PRESS RELEASE: Since October 2024, heavy rainfall has fallen on Thailand, causing widespread flooding in major cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The northern city of Chiang Mai, a popular tourist destination, has been particularly affected, with severe damage to its infrastructure, posing a number of challenges to its communications network. Thanks to AIS Thailand and Huawei’s Autonomous Networks – RAN optimization agent solution, the communications network in Chiang Mai was able to operate continuously, providing critical support for rescue efforts and survival.
As a 5G pioneer in Asia Pacific and the largest telecom operator in Thailand, AIS has been committed to building high-quality and highly reliable intelligent wireless networks. Collaborating closely with Huawei, AIS has been stepping up its Cognitive Tech-Co digital transformation strategy to promote the development of Autonomous Networks (AN). When the flood hit Chiang Mai, the network optimization agent solution jointly innovated by AIS and Huawei played a key role in ensuring uninterrupted and stable network services.
The rainy season in Southeast Asia is often accompanied by extreme weather conditions, such as thunderstorms and typhoons, which frequently cause power outages and out-of-service nearby base stations. Previously, identifying out-of-service cells took hours and manual optimization yielded poor compensation results. The entire process took over a day on average. Consequently, out-of-service cells experience a total service interruption duration of approximately 40,000 hours per month. To address this challenge, AIS and Huawei initiated cooperation on the network optimization agent solution in 2023, and have deployed it in 60,000 cells across the network in 2024. This innovative solution leverages advanced intelligent technologies to deliver the following capabilities:
- It implements five-layer network modeling based on high-precision digital twins, allowing network status to be sensed in real time and out-of-service cells to be automatically detected within one minute.
- Based on a telecom foundation model, it enables multi-objective and multi-parameter parallel optimization. Optimization solutions are generated through iteration within five minutes and are delivered only once to ensure one-off optimization.
- Furthermore, it supports remote and digital antenna adjustment for neighboring cells, automating coverage compensation for out-of-service cells without site visit.
Statistics showed that between October 4 and 7, a total of 182 out-of-service cell compensations were successfully performed and 542 effective optimization suggestions were delivered in Chiang Mai. The entire process, from out-of-service cell detection to compensation solution delivery, was completed in under five minutes. Overall, out-of-service compensations reduced traffic loss by 20% and improved user experience by around 10%. Through self-optimization and adjustment, the network remained operational throughout the flood, supporting rescue efforts, and allowing approximately 100,000 people in the flooded areas to stay connected and keep up to date with rescue efforts.
K.Wasit Wattanasap, Head of Nationwide Operation & Support Business Unit for AIS, remarked in a keynote speech at the TM Forum Innovate Asia 2024 AN Summit that, AIS and Huawei’s network optimization agent solution can optimize network resources in real time to support emergency communications. He added that the solution provided valuable support for rescue operations, as well as safeguarding flood-affected communities, demonstrating the tangible benefits of their collaboration with Huawei.
AIS’s successful network assurance in Chiang Mai showcases its strengths in digital transformation and technological innovation. This also marks a significant milestone in the application of intelligent technologies in communications networks, driving a deeper union of these two technologies. Building on this success, AIS will continue to work closely with Huawei and GTI’s Intelligent RAN, Ubiquitous AI Project to increase investments in technological innovation and promote in-depth digital transformation. Together, they will create more meaningful use cases that can enhance every aspect of people’s lives.