According to the Small Cell Forum, operators plan to deploy ten times as many 5G outdoor small cells as they had for 4G.
I’m Rob Hughes, Head of Wireless Marketing at 1Finity, here for an open dialogue about densifying your mobile network.
Small Cells are Foundational to Open RAN Architecture
Outdoor small cells are foundational to modern RAN design. They provide capacity and coverage with street-level deployments in various places:
- Dense urban environments, public venues, campuses
- Suburban pockets where macro signal penetration is limited
- Or high-traffic hotspots where lots of people gather
A Precise Way to Ensure Consistent Performance & Quality
Small cells are a precise, efficient way to plug coverage gaps or offload the macro network to ensure consistent performance, capacity, and service quality.
Coverage gaps occur in urban, suburban and rural areas, where macrocell coverage is unreliable due to building density, terrain, or foliage. Small cells bring the signal closer to the user, improving outdoor and especially indoor performance in edge zones.
Small cells are also great for high-capacity hotspots in public venues with intense, localized mobile traffic. Examples include transportation hubs, pedestrian areas, outdoor malls, stadiums, and campuses.
Not all Small Cells are Alike
Deploying outdoor small cells in these locations eases demand on macrocells and improves user experience through higher signal quality and more dedicated resources.
But not all outdoor small cells are alike.
Many small cells operate at or below five watts of transmit power. While these lower power nodes are compact and energy efficient, they typically offer limited range and capacity and diminish the overall ROI for mobile infrastructure.
Mobile network operators still incur fixed deployment costs like fiber backhaul, site power provisioning, permitting, equipment mounting, and leasing or rental agreements. These costs are generally incurred per site, regardless of traffic offloaded.
Choose Smarter as Well as Smaller
The best option is to choose smarter as well as smaller. A compact form-factor helps operators meet community esthetic guidelines and eases the logistical hurdles. And higher transmit power offers better coverage and capacity offload.
This means fewer required sites and permits, reduced fiber and power provisioning, and lower operating expenses, significantly reducing TCO.
Open RAN Has all the Options you Need
In addition to the choice of small cell, operators are best served by Open RAN architecture. Open RAN enables MNOs to choose the right radios for the deployment environment.
For example, 1Finity’s O-RAN compliant, outdoor small cells can complement existing macrocells, indoor small cells, or distributed units from different vendors.
Explore Network Densification With 1Finity
We understand the critical nature of service quality, coverage and capacity and want to hear about your network and explore the best options for densification.
Reach out to us at 1Finity, and let’s start an open dialogue.
