The backhaul dilemma

In the world of cellular backhaul, the primary options are fiber lines or microwaves. While these delivery methods certainly have their advantages, they have disadvantages as well.

Fiber lines are ubiquitous in urban areas, where fiber deployment can be used to handle large quantities of data traffic. Fiber is often not economically feasible to lay out in remote areas. The overhead of trench construction and deployment, combined with less traffic, makes fiber backhaul a poor rural deployment option.

Another common backhaul delivery mechanism is microwave. This popular solution is capable of transmitting large quantities of data, but it has drawbacks as well. The most significant of these is that microwave requires line-of-sight. This makes microwave unfeasible when attempting to cover long distances that do not have contiguous population centers to justify the expense of additional towers. Because of the line-of-sight requirement, terrain is also a factor, even when distance is not. Microwave is ineffectual in rural areas with hilly topography or heavy tree cover.

In rural areas, often the only means of coverage is satellite backhaul. It is the only solution impervious to distance, terrain or line-of-sight issues. While cost has often been an issue, the cost of satellite segment space is plunging, making satellite backhaul a competitive option. Other important benefits of satellite backhaul are its high reliability and its speed of deployment, which takes months as opposed to the years it may take to deploy other backhaul delivery mechanisms.

Satellite technology: Leveling the playing field

While satellite backhaul is not new, the real catalyst for its competitive viability recently has been the reduced cost of satellite connectivity. A major factor is the penetration of high-throughput satellite (HTS) technology, predicated on frequency reuse across multiple spot beams. The effect of this is increased satellite capacity and reduced bandwidth costs. As the supply of HTS-enabled satellites grows, satellite communication becomes an increasingly cost-effective communications alternative.

An important ingredient in driving down OPEX expenses is bandwidth efficiency. For satellite backhaul, various access schemes are available. Some provide a fixed amount of bandwidth (SCPC), others a variable amount (TDMA). The right blend of these technologies depends on the number of users served, the traffic pattern throughout the day, and application type, e.g., voice, data. Ideally an MNO would realize cost savings by utilizing exactly the amount of bandwidth that meets their customer’s performance needs. Using a VSAT that supports multiple access schemes is essential for MNOs looking for an efficient solution.

Tying it all together: Small cell and satellite backhaul

To be a truly cost-effective proposition, however, small cell technology must be fine-tuned to work efficiently with backhaul. The small cell and satellite backhaul can unfortunately be perceived as belonging to different realms. In an ideal world, however, network operators would view the small cell and the backhaul delivery as elements of an overall solution. If the small cell and satellite backhaul are pre-integrated prior to deployment, this can optimize user experience, reduce power consumption and reduce cost. Benefits of an integrated solution, when done properly, include efficiently allocating satellite resources and assuring high-quality user experience by means of data acceleration.

The demand for turnkey solutions

When mobile operators are obliged to provide a broadband solution to a rural area, they are often stretched to the limits of their capacity. Beyond the standard deployment effort, standard activities in rural areas include site survey and acquisition, supplying energy, tower provision, installation, integration to the core network, testing, and activation. Particularly in rural areas, this task can be particularly daunting. Site acquisition in a remote region is far from straightforward. From electricity provision to heavy rains to deploying a network during a season when labor is unavailable, many issues need to be dealt with at once – a task requiring considerable management and coordination. Finding an entity that can provide a turnkey solution frees a network operator’s engineering, logistics and operations teams to support core business activities.

This last point is particularly important. As the market grows tighter for network operators, they cannot afford to have their resources spread thin. Turning to small cells and satellite backhaul for a cost-effective, turnkey solution mitigates the risk in what has traditionally been one of the more challenging plays for network extension.