What follows is an illustration of the total costs associated
with building and operating 3G System Architecture
Evolution (SAE) based networks. The network is analyzed as
an extension to an existing 3G infrastructure, meaning that the
additional investments needed are limited. The market area
chosen for this purpose is a large Western European type
country. The method used to estimate the costs is the
construction and use of an MS Excel based techno-economic
simulation model, which includes all relevant capital and
operating expenditures for a sample market area.