Regional

The regional network depicted in Figure 7-5 has only two markets illustrated
in order to simplify the concept. The regional approach could be utilized
for a wireless carrier that, say, had multiple markets in the
Northeastern and Southwestern United States. In this case, two separate
networks would be established, one for the Northeast and the other for the
Southeast. The distributed network shown involves several cities in the
Northeastern United States, but the concept can easily be migrated to other
areas and regions.

The advantage of the regional approach lies in the fact that it enables
some economies of scale while at the same realizes the difficulty of managing segmented markets effectively from one localized point. The
configuration also enables expansion and service introductions to be expedited
and uniform for the region. The regional configuration also enables
the segregation of different vendor platforms from each other.
The disadvantage of using a regional configuration is that the networks
may not be designed and managed the same way, leading to the classic
issue of two networks run by the same company but having different design
goals and performance. Again, as with a distributed network, the implementation
of standard practices and procedures helps eliminate or mitigate
most of the concerns mentioned.