Cost analysis of smart antenna systems deployment

3G networks and services are being launched all over the world. The basic investments on equipment have already been made according to preliminary traffic forecasts. However, if the mobile data traffic acquires "Internet-like" proportions, network capacity shortage will become a reality in densely populated areas, such as city centers and business parks. In that case, smart antennas may be the solution. Based on this assumption, the financial aspects of the deployment of smart antenna systems in the 3G UMTS networks have been evaluated. We have evaluated the potential CAPEX and OPEX savings provided by such a system compared to more conventional antenna systems. Despite their indicative nature, our calculations show that, if the cost increase of the smart antenna equipment is of the order of 100% to 50% of the cost of conventional antenna equipment, cost savings of the order of 10% to 25%, respectively, are feasible.