Issues faced with Small Cell & CRAN deployments – and how to overcome them

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/neilkendall)

Many people believe you can just go and install a small cell or a RRH (Remote Radio Head) on a pole and you’re done. Well, there is a lot more to it. The real deployment problems begin when you are selecting your sites. Here are some of the most common issues: 

Selecting Mounting Assets 

If you are new to deployment then maybe you believe you can mount the smaller units anywhere. However, you need to go through several...

17 September 2015 | Networks

Opinion: BT and EE partnership will reduce not spots

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/DNY59)

Broadband provider, BT, has confirmed its intention to acquire the UK's biggest mobile network which could be a major step in providing coverage to mobile ‘not spots’ where residents are struggling with limited or complete lack of connectivity.

Earlier this week, the UK government published a map of public digital infrastructure (PDF) in the hope of tackling some of the mobile 'not spots' across the...

5 February 2015 | Networks

Virgin Media Business gets ready for small cells

Ron Kline, Principal Analyst, Network Infrastructure As the talk of small cells heats up, so does the need for backhaul. I recently met with Virgin Media Business (VMB) to discuss backhaul for small cells. The company has a fiber-rich network within major population centers in the UK and provides wholesale mobile backhaul services to mobile providers in the country. VMB has been developing a concession-based small cell-as-a-service (SCaaS) offering using a mesh network architecture that...

17 March 2014 | LTE

Alcatel-Lucent’s “Shift Plan” for wireless – focusing on LTE and small cells

On June 19 Alcatel-Lucent’s new CEO Michel Combes announced the company’s latest strategy to turn around the faltering network equipment vendor. Dubbed “The Shift Plan,” in broad terms it changes the company’s focus from being a network generalist to focusing on IP networking and mobile and fixed ultra-broadband access technologies. While the merits of the full plan warrant a discussion all their own, here we are analyzing the impact of the Shift on the company’s wireless division....

4 July 2013 | LTE