1. A method for optimizing a real cellular, wireless communication network comprising a plurality of base stations and having a network configuration comprising a plurality of radio cells, the plurality of radio cells serving a served area; each of the plurality of radio cells covering a cell area which is further sub-divided into user locations, said network being defined by network parameters, the method comprising: providing a model of said cellular, wireless communication network having an original model network configuration; providing, for each of said user locations, a value of a received power of a pilot or reference signal and a traffic demand; optimizing said model network configuration by performing an iterative direct search to determine an optimal set of physical base station parameters; wherein the iterative direct search comprises: a partitioning strategy to jointly determine an optimal partition of the served area and an associated optimal load of each of the plurality of base stations for a current set of physical base station parameters for each direct search iteration; said partitioning strategy using an updated value of the received power of the pilot or reference signal for each the plurality of user locations associated with the current set of physical base station parameters for each direct search iteration; and using said optimized model network configuration to configure said real cellular, wireless communication network.