US-based Federated Wireless, offering spectrum services in the CBRS band, has convened a new neutral host sales push, under the banner Neutral Host 2.0, to make available interoperable cellular products from a tight band of pre-approved private 4G and 5G suppliers to networks operators looking to shared infrastructure as an effective means to build and expand their connectivity services.
It is pitching the service bundle, as well, to existing private network operators looking to lease their infrastructure to service providers to provide public mobile services. The Neutral Host 2.0 service effectively translates the company’s existing private wireless as-a-service (marketed as PWaaS) offer, which combines sundry CBRS network components with integration and management services, for neutral host infrastructure managers.
The company flagged its portfolio of “standards-based [and] interoperable” network components from partners. The neutral host model enables public operators, notably, to connect indoor and outdoor black-spots and not-spots, where their public networks have so far failed to go. Unlike traditional distributed antenna system (DAS) models for indoor coverage, based on unshared small cell systems, it proposes a single shared infrastructure.
A press statement majored on avoiding the “vendor lock-in that comes with single vendor solutions”. A statement explained: “Unlike expensive, legacy DAS [based] neutral-host systems that required separate radios to support differing licensed spectrum for each network operator, Neutral Host 2.0 uses shared CBRS spectrum to efficiently power a single radio network that can be simultaneously shared by multiple operators.”
Iyad Tarazi, chief executive at Federated Wireless, said: “The legacy DAS model… locked customers into silos… and required each carrier to support different specifications… Neutral Host 2.0 is a no-compromise approach that brings together the power of our robust ecosystem of partners into a managed service that makes it easy for customers to get both carrier-grade private wireless and public cellular network capabilities in one interoperable network.”
The neutral host model is expected to find takeup, at some point, in buildings, office parks, retail spaces, apartments, campuses, hospitals, resorts, and also in rural areas – mostly as a way to boost coverage for consumer services and applications. Federated Wireless claims to have authored access for over 48 percent of CBRS spectrum in the US, via its status as a spectrum access system (SAS) controller.
