration mobile networks, such as LTE Release 10, will increase the requirement for backhaul capacity to gigabits per second. In order to increase network utilization and decrease operating expenses, carrier Ethernet transport infrastructure (MPLS and carrier grade Ethernet) will be deployed and maintained at a lower total cost of ownership than legacy TDM transport infrastructure. This article discusses different migration scenarios from the circuit-switched legacy backhaul networks toward packet-based networks.