Coverage and planning aspects of MBMS in UTRAN

The multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) is a key element of the forthcoming release-6 of the 3GPP UTRAN and GERAN standards. This paper outlines the expected network resource demands for providing MBMS in an UTRA FDD network. The proposed MBMS related enhancements in the physical layer specifications and their effects on resource requirements are examined in detail. Such improvements are dependent on deployment scenarios, but can yield up to a threefold reduction in resource demand.