Broadband connectivity to rural and remote areas has become very essential for today’s world which passes through digital revolution. This paper provides the configuration of an energy-efficient long term evolution (LTE) access network for rural and remote areas where providing coverage itself is a big challenge. Various possible multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) configurations for LTE evolved Node B (eNB) and user equipment have been analyzed to identify the  energy-efficient radio access network design with maximum footprint and minimum power consumptions. It is found that two transmitters and four receivers (2T4R) configuration for LTE eNBs along with outdoor customer premises equipment (ODCPE) with directive antenna provides an energy-efficient LTE access network for rural and remote areas. The proposed configuration is explained with the radio link budget and case study of rural area using radio frequency (RF) prediction tool. 2T4R eNB configuration helps to exploit receive diversity gain using maximum ratio combining (MRC) technique for enhancement of coverage in the uplink. ODCPE increases theantenna gain in both downlink and uplink which further helps to enlarge the cell radius. This, in turn, reduces site count and saves capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) significantly.

LTE, energy-efficient access network, rural coverage, ODCPE, MIMO, CAPEX, OPEX.