GSM operator Hong Kong CSL Ltd. is to rip out its existing network and deploy an entirely new infrastructure from ZTE to take it to the next level of mobile broadband services, the carrier announced here today.

Now the carrier, a subsidiary of Australian incumbent Telstra  has provided the details. With competition in Hong Kong so intense, the carrier is looking to increase its efficiencies, prepare for the migration to LTE, and maximize its mobile broadband potential as fast as possible. CSL, which has about 2.5 million GSM and UMTS customers, is the largest of five mobile carriers serving Hong Kong's 7 million inhabitants

The answer to those needs is a new HSPA+ network, including access, core, and transmission, based on software-defined radio (SDR) technology, which enables an operator to simultaneously run different radio technologies from the same infrastructure.

"We need a network that is multiband and multimode" that creates an easy migration path to LTE, CSL CEO Tarik Robbiati told a press conference. And the CEO is totally focused on data service functionality rather than voice.  "You can't make money from voice services in Hong Kong, this is why we are focused on high-speed data," Robbiati told a press conference held here Tuesday morning.

"This will be the first SDR-based HSPA+ network," continued Robbiati, who said that, while he wouldn't reveal the exact capital expenditure plans associated with the ambitious project, CSL will be spending "several hundred million Hong Kong dollars" on building the new network. "Deploying an SDR network means we can reuse the CAPEX investment for a number of years," as ZTE has a modular base station that enables an easy migration to LTE, noted the CEO. And when CAPEX is a relatively high percentage of sales, as it is in the telecom world, at between 12 percent and 14 percent, continued Robbiati, "you have to make big bets," and you have to get it right. He didn't, however, pinpoint any kind of operating expenditure gain, noting only that the OPEX-to-sales ratio with an SDR-based network is "good."

The network is to be built this year, and recent tests have shown ZTE's technology capable of delivering downlink data speeds of 21 Mbps. The planned commercial launch date is being kept under wraps for now.

And the main shareholder is very happy with the move. Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo was on hand to praise CSL for "raising the game" for its customers. And he believes the move will also deliver a positive financial payback for CSL. "We have a lot of data to show what happens when you move from 7 Mbps, to 14 Mbps, to 21 Mps -- it raises ARPU, margins and customer experience," stated Trujillo.

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