Industry Using Small Cells to Relieve Spectrum Crunch, Boost Efficiency
Small cells are becoming increasingly important with the limited amount of newly licensed or little-used spectrum available and rising amount of traffic on networks, said small cell experts on a panel led by the PCIA Monday. The FCC also needs to create separate regulations for small cells, panelists said.
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Traditional means for finding spectrum are troublesome, said Dale Hatfield, senior fellow at Silicon Flatirons Center. Traditional approaches include repurposing spectrum, making efficiency, increasing sharing and extending the upper limit of the useful range, he said. There’s a lack of suitable relocation space and people and incumbent stakeholders may not want to move, he said. “There’s a tradeoff between efficiency and how much people can pushed together,” said Hatfield, also a former FCC and NTIA official. “Sharing requires a high level coordination, it’s time consuming and the incentives are not there for people to share."
The 500 MHz of additional spectrum the administration proposes for broadband will not be enough to meet consumer demands, said Kevin Krufky, Alcatel-Lucent vice president. “We need to focus on efficiency, because that’s where the small cells come from.” Krufky presented on Alcatel’s femtocells, being used to facilitate deployment of networks in uniform processes through copper and fiber cables using electrical power. “This industry is just starting, so we don’t know all of the problems yet,” Krufky said. “Once we all start using this infrastructure, seven to 10 problems will coalesce in terms of deployment."
AT&T is continuing to build out its network to address the 30,000 percent increase in mobile data traffic over the past six years, said Kip Turner, principal product development engineer. To respond to demand, the company is in the process of building 10,000 new cell sites, 1,000 antenna systems and more than 40,000 small cells, he said. AT&T plans to increase its number of small cells by 50 percent by 2015, he said. “The small size is relative, but they are low in power to operate and have a flexible IP backhaul.” Joseph Sandri, FiberTower vice president, said wireless backhaul is extremely important for wireline and wireless to function.
Carrier and government-grade backhaul are distinct from community backhaul because they need to have the signal up all the time and they are “independently powerful and physically diverse,” Sandri said. These networks need to be routed in different ways, so everyone doesn’t lose power, while community and residential areas can use a wide variety of spectrum. Since backhaul bands haven’t been intensively built, “it creates a challenge for the industry,” Sandri said.
Macro cells are still important because they connect a wide range of people in rural areas, said Krufky. PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein said he doesn’t “see macro cells going away, because we need a balance between investment infrastructure research and development.” Wi-Fi and LTE technologies are also being used to get people connected as quickly as possible, Sandri said. “We are going through everything we can, but we need to make more licensed spectrum available for commercial use.” FirstNet will use 4G and LTE technology to create its network, but first responders will need small cells to get a connection when inside the buildings, Sandri said. “We need to have a mission-critical solution that can help with coverage, and it depends on how much money can be spent to get the network to work,” Krufky added.