Small Cells- Innovation for

Wireless networks
Dr. Malek Shahid
Chairman, LTE Working Group
Small Cell Forum
(Alcatel-Lucent: Director, HetNet and network performance optimization)
Latin American Spectrum Conference 2012

Topics to be covered...
1. Introduction & background to Small Cell Forum
2. Benefits of Small Cells (incl. impact on spectral efficiency...)

3. Evolution of Small Cell technologies & market deployments

4. Key regulatory principles & evolution of Small Cell Forum messaging
5. Summary

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

The Small Cell Forum

Aims

67 operators covering 2.92 billion mobile

subscribers 47% of total
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

82 providers of small cell technology

representing all parts of the ecosystem

THE LIMITS OF MACRO BTS-ONLY STRATEGY

CLAUDE SHANNON WAS A VERY SMART GUY
Peak Data Efficiency (bps/Hz)

Wireless Technologies

A Good Experience

A Bad Experience

network load, frequency band, and distance

all make a difference

Infeasible Region
4

LTE

Small cells
Shannon-bound
Macrocells

HSDPA

EV-DO
-5
+5
+15
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (dB)

Source: Bell Labs analysis

4

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

NETWORK EXPANSION:
ONLY 3 WAYS TO ADD CAPACITY
ALSO RESULTS IN BETTER COVERAGE

2x
More
Spectrum

Less of this

2 X 1.5 X 10 = 30X
Capacity

(Hz)
More of this

More
Spectral
Efficiency

Increase
Capacity

More
Spatial
Efficiency
(Bits/Sec/Hz/User)

(Bits/Sec/Hz)

1.5x

>10x

(AFFORDABLE) SPATIAL EFFICIENCY = METRO CELLS

5

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

SMALL CELLS TOMORROW ENTER THE METRO

BETTER COVERAGE, HIGHER THROUGHPUT, LESS TCO
Total Cost of Ownership (000 Euros)
>10Mb/s

120

Euros (in millions)

100

>10Mb/s

>10Mb/s

>10Mb/s

METRO ENHANCED
NETWORKS: 3 OF
112 THE SAVINGS
45% TCO Savings

80
Metro Cell
Express

60

<10Mb/s

62

<10Mb/s

<10Mb/s

40
20

<5Mb/s

<5Mb/s

<3Mb/s

<3Mb/s

<10Mb/s
<5Mb/s

YEAR 3

YEAR 4

<5Mb/s

W-CDMA Macro-only

<3Mb/s

LTE Macro and W-CDMA &

LTE Metro Cells

USER THROUGHPUT
YEAR 1

YEAR 2

NUMBER OF SIMULTANEOUS USERS

Source: Bell Labs analysis based on dense urban area

6

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

MORE ON SPECTRUM BENEFITS OF

SMALL CELLS
Benefits apply
Performance almost independent of spectrum band
across wide
Standardised in all existing mobile bands from 700 MHz
to 2.6GHz
range of
Tolerant to interference from wide range of sources
spectrum
TV) without full clearance
(e.g.
RapidDigital
refarming
bands
Reuse existing
e.g. UMTS femtocells on GSM macro
bands

potential
LTE
refarming on
3G spectrum
Future
Dense reuse
andfor
high
interference
protection
give very
Spectrum and
high capacity
These capacity gains apply in low and high freq bands
economic
Deep indoor coverage with lower cost and reduced
efficiencies
impact
environmental
Scope for new operators
in limited spectrum
Innovation &
Inside-out femtocell-led deployments
competition
New services and better customer experience
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

SMALL CELLS EVERYWHERE!

Metro:

Rural:

Operator deployed:

Operator deployed: 2Km:

100s m: 32-64 users

64 users, wired or wireless B/H

wired or wireless B/H

In-Building:

Residential:

(Office | Retail | Apartments)

end-user deployed, Shared backhaul)

8-32 users

13 dBm, 4-8 users

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

TRAFFIC OFFLOAD, END USER EXPERIEINCE

% increase in median
throughput over macrocells
alone

100%
%
traffic
50%
on
small
0%
cells

21%

56%

75%

600%

400%

315%

246%
138%
200%
58%
31%
0%
1
4 10
Number of small cells per macrocell

1x
4x
10x
Small cells per macrocell

9
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

523%
All Users
Macro
Users

EFFECTS OF SMALL CELLS DEPLOYMENT

1st FLOOR

UE_TX_power
-10 to 0 dbm

Before

Before

UE_TX_power
-30 to -20 dbm

After
Measured CPICH RSCP: Coverage Improvement
10
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

After
Measured UE Tx Power: Lower after small cell addition

Commercial femtocell deployments and

commitments
60
40
20
0

53
52
43
44
Deployments
34 31 36 37
40
24 30
16
17
12
13
18 19
68 9Commitments

54
41
2012:
41 deployments
in 23 countries

2007:
0 deployments
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Operators with commercial femtocell

deployments

Includes 9
out of top ten
operator
groups by
revenue
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Femtocell Deployments
Scaling up:
Sprint: Over
600,000 units
Softbank : Over
120,000 units
SFR: Over 100,000
units
Vodafone UK:
Hundreds of
thousands of users
2007:
AT&T: Well over
0500,000
femtocellsunits
(analyst estimates)

Today:
3.8 million femtocells
deployed commercially

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

MORE SMAL THAN MACROCELLS

There were more 3G femtocells than 3G macrocells in June 2011
By end of 2012, There will be more small cells than macrocells
for all technologies combined
80,000,000

Femtocells
Small cells
Macrocells

60,000,000
40,000,000

20,000,000
-

2011

2012

2013

2014

End 2012:
6.4 million
small cells
6.0 million
macrocells

2015

Source: Small Cell Forum

Overall Objective of Small Cell Forums

Regulatory Working Group
- To encourage a positive regulatory environment for femtocell

deployments

Consistent regulatory environment in a wide range of administrations

Assist regulators in understanding the regulatory issues associated with
femtocells
Clarify regulations to enable their citizens to gain full access to small cell
services, without undue delays

Provide Small Cell Forum members with up-to-date knowledge of

regulatory environment for small cells around the world
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Some key regulatory principles

Licensing

No need for additional/individual licences

No terminal registration necessary (administrative burden)
Fees should be structured to allow for high density deployments

Interference
& Safety Concerns

Femto cells remain under operator control,

restricting power to avoid interference
Emission levels within accepted Health & Safety guidelines

Security

Secure mutual authentication between device and network

Tamper-proof devices with no user controls

Location
specific apps

Privacy concerns being addressed in the SCF standards activities

User opt-in required, subscriber and UE identity fully protected
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Some Examples of Good Regulatory

Practice
EU

Decided (in 2008) - no need for any new European regulation;

femtocells can operate under existing national licensing regimes

Russia

Regulator simplified registration procedures (in 2010) to permit mass-market

introduction of femtocells

Taiwan

Regulator approved national telcos to supply femtocells to extend broadband provision

to the home, late last year.

UK

Japan

United States

South Korea

Malaysia

Regulator removed requirement to register location of base stations, in the case of

femtocells; seen as impracticable
Authorities removed requirement for professional installation of femtocells;
reduced fees for multiple deployments

FCC exempted femtocells from new rules to avoid interference from unlicensed
repeater devices
SK Telecom authorised (in Dec 2011) to deploy integrated Femto LTE/Wi-Fi Femtocells
to extend coverage

Operators (since Mar 2012) need only pay a one-time registration fee for low power
femtocells (up to 25dBm or 36 mWatt)
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Change in emphasis as small cell

technology & usage evolves
Initial SCF policy drive focused on low power femtocells
No need for additional licences operate within operators
spectrum, other key principles as outlined earlier
Newer range of small cells/applications bring new opportunities &
regulatory challenges
Complementary with WiFi, choice dependent on user profile,
service type, QoS, ...
Small Cells help to maximise efficiency of existing spectrum

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Summary
Proliferation of Small Cells in mobile networks is expected to continue

Many benefits to both users and operators

Use of small cells leads to substantial spectrum capacity increases
Data offload also eases traffic congestion in the core network
Complementary to Wi-Fi offload
Regulatory principles are well established for use in licensed spectrum

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Small Cell Market Status

Regularly updated & available for free
download from:
www.smallcellforum.org

Comprehensive overview of current and

forecast deployments of
Femtocells
Picocells
Microcells
Metrocells
Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Small Cell Regulatory Information

White papers, regulatory news, position papers etc. at:
http://www.smallcellforum.org/aboutsmallcells-regulatory

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

Regulatory White Paper

Small Cell Forum Ltd 2012

www.smallcellforum.org