Small Cell Deployments for 5G: Drivers and Stakeholders in ......2. Enhancing spectrum efficiency. 3. Improving network capacity, where small cells increase cellular capacity more

Small Cell Deployments for 5G: Drivers and Stakeholders in an

evolving Landscape

Stephanie Parker, Trust-IT and Global5G.org Coordinator17 December 2019

Small cells: a critical component of 5G

Small cells are critical part of 4G network upgrades and expansion. 5G brings even greater demand for network densification.

5 drivers for small cell deployments:1. Improving network coverage: indoor and outdoor connections; in rural areas,

on aircrafts, ships and trains.

2. Enhancing spectrum efficiency.

3. Improving network capacity, where small cells increase cellular capacity morethan today’s macro cells.

4. Meeting aesthetic requirements through deployments of compact,unobtrusive small cells with low visual impacts.

5. Lowering energy requirements and reducing the carbon footprint of mobilenetworks, including the increased use of renewable energy sources

17/12/2019 Global5G.org Webinar on Small Cells 2

The evolving small cell ecosystem

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Source: Small Cells Forum

New ecosystem, new stakeholders

5G marks a major shift away from today’s homogeneous macro cellularnetwork deployments and set of clearly defined stakeholders.

Network densification will affect a much broader set of stakeholdersacross diverse deployment scenarios, spanning urban, enterprise andrural.

As such, the transition to 5G calls into play:New wireless strategies.

New partnerships and sharing schemes, e.g. street furniture.

A lightweight regulatory regime.

These are all key to lowering deployment barriers and unleashing the full benefitsof 5G.

Regions tackling barriers to small cell deployments are already seeing the fastestgrowth, illustrating how critical it is for regulators and other stakeholders to takeaction.

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Major Trends from 2020

From 2020 onwards, IoT and industrial services across diverse vertical marketswill bring increasing demand for coverage in buildings and remote areas,including vertical-specific deployments.

Neutral hosts – important enabler of network densification with most demandfrom enterprise and IoT.

Edge compute nodes – growing importance, especially in 2022-2025, will bring about a natural convergence with small cells for advanced connectivity.

This will fill the need to bring compute capacity close to premises and users for 5G-enabled applications and connected industries.

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Webinar Handout

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The evolving small cell ecosystem.

How network densification can beaccelerated with new, practicalapproaches to 5G rollouts.

Benefits of a lightweight regulatoryregime applicable and workableacross the EU.

Barriers to deployment.

Deployment success factors.

Tackling the challenges.

Lessons learned from the field andsummary of main takeaways.