MegaFon has shown how AI can be used in network management to plan use of resources and carry out proactive maintenance.
The Russian operator tested how the ‘NEC the WISE’ portfolio from vendor NEC could be used to carry out analysis of 150 radio links in the Ural area of the country between October and November.
The Demand Forecast solution, which predicts network traffic to allow timely planning of transport network resources, achieved a 97 percent accuracy in predicted traffic versus actual traffic.
Meanwhile, the Preventive Maintenance feature predicts packet loss figures months in advance for each network device, identifying those which are likely to cause service disruption.
Anton Sherbakov, Technical Director, MegaFon Ural, said the NEC solutions were helping it efficiently improve the planning and maintenance of “increasingly complex” networks.
He said: “Through analytics of big volumes of data with NEC’s AI technologies, ‘NEC the WISE,’ we have verified that significant improvements can be achieved for the planning and operation of transport networks, resulting in more effective use of resources and providing the highest quality services to millions of subscribers.
Hiroshi Kawada, MD of CJSC NEC Neva Communications Systems, said its services had helped to “streamline and optimise MegaFon’s network without the need to expend additional resources”.
“We aim to enhance our partnership with MegaFon and to continue delivering the latest innovations to the entire operator network,” he said.
Vodafone announced in January it would launch AI on its network this year, in a move it suggested could halve the times for routine network management tasks.