Small Cell Strategies

December 2014

An eBook from the editors of

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Small Cell Strategies 2

Editor’s Note

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Small cell reality check

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Sponsored Content: Ensuring High Quality Subscriber Experience in Small Cell and DAS Deployments

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Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task

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Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility

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Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic

16 Traffic, Bandwidth and

Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

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Editor’s Note By Sue Marek Editor-in-Chief /// FierceWireless

Editor’s Note Small cell reality check Sponsored Content:

Ensuring High Quality Subscriber Experience in Small Cell and DAS Deployments

Small cells are certainly not the first technology in the estimating that operators will place more than 20 percent wireless industry to take longer-than-expected to come of their traffic from the macro network to the small cell to fruition. I still recall the endless discussions of 3G and network by 2018. its commercial reality. Interestingly, the focus on small cells has brought about We’ve been talking about small cells since at least 2012 a renewed appreciation for Wi-Fi. Although operators and many industry experts predicted that 2014 would remain concerned about some of Wi-Fi’s disadvantages be the year that small cells would finally get deployed in like security, they are using Wi-Fi hotspots to offload critical mass. That hasn’t really happened … at least a lot of their traffic. Of course, one reason this is not yet. becoming so popular is that most devices now have WiFi capability and operators have the quality of service in Like many things, the challenges associated with small cell deployments were likely underestimated. Backhaul their networks to determine which traffic must be on the licensed spectrum and which can safely be transmitted and power availability are a big obstacle and one that over the best-effort Wi-Fi. operators must look at on a case-by-case basis. In addition, siting challenges have been numerous as In this ebook from FierceWireless, we take an in-depth operators typically run into obstacles like jurisdictional look at small cells – both the obstacles and the demand. issues and local regulations. We explore some of the challenges with backhauling But these obstacles are getting resolved, slowly and small cell traffic as well as look at the latest developments surely. In fact, analyst Richard Webb of Infonetics is in network management to help small cells flourish. n

Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

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Small Cell Reality Check Industry experts were a little off the mark with their predictions that small cell deployments would be rampant in the 2013-14 timeframe. Several issues (cost being just one) slowed initial adoption of the technology, and pundits now say 2015 will be the year of the small cell.

Editor’s Note Small cell reality check

By Debra Baker Sponsored Content:


Like many predictions, those of a booming small cell marketplace in 2014 didn’t quite materialize. However, many analysts are now eyeing 2015 as the year the industry will see the critical mass of small cells get deployed. “We’ve pointed out before that the small cell market – which was slower to take off than a lot of folks anticipated – has at times punished early movers. Vendors’ best plans have been frustrated when operators weren’t ready to roll out small cells or when operators simply changed their minds about certain solution requirements,” wrote Ed Gubbins, senior analyst, mobile access infrastructure at Current Analysis, in a recent blog posting. “Almost every major vendor that was talking about small cells in early 2012 was telling a very different story in early 2014. Small cell backhaul vendors have had it particularly rough, as many of them are smaller

companies and have had to find creative ways to conserve cash while they wait for the market to pick up,” Grubbins added. That sentiment was echoed by Stéphane Téral, principal analyst, mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research. “As we anticipated, the great small cell ramp did not happen in 2013 as many in the industry had hoped. Testing activity remained solid, but actual deployments were modest,” Téral said. But early issues that plagued small cells like cost and siting issues are starting to get resolved. Iain Gillott, president and founder of market-research firm iGR, expects the number of in-building LTE small cells (picocells) deployed in the United States to grow significantly in the coming years due to enterprises’ need for quality mobile data coverage inside their buildings. In fact, IGR predicts that over the next five


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years, the number of picocells that are actually deployed believes small cells are getting ready to take off after will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 192 being impacted by things like site acquisition, power percent. and connection sourcing and cost models. Specifically, Webb said that operators participating in the company’s Téral’s colleague Richard Webb, directing analyst small cell backhaul survey said that they are expecting for microwave and carrier Wi-Fi at Infonetics, also to offload more than 20 percent of their traffic from the macro network onto small cells by 2018. Webb added that Infonetics expects the small cell market to grow 65 percent by year’s end, when it will reach $1.3 billion. Although North America started out as the small cell leader, Webb thinks the top rankings in small cell deployments will shift to Asia Pacific and EMEA by 2017.

Making A Deal Wireless providers, of course, have small cells factored into their growth plans, but the cable and satellite industries also are making strides when it comes to partnering in small-cell deployments to create new revenue streams. Deals between traditional wireless carriers and non-traditional players could be a win/win to overcome the deployment gap. According to Charles Chambers, managing consultant with U.K.-based consultancy, Real Wireless, there is a business case for cable companies and satellite operators to partner with wireless carriers to help ease the small cell deployment challenges. “They have valuable skills and experience that can be applied to small-cell deployments, and wireless operators are looking for these skills,” Chambers said.

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Ensuring High Quality Subscriber Experience in Small Cell and DAS Deployments Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

A metro cell deployed on a light post. >> Small Cell Reality Check

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According to a Real Wireless report, cable companies and satellite providers already know how to handle the installation and maintenance of small boxes in the field, and they know how to negotiate with others to get the coverage they need. These partnerships bode particularly well for cable companies because the survey found approximately 15 percent of them are considering offering small-cells-as-a-service to bolster revenues. Real Wireless also found 70 percent of wireless carriers are prepared to use small cell networks rolled out by or owned by cablecos or satellite operators. Some 45 percent of wireless providers polled that said they were open to partnerships confirmed they would use cable or satellite providers for backhaul, and 20 percent said they would use them for full-service small cells. One glitch: Because 85 percent of cable and satellite companies perceive a marked difference between building out their native systems and building out small cells, only 40 percent had plans to support small cell

“As we anticipated, the great small cell ramp did not happen in 2013 as many in the industry had hoped. Testing activity remained solid, but actual deployments were modest.” STÉPHANE TÉRAL, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE AND CARRIER ECONOMICS AT INFONETICS RESEARCH

deployments in 2014 (even though 70 percent either already have launched or plan to launch public Wi-Fi).

The End Game

Despite failed predictions and deployment delays, there is light at the end of the small-cell tunnel. Infonetics’ Webb remains optimistic on the market. “Boosted by enterprise small cell adoption kicking in to help mobile operators support enterprise-specific voice and data offerings, we believe 4G femtocell and enterprise smallcell revenue will climb to $2.3 billion in 2018.” n

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>> Small Cell Reality Check

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Ensuring High Quality Subscriber Experience in Small Cell and DAS Deployments By ASCOM NETWORK TESTING

Small cell networks and distributed antenna systems (DAS) introduce new technical obstacles to achieving a high quality subscriber experience, such as validation of signal propagation and management of interference between the small cell and macro layers. They also introduce new operational challenges. To get the business case right, deployment must achieve the targeted coverage and performance levels without the need for more time on site than is absolutely necessary, making accurate and efficient testing crucial to achieving both cost and subscriber QoE objectives.

tools such as Ascom’s TEMS™ suite, include: is preferred for good uplink performance but is overwhelmed by the macro cell on the downlink. • Quick antenna health checks (RF validation) for The 3GPP strategy for achieving high data rates emission of the correct carriers and expected on the uplink in this scenario is based on the Cell signal strength Range Expansion (CRE) feature, relying on biasing the cell selection mechanism by addition of an offset • Evaluation of signal propagation, signal to to the downlink signal strength received from the interference ratio, throughput and neighbor cell low-power node, expanding the low-power node’s interference across the site using walk testing uptake area without increasing its output. • Correlation of MIMO rank with the geographical Unless dedicated frequencies for the small cell and distribution of MIMO performance macro cell layers are used, it is crucial for small cell deployments to intelligently share bandwidth • Comparison of signal strength and throughput Small cell and DAS installations are part of with the overlapping macro cell layer. Large of Wi-Fi and cellular networks using locking heterogeneous networks, in which lower-power capacity gains can ultimately only be achieved by functionality to isolate each signal and automated cells coexist with the macro cell overlay, and may implementing LTE Advanced features, including post-processing to compare results also coexist with Wi-Fi networks. This creates a carrier aggregation and complex interference number of interference and handoff scenarios that coordination techniques such as enhanced inter •V alidation of balanced carrier strength in a carrier may impact deployment, in addition to challenges cell interference coordination (eICIC) or aggregation scenario with propagation in indoor and metropolitan coordinated multipoint (CoMP) to direct traffic For more information on opportunities and environments. to underutilized cells. challenges in deployment of small cell and For example, coverage in any network combining Wi-Fi introduces an additional set of requirements heterogeneous networks: small and macro cells may differ between the uplink to ensure connectivity and clean handovers with and downlink. Due to the difference in transmission minimal radio coordination, authentication issues Download our Ascom Network Testing HetNet/ power, terminals do not necessarily connect to the and service interruptions. Small Cell Opportunity and Challenges White cell showing lowest path loss (the small cell), but Paper, or rather to the strongest downlink signal strength Examples of terminal-based test cases that can (often the macro cell), creating a transitional ensure a high quality subscriber experience in small Visit www.ascom.com/nt n zone around the small cell where the small cell cell in DAS deployment, using test and analysis  Small Cell Strategies // December 2014


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Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task Operators have always had to deal with restrictive siting issues when it comes to erecting a tower, but they now are facing similar issues with the construction and rollout of small cells.


By Debra Baker

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Like most wireless installations, deploying small cells has its challenges, including finding and negotiating for the best siting locations for large numbers of devices. There’s good news and bad news when it comes to the siting of small cells in America. First, the bad news.

reported that they expected the total cost of ownership ratio for small cells to be 25 percent of a typical macrocell deployment. This was an increase over a total cost of ownership ratio of 10 percent in a 2012 study by Infonetics.

Small cells were expected to be deployed in great quantity in 2013 but that ramp didn’t occur as many in the industry had hoped. “It’s no picnic out there for operators. Costs are higher than anticipated, and many challenges remain difficult to solve, including siting, jurisdictional issues, unsettled local regulations, power availability, copper and fiber availability,” said Michael Howard, Infonetics’ co-founder and principal analyst/ carrier networks.

No two deployments are alike

In addition, according to Howard, outdoor small cell deployments have turned out to be a little pricier than anticipated for many operators. In a February 2014 study conducted by Infonetics, many respondents

Part of the reason for the high cost of deploying small cells is that no two deployments are alike. In an Analysys Mason report released in mid-2014, the analyst firm said that the deployment challenges increase as the number of sites rise and that the best practices for deploying a small cell at one location may not be the same as another location. This unpredictability makes it difficult for operators to streamline their deployments.


Add to that the fact that small cell sites typically have different landlords with different regulations. “Small cells are a problem because of where we have to deploy

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itself in the small cell process as a way to help streamline deployments. The commission said that it was necessary “It’s no picnic out there for to get involved in the operators. Costs are higher than process to ensure that anticipated, and many challenges consumers get better remain difficult to solve, capacity and coverage. including siting, jurisdictional On Oct 17, the FCC issues, unsettled local regulations, power approved a report and availability, copper and fiber availability.” order that will take a three-pronged approach MICHAEL HOWARD, INFONETICS’ CO-FOUNDER AND to encourage the sharing PRINCIPAL ANALYST/CARRIER NETWORKS of resources in the small cell space. Specifically, Not only is it complex, it is costly. “The biggest FCC 14-153 establishes difficulty is making sure all the players – landlords, the following: operators, backhaul providers and financiers – can make the money they want to make,” Cocito said. “We • That a “shared use” approach that leverages existing want to make this a win-win-win situation: the operator resources and facilitates provider efforts be used to improved total cost of ownership, the real-estate agents expand both coverage and capacity more quickly. can make money and the customers get better coverage.” • That sharing wireless infrastructure -- whether To help streamline the costs, Alcatel-Lucent introduced towers, other support structures, or transmission a site certification program last year to help partners equipment – to reduce costs and promote access to work together on small cell deployments. Partners such infrastructure be used and thus reduce a notable include Crown Castle, EdgeConneX, Knight barrier to deployment. Enterprises and Zayo. • That sharing resources -- rather than relying on new FCC gets involved builds -- safeguards environmental, aesthetic, historic The FCC recently made some steps toward involving and local land-use values.

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them,” said Jim Cocito, general manager, wireless business services unit at Alcatel-Lucent. “And the landlords all are different. It’s a complex scenario.”

>> Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task



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The Order is not yet set in stone. Some municipalities may file a Petition to Reconsider to request that certain parts of the Order be changed, and some states may challenge the Order on states’-rights issues. However, groups like the PCIA praised the FCC’s Order. “This Order smooths the way to the promise of hetnets, DAS and small cells,” said Zac Champ, PCIA’s government affairs counsel. “What was fixed were timing and the legal wrangling over uncertainty.” According to Champ, the commission’s rules for “collocation by right” on tall towers now apply to


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“Small cells are a problem because of where we have to deploy them.” JIM COCITO, GENERAL MANAGER, WIRELESS BUSINESS SERVICES UNIT AT ALCATEL-LUCENT


operators that want to deploy DAS and small cell gear on utility poles. What lies ahead for PCIA is educating communities about DAS and small cells, and the differences between the two, along with updating federal and state regulations to allow for easier deployment. n

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Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility Wi-Fi offloading is becoming even more desirable with the latest Wi-Fi specification 802.11 a/c, which will provide better security and less interference.


By Jim Barthold

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The advantages of adding Wi-Fi to small cells significantly outweigh the disadvantages of deploying a technology that some believe is suspect for its reliability and security. Wi-Fi has something that most operators want and need—spectrum. Wi-Fi can handle increasing data traffic loads that are overwhelming conventional macro networks and forcing the deployment of small cells which, even themselves, do not quite cover all the anticipated demand. Wi-Fi’s unlicensed spectrum may be prone to interference and it may be less than secure at all times but those are acceptable risks for operators desperately serving the needs of a bandwidth-hungry customer base. “Operators just do not have enough spectrum and are already at the maximum limits of what can be done with the air interface,” said Stephan Daeuble, global product marketing manager for Nokia Networks. “Wi-Fi plays

a key role. It opens up an area where they can deploy small cells with Wi-Fi and not have to ask for additional spectrum because in most places the Wi-Fi spectrum is free.”

Wi-Fi is key AT&T estimates that its data traffic has grown two-anda-half times in just the past two years. Small cells will help handle future growth by providing more access points within reach of mobile devices and blanketing congested areas with more bandwidth. Depending upon licensed spectrum to handle all the data traffic is no longer feasible. “If things continue at that pace, the flexibility of having Wi-Fi allows you to still manage the different types of traffic between licensed and unlicensed access,” said Gordon Mansfield, AT&T’s AVP of small cell operations.


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Mansfield said that adding Wi-Fi to devices is relatively easy and is now universally available. It’s up to the operator and the operator’s network to determine which traffic requires the QoS that only licensed spectrum can provide and which can be safely passed over to best-effort Wi-Fi. It’s also anticipated that future Wi-Fi specifications will improve the reliability and security of that wireless transit mechanism as well. The biggest downside of Wi-Fi today is that it’s more susceptible to interference that causes signal dropouts and loss. Those issues, however, should be overcome when devices with Wi-Fi specifications such as 802.11a/c with MIMO become widespread. “[Wi-Fi] ends up giving you a homogeneous way to reach all different devices and phones and computers without being limited to the carrier you’re with and the spectrum that you’re stuck in,” said Derek Peterson, CTO of Boingo. There are new devices that let operators steer consumer traffic to the best available spectrum.

“Certainly cellular devices by themselves and WiFi devices by themselves have been available, but an integrated solution serving both the chips that support cellular and Wi-Fi within the same silicon has just within the last nine to 12 months started to come to market across multiple different silicon providers,” Mansfield said.

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“The flexibility of having Wi-Fi allows you to still manage the different types of traffic between licensed and unlicensed access. ” GORDON MANSFIELD, AT&T’S EVP OF SMALL CELL OPERATIONS

Adding Wi-Fi to small cells Wi-Fi’s value within a small cell network—whether outdoors, part of an indoor/outdoor enterprise or even in a residence—will be enhanced by the advent of voiceover-Wi-Fi, said Kashi Shakil, head of small cells and Wi-Fi solutions at Ericsson.

“Voice-over-Wi-Fi is an alternative where the home is “You could imagine an operator providing LTE and Wi- really isolated and you don’t have good [mobile] coverage Fi and 3G and keeping the LTE and 3G networks for the but you still have a good fixed broadband connection,” higher paying users while keeping the ones that only want Shakil said. “In the enterprise it would be a bit more cheap data service on the Wi-Fi network,” Daeuble said. challenging. In enterprises when you do voice-over-WiFi you don’t always have a good quality of service and Those devices, however, are just making their way into 3GPP will be more suitable to do voice and other types of the market. connected services.”

>> Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility


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The enterprise presents the most lucrative opportunity for small cells and Wi-Fi because small cells can be strategically located throughout the enterprise and business campus, tapping existing fiber connections

“If you have Wi-Fi in an enterprise today and you can carry the voice-over-Wi-Fi in a decent manner and control the experience, maybe you won’t need to deploy 3G anymore.” STEPHAN DAEUBLE, GLOBAL PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER FOR NOKIA NETWORKS

wiring from a LAN and powering perspective, common antennas. It just makes sense.” This, again, opens the door for voice-over-Wi-Fi in a business environment; something that has been tried before and, with the advent of iPhone 6, is rapidly gaining strength now. “If you have Wi-Fi in an enterprise today and you can carry the voice-over-Wi-Fi in a decent manner and control the experience, maybe you won’t need to deploy 3G anymore,” Daeuble said.

The business model works throughout the building for reliable backhaul. Wi-Fi is already in place in most companies so a Wi-Fi feed could be seamlessly added using dual-capability mobile-Wi-Fi adapters. Mansfield said that small cells will improve the typical Wi-Fi network found in an enterprise because the small cell can provide a larger coverage area throughout the building. “You can build an architecture within an enterprise that starts with your small cells so you have good cellular coverage throughout the building and then you can go in and augment that with standalone Wi-Fi access points and create an ubiquitous Wi-Fi grid,” he said. “You don’t have to have multiple boxes for everywhere that you need both cellular and Wi-Fi. You can use common

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That is a lot of ifs and maybes but it’s an enticing enough model to make small cells integrated with WiFi realistic for operators dissecting and enhancing bandwidth availability in crowded urban markets, serving larger venues such as convention centers and stadiums and arenas with broadband wireless connectivity, or enhancing the wireless broadband experience for enterprises and residences. There is one other reason for adding Wi-Fi to a small cell site: it’s politically correct because a service provider needing access to municipal infrastructure can barter off Wi-Fi connectivity for municipal employees.



“You can go to a town and say you’d like to use their poles and would pay for it, but in exchange you’ll give all the municipal workers access to free Wi-Fi,” Daeuble said. n

>> Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility

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Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic There is no clear model for deploying small cells. Every site must be evaluated to determine which type of backhaul is best. By Jim Barthold



Understanding the terrain before installing the first access point is central to ensuring your small cell traffic will be efficiently backhauled. Determining where the cells will be placed, and what purpose they will serve, provides the information needed to determine whether to use fiber, line-of-sight microwave, line-of-sight millimeter way or sub 6 GHz wireless transport for backhaul. “If you want to locate the small cell where you really need it, you might find backhaul is expensive. If you want to locate it where the best backhaul is available, the contribution of the small cell to the whole cellular network may not be that good,” said Rami Yaron, cochair of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) mobile backhaul forum and vice president of strategy at Telco Systems. These factors must be considered before the first truck rolls to the first access point, said Radu Salea, CTO of

BLiNQ Networks. “You design it first, have the tools to manage it and then everything becomes simple.”

Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task

BLiNQ, he said, is developing an integrated tool to help operators design networks, including the best placement of small cells to maximize service coverage and the location of appropriate backhaul.

Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility

“In an ideal world you would have a hybrid network in which non-line-of-sight technology will be combined with high capacity line-of-sight technology in different topologies,” Salea said. But, as Yaron noted, small cell traffic backhaul won’t happen in an ideal world and it’s not going to look the same as traffic that’s backhauled from a macro site.

Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

“In the past the wireless guys … viewed the backhaul as infinite bandwidth with little or no latency. Now they really need to talk to the backhaul guys to decide what to

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enable and what constraints they have. It makes things more interesting,” Yaron said.

Small cell challenges First, operators have to understand that small cells are different in almost every way from macro deployments. “Initially people thought [deploying small cells] would be easier than macros. What we’re struggling with right now is finding a model where it is very simple to deploy small cells. There are a lot of tradeoffs, a lot of possibilities,” said Monica Paolini, founder and president of Senza Fili Consulting.


Fiber is king, but not convenient Fiber provides the best backhaul medium, but fiber is rarely convenient to the small cell. “You might have fiber or copper along the street, but just bringing it to the lamppost or other small cell POP is a problem,” Paolini said. “The cost and time/effort to bring any wireline solution to the small cell is a real problem.” Wireless also has its limitations, even if it is more convenient. Availability and quality of licensed and unlicensed spectrum leaves open a number of questions that are complicated by whether that spectrum affords line-of-sight or non-line-of sight connectivity to the macro or other traffic aggregation point.

“What we’re struggling with right now is finding a model where it is very simple to Paolini prefers line-of-sight where available because deploy small cells. There are a lot of tradeoffs, “you can use higher frequencies [and] you have more a lot of possibilities.” capacity and spectrum available,” she said. MONICA PAOLINI, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF SENZA FILI CONSULTING

Operators want to build a cost-effective network by using the least expensive components and the most effective transport method but “the kinds of costs that you might be willing to accept to bring fiber to a tower are not acceptable to bring it to a small cell. If the hardware is cheap and the backhaul is hugely expensive, then the whole business case falls apart,” Paolini said.

>> Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic

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On the other hand, Salea said, “It’s very complicated to build a reliable network with line-of-sight technology for various reasons, including [interference from] double decker buses, new construction, foliage and temporary obstructions.” Non-line-of-sight is an option as long as operators accept less capacity.



Amid all the questions there is one definite: small cell

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backhaul is a different beast than a macro backhaul so it must be handled differently. “There is no historical knowledge because it’s brand new,” Paolini said. Editor’s Note

Probably the closest comparable design is a Wi-Fi hotspot. Small cells are more complex because they must connect to the macro network.

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Security concerns


“The backhaul that you’re going to use for small cells is going to be very different than the backhaul for macro,” said Natasha Tamaskar, vice president of global solutions at Genband who inserted yet another element into the backhaul conundrum: security. “You need to provide a layer of security between the end devices, the small cells, and the core network,” she said.

“It’s very complicated to build a reliable network with line-of-sight technology for various reasons, including [interference from] double decker buses, new construction, foliage and temporary obstructions.” NATASHA TAMASKAR, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL SOLUTIONS AT GENBAND

Genband, she said, aggregates the small cell traffic to a central POP then uses IPsec to tunnel between the small cell and the core network. >> Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic

Deploying Small Cells is Not an Easy Task A small cell being installed by workers.

“All the traffic is encrypted and encapsulated within that,” she said. Perhaps the biggest issue with small cell backhaul is not how it’s going to be accomplished but when. Small cell deployment itself is so new that there’s no guaranteed method to deploy the cells and certainly no guaranteed way to backhaul what promises to be a mix of voice and data traffic. “There are a lot of dimensions where there is room for optimization but we’re just learning by trial and error. It’s not that you just plug in all the numbers in Excel and then you know what’s cheaper,” said Paolini. “I’m not saying that’s useless but that’s not the whole story; that’s just the beginning.” n

Wi-Fi Gives Small Cells More Bandwidth and Operators More Flexibility Preparation the Key When Backhauling Small Cell Traffic Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

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Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management Operators must carefully manage small cell networks so they can deliver best in class service at a reasonable price.


By Jim Barthold

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Small cells demand new approaches to network management that transcend the methods long used to manage macro networks. At the very basic level, a small cell must be configured so it doesn’t interfere with the macro network or cause confusion among devices seeking out the best signal from different sources. The majority of small cells are being located in metro areas where bandwidth demand for high usage broadband services such as rich data and video is outstripping the capabilities of macro cellular networks. But operators must be careful because the presence of a badly placed small cell can complicate the problem it’s supposed to correct.

A Self-Optimizing Network (SON) can adjust the strength of the signal from the macro tower to and give small cells precedence in clustered areas. SON also lets the operator decrease the macro signal during the work hours when small cells are in use and reverse the process later in the day when the urban area has less traffic. “The highest interference is between the strong signal of the macro and the strong signal of the small cell if they use the same frequency.” RAMI YARON, CO-CHAIR OF THE METRO ETHERNET FORUM (MEF) MOBILE BACKHAUL FOCUS GROUP AND VP OF STRATEGY FOR TELCO SYSTEMS

“The highest interference is between the strong signal of the macro and the strong signal of the small cell if they use the same frequency,” said Rami Yaron, co-chair Interference is only a first issue when it comes to of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) mobile backhaul managing a small cell network. Another is identifying focus group and VP of strategy for Telco Systems. the content demand within the small cell and handling


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it appropriately. Broadband data comes in many flavors and only one of them—voice—is vanilla. Small cells, of course, aren’t being used to deliver better voice service.

Video apps are bandwidth hogs “The reality is video is the elephant in the room. Once you’re dealing with video apps they’re taking so much bandwidth operators are trying to figure out how to not degrade everybody else’s utilization,” said Sue Rudd, Strategy Analytics’ director of service provider analysis. “The operator has to be more concerned with not letting video hog all the bandwidth and take away from their much more valuable services.” Much of the solution will hinge on the degree in which automation plays a part in the network management scheme.

“You have to move towards automation. From an operational standpoint, your planning and optimization tools need to be modified because they’re designed for a macro environment.” PHIL MARSHALL, CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER FOR TOLAGA RESEARCH.

“You have to move towards automation,” said Phil Marshall, chief research officer for Tolaga Research.

“From an operational standpoint, your planning and optimization tools need to be modified because they’re designed for a macro environment. Your machinery has to be able to deal with that new kind of environment. Your planning tools, optimization tools, reporting all need to be modified so now you can deal with these smaller elements that are much more commonly deployed.” While video might be the elephant in the small cells room, there’s a hippo presence as well. Voice-overWi-Fi, now being popularized by the iPhone 6, adds even more complexity to network management and bandwidth allocation.

Voice-over-Wi-Fi adds complexity “Now you can have a multi-caller voice-over-Wi-Fi call based on the end user’s device. Wi-Fi and small cells have to be seen through that light,” said Suraj Shetty, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s service provider business. Shetty said that VoWi-Fi is causing segmentation within the Wi-Fi portion of the network because operators must choose between “trusted” Wi-Fi or “untrusted” Wi-Fi. Untrusted Wi-Fi uses an electronic packet gateway (ePDG) which is built into iOS 8 and iPhone 6 and to create an IPsec tunnel that can be used as a common dialer. Trusted Wi-Fi, such as a residential WiFi network powered by a service provider, uses a S2abased Mobility over GTP Gateway (SaMOG).

>> Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management

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Shetty said he prefers trusted Wi-Fi because it lets service providers do RF planning that includes 3G/4G small cells and Wi-Fi rather than focusing on Wi-Fi alone.

user request that controls this and what the user is willing to pay.” “That gives the service provider more flexibility on how to build the network while cutting costs.”

“That gives the service provider more flexibility on how to build the network while cutting costs” by understanding the coverage and capacity requirements for each location, he said.

SURAJ SHETTY, VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF CISCO’S SERVICE

A final management point for any small cell deployment whether it’s standalone 3G/4G or includes Wi-Fi, is the use of SON technology to not only optimize transmission delivery but to determine which frequency best suits end user’s needs. SON, by optimizing all portions of the network, also removes the threat of dead spots in the coverage area.

Those users are increasingly helped along by devices that can select the best network connection—even between Wi-Fi and 3G/4G. The SON, in turn, can then automatically offer up the best points in the small cell network to connect and adjusts the power of the macro to accentuate the small cell connection.

SON is an important mechanism, as long as it isn’t expected to move beyond managing the small cell, Rudd said.

There’s one problem that no amount of network management can serve because it comes down to perception.

“There were people who said let’s do (SON) at the NOC and have the whole network optimized automatically. It stopped dead in the water” because it overstepped the responsibilities of RF engineers whose jobs focused on network management, she said.

“If you ask people what class of service they want everybody asks for the best at the lowest price which means that nobody gets what they asked for,” Rudd said.

“I think we have a lot of technology capable of doing dynamic assignment of bandwidth based on the applications,” Rudd said. “Ultimately it should be the

FierceWireless

The best service providers can do, therefore, is manage their small cell networks efficiently so they can deliver the best class of service for the best price that consumers are willing to pay. n

>> Traffic, Bandwidth and Emerging Applications All Impact Small Cell Management



 Small Cell Strategies // December 2014

Small Cell Strategies

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