Most enterprises, regardless of size, can benefit from reliable, cellular in-building wireless connectivity. While Wi-Fi certainly has its place in enabling a multitude of enterprise applications, the capacity, latency and reliability of cellular provides a valuable complement, particularly given the increasing adoption of internet of things solutions to propel digital transformation initiatives. An outside-in approach to in-building connectivity often comes up lacking, meaning the signal source likely needs to be moved inside. Distributed antenna systems (DASs) can certainly solve for in-building wireless, but are very costly and require significant buy-in from carriers. Small cells are another option, but given the need to support multiple carriers in mobile-first, bring-your-own-device business environments, the current crop of equipment is somewhat limiting. That’s where multi-carrier small cells enter the picture.
In a recent report titled “Multi-Carrier Small Cell Solutions for In-Building Wireless,” Wireless 20/20 analysts Randall Schwartz and Berge Ayvazian write, “The critical question is which solutions can provide the multi-carrier capabilities needed for most venues at a cost point which can encourage a faster rate of deployment. While small cells can meet the cost-points required for in-building coverage, they have been challenged to provide coverage for more than one carrier at a time. But new virtualized small cell solutions have become available that can face the challenge of addressing the economic and multi-carrier requirements of the small and medium size venues.”
Two companies, Ip.access and Baicells, both have unique plays in this space. The former has developed a platform including what it calls SUMO (super multi-operator) technology, which enables shared access small cells. According to ip.access, SUMO allows “each access point broadcasts multiple PLMN codes on the same spectrum and all users see the AP as a cell within their home network. A policy based resource scheduler in the AP allocates capacity and bandwidth according to predefined rules managed via SLAs. The Viper gateway then securely routes all traffic to the appropriate core network for each operator.”
Baicells has brought to market NeutralCell, which the company says the multi-operator solution delivers “a single small cell that can be used by multiple operators. NeutralCell meets the requirements of communication systems from different operators for the frequency band and transmitted power. Neutral host service providers can deploy NeutralCell at a site and then deliver wireless service at the facility to various operators by renting this station to them. In this way, operators can resolve the difficulty in the arrangement of special sites, save on building and operation costs, and build up their networks quickly.”
In a December 2016 report titled “Multi-operator and neutral host small cells,” the Small Cell Forum takes a deep dive into neutral host small cell networks, which it finds would provide advantages relative to DAS and Wi-Fi, but is still not without key challenges:
- “Sharing of cost, risk and processes between different parties;”
- Regional-specific “spectrum and regulatory issues;”
- And solving for who’s responsible for managing a neutral host small cell network.
The industry advocacy group concludes that industry-wide standardization efforts are needed, and that shared infrastructure models associated with DAS and Wi-Fi can be borrowed to support multi-carrier small cells and neutral host small cell networks.
“As the market becomes more aware and educated about these choices, confidence will rise, even as the demands of indoor data usage and mobile-first enterprises start to break down old barriers against network sharing. As neutral host small cells are rolled out, it will be an important stepping stone towards the more virtualized, and highly multi-operator environment of 5G.”
