A Visual Analytics System for Managing Mobile Network Failures

Abstract

Large mobile operators have to quickly react to mobile network failures to ensure service continuity and this task is a complex one, due to the continuous and very fast evolution of mobile networks: from 2G to 3G and onto LTE, each significant milestone in the mobile technology has increased the complexity of networks and services management. Failures must be promptly analyzed and sorted according to different prioritizing objectives, in order to devise suitable fix plans able to mitigate failures impact in terms of money loss or damaged reputation. This paper presents a visual analytics solution for supporting the failure management activities of TIM (Telecom Italia Group), the biggest Italian provider of telecommunications services with over 30M active mobile subscribers. The proposed system has been developed collaboratively by University of Rome ''La Sapienza'', Polytechnic of Turin, and TIM, analyzing the operators' requirements and viable optimization strategies for prioritizing interventions that rely on statistical data on mobile cells occupation, in order to identify the impact of failures in term of end users' connectivity.