  Mobile data services are penetrating mobile markets rapidly. The mobile
industry relies heavily on data service to replace the traditional voice
services with the evolution of the wireless technology and market. A reliable
packet service network is critical to the mobile operators to maintain their
core competence in data service market. Furthermore, mobile operators need to
develop effective operational models to manage the varying mix of voice, data
and video traffic on a single network. Application of statistical models could
prove to be an effective approach. This paper first introduces the architecture
of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) packet switched (PS)
network and then applies multivariate statistical analysis to Key Performance
Indicators (KPI) monitored from network entities in UMTS PS network to guide
the long term capacity planning for the network. The approach proposed in this
paper could be helpful to mobile operators in operating and maintaining their
3G packet switched networks for the long run.
