This week’s unveiling of new devices from both Google and Apple has cemented the fact that more people are tossing their desktops to the curb and turning to network-enabled mobile devices like smartphones, phablets and tablets (if it wasn’t already totally apparent).
And with every new generation of device, there’s a related boom in apps. There are mobile apps for basically every aspect of our daily lives, and these data-guzzling applications are putting pretty high demand on network capacity worldwide. Nowadays, end-users expect high-speed wireless anytime and anywhere, and telecom operators are bracing themselves for an impending spectrum crunch, which could lead to network traffic congestion.
Introduction of faster technologies such as 3G and LTE may not be able to address the problem since the number of subscribers for bandwidth-intensive data and video applications is increasing exponentially, surpassing the capacity of most networks.
Currently, there are two main options that operators are considering to mitigate the impact of increasing data usage:
- More spectrum
- Small cells
More Spectrum
This one is classic supply and demand. People are asking for more spectrum, so why not give it to them? Well, in reality this strategy is not a very attractive one, considering that the cost of additional spectrum resources is very high and it can take a long time to acquire spectrum, which can result in customers shifting to competitors’ networks.
Furthermore, buying a fragment of already-existing spectrum actually doesn’t solve the problem of increased demand for bandwidth, it just redistributes the bandwidth that already exists.
Which brings us to…
Small Cells!
In technical terms (in case you’re a person who likes that kind of thing) small cells are low-powered radio access nodes that operate in licensed bands. The coverage area of small cells varies from more than 32 feet to a few miles, which is comparatively less than that of mobile macrocells.
Basically, small cells are miniature telecom base stations. The cells transmit a low-power signal, covering a much smaller area than the traditional macrocell base stations. As the small cell base stations are much closer to mobile users, they offer better voice quality, higher data performance, and better battery life. Small cells enable operators to offer coverage and quality in areas where traditional signals are difficult to reach, such as indoors and remote outdoor locations.
This ability to offer better coverage in a variety of different areas is helping the Global Small Cell Market grow at a pretty solid CAGR of 22.22 percent from 2014-2018.
The types of small cells that are commonly used by telecom operators globally are femtocells, picocells, microcells, and metrocells.
Femtocells
Femtocells are the smallest of the small cell, but hold the biggest market share, hands down.
These are the lowest power cellular access points, delivering 20-300 mW output power, and are primarily used in enterprises, small business segments, and consumer premises. They are also used by mobile operators in indoor public areas for coverage improvement, in rural areas with low population, and in emergency situations. Femtocells use IP broadband connections for the backhaul of voice and data services. Currently, almost 40 mobile operators in more than 24 countries offer femtocells to consumers and enterprises.
Picocells
Picocells are a type of small cell that are installed in medium-sized indoor public areas such as shopping malls, train stations, and airports to improve cellular network coverage. Unlike consumer femtocells, picocells are not widely deployed due to their larger coverage area and smaller target market. Although picocells are considered typical base stations, many vendors are now including femtocell-based technologies in picocells to avail benefits such as auto-configuration, radio environment awareness, and remote support.
Microcells
Microcells are a type of small cell that—as nonsensical as it seems—are considered to be about as small macrocells. They are mostly deployed in urban areas where operators face capacity constraints. In addition, most mobile operators prefer to use microcells in rural areas where the coverage area of a macrocell may not be feasible due to the concentrated population in a small area.
Microcells are mostly used by operators for cell splitting, where the operators split a large macrocell into many smaller microcells in order to increase the overall system capacity in highly dense geographies.
Metrocells
Metrocells are single-sector microcells that are deployed by mobile operators in areas that face capacity constraints. They have special features such as self-optimization and auto-configuration so they are often deployed as an overlay instead of a primary cellular network. Metrocells are mostly located in urban areas and can be mounted on lampposts, or positioned on the sides of buildings, in the indoor areas of stadiums, in transport hubs, and other public areas. These metrocells are usually owned and installed by the mobile network operator.
In case all that didn’t really sink in, we’ve prepared a handy chart comparing all this technology:
For more info on small cells, and other mobile technology markets, visit www.TechNavio.com!
