TITLE:
Performance Evaluation of OFDM Transmission and Techno-Economic Feasibility of 5G NR Deployment: Case of Telecel Faso
AUTHORS:
Wendpuiré Ousmane Compaoré, Izak Kévin Compaoré, Maxime Kafando, Zacharie Koalaga
KEYWORDS:
OFDM, 5G NR, PAPR, Doppler Effect, MIMO, Telecel Faso, Energy Efficiency
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.18 No.11,
November
13,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of deploying 5G NR on the network of the Burkinabè mobile operator Telecel Faso through a MATLAB-based simulation of an OFDM transmission chain. The study quantifies three major technological bottlenecks: Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) reduction, Doppler effect tolerance under high mobility, and spatial diversity gains provided by Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) techniques. The simulation results demonstrate that clipping at an 8 dB threshold reduces the PAPR by 2.5 dB, significantly improving the power efficiency of base station power amplifiers—a critical operational requirement given local energy constraints. Regarding mobility, adopting numerology μ = 2 with a 60 kHz subcarrier spacing preserves link integrity at speeds up to 350 km/h, ensuring seamless service continuity along major road corridors. Furthermore, the 2 × 2 Alamouti space-time block-coding scheme yields a 15 to 18 dB diversity gain over a Rayleigh fading channel, successfully eliminating error floors in dense urban environments. Overall, this techno-economic characterization confirms that a phase-one 5G NR rollout is immediately feasible via a software upgrade of the legacy Huawei RAN infrastructure for an estimated investment of 10 million XOF.