White Paper: Multi-Operator Small Cells for Neutral Hosts
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Unlocking the potential of in-building wireless service The role of neutral hosts and multi-operator small cells Contents Executive summary ...........................................................................................................................................3 Filling a need in the ecosystem: neutral hosts .....................................................................................4 Enterprise in-building wireless system requirements ......................................................................5 Can in-building wireless technology meet neutral host needs? ..................................................5 Case studies illustrate the benefits ............................................................................................................. 7 Large financial services provider .......................................................................................................... 7 Multi-tenanted office space ................................................................................................................... 7 Large education establishment ............................................................................................................ 7 Shared and dynamically-licensed spectrum models ........................................................................8 RAN sharing ...................................................................................................................................................8 Unlicensed and dynamically-licensed spectrum .........................................................................8 CommScope in Neutral Host Small Cell Solutions ..............................................................................9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................11 2 Unlocking the potential of in-building wireless service Building owners and managers consistently rate connectivity as important but are not satisfied with current options. Sources: CommScope, Coleman Parkes, WiredScore. Executive Summary The delivery of robust, multi-operator in-building wireless coverage continues to lag behind the demand. In a 2016 survey of 600 building managers by CommScope and Coleman Parkes Research, 84 percent responded that good in-building cellular coverage improved employee productivity, but 43 percent were unhappy with their coverage. A survey of leasing decision makers by WiredScore found that connectivity was nearly as important as location in the leasing decision; but, still, 80 percent reported experiencing regular connectivity issues. This gap persists despite major operator investments in their Meanwhile, emerging 5G radio technology relies on higher radio access networks, and significant advances in in-building frequency bands that propagate through obstructions wireless technologies. even less. Furthermore, the core promise of 5G is that of enhanced performance: high bandwidth, low latency, and The traditional best-efforts “outside-in” approach, in which high reliability. A degraded “best-efforts” 5G is not an option operators attempt to serve building inhabitants from outdoor for operators—or for application developers and enterprises macro cells sites, has never worked satisfactorily indoors. hoping to build internet of things (IoT) and smart building Trends in energy-efficient building construction, combined infrastructures. with the evolution of mobile technologies, only worsen this situation. Low-emission (“low-e”) glass has been shown to 1 CommScope and Coleman Parkes Research, In-Building Wireless Survey Report, 2016 2 WiredScore, The Value of Connectivity, 2016 reduce radio signal strength by as much as 15 dB, meaning the signal is only 1/32 its original strength after it passes through the glass. This is roughly equivalent to passing through a 1-inch-thick sheet of concrete. Demand for in-building wireless Dissatisfaction with current situation 90% 87% 90% 80% 84% 80% 80% 70% 70% 60% 60% 50% 50% 43% 40% 40% 30% 30% Improves employee productivity Important lease factor Unhappy with coverage Experience regular connectivity issues 3 Unlocking the potential of in-building wireless service What has kept operators from addressing the indoor use case more comprehensively? Broad support of indoor spaces is, for operators, a “boil-the-ocean” exercise involving many thousands of individual systems, each having its own requirements in terms of coverage, capacity, interior cabling infrastructure, and access rights. Enterprises and building owners, for their part, have exhibited an increased willingness to invest in systems that will benefit them, if those systems deliver high-quality wireless service and support more than just a single operator. Few enterprise IT departments have the skill set to properly evaluate, install or operate a licensed cellular infrastructure. In Europe, neutral hosts are emerging to provide a vital link in the ecosystem to bridge this gap. Neutral hosts have several technology options to choose from: distributed antenna systems, CPRI-based remote radio head systems, standalone small cells, and C-RAN small cells. C-RAN small cells are evolving to push new possibilities by uniquely meeting both the technical and business model requirements of neutral hosts. Filling a need in the ecosystem: neutral hosts Neutral hosting is a familiar concept in mobile communications into distributed antenna systems (DAS) for large venues such but may not be well known to enterprise readers. A neutral as airports and stadiums. In doing so, these companies have host is a company that builds and operates mobile network developed expertise in designing, deploying and operating infrastructure and provides it on an open access basis to all complex in-building wireless systems, in close cooperation with mobile network operators who are active in the location. mobile network operators, building owners, and enterprises. Neutral hosting originated with outdoor macro cell towers. Moving from large venues to mid-size office buildings is a Acquiring the needed real estate, siting permission and physical natural progression and, in fact, we are already seeing neutral tower construction are all costly, specialized endeavors. host companies in Europe move in this direction. From the end- Therefore, it made economic sense for a single company to user organization’s perspective, neutral hosting aligns well with invest in this infrastructure and offer it to all operators rather the “as a service” business model that allows enterprises to take than forcing each operator to build their own dedicated advantage of third-party infrastructure and specialized expertise infrastructure. Having established this business model and the outside their core business domain. associated expertise, neutral host companies expanded Wireless service Neutral host Enterprise or providers property owner • Operator relationships • Enterprise requirements understanding • Technology and operational expertise • OpEx “as a service” business models Neutral hosts provide a valuable link between service providers and end-user organizations 4 Unlocking the potential of in-building wireless service Enterprise in-building wireless system requirements For multi-operator in-building deployments, neutral hosts have based upon factors such as macro environment, spectrum typically relied on DAS. Recent advances, including digital assets and subscriber share in a given market. Giving each and C-RAN architectures, have driven down the cost of these operator the ability to provision the system with its set of “gold solutions. Meanwhile, indoor small cells have a lower entry cost parameters” at commissioning and to adjust the network point, and can be simpler to design and install. However, most parameters during system operation are key enablers for neutral small cells support only a single operator. Supporting multiple host deployments. The neutral host must also be able to offer operators requires multiple parallel small-cell systems, quickly the operators full visibility into their own system operation, negating their cost and simplicity advantage. What’s needed is a including alarms and access to logs for fault management. simpler multi-operator infrastructure. What does this look like? While the four characteristics mentioned above are more related The ideal neutral host in-building small cell solution must have the to the CapEx and OpEx to deploy an in-building system for a following characteristics: neutral host, the last one is critical to guarantee its investment protection. 4G/LTE is still going to be the predominant radio · Support multiple operators in a single radio access point access technology by number of connections for years to come. · Leverage a shared IT-like transport infrastructure However, operators have recently started to deploy 5G on their · Allow per-operator capacity allocation and full control of macro networks. Given that many 5G use cases are applicable subscriber quality of experience indoors, it is imperative for an in-building small cell solution to enable a smooth migration path to 5G, ideally via software · Enable independent per-operator network management upgrade—avoiding a costly replacement of radio equipment · Guarantee a smooth migration from 4G to 5G throughout the building. Let us look at each of these requirements in more detail. Can in-building wireless technology A single radio supporting multiple