Street Light Small Cells

A REVOLUTION IN MOBILE OPERATOR NETWORK ECONOMICS

Data demand is predicted to maintain its steep growth curve for the indefinite future. This growth isn’t being fueled simply by adoption, so there’s no peak in sight. Status quo network planning, such as splitting a macro cellular network or offloading additional traffic to Wi-Fi, isn’t going to scale enough to deal with the impending crunch.

Street light small cells, which are analyzed in this white paper, can reduce network costs, allow for dramatic increases in density and address morphologies from dense urban through suburban, representing almost 80% of wireless demand. The concept is viable: backhaul technology is already mature enough to support deployment, it permits blanket agreements with municipalities and power companies, and, crucially, it’s already been proven in a deployment constructed years ahead of its time.

This paper dives into mobile data demand predictions through 2020, the architecture and economics of a street light small cell network, the benefits of a hybrid solution leveraging macro cellular networks, and more.