WOTW looks at the Sprint capital expense drama and wonders if small cell could become a big problem for the carrier
Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so...
LONDON – For a company that only sprang to life less than four years ago, New Hampshire-based startup Parallel Wireless has been blazing a trail across the small cell industry, and a company officials says self-optimizing networks is key. While the company’s heterogeneous network gateway...
If the maturing mobile industry is young in relative terms, then the small cells market is in its teenage years and facing those troublesome growing pains. But, if it’s possible to be a veteran of such a young industry, then Ip.access and its CTO...
LONDON – When two giants of the industry merge – although in this case the merger was a takeover – it can often take a while for the dust to settle and for the new company to begin to realize the benefits. Sometimes the...
Sprint says it plans to defer most of its network densification spending into its 2017 fiscal year. Overall, the carrier projects roughly $3 billion in capital spending this fiscal year, down 36% from last year.
"Their huge cut to network spending suggests that they are...
LONDON – In previous years, a speaker on the stage at Small Cells World Summit who claimed: "The 5G network looks a lot like a small cell network,” would almost certainly have been an equipment vendor.
The vendors in this market, and industry body Small...
HetNet densification requires robust fiber infrastructure
LONDON – At the Small Cells World Summit, Telefonica O2 CTO Brendan O’Reilly risked offending delegates when he claimed the technology “isn’t that important.” But, O’Reilly was addressing the topic of commercializing the heterogeneous network from the consumer standpoint.
It...
Small cell market to grow to $6 billion by 2020 with enterprise growth leading the way
LONDON – The "World Summit" of the small cell industry kicked off in gloomy and grey weather in London’s Docklands – but the mood inside was anything but downbeat.
Kicking...
DAS makes sense for the enterprise even if carriers won't pay for it
Distributed antenna systems and in-building small cells have traditionally been used by carriers to keep enterprise customers happy, and now those customers are starting to purchase mobile infrastructure on their own. The...
Outdoor use cases for small cells and DAS range from cities to venues to suburbia
Outdoor small cells and distributed antenna systems can be used by mobile network operators to boost capacity in crowded urban areas, to add capacity at high-value venues, to extend coverage...
A new report from the Small Cell Forum titled "HetNet and SON Foundations" includes a poll of tier-one and tier-two operators, two-thirds of whom indicated heterogeneous networks would be "very important" or "critical" to business objectives through 2020.
The survey, conducted by Rethink Technology Research...
There’s been a few questions asked recently in RCR Wireless News and Network World about the go-to-market challenges faced by the small cell community, especially in the enterprise space. And of course it is true, there are some questions to be answered.
The pleasing element...
Sprint plans to invest $3 billion in network equipment and other capital goods during fiscal 2016, which started for the company on April 1. That's down from $4.7 billion during fiscal 2015 and $5.4 billion in 2014.
Some of the carrier's capital is being diverted...
Each outdoor deployment, whether it is small cells or outdoor DAS is a learning lab for operators and vendors, and this webinar digs into the specifics of site acquisition, network design, equipment selection, installation and testing. Metro deployments that are in both the planning...
Each outdoor deployment is a learning lab for operators and vendors, and this report digs into the specifics of site acquisition, network design, equipment selection, installation and testing. Metro deployments that are in both the planning phase and the installation phase are discussed, as...
CommScope tapped for Sprint small cell deployment
Sprint has chosen CommScope for a significant indoor small cell deployment designed to support LTE and Wi-Fi. The carrier plans to use CommScope's S1000 small cell, one of the assets CommScope acquired when it bought small cell specialist...
CFO discusses Verizon 5G, densification plans during earnings call
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, during a Q1 earnings call Thursday, discusses the carrier's ambitious plans for commercializing 5G network technology.
“We are committed to being the first U.S. company to rollout 5G wireless technology," Shammo said, noting...
Dell’Oro Group looks at challenges facing small cells as they try to garner scale in the consumer and enterprise space
At a high level, small cells have moved from the hype phase to reality. The Dell’Oro Group estimates the nonresidential small cell market approached 300,000...
Small cells are meant to boost mobile network coverage and capacity, but they can actually hurt network performance if they cause interference. Test equipment makers say that small cells make network testing more important than ever. The testing process is changing in at least...
ABI Research also forecasts 8.5 million small cells by 2020
Mobile broadband operators will reach revenues of $247 million in the 5G segment in 2025, according to a recent study by consultancy firm ABI Research.
The report shows that North America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe will...
In a somewhat surprising move, Verizon announced this week it would invest $300 million to deploy a fiber-based network in Boston, Massachusetts, meant to set the stage for future smart city initiatives as well as 5G mobile services.
Why's that surprising in a period when...
ABI Research also forecasts 8.5 million small cells by 2020
Mobile broadband operators will reach revenues of $247 million in the 5G segment in 2025, according to a recent study by consultancy firm ABI Research.
The report shows that North America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe will...
Network providers are combining technologies as they add multiple operators to their systems. Carriers are bringing their solutions of choice to the network, and providers are finding ways to accommodate them.
In Atlanta, Crown Castle is in the process of building 459 nodes to support...
Self-organizing network automation technology makes the planning, configuration, management, optimization and healing of mobile radio access networks simpler and faster. SON functionality and behavior has been defined and specified in generally accepted mobile industry recommendations produced by organizations such as 3GPP and Next Generation...
