E******* MBC FEATURE IMPLEMENTATION

A Multiband Cell is a cell that combines different frequency bands in a single cell with common Signaling Channels. With this feature it is possible to configure two different frequency bands in a cell with only one BCCH, compared to single band Cells where a BCCH is required for each band. The BCCH is configured on a frequency belonging to one of the frequency bands (BCCH frequency band), while the resources in the other frequency band (non-BCCH frequency band) that would have previously been used for BCCH now allow for additional capacity to be used purely for traffic.
Multiband Cell offers advantages over common single band cells from different frequency bands in terms of radio performance and improved trunking efficiency allowing for further network integration. The number of cells and neighbour relations may also be significantly reduced.

From operators point of view the feature presents an opportunity to maximize the Return of Investment on existing network TRU resources. For the radio network this enables increased capacity and quality as well as savings in operation and maintenance cost. The complexity of the dual band network is lowered as the number of cells, neighbor relations and measurement frequencies are decreased.

However, in order to be able to configure and effectively manage traffic distribution in Multiband Cells, certain additional (pre-requisite) features are required. These include Transceiver Group Synchronization and Dynamic Overlaid/Underlaid Subcell. Their relevance to Multiband Cell is described below.