Base stations

The small cell shared infrastructure solution

Denser networks are needed for 4G and 5G rollout – but such an approach isn’t going to be cheap. Richard Kennedy, COO, Small Cell Forum, explains why diversity enabled by shared infrastructure is not only a useful model for HetNets but a potential way forward for economic rollout of networks in emerging markets.

THE ECONOMICS OF deploying cellular networks at scale are increasingly challenging, as demands for higher data rates and better coverage go up, but user willingness to pay higher fees does not.

So how can outdoor networks deliver both the performance users require, and the profits operators need – especially in rural or suburban regions of emerging economies? The new approach will rely far more heavily than previous cellular networks on asset sharing, as well as automation – but it will also support a wide diversity of equipment and services.

Small Cell Forum* believes it is crucial to define and promote these new approaches, to lower barriers to deployment of HetNets that can bring much-needed connectivity to millions of citizens and businesses.

HetNets – heterogeneous networks – use multiple types of access nodes in a wireless network, including both macrocells and small cells. Small cells are low-powered radio access nodes or base stations operating in licensed or unlicensed spectrum that have a coverage range from a few metress up to a few hundred metres. Such networks are likely to be denser than ever before.

There are two secrets to success for this new approach to cellular build-out. One is diversity – a network that can be constructed from many different types of equipment, spectrum and sites, in order to support the widest range of applications and revenue streams at the most efficient cost.

Gone are the days when the only way to reach an underserved community was to invest in a macrocell in sufficiently lowfrequency spectrum that it could cover many kilometres, and so reach enough people to turn a profit. A far better balance between performance and cost can be struck with a cluster of small cells, deployed so that capacity is targeted where communities are based, rather than wasted on a huge area where many places are uninhabited.

These clusters can provide services to a village, a farm or a remote industrial site, and can deliver full broadband speeds and bandwidth, and can often be mounted on all kinds of street furniture, low-level buildings or even underground.

Creating that cluster then enables operators to layer a diversity of revenue-generating services on top of the network, rather than being constrained, by a sub-GHz macrocell, to basic voice and data offerings.

Where there is wireline broadband access available, the services can include fixed wireless access and TV, making 4G (or future 5G) the only telecoms and media platform. That allows the operator to tap into users’ entire spend on these areas, rather than just mobile, which is important in low ARPU areas.

And if the network can reach business and industrial locations, as well as transport routes, the targeted cells will have sufficient capacity and quality of service to support business services – and their higher ARPUs – too.

Can HetNets keep rural populations connected as 4G and 5G roll out?

Small cells can go a long way to make the case for deploying mobile broadband in dense urban environments or rural communities.

Photo: Adobe Stock