data throughput and capacity, can greatly boost operators' revenues. The competitive outlook of the telecommunications industry calls for a new approach in managing costs: one has to go beyond cost cutting and find the underlying ways to improve efficiency, while delivering value-added services for mobile end users. One solution lies in the planning and optimisation of networks, through which improved asset utilisation and fine-tuned add-on network investments can be achieved, which in turn enable enhanced network performance. The challenges in the planning and optimisation of networks are exhaustively covered by Ajay R Mishra and his colleagues in this book. Notwithstanding their several publications on the subject area, Forewords they have been able to maintain a direct involvement with the actual network planning and optimisation discipline. This rare combination is evident throughout the text. In addition to academic soundness, this book offers hands-on guidance to solve a variety of practical network planning and optimisation issues. Timo S. Hanninen Vice President Nokia Networks Helsinki, Finland Acknowledgements I would like to thank, on behalf of all the contributors, various people within the organisation who encouraged each of us to write this book. Firstly, I would like to thank Kari Suneli and Antti Rahikainen for their immense encouragement to take on this project. I would like to also thank Veli-Pekka Somila, Reema Malhotra and Juha Sarkioja for their support in the difficult times in the course of this project. Special thanks are due to the following colleagues and friends for taking time to contribute and read the manuscript and give their valuable comments: Johanna Kähkönen, Nezha Larhrissi, Tarun Sharma, Cameron Gillis, Mika Särkioja, Jussi Viero, Sameer Mathur, James Mungai, Carlos Crespo, Pauli Aikio, Tomi Nurmi, Olli Nousia, Manuel Blasco, Christophe Landemaine, and Irina Nicolescu. Many thanks are due to Bosco Novak and Timo Hanninen for donating their precious time to write the visionary fo