With commercial 5G radios targeting mobile applications being a probable reality by 4Q18, both new entrants and existing vendors are ramping up their R&D efforts in the hope of capitalizing on the impending shift from 4G to 5G. Ambitions are high not only because...
One of the biggest challenges to scaling small cell deployments is variability in regulatory regimes--it's difficult to establish a uniform process when the rules are different in every city in the country. To facilitate a speedier evolution to ultra-dense networks, the telecom industry and...
As carrier spend slows, how should enterprises fund in-building cellular?
Carriers have a limited pool of money to spend on in-building cellular systems. As such, that investment is targeted toward marquee venues like stadia, transportation hubs and the like, and to high-priority customers. This paradigm...
Magic Box small cell, wins "Mobile Breakthrough Award" for small cell technology
This week Sprint won the Mobile Breakthrough Award for the all-wireless Magic Box small cell, developed by vendor Airspan Netowrks. Sprint is using the device to bolster indoor coverage and capacity. In an...
Part 96 of FCC rules could support LTE deployments in shared CBRS spectrum
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has yet to finalize Part 96 rules governing shared access to spectrum in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequencies, 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz. But this...
Small Cell Forum collaborates with industry standards bodies to support densification ahead of 5G
Network densification is seen as an imperative to support the vision of 5G. This requires many things: more fiber, more cell sites--at both the macro level and major increases in the...
A conversation with CommScope about the power, backhaul and siting challenges facing small cells today and in the context of 5G
Deployment of small cells at scale has dogged operators for years. Each site is unique and comes with its own set of challenges associated...
LAA demonstration, which builds on field tests, is set for Mobile World Congress Americas
Earlier this year AT&T worked with infrastructure vendor Ericsson on a field trial of License Assisted Access (LAA), which aggregates licensed and unlicensed spectrum to create a wider data channel, which,...
Self-organizing small cell, upgraded remote radio head, SDN-enabled microwave backhaul also included in Nokia launch
The run-up to Mobile World Congress Americas, kicking off Sept. 12 in San Francisco, has been marked by a number of vendor product launches largely geared toward facilitating the operator...
Multi-operator small cell can support four carriers
Network infrastructure vendors are all looking for ways to take the cost out of distributed antenna systems to open up the vast--and underserved--market of enterprises that need in-building cellular connectivity. The approaches are essentially a re-architecture of DAS,...
Smart city initiatives and business development are goals of small cell outreach
While some city's take a combative posture toward wireless deployments for reasons ranging from community health concerns to aggressive siting fee structures, leaders in Berkeley, Calif., are actively looking for investment in small...
Dense small cell networks seen as key to 5G
While small cell technologies are being used to add capacity and coverage for LTE networks, scalable deployments have proven problematic given varying regulatory regimes and access to power and backhaul. To support larger connectivity projects, carriers...
The number of small cell sites activated has long lagged beyond projections largely because there's not really a scalable deployment process. Carriers are planning to deploy thousands of small cells, which would, ideally, follow a uniform, one-size-fits-all process. But that's not the case. Each...
Shared access to the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadcast Radio Service (CBRS) band is getting a lot of attention lately with Nokia asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to demo CBRS small cells in Philadelphia for Comcast, and, now Verizon asking the FCC to...
Fort Collins considering a moratorium on small cell deployments
On July 1, Colorado legislation went into effect that is designed to make it easier for network operators to install small cell equipment. HB 17-1193 requires cities to give carriers access to public rights-of-way, and imposes...
Ice Wireless leverages Parallel Wireless' small cells, HetNet gateways and software-defined radios to deliver rural mobile broadband
In Northern Canada--the provinces of Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut and Quebec--the population density is 0.03 people per square kilometer. A rural population, coupled with harsh conditions, makes this...
In April cable and media powerhouse Comcast launched a branded wireless service to customers under the moniker Xfinity Mobile, a mobile telecom service delivered on the Verizon Wireless network under the terms of a mobile virtual network operator agreement struck as part of a...
To add network capacity and coverage reach in dense or underserved area, carriers are increasingly looking to small cells, which are also viewed as a key underlying infrastructure element for 5G. But, as small cell technologies are increasingly used to improve network performance, carriers...
Sprint CEO, on recent earnings call, said supply for Magic Box can't keep up with demand
With plans to pass 1 million deployments in the coming months, Sprint is continuing to put more of its Magic Box LTE small cells onto its network despite a...
For the enterprise, small cell or hybrid DAS/small cell makes more business sense, Johnson says
Nick Johnson founded ip.access in 1999, and is now the chief technology officer of one of the few remaining companies that solely focuses on small cell technology. Major infrastructure players...
Marcelo Claure says merging Sprint with another wireless carrier offers "enormous" synergies
From a potential tie-up with T-Mobile US to a consolidation with a broadband/pay TV provider like Charter Communications, Sprint, which is primarily owned by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, is definitely the topic of much...
Meet Baicells. A former Huawei fellow started the company in 2014, and gained significant traction with carrier China Mobile, the largest service provider, by subscribers, in the world. Now, Patrick Leary, president of Baicells North America, is ready to take on the lucrative U.S....
We don't know the details of the deal, but it is official that Corning has acquired SpiderCloud Wireless, significantly bolstering its reach into the enterprise in-building wireless market, and adding a major complement to its fiber-fed distributed antenna system offerings.
By way of a quick...
Analysts highlight how acquisition allows Corning to better target the enterprise, and how the deal puts a 'target' on remaining standalone small cell outfits
Corning Wednesday made official its rumored acquisition of enterprise small cell vendor SpiderCloud Wireless, a move initially reported by RCR Wireless...
