Cambridge Wireless Small Cell SIG ran a half-day event on rural and remote small cells, with expert speakers from EE, Nokia, Microsoft and Real Wireless. There is clearly both need and opportunity. Technical progress continues but the overall theme was that a change in operator mindset is needed on how best to deploy and support them using different processes from the traditional macrocell methods.

Steve Saunders, Founder and CEO of LightReading, published a provocative article about the current state of network virtualisation. He believes the industry has abandoned its proven standardisation process resulting in confusion rather than achieving their promised benefits. Will his approach solve the problem and get the industry back on track?

DAS and Small Cells have in past years been positioned as strong competitors rather than collaborators. New technical solutions, new opportunities and new thinking are radically reshaping that perception. We consider some of the recent product announcements and regulatory changes which affect that view.

This event has morphed and changed considerably over recent years and is now a stream within TECHXLR8. I picked out a handful of relevant talks where RAN planners shared their view on standards and commercial progress. It seems to me that the use cases, requirements and business case for 5G remain quite vague, with plenty of wishful thinking.

Many operators are deploying LTE in low frequency bands (700 and 800MHz) to improve coverage in rural and in-building penetrations. Others are looking at LTE relays as an alternative approach. We examine the differences between a repeater, a relay and an LTE small cell and look at two specific operator use cases.

Hat’s off to Fierce Wireless and Allnet Insights for an extensive graphically rich report on the current spectrum holdings by each of the main US cellular operators. This highlights the clear contrast between high and low spectrum of each of the key players and how that affects their network strategy.

There are various types of company offering to take the pain out of urban small cell deployment. JCDecaux, well known internationally for their highly visible street furniture, seeks to capitalise on their large estate of suitable sites. I spoke with Marina Marjanovic and Benoit Paquin to understand the scope and uniqueness of their approach and which regions worldwide are showing greatest interest.

SCWS, now in its 9^th year, remains a regular feature of the small cell calendar. Now a two day conference, attendance was lower than some years ago but stable with noticeably more system integrators/installers actively participating. There was a little more focus on business enablers rather than technology this year, addressing deployment issues and neutral host opportunities for enterprise, urban and rural sectors.