In addition to small cell densification, C-RAN architecture paves the way to 5G
LAS VEGAS–Phillip French, Verizon Wireless executive director of the West and North Central area, shared some insight into the carrier’s approach to hetnet deployments that integrate macro level infrastructure with small cells and femto cells during a keynote presentation at the DAS and Small Cells Congress event.
Noting that “unlimited is putting a tremendous amount of pressure from a growth perspective,” on the carrier which is prompting “being creative around small cells.” He added that more than 50% of American households are “wireless only–the landline just doesn’t exist,” and that same average household has 13 connected devices.
“The way I look at network congestion,” French said, “how do I associate what my challenges with being a wireless carrier then trying to relate it back to somebody. We start to put new solutions in, new technology, new ways to solve that challenge from a growth perspective.”
Explaining a typical metro deployment, he said work starts with the macro layer, then moves into small cells. Noting that he represents about one-third of the U.S., French said he plans to deploy “a couple 1,000 small cells this year,” in his area of oversight. Also, “We’re big on femtocells. We’ll deploy probably 100 or 200 in any given year in any large city. They play a very specific role for us to do minor coverage enhancements.”
In terms of challenges to small cells, French repeated a common industry refrain that he spends a lot of time explaining to municipal leaders that, unlike towers, small cells can be easily concealed and quickly deployed given streamlined concurrency at the city level.
As to the in-building space, French said “it’s still very important to Verizon,” but investment is waning, particularly given the cost of neutral host systems. He said his in-building budget for next year would be 5% to 7% of his total budget. “I don’t think we’ll be any less aggressive, we’ll just be more selective and try to find ways to do it cheaper.”
On the path to 5G, French said C-RAN architectures and the level of virtualization and automation that comes with it, creates a clear path to evolve beyond LTE. “We’re definitely going away from traditional lit fiber service to a complete dark fiber service. It solves a couple of problems for me. We’ll definitely have a lot of solutions with dense fiber deployments and the ability to tap into that fiber and deliver 5G based on whatever strategy Verizon develops.”
