In recent European telecommunication base transceiver stations(BTS), a membrane laminated air filter is reported to replace a heat exchanger in order to cool internal digital units of BTS. The concept of using the air filter is for the direct ambient cooling (DAC) of BTS without heat loss generally found in the heat exchanger type BTS. In the present study, a performance evaluation experiment was conducted to investigate the pressure drop characteristics with dust loading and the particle collection efficiency of the air filter for the DAC of BTS. Finally, the long term operation lifetime of the air filter for BTS was suggested with a given fan rotation speed. Keywords：Base Transceiver station, Direct ambient cooling, Air filter, Dust loading, Pressure drop, Particle collection efficiency, Long term operation lifetime