5G Americas and Small Cell Forum Industry Associations offer solutions on small cell siting challenges for effective 5G network densification

LONDON and BELLEVUE, Wash., Aug. 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas and Small Cell Forum believe that if the challenges of siting for outdoor cells are not addressed in a timely manner, many of the benefits which governments, regulators and cities hope to derive from 5G – such as smart city platforms and the Industrial IoT – will be severely compromised. The two associations emphasize that altering regulatory policies at the national, state and city level is imperative to reduce the time and cost of deploying small cells at scale.

Small Cell Forum (SCF) and 5G Americas today announced collaborative publication of Small Cell Siting Challenges and Recommendations , a detailed whitepaper to support operators and government decision-makers in the efficient deployment of small cells. The report provides a clear set of guidelines, designed to help cities, regulators and other stakeholders, to adopt a common, streamlined approach that will maximize the benefits of densification for their citizens.

For mobile network operators, filling coverage gaps was the initial priority in deployment of small cells, but now operators are deploying a layer of targeted capacity small cells to steadily deliver best-in-class performance and quality of service even in areas of the heaviest usage. Densification involves large numbers of cells, even for LTE, and the numbers will increase in 5G because of its increased capacity requirements, higher spectrum bands and support for new services such as smart city applications.

One of the biggest changes that operators will make as they move from 4G to 5G will be scale. Far more cells will be required for 5G, with a greater diversity of equipment form factors and site types. By 2020, the average densification project will involve 100-350 cells per square kilometer and these will be mounted on many types of infrastructure and integrated into street furniture and even vehicles. The white paper presents results from a Rethink Technology Research survey of operators that shows barriers to densification exist with site, backhaul and approvals issues possibly causing operators to postpone the start of a densification project by an average of two years and two months.

This white paper explains in detail:

  • Why densification is becoming urgent
  • What benefits densification intends to deliver
  • What barriers remain and the work done so far to address them

Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas said, “Local municipalities, citizens and operators should be partners, not adversaries, in delivering the future of 5G connectivity in towns and cities across the U.S. These partnerships can cooperatively streamline processes to deliver the best quality, coverage and security through densification of networks.” Pearson added, “Small Cells could be deployed in weeks, not months.”   

SCF and 5G Americas have created the report to explicitly support and simplify the planning and regulatory issues associated with the dense Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) deployments that will be typical in our 5G mobile future, and in which small cells will be a significant component. Experts from the forums and their member organizations have been cooperating globally to author the document, and it is the goal of both organizations to help eliminate potential roadblocks and mitigate challenges that may slow the process of network densification.

The paper outlines best practices and aesthetic guidelines for classes of equipment in small form factors such as ‘street furniture’ that will contribute to a future mobile network design to enable:

  • Support for enhanced quality of service for customer satisfaction
  • Reduced cost of capacity particularly with the return to unlimited data plans
  • Enablement of brand new services for customers and enterprise
  • Use of shared spectrum with LTE-Licensed Assisted Access (LAA)
  • Rising interest in edge computing, and potential to support new consumer and enterprise services by combining computing and storage resources with connectivity at the edge of the network

“Small cells, edge computing and shared spectrum can be combined to create dense localized networks targeted at a city, enterprise or particular vertical market bringing many economic, social, public safety and entertainment benefits to customers and local, state and national governments,” said David Orloff, Chairman of Small Cell Forum.

The paper Small Cell Siting Challenges and Recommendations is available for free download on the  Small Cell Forum   and  5G Americas   websites. This is the first joint whitepaper written in collaboration by the two leading industry associations in 2018. Previously published joint reports by the association include: Small Cell Siting Challenges , February 2017, an excellent prelude to this latest report, Small Cell Siting: Regulatory and Deployment Considerations , December 2016 and Multi-operator and Neutral Host Small Cells , Drivers, architectures, planning and regulation , December 2016.

About SCF

SCF is driving network densification worldwide and encouraging the delivery of fully integrated HetNets. We are a carrier-led organization. This means our operator members establish requirements that drive the activities and outputs of our technical groups. We have driven the standardization of key elements of small cell technology including Iuh, FAPI, nFAPI, SON, services APIs, TR-069 evolution and the enhancement of the X2 interface. Today our members are driving solutions that include small cell/Wi-Fi integration, SON evolution and automation, virtualization of the small cell layer, driving mass adoption via multi-operator neutral host, ensuring a common approach to service APIs to drive commercialization and the integration of small cells into 5G standards evolution. The SCF Release Program has now established business cases and market drivers for all the main use cases, clarifying market needs and addressing barriers to deployment for residential, enterprise, rural & remote, and urban small cells.

The SCF board includes Airspan, AT&T, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Huawei, ip.access, Node-H, Nokia, Qualcomm, Reliance Jio, Samsung Electronics America, SoftBank, SpiderCloud Wireless, and Vodafone.

Media Contact

Ed Howson Temono for Small Cell Forum T: +44 (0)20 7089 8896 E:  ed.howson@temono.com

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technologies and their evolution to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Intel, Kathrein, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefónica and WOM.

Follow 5G Americas news on Twitter @5GAmericas and Facebook  www.facebook.com/5gamericas  

Media Contact Vicki Livingston 5G Americas T: +1 414 688 9000 E:  Vicki.Livingston@5gamericas.org