Malaysia Looks at Small Cells for 5G

(Click on the picture for larger version)

Malaysia will soon be auctioning 5G Spectrum but their National 5G Task Force Report, "5G Key Challenges and 5G Nationwide Implementation Plan" has identified that 5G will require small cells along with macros.

Quoting from the report:

These relatively new approaches have the benefit of lower cost and less visual impact, but the downside is that the potential for passive sharing (multiple Telcos using shared tower and power facilities) at a site is lower than more traditional structures. New 5G small cells (aimed to alleviate load on macro cells) will cause a further shift towards these lower impact facilities.

These new structures such as bus stops, smart poles, etc. can also be used for CCTV, security cameras, Wi-Fi hotspots, digital advertising, and different types of sensors. Street furniture is more suitable for small cell deployment due to limited space. Figure 4.8 (next page) depicts an example of Street Furniture suitable for 5G deployment:

Today, there are few 4G sites that deploy Street Furniture. However, Street Furniture may become significant for 5G deployment with the right design and deployment strategy. This is more important in supporting uRLLC use cases outlined in above sections such as Automated, Autonomous and Connected Vehicle (AAVC), unmanned aerial vehicles, and Smart Cities. However, there could be limits on Street Furniture’s ability to accommodate 5G deployment due to constraints on space and loading capability. The 5G Task Force expects that future generations of 5G equipment will more easily integrate with the natural environment and be more compact so that more types of this structure can be used, following technological advancements.

You can read the complete report here.

Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog: Malaysia Decides on Innovative Approach for 5G Spectrum
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Underground Small Cells
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: JCDecaux - Small Cells in the Bus Stop
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Small Cells in the Lamp posts
• 3G4G Small Cells Blog: Small Cells in BT Phone Boxes

5G Small Cells on 'Smart Poles' in Denver

There was a good report in FierceWireless about Verizon installing 5G in Denver using special ‘smart poles’. We have covered this topic of smart lampposts and poles extensively for many different countries including India, UK, Portugal, China and even Japan.

The article states:

The Boulder, Colorado-based company Comptek Technologies has designed stand-alone poles to house wireless small cell equipment that is completely hidden within the poles. The City of Denver has approved the design of these Comptek City Poles, and Verizon is now deploying them in Denver for 4G and 5G small cell equipment.

In addition to Verizon, Comptek is also working in different parts of the country with all the other major wireless carriers either directly or through their deployment partners. For instance, Comptek is working closely with its customer Xcel Energy, which has an eight-state footprint. Xcel is helping carriers to deploy their small cells on the utility’s existing vertical infrastructure. And in some cases, Xcel is taking down existing light poles and replacing them with Comptek poles that combine small cell equipment along with a streetlight.

The company has a national agreement with Verizon. Besides Denver, Comptek is working with Verizon in other cities including Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio; Anaheim, San Diego and Los Angeles, California; as well as Salt Lake City. In the Denver/Front Range area, the company has about 350 poles under contract. And across the U.S. it’s got contracts to erect about 1,000 poles by the end of 2019.

CityPoles' website here isn't updated with the latest info but the earlier press release stated 300 small cells in Denver.

A nice looking small cell pole (https://t.co/R0mNf8fxae) – with RRUs & equipment inside the pole. Curious what happens in the future if there is a need to expand or add equipment. Is there enough space for expansion or would another pole likely be needed?#celltower #telecom pic.twitter.com/N28PVYmAdF

— Ken Schmidt (@steelintheair) August 31, 2019

Continuing from the article:

The poles are designed in modular sections. There’s a foundation, base cabinet, shroud, upper pole and top antenna section. They’re custom-designed to incorporate various wireless equipment configurations, cabling, power supplies and antennas. In addition to the physical pole itself, Comptek also provides electronics and environmental controls. The poles can support single or multiple carriers.

Jim Lockwood, CEO of Comptek said that for 5G, Ericsson’s mmWave equipment is mounted in a tri-sector format, meaning that the radios and antennas are integrated with each other and they’re mounted at the top of the pole in three panels that face in different directions. Representatives from Ericsson and Verizon could not verify the "tri-sector format" or provide any additional information about it.

Related info:

• Verizon Small Cell Presentation to City of Alexandria, Virginia - April 2019
• Small Cell Infrastructure in Denver - Denver Public Works
• XcelEnergy: Dual Use Streetlight/ Communication Poles
• Fierce Wireless: Verizon hits 10 5G cities with Phoenix launch

Related Posts:

• What is meant by Infrastructure in a Telecoms Network?
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Some pictures of Small Cells from California (USA)
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Verizon's got Balls and Small Cells
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Verizon's Small Cells and the roadmap to 5G
• NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future
• Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• Three UK: Mobile Network Cell Tower Site Construction
• Mobile Network Infrastructure Sharing in Japan over Electric Power Infrastructure

Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers

Scott Petty, CTO of Vodafone UK wrote a post about how 'our cunningly imaginative network team has devised some ingenious ways of boosting mobile reception.' While readers of this blog will have already seen most of these innovations from around the world on our blog, it's nevertheless an important step to bring connectivity to users in rural and remote areas that suffer digital exclusion.

Late last year, Vodafone talked about how their mini masts (picture on top) are making huge differences to JCB Staffordshire quarries. Around half the height of a standard mast, the mini masts can be painted to fit in with the local surroundings. The masts also require less power and electronic equipment.  This means they are ideally suited to providing a mobile signal in hard-to-reach rural business locations, such as the two JCB sites, near its World Headquarters. The mini mast is developed in partnership with infrastructure technology company Commscope according to the PR.

Continuing from the original PR:

4G networks can easily become congested in densely populated cities. This is especially true for urban areas regularly visited by waves of tourists, such as London’s Covent Garden. Fitting a mini-mast to the underside of a manhole cover to increase mobile coverage may sound bizarre, but it makes perfect sense. Our incredibly fast fibre optic network runs beneath the streets of Covent Garden and provides the bandwidth muscle behind our manhole cover mini-masts. Each mini-mast isn’t designed to boost coverage for all of London or even the West End, but for specific stretches of Covent Garden where overwhelming demand for a strong and stable 4G signal would otherwise go unmet.

But manhole cover mini-masts won’t be appropriate or possible in every locality. For some places, such as Edinburgh’s historic Princes Street, mini-masts built into phone boxes make more sense. These converted phone boxes not only provide a boost to mobile reception on this bustling thoroughfare, but help preserve a much-loved icon of our national urban heritage.

In a post back in December, I wrote about Small Cells in Phone Boxes here.

In another press release yesterday, Vodafone said:

Picture source: ThinkSmallCell

Visitors to the popular seaside resorts of Polzeath and Sennen Cove in Cornwall this Easter can now receive fast mobile Internet and great voice reception along the beach after Vodafone installed the latest 4G technology in beachfront phone boxes.

Mobile coverage can often be difficult to provide in remote areas and coastal locations due to the local topography and the lack of power and fibre cables needed to link up masts. Vodafone is continually looking at new ways of providing customers with great coverage, including by installing 4G technology into traditional phone boxes, returning them to their roots.

Beach-goers will not only be able to use their smartphones on Vodafone’s ‘4G from a phone box’ service within approximately a 200-metre radius. They can also make use of Vodafone’s range of connected devices, including the V-Pet Tracker to help you pinpoint a dog that has wandered off.

Vodafone is working on a number of initiatives to help support the Government’s ambition of extending mobile coverage to 95% of UK landmass by 2022. In addition to drawing up industry-wide proposals to create a single rural network to cover not spots and partial not spots, last year, Vodafone achieved an industry first by installing the UK’s first mini mobile mast at Porthcurno in Cornwall.

The Cornish 4G-enabled phone boxes are equipped to cope with the increase in mobile usage over the Easter break and over the summer months. During the heatwave in 2018, our network in Cornwall carried nearly 90% more mobile Internet traffic than the previous year.

Vodafone is also testing 4G in phone boxes in busy shopping areas in Edinburgh, Oxford and soon in London. At its technology headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, Vodafone is trialling housing 4G on the underside of manhole covers.

Who knew? Now network coverage is being provided via toughened resin manhole covers with the equipment hidden below & in the top of old phone boxes. Popped to @VodafoneUK to take a look at this latest effort to improve its coverage. pic.twitter.com/qGCxhcBAvv

— Ben Wood (@benwood) December 14, 2018

All pictures, unless mentioned are from Vodafone.

Related posts:

• Small Cells in BT Phone Boxes
• Underground Small Cells
• NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future
• Rural Small Cells: An end user story

Small Cells in BT Phone Boxes

Picture Source: Andy Sutton

In a news announcement yesterday, Vodafone said that they are planning to install 4G and 5G equipment to the underside of thousands of manhole covers across Britain to boost connection speeds in the busiest urban areas and meet the public’s insatiable demand for mobile data.

According to the report, Vodafone, which has hundreds of thousands of Cable & Wireless-branded manholes as part of its network, has developed the subterranean plan alongside Swedish telecoms equipment group Ericsson. The system is known internally as The Vault.

Attaching antenna equipment to the base of a manhole cover can boost the signal across a 200-metre radius, according to Vodafone, and could be critical in supporting future “smart city” technologies such as connected traffic lights. Installation does not require planning permission, which speeds up network build.

Vodafone and Ericsson have developed two types of system. One attaches equipment to the base of existing Victorian-era cast iron manhole covers. Another is a bespoke reinforced unit the size of a water butt that is sunk into the ground underneath a purpose-built cover.

We have blogged about Small cells infrastructure underground and in manhole covers. The following posts are related to that:

• Small Cells & Wi-Fi in the pavements & roads
• Underground Small Cells
• NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future

Phone boxes, which are connected to the power supply, are a useful tool to boost demand on high streets and in rural areas. Vodafone has signed a deal with BT’s wholesale division to install 4G antennas in phone boxes, and has kitted out one on Edinburgh’s Princes Street to improve coverage in time for the Hogmanay celebrations on New Year’s Eve.

The picture on the top from Andy Sutton is from Small Cells World Summit back in may. He says, "New life for old kiosks, KX100+ accommodating a 4G LTE small cell for enhancing mobile area capacity density"

ThinkSmallCell has a nice picture of the top of the KX100+ phone booth. In it's report on the Small Cells World Summit 2018, David Chambers says the following:

BT had the largest demo with a full size telephone box equipped with a small cell hidden in the roof space. Although only one Nokia small cell was fitted, the unit could accommodate several from different network operators. Each site is backhaul with either 100Mbps or 1Gbps managed Ethernet and transmits above head height using an omnidirectional antenna. It would seem we will shortly be making phone calls from telephone boxes again, just without realising it.

It would be interesting to see some more of these old phone boxes converted into small cell towers.

See also:

• Vodafone News: Vodafone lifts lid on manhole covers to improve mobile coverage

Here is a tweet containing picture of Ericsson's vault radio system for anyone interested:

If I can briefly be a bit naughty, here's a diagram from E/// of the vault radio system. pic.twitter.com/1FMgwtofRM

— lightspeed (@lightspeed2398) December 11, 2018

NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future

NTT Docomo has announced that they have developed a prototype of manhole type base station for the first time in Japan. They will be used in locations where there is no other infrastructure available in vicinity to host base stations. The antenna is installed at a depth of 10 cm under the ground, with a fiber connection to the radio equipment and the power supply are drawn from the ground by the underground buried piping. The service area is about 90 m radius. 

Based on this, I am not sure if this is a complete small cell or just a remote radio head. I am inclined to think that this is a complete base station as its a standard LTE base station as per the specifications.

Manhole type base station specification (Sapporo verification station)

method	FDD-LTE
frequency	1.5 GHz band (BAND 21)
Bandwidth	15 MHz
MIMO compatible	2 × 2 MIMO
Downlink modulation scheme	256 QAM
Maximum Throughput	DL: 150 Mbps / UL: 37.5 Mbps
Size (buried part)	70 cm × 70 cm × 70 cm
Device size	About 29 cm × about 17 cm × about 7.5 cm
weight	Approximately 15 kg

Specification of manhole cover (Sapporo Verification Bureau)

size	Diameter 64.8 cm · thickness 5 cm
weight	Approximately 27 kg
Load bearing capacity	25 tons

The output power is not specified but base stations can easily fit within 15 kgs.

I have written about underground small cell here and here, which was about Swisscom, Ericsson & Kathrein trying it in Switzerland. I have also written about how the Japanese operator KDDI is trying to cover similar locations using lamp posts here. Its good to see Docomo trying something new.

As per the announcement, DoCoMo will work to improve the communication environment to areas where it was difficult to establish a base station, aiming for full-scale operation within the year 2018, and will continue to consider the application of future technologies to 5G in parallel.

From what I have heard, some antenna manufacturers are working on trying to convert the manhole cover in to an antenna. Its going to be a big challenge though.

Related Posts:

• KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights
• Underground Small Cells
• Small Cells & Wi-Fi in the pavements & roads
• Small Cells, Macrocells, Backhaul, Infrastructure and other connectivity solutions from #MWC18
• Macrocells, Small Cells & Hetnets Tutorial

Verizon's got Balls and Small Cells

Matsing Balls are a first in an NFL Stadium at U.S. Bank Stadium - Source: Verizon

Love the fact that the mobile network operators have become quite open in talking about their infrastructure, data consumption statistics and their future plans. Last week I talked about Sprint's small cell deployments for Super Bowl, this week some info from Verizon.

Verizon has talked in detail in their blog about how its coping with the huge demand in data that has been increasing every year. Here is an extract from a few Verizon blogs.

The permanent new network enhancements will boost performance in U.S. Bank Stadium and areas of anticipated high demand, including Super Bowl LIVE, Super Bowl Experience, popular tourist attractions, airports, hotels, venues and other special event locations throughout the Twin Cities area. 

Verizon’s network enhancements for you include: 

• 24 new permanent cell sites 
• 230+ permanent small cell sites 
• Doubling of network capacity on Nicollet Mall with a new small cell/design solution inside new bus shelters
• LTE Advanced features added to the 4G LTE network for greater capacity and faster peak data speeds
• 48 percent more antennas added to Verizon’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at the Stadium in 2017
• A new neutral host DAS system at Mall of America® boosting Verizon’s network capacity by 900 percent
• A new neutral host DAS system at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport adding new 4G LTE coverage in tunnels, boosting Verizon’s network capacity throughout the airport by more than 1,000 percent 

Handrail antennas in U.S. Bank Stadium - Source: Verizon

DAS: Verizon built a neutral host state-of-the-art network system when the new tech-advanced U.S. Bank stadium opened in 2016 for the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and added 48 percent more antennas in 2017 with innovative design solutions exclusively for your connectivity, including drink rail, handrail and under the seat antennas. 

The stadium DAS system Verizon built is one of the largest in the U.S. and Verizon customers will be connected by more than 1,200 antennas distributed over more than 100 coverage zones. A similar outdoor stadium DAS provides coverage at the east entrance, light rail station and west plaza area. In the first indoor use at an NFL stadium, two Matsing Ball antennas (that appear like giant white disco balls) are installed 330 feet above the field on the ridge beam. They provide coverage by dividing the field into sectors, like slices of a pie, for Super Bowl photographers and staff, and for you at popular concerts with floor seating. 

One of Verizon’s small cells outside U.S. Bank stadium enhances wireless data capacity. - Source Verizon

Small Cells: Small cells are designed to blend into the urban landscape, literally “hiding in plain sight” on street lights, traffic signals or utility poles, and provide 4G LTE coverage for a radius of approximately 1,000 feet.  Small cells bring the fiber connections and network “densification” needed to enable Smart Cities technology (like managing traffic flow) and the next generation network, 5G. As part of our Smart Communities work with the city of Minneapolis, we’ve also installed security cameras on street lights with our small cells in the downtown area to help the city ensure the best experience possible for fans and citizens.

On the side, Verizon also deployed a network for Public Safety officials and it tested the limits of 5G.

So what did the statistics look like? Here it is from another blog post:

Game day facts 

• Verizon’s network was used by 57% of the attendees in the stadium at this year’s Super Bowl, up from 45% the previous year.
• Verizon fans benefitted from the highest average download speeds at U.S. Bank Stadium according to third-party testing by P3 of all four national carriers during the game. 
• On Super Bowl game day, Verizon fans used 18.8 TB of data in and around the stadium, the equivalent of a single user binge watching HD video for 435 straight days.
• The data usage by Verizon fans was 70.9% more than the 11 TB used at Super Bowl 51 – the same as watching HD video for 256 days in a row. At Super Bowl 50, Verizon customers used 7 TB of data – roughly 1/3 of Sunday’s big game.
• Top wireless uses by Verizon customers were led, in this order, by web browsing, streaming video and using social media and sports apps.  
• The top three favorite social media apps of Verizon customers were Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, with Snapchat moving from third at last year’s Super Bowl to first most used.

The biggest spikes of wireless data usage occurred during:

• The halftime show driven by social media video sharing. 
• The next biggest usage spikes occurred when the Patriots fumbled the ball late in the fourth quarter, and;
• At the game kickoff, with fans streaming video and web browsing.

Our Network team of 150 engineers, 3X the size of an NFL team roster, staffed Verizon’s network Command Center 24x7 to ensure a reliable network experience for fans, first responders and public safety teams.

So the headline figure was 'Verizon fans used 18.8 TB of data in and around the stadium'.

To put this in perspective, here is a tweet from EE CEO, Marc Allera:

Tottenham's 2-0 win against Man Utd in January currently holds the record for the most shared #PremierLeague game on the @EE network @wembleystadium – fans used nearly 1 terabyte of data (988GB) ⚽📲👍

Will the #NorthLondonDerby exceed that figure on Saturday? #TOTARS pic.twitter.com/2Y9qx46XFZ

— Marc Allera (@MarcAllera) February 8, 2018

So you can see how much data was consumed in the Super Bowl match.

Localytics has some more info on the data consumption pattern, apps, etc. during the Super Bowl here.

Looking forward to finding some similar info from T-Mobile and AT&T.

Sprint's Small Cells in the stadium

Sprint's CTO John Saw posted a few pics of small cells in the stadium. They also posted a few pics about outdoor small cells (see below).

Another tweet from John Saw was about SpeedTests within the stadium.

The question often asked is why are the upload speeds so poor. I answered this question when I talked about High Power UEs (HPUE) in an earlier post. As they use TDD Config 2, they are focusing on downloads rather than uploads. This may be a bit strange scenario for stadiums where people want to upload rather than download but because they want to use HPUE, they have to make sure that only a limited number of uplink slots (less than 50%) are used.

TDD also mandates very tight synchronization requirements thereby making most networks keep the same config throughout their network to avoid interference.

Its nevertheless interesting, would be good to see how the end users react to this approach.

Further reading:

• Sprint's Network Gears Up for the Big Game!
• High Power / Performance User Equipment (#HPUE)

Ultimate Guide to the Telecom Infra Project (TIP)

Some of you may have noticed that I am a big fan of Facebook's Telecom Infra Project (a.k.a. TIP). I blogged about the TIP summit in 2016 here, BT/EE Mansoor Hanif's presentation on Airmasts here and MTN Navindran Naidoo's recent presentation here.

Telecom TV has done an excellent Ultimate Guide to the TIP project here. The video from that is embedded below.

MTN: Connecting Rural & Remote Africa

The annual Telco Infra Project (TIP) Summit took place recently in California. As always, there are some great presentations that have all be shared online here.

The video of the presentation is embedded below but the two images above are the main points of discussion from this presentation. The first image shows the challenges and possible approaches to solve them. The second one highlights the important point that the traditional infrastructure costs are just too high to provide connectivity in rural and remote locations.

A slightly surprising point that the speaker, Navindran Naidoo, Executive, Network Planning & Design, MTN Group brought up was that they are still looking to rollout 3G networks. In an earlier post on 3G4G blog, I talked about how the developing nations will ditch 3G in favour of 2G & 4G so this is a bit of a surprise. Even the OpenCellular project is focusing on 2G & 4G as can be seen below.

Steve Song in his blog post here highlights some good points. He points out that not enough 4G devices have reached African markets, VoLTE has still not matured and also operators have 3G spectrum available today or they can re-farm 900MHz.

Anyway, here is the video from Navindran Naidoo, Executive, Network Planning & Design, MTN Group in TIP Summit 2017.

Vodafone Portugal's “streetlamp”

Vodafone Portugal, in partnership with Drivetel, Omniflow and Amop is deploying its own “streetlamp” to improve coverage and capacity in certain areas while at the same time making sure the antennas blend in with the surroundings.

From Linkedin (via Cliff Velosa):

In Portugal Vodafone is committed on reducing visual impact on outdoor (rural and urban) coverage and made sure that the energy resource consumption is engage to a better and efficient way.

Comba Telecom has played an important role together with Drivetel S.A to the construction of a clean and unique system with a camouflaged Tri-Sector antenna that supports LTE1800 and WCDMA coverage and fits just perfectly to the rest of the environment.

A smart street light 100% self-powered by Wind and Solar energy and supported by a local Portuguese Company called OmniFlow.

It’s a completely integrated solution that blends into the most modern urban Smart Cities and to the wildest landscape. The generated energy with natural resources can contribuite to Vodafone's Pico/Micro/Small cell NB/eNB Base stations energy supply that is environmental friendly and contributes to the local population not only on mobile coverage and services but also served as public lights during the night.

The infrastructure is all underground with only the antennas on the top.

In another Linkedin post (via Cliff Velosa):

One of Portugal’s sea viewpoint – Santa Cruz beach, the local municipality together with Vodafone agreed on a efficient way to supply mobile radio coverage and capacity on Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G with an independent lighting system which produces enough electricity for the lighting system throughout the night by using natural resources (wind and sun), saving extra costs on the municipality, the tax payers will thank them in the long term.

A local Portuguese company did the design of the base bench foundation in concrete that meets the concerns of vandal resistance, life cycle and with reserved space to add all the RF RRU's/BBU's inside a the cabinet and with a spot around the tower to sit and navigate on Vodafone’s high speed broadband. No more ugly towers with massive antennas, Comba's Camouflaged 3 Cluster antenna did just the trick to reduce that impact.

This new “streetlamp” reduces the time to setup the tower and offering radio service to Vodafone's customers in matter of hours knowing that everything is setup by Drivetel in advance before transporting the system to the field.

All picture sources: Cliff Velosa

Further Reading:

• Road Surveillance without grid power or network coverage?
• Amop - Urban
• Banco Candeeiro Inteligente+Omniled+Wifi [PDF]

Ericsson's Invisible Sites: Urban Case Studies

Small Cell Forum recently hosted Densification Summit in Mumbai. There were lots of interesting talks which can be seen along with the post-event report on SCF page here.

Anyway, the presentation by Ericsson is embedded below.

Small Cell Infrastructure in Denver

The City and County of Denver (Colorado, USA) is receiving growing numbers of requests from wireless providers and wireless infrastructure companies to construct small cell facilities in the public right of way. As a result Denver Public Works has created a small publication about how they are working with companies to bring small cell infrastructure to the city. Its available here.

Here is one of the points from that publication:

9. Can the City limit or standardize Small Cell infrastructure?

As mentioned above, the City is currently exploring its policies and ordinances for Small Cell infrastructure within the parameters of Federal and State law. Under current law, it is not clear how the City can restrict height, design, or location (unless conflicting) of Small Cell infrastructure. However, as the City as a whole considers new polices and rulemaking, the City Public Works Department is having success in coordinating expectations and recommendations through enhanced communication efforts at the outset of each company’s program. So far each applicant has been receptive to:

• Considering standardizing pole design elements, color, location, etc. to meet intent and character of existing infrastructure in the public right of way.
• Limiting pole heights to match existing street lighting and other poles in the public right of way.
• Generally avoiding placing poles adjacent to parks and historical places.
• Encouraging pole and equipment designs that enclose as much equipment as possible to minimize visual impact.
• Co-locating equipment onto existing infrastructure wherever feasible.
• Installing consistent infrastructure that does not discriminate based on neighborhood type, demographic, or character.
• Exploring new concepts in combining equipment from multiple companies into specially designed poles.

Public Works has placed top priortiy in coodinating design elements for proposed Small Cell infrastructure, and how companies should maximize aesthetics while minimizing congestion of the public right of way. Below are several examples of Small Cell equipment recently constructed in Denver.

You can download the document from here. 

KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights

Street lamp incorporating the base station function in consideration of the landscape - by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

My earlier posts with street lighting and lampposts were mainly with Philips (see here and here) and one detailed one from EE (via Andy Sutton)

In fact the picture above reminded me of this tweet:

When is a telegraph pole not a telegraph pole? When it's a cell site. #industrialarchaeology #gsm #3G #mobilefuture pic.twitter.com/t1WzZ5crU5

— Andy Sutton (@960sutton) September 8, 2015

Anyway, the new article says (translated by Google translate from Japanese):

In experiments, we used a street lamp that incorporates the base station function inside the pillar so that the antenna and the radio are not noticeable. We set up one in the parking lot adjacent to the municipal wreckage field in Yeomachiro and investigate tourist reactions on the landscape and the reach of the radio waves. The period is one year from October this year. Since the 5G base station has not yet been downsized, experiments predict the radio range using the current 4G base station.

So from what I understand (news sites here and here):

• KDDI will be testing initially using 4G because 5G base stations are still quite big. It looks like a small cell but could be an RRH as well
• This experiment will start in October and last a year
• As it mentions relay, I am assuming in-band backhaul.
• As its on a sightseeing spot, they want to see how people react to this
• They will also examine the impacts of weather, terrain and look at maintenance issues as well.
• The intention is to roll it out commercially by 2020

Temporary masts for festivals, events, etc.

I really enjoyed watching couple of video's from Peter Clarke of temporary masts that are installed at events like Glastonbury festival and other high profile events.  They are both embedded below:




If you enjoyed, check out more videos like these on his Youtube channel here.

Small Cells at Mobile World Congress 2017 (#MWC17)

Mobile World Congress was big and busy, as always. There were lots of interesting demos, technologies and much more. While I was only able to look at a few demos, here is my summary of the small cells related info that I managed to see or came across on social media.

Ericsson and Philips have been working together for a while so its no surprise they were showing their new connected street lighting model. You can see this from my picture above.

Disruption at the network edge panel: @sprintnews densifying its network with thousands of small cells #mwc17 pic.twitter.com/daFoMUCz0a

— CCS (@CCS_multipoint) March 1, 2017

Sprint has already mentioned earlier that they will be rolling out more small cells and they were conveying the same message at MWC. Their rival T-Mobile says that they have 1000 small cells right now but will have 5/6000 by the end of the year.

IP Access had a nice booth and it was good to see that their CEO Malcolm Gordon and CTO Nick Johnson both managed to get their message across that 2017 will probably be a big year for Small Cells.

Vodafone introduced the "CrowdCell" concept last year, this year they continued to build on that story. The CrowdCell uses macro for backhaul. I generally refer to this as In-band backhaul (IBBH) and have written about this here. While they have already shown Indoor CrowdCell and In-car CrowdCell before, this year they were showing the Flying CrowdCell. You can see a video of that here (in Spanish) and a non-flying version here. This is slightly similar to the Airmast concept by EE.

Hidden in a corner at the Vodafone booth was a pre-commercial quad band femto by Parallel Wireless. If you look at the form factor, its no different than a single band femto from couple of years back.

Parallel Wireless also had a presence on many of their partners booths (picture above from KMW booth). TMN magazine has a feature on them and I embed their video below.


China Unicom is deploying 500 Radio Dots from Ericsson in Beijing.

Cellnex was showing how their small cells could be used for Smart Cities and Urban deployments. They have recently signed contract with JCDecaux and expects to deploy between 200,000 and 500,000 small cells 🙃

Acceleran was showing small cells on 3.5GHz CBRS band.

The Indian mobile operator Reliance Jio, which recently set a record for fastest 100 million subscribers (in 170 days), will be deploying Airspan small cells. This should be a massive project for Airspan.

Finally, there were quite a few 5G conceptual demo's. The picture above is from Intel stand. Due to 5G not yet defined, people were either using 28GHz or 60GHz. Regardless of what they were demonstrating, they would claim it to be 5G.

Apologies to other vendors I have missed.

There were also some good presentations at the Small Cell Forum networking area. The link for them is below and I will also be sharing some more of them in the coming weeks.

Related links:

• Mobile World Congress 2017 Small Cell Event Report - ThinkSmallCell
• Speaker presentations from MWC - Small Cell Forum
• Look back and forecast of Small Cells
• Flying Small Cells are here...