LTE (Long Term Evolution) has undoubtedly won the battle to become the world's 4th Generation radio access technology. It promises speeds of 100's of Mbit/s and includes many features to increase resilience, spectral efficiency and network performance. Small cells have been designed in from the outset, and will be a critical component providing the high speeds and capacity foreseen.
There are many different public safety radio networks used by multiple first responder services today – fire, ambulance, police etc. In the US, each may have its own frequency (VHF or UHF) and dedicated handsets. Europe has adopted TETRA, a common standard similar to GSM. One problem with these specialist systems is that the relatively low volume of product means they are expensive and new features are developed slowly. Handsets can cost $3,000 yet provide basic voice and text only.
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The mobile industry seems to be trying its best to understand and establish the validity of Small Cell market forecasts. These vary in terms of timescale, size and technology. Further confusion arises by mixing the terms Femtocells and Small Cells.
Andy Sutton, EE, revealed some of the detailed strategy being used in their initial rollout of small cells as part of their wider 3G and LTE network deployment. This article is based on conference presentations and a webinar given over recent months. Andy reinforces how quickly data traffic can increase once LTE service is available, shares some details about end-to-end latency through their network and explains how today's "SuperCells" are paving the way for small cells in the future.
Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) recently announced their latest basestation product, an LTE only small cell aimed primarily at outdoor urban districts where traffic levels continue to grow rapidly. This is part of their Flexi Zone solution, aimed at sitting underneath an existing LTE macrocell layer (from NSN or another vendor), and meeting the high traffic demands through densification from large numbers of small cells.
Something interesting is happening here in the UK, which may be a forerunner of what could happen elsewhere. BT, the encumbent fixed network operator, bought some 2.6GHz spectrum in the LTE auction earlier this year. Having initially said they had no plans to launch their own retail mobile network, they are now changing their approach and announced they may do so within the next 12 months.
