Deployment Timeline
Every CSP I explored for this article has invested significantly in small cell, and described small cell as a core part of their network evolution. On the vendor side, David Swift revealed that, “Alcatel-Lucent has 27 commercial deployments that can only be described as a market and technical success.”
Clearly the ball is in play and moving quickly. Still, what does the market look like for small cells, and to what extent will they be deployed?
According to both carriers and vendors, we will see a massive uptick in small cell deployments over the next two years. The popularity of small cell will only increase as more and more users move to 4G. Jay Stewart explained that most operators are in phase one of small cell deployment. “Today, providers are in the planning stage and starting trials,” said Stewart. “We see the uptick still 6-12 months out. This will be crucial to 4G/LTE deployments as use of smartphone and tablet devices – which demand more and more data – continues to skyrocket.”
Tony Goodman with Sprint agreed, adding that, “While growth over the next 2 years may be limited, once the 4G LTE systems are loaded with users and capacity becomes a concern, the small cell program will grow rapidly to address the issues.”
The ratio of small cells to macrocells will be on the, “order of 5:1 to 20:1, depending largely on population densities in urban or sub-urban areas,” said Amir Makleff, based on carrier projections.
Small Cell Sells
Small cell captured a lot of attention at this year's 4G World, and it's no wonder why. The diminutive sites are, “required by operators in next-gen 4G networks to allow users to experience the promise of the tens/hundreds of Mbps speeds to their devices,” said Makleff. “As cell site spacings get closer with 4G/LTE, these outdoor picocells will be needed to augment the macrocell for ubiquitous 4G coverage.”
And it's not just a few lone voices cheerleading for small cells. In order to meet demands, network evolution strategies from all major operators lean on small cells. “The mobile industry has established a consensus that heterogeneous networks comprising a mix of small and large cells will be essential to satisfy the capacity, speed and performance requirements of the future,” said David Swift.
Small cell no longer refers to femto-cell, but instead a category of cell sites that function on macro core backhaul technology and take scalability, automated configuration, and rapid deployment to new levels– and they are a crucial tool to address mobile capacity constraints service providers are facing today.
