Introduction

Time duration	2013, 1 Years
Location	Lebanon
Organization	Serta Technologies
Project	MTC Touch HSPA Project
Position	Service Engineer

[CE 2.1]

This career episode narrates my project “MTC Touch HSPA Project’’. This project was carried out during my tenure at SERTA TECHNOLOGIES as a Service Engineer.

Serta technologies is a part of RGH group whose main concern is to provide telecom service for their customer. Serta is experienced with site commission, site survey and site implementation on turn key basis. In addition, Serta has worked with different service project including Touch HSPA project and Airport project.

Background

[CE 2.2]

In the telecom sector technology is moving forward and as a service provider its needed to always keep up to date with the technology. To do so, MTC touch signed contract with Huawei to upgrade its network and include the HSPA technology back in 2013. As part of an internal regulation in Huawei, this project was subcontracted to two companies: Serta technologies and Camusat.

[CE 2.3]

Objective

The prime objectives of the project were -

• Unremitting enhancement of the network
• Provide users with high data rates and seamless transition between technologies
• Upsurge the coverage on MTC Touch network
• Diminish and resolve all customer complains.

[CE 2.4]

The project Hierarchy is given below -

Personal Engineering Activity

[CE 2.5]

Roles & Responsibilities

My Roles & Responsibilities were -

• Project coordination with customer.
• Perform 2G, 3G, 4G drive test and cluster test implying Huawei Genex Probe.
• Analyzing DT logs for new sites and clusters and giving the appropriate RF approvals.
• Report radio performance problems, recommend solutions and follow up with the concerned entity.
• Customer complains check.
• WCDMA Level 1 Certified 7 Network optimization

[CE 2.6]

Problems & Rectifications

Team Not Willing to Work

A target of 48 sites to be on air was required. Since the team leader was on sick leave so I was assigning tasks to the team and collected, analyzed data. At the end I along with the team managed to submit 53 sites. Out of these 49 sites were accepted.

New Software

As part of my professional approach I used to talk to my colleagues. Once upon a time the commission engineer was struggling in navigating a new software that he used to work on the full version. He was provided with a lite version called Pocket and did not included the same interface or navigation scheme. I assisted him and generated the required reports in a short period which was very helpful.

Moving Forward

When the security situation in my country became a concern, I decided to continue forward and travel to work overseas. The problem was my contract for a year with the company. So I negotiated the issue with my manager and was able to get a 2 month period to train and get new engineer in my place as well as able to quit the job with both side satisfied. Later on, after 2 years I received a job offer from Serta with warm greetings.

[CE 2.7]

In this project the main tasks were -

• Single Site Survey (SSV) to test any new 3G site
• Cluster Survey: to test multiple site together and optimize performance

I did following tests -

• Genex probe to perform drive Test
• Genex Assistant to analyze log file
• Temps pocket for indoor coverage test

During the drive test I used -

• Scanner to test 3G frequency power
• Huawei phone to test call set up
• Laptop to record data
• GPS to record location
• Rigger tools & tower climbing safety tools
• Company car

[CE 2.8]

Working with Serta broadened my view and I assessed that relation amid companies & subcontractor’s mater a lot. Also, I successfully understood the hierarchical work requirement and how to address each issue separately.

Working with Serta put me in direct contact with suppliers, manager, other companies and security authorities. I was able to address each person need and got hands on experience on how to deal in case of diverse situations.

In this project my knowledge and previous colleague at Huawei made the difference. I resolved all snags & glitches by calling them without the need to involve higher management in the process. This helped me outperform and change the company share from 30 % to 50 %.

[CE 2.9]

As most of the work I was travelling by car, the safety measures were to be considered while driving; making sure that driver is performing as required and respecting rules was the main safety concern.

Also during that time, some Lebanese area were under terrorist threat so I needed to make sure every time and contact responsible people in each area before making a visit to guarantee that no one will be in danger.

[CE 2.10]

A daily corner meeting was required with the team to allocate their respective tasks and start job duties. Every week the project manager asked for a briefing of worked site and their status. The evolution and work progress were made every Monday morning to follow up and provide advice or commendation.

This project encompassed of one engineer, rigger and a driver & I was the team leader and I used my leadership skills to solve a strike from the other team member because of extra unpaid working hours. I kept work moving while escalating the issue to the management and I made an agreement at the end that satisfied both parties.

SSV report were the main statement to perform based on the analysis of drive test data. Beside a weekly report I was also needed to evaluate the project.

[CE 2.11]

Summary

I was the prime person in the project. I was responsible to reply to customer request and perform drive test and cluster test. I was also accountable for sending report and recommendation for each site I visited.

The engineering knowledge was best described when performing tasks. I carefully prioritized tasks and adjusted time in a way to secure a high-performance progress.

Learnings from the project are as below -

• Task management and prioritization
• how HSPA work
• how big project work
• how to communicate with higher management
• How to communicate with other companies