Showing posts with label Neutral Host. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neutral Host. Show all posts

Tuesday, 15 September 2026

Huawei LampSite Evolves to Five Bands in One Box

I first wrote about Huawei's LampSite solution on this blog back in 2014. At the time, digital indoor systems were emerging as an alternative to traditional Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), with the idea of bringing the radio much closer to indoor users rather than simply distributing RF signals around a building.

Interestingly, Huawei was already talking about a future generation of LampSite capable of delivering 1 Gbps indoor throughput. At the time this looked ambitious, with technologies such as multi-stream aggregation being considered as part of the evolution. More than a decade later, LampSite has evolved considerably.

In June 2026, MTN Zambia and Huawei announced what they described as the world's first commercial deployment of a new five-band LampSite solution, installed at the Mulungushi International Conference Center in Lusaka.

The new system combines 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, TDD 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz in a single box, while supporting 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G. Huawei says the deployment uses 3.5 GHz 4T channels together with TDD 2.6 GHz carrier aggregation to provide a single-user downlink peak speed of around 1 Gbps.

So there is an interesting historical symmetry here. In 2014, the roadmap was pointing towards gigabit indoor connectivity. In 2026, Huawei is reporting a commercial LampSite network delivering that figure, although obviously the radio technology, spectrum and architecture used to achieve it are very different from what was envisaged twelve years ago.

The Zambia example also highlights why indoor networks remain challenging even when good outdoor 5G coverage is available.

According to Huawei, Mulungushi had previously relied partly on outdoor 3.5 GHz macro coverage, but building penetration meant that the macro network could not provide sufficiently strong indoor signals. The existing DAS was also unable to support the required multi-band configuration. Adding separate systems for different bands would have increased equipment complexity, deployment time and operational costs.

This is where digital indoor systems such as LampSite differ fundamentally from traditional passive DAS.

Rather than taking a high-power RF signal and distributing it through coaxial cables, splitters and antennas, LampSite distributes baseband or digitised signals towards small remote radio units located throughout the building. Huawei calls these pRRUs, or pico Remote Radio Units.

The principle itself is not new. The original LampSite architecture already used centralised baseband processing connected through rHUBs to distributed pRRUs. What has changed significantly is how much radio capability can now be integrated into those remote units.

When I looked at LampSite 3.0 in 2017, Huawei was already adding concurrent multi-band operation, more flexible carrier aggregation, distributed MIMO and 256-QAM. Huawei was claiming speeds of up to 2 Gbps under suitable configurations. LampSite 3.0 could also accept signals from an external base station, including equipment from another vendor, making the architecture more interesting for multi-operator and neutral-host deployments.

I returned to that subject in 2019 when looking at small cells and neutral-host networks. Huawei was then presenting LampSite Sharing as a digital indoor system in which multiple operators could share common infrastructure rather than each operator installing a completely independent indoor network.

By 2020, 5G LampSite had arrived. Huawei said that the product, originally launched in 2018, integrated 5G NR and LTE and could support both C-band and sub-3 GHz frequencies in a unit of less than two litres.

The latest five-band generation takes that consolidation considerably further.

Huawei says the Zambia pRRU combines all five required frequency bands into a single indoor radio head. This is significant because a multi-band indoor network would otherwise potentially require multiple radios, antennas or separate signal-distribution paths.

Huawei claims its optical multi-band architecture can reduce the number of indoor headends by up to 50% for equivalent coverage, reducing installation requirements and construction time. The solution also incorporates intelligent dormancy and symbol-level power-saving techniques, which Huawei markets as part of its "0 Bit 0 Watt" approach. These are Huawei figures rather than independent measurements from the Zambia deployment, but they illustrate the wider objective: increasing indoor capacity while reducing the amount of physical infrastructure needed to provide it.

There is another important development in 2026 that helps put the five-band solution into context.

At MWC Barcelona, Huawei launched LampSite iSharing, its latest approach to shared indoor networks. The company describes iSharing as a digital-analogue hybrid architecture designed for both single-operator and multi-operator deployments.

Three elements are particularly interesting:

  • The first is the five-band integrated pRRU.
  • The second is what Huawei calls the Multi-mode Extended Hybrid Card, or MEHC, which combines digital, RF and data access.
  • The third is RRU-free BBU digital feed-in. In other words, an operator can potentially feed the shared indoor infrastructure directly from its baseband equipment rather than first needing a dedicated radio unit to generate an RF signal that is then fed into the sharing system.

Independent reporting from MWC adds some useful detail. GlobalData Network Matter reports that the MEHC enables as many as three operators' BBUs to connect directly to a distributed control unit for signal aggregation, allowing a neutral-host deployment to avoid separate radio-end equipment for each participating operator.

This is potentially just as important as putting five bands into one pRRU.

The evolution can therefore be seen at both ends of the indoor network. At the signal-source end, more of the equipment required by multiple operators can be consolidated. At the coverage end, more frequency bands and radio technologies can be combined into fewer physical remote units.

Huawei's current DBS5900 LampSite Sharing portfolio gives an indication of how this architecture fits together. It combines elements including the DCU, rHUB, pRRU and hRRU, and supports both BBU digital feed-in and traditional RF feed-in. Huawei's DCU5910, for example, is specified to support both methods. The rHUB then provides distribution towards the remote indoor radios.

The publicly listed pRRU5755 provides an example of how much radio functionality can now be integrated into a single unit. It supports 900, 1800, 2100, 2600 and 3500 MHz, with 4T operation available at 3.5 GHz. Other pRRU variants support different combinations according to market requirements.

It is worth noting that Huawei has not publicly identified the exact pRRU model used by MTN Zambia, and the published pRRU5755 frequency combination is not the same as the Zambia configuration, which includes 2.3 GHz rather than 900 MHz. It would therefore be wrong to assume that the Zambia installation is simply using the currently published pRRU5755 configuration.

Likewise, although Huawei's LampSite iSharing launch and the Zambia deployment clearly share the same broader direction towards five-band integration and simplified indoor architecture, Huawei's Zambia announcement does not explicitly identify the deployment as LampSite iSharing.

The broader point is that the indoor mobile network is steadily becoming less like a passive extension of the outdoor macro network.

Traditional DAS remains widely used and can be very effective, particularly where multiple operators and frequencies need to share an established antenna system. But adding higher frequencies, wider bandwidths, MIMO, multiple RATs and eventually more advanced 5G-Advanced capabilities makes purely passive distribution increasingly challenging.

Digital indoor systems move more of the radio intelligence towards the edge of the distribution network. They also make capacity easier to manage independently across different parts of a building and provide greater flexibility when new frequencies or technologies need to be introduced.

Huawei is also positioning LampSite for further evolution towards 5G-Advanced, including services such as high-precision positioning, AIoT and immersive applications. The Zambia announcement mentions future use cases such as XR, AR navigation and glasses-free 3D, although these should be seen as potential applications enabled by future network evolution rather than services demonstrated by the current deployment.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the latest LampSite evolution is therefore not the headline 1 Gbps speed, or even the fact that five bands fit into one box. It is the continuing consolidation of indoor mobile infrastructure.

What started as a way of replacing long RF distribution paths with digital connections and small indoor radio units has progressively added multi-band operation, MIMO, 5G, neutral-host capabilities, digital sharing and now five-band integrated radios with more flexible multi-operator signal sources.

For large venues, airports, transport hubs, shopping centres and other locations where several generations of mobile technology and multiple spectrum bands need to coexist, reducing that infrastructure complexity may ultimately prove more important than the headline peak speed.

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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Rome 5G Shows How Neutral Host Infrastructure Can Modernise a Historic City

Deploying better mobile connectivity in a modern city is rarely straightforward. Doing it in Rome, where much of the historic centre is protected and almost every street seems to contain something of archaeological or architectural significance, takes the challenge to another level.

This makes the Roma 5G project particularly interesting from a telecoms infrastructure perspective. Rather than relying simply on more conventional macro sites, the project combines neutral host infrastructure, small cells, fibre, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), Wi-Fi and IoT infrastructure to improve connectivity while minimising the impact on the city itself.

The project was originally led by Boldyn Networks through a 25-year public-private partnership with Roma Capitale. The original plan included more than 2,200 small cells, public Wi-Fi across 100 squares, around 1,800 IoT modules, 2,000 connected cameras and extensive mobile coverage across the Rome Metro.

One of the biggest challenges is obvious when walking around central Rome. Large towers and conspicuous new infrastructure are simply not suitable in many areas. The Boldyn case study explains that existing urban infrastructure, including lamp posts and bus shelters, could instead be used as mounting locations for small cells. This allows capacity to be placed closer to users while keeping the radio equipment relatively unobtrusive.

This is an increasingly important aspect of mobile network densification. In very busy locations, improving capacity is not necessarily about building another large macro site. A layer of smaller radio nodes, supported by fibre and integrated with existing street furniture, can provide capacity exactly where it is required.

Rome provides an unusually demanding example of this approach because infrastructure deployment also has to coexist with archaeological restrictions, visual-impact requirements and huge numbers of residents and visitors.

The project goes beyond outdoor small cells. The Metro is another major part of the connectivity problem.

The original project envisaged 4G and 5G coverage through the stations and tunnels, creating a shared infrastructure that could be used by the mobile operators. The network uses a multi-operator Distributed Antenna System, with fibre and radio infrastructure carrying the operators' services through the underground environment.

This is important because neutral host infrastructure avoids every operator having to independently install essentially the same physical infrastructure. A shared fibre, DAS and antenna layer can support multiple operators while reducing duplication, construction work, cost and disruption.

The same principle applies above ground. The infrastructure is designed to be open to mobile network operators rather than acting as another competing mobile network. Neutral hosting effectively separates ownership of much of the physical connectivity infrastructure from the retail mobile services running over it.

This is arguably one of the most interesting lessons from Roma 5G.

As networks become denser, particularly in city centres, transport systems, stadiums, airports and other high-footfall locations, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify every operator installing a completely separate set of infrastructure. Shared infrastructure can provide a more practical way of achieving the required density.

The project has evolved considerably since Boldyn published its original case study.

In October 2024, INWIT acquired a controlling 52.08% stake in Smart City Roma, the project company originally known as Boldyn Networks Smart City Roma. Boldyn remained involved in the infrastructure build-out, while Smart City Roma became part of the INWIT Group.

Deployment has also moved from plans into operational infrastructure.

In April 2025, the first nine Metro A stations were activated with multi-operator 4G and 5G coverage, including connectivity through the tunnels between the stations. The infrastructure supports Fastweb-Vodafone, Iliad, TIM and WINDTRE.

By September 2025, coverage had been completed across all 27 stations and tunnels on Metro Line A, using more than 85 km of fibre and around 1,500 mini-antennas. At the same time the city was progressively activating Wi-Fi 6, cameras and other smart-city infrastructure across Rome's public squares.

The rollout has continued during 2026. INWIT reported that by the end of June, work had been completed across Lines B and B1, reaching 48 Metro stations overall, while deployment was under way at seven stations on Line C.

The outdoor network has also continued expanding. By March 2026, infrastructure including public Wi-Fi, IoT systems, cameras and small cells had reached 92 squares, and INWIT subsequently reported free Wi-Fi connectivity across 100 Rome squares during summer 2026.

There is an important distinction here between connectivity infrastructure and smart-city applications.

The network does not automatically make Rome a smart city. What it provides is the digital foundation on which applications can be built. The original plan included connected cameras, environmental sensors and other IoT systems, potentially supporting areas such as traffic management, public safety, environmental monitoring and waste management.

The diagram in the Boldyn case study provides a good summary of this layered approach. It combines indoor coverage for buildings, street-level sensors and cameras, outdoor small-cell coverage, Wi-Fi 6 in public squares, fibre connectivity and 4G/5G DAS throughout the Metro.

The result is therefore much more than a conventional mobile-network rollout.

It is effectively a shared digital infrastructure layer for the city, with different access technologies being used depending on the requirement: macro mobile where appropriate, small cells for street-level capacity, DAS underground, Wi-Fi for public access, fibre for transport and backhaul, and IoT connectivity for municipal applications.

The recently released Threads of Connectivity documentary, featured on National Geographic's digital platforms, looks at the challenge of bringing modern connectivity into two cities whose infrastructure was built long before anyone imagined mobile networks: Rome and New York. The Rome segment is particularly interesting because much of the successful infrastructure is deliberately designed not to be noticed.

That may ultimately be one of the most important lessons from Roma 5G.

As mobile networks continue to densify, the infrastructure supporting them may increasingly need to disappear into the environment rather than dominate it. Small cells integrated into street furniture, shared fibre, multi-operator DAS and neutral-host models make it possible to add significant network capacity while reducing duplication and visual impact.

Rome may be an extreme example because of its history and architecture, but the underlying problem is common to cities everywhere.

The future of urban mobile infrastructure may therefore be less about building more obvious mobile sites and more about creating a dense, shared and largely invisible connectivity layer woven into the city itself.

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Tuesday, 15 October 2024

BT/EE’s Growing Dependence on Small Cells to Boost Network Performance

EE, the consumer division of BT Group, stands as one of the UK’s largest subscription businesses, serving 25 million customers. Backed by the UK’s fastest mobile network, EE claims to deliver superfast connections in more locations than any other mobile network operator in the country.

Back in March 2022, EE announced that it has successfully deployed 200 new small cells across its UK network to boost capacity in high demand areas, allowing customers to benefit from download speeds up to 300Mbps. The press release noted:

EE has successfully deployed 200 new small cells across its UK network to boost capacity in high demand areas, allowing customers to benefit from download speeds up to 300Mbps. Small cells are mobile radio cells that help to provide better coverage for customers at street level, where it’s often impractical to build larger sites. Located on a variety of existing street assets, including BT’s iconic red telephone boxes, the units offer discreet boosters for coverage and are part of EE’s investment to maintain the UK’s best network.

Working in partnership with Nokia, EE uses advanced network analytics to identify areas where small cells will deliver a boost to network performance. A 4G small cell solution is then deployed which uses multiple spectrum bands to give a better experience. EE’s licenced 1800MHz and 2600Mhz spectrum bands are coupled with unlicenced 5GHz spectrum, to deliver standout speeds in densely congested areas. Working with local authorities, EE is making use of existing street assets to minimise their impact, including lamp posts, CCTV columns and BT phone boxes.

As well as Leeds, London and Manchester, EE and Nokia have also brought these new small cells online in parts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Scarborough. Hundreds more small cell deployments are planned in the next 18 months, as EE uses the technology to bring additional network capacity to more locations, including some summer hotspots. EE’s commitment to providing the highest possible quality of experience will also see its use of small cells extend to its 5G network, with trials expected to begin soon. Nokia’s AirScale portfolio can also be seamlessly upgraded to 5G.

Then a BT press release in June 2023 highlighted that EE now had 611 small cell sites carrying 20TB of data traffic every day – the equivalent of streaming 8,000 hours of HD video or 280,000 hours of music – demonstrating the substantial value they offer to customers in high demand areas, as well as the importance of EE’s strategy to build prior to the arrival of any congestion whenever possible.

The most recent announcement from Aug 2024 highlighted that EE has now deployed over 1000 small cells across the UK, marking 400 new deployments over the last 12 months including its first 5G sites, recently installed in Croydon, London. The press release said: 

EE’s first 5G small cells are also now live as part of a trial taking place in the London Borough of Croydon. Seven sites, including four along Croydon’s London Road – a busy thoroughfare lined with businesses, shops and homes – are now supporting the local community, seeing over 3TB of traffic each day.

EE uses advanced network analytics to identify specific locations which would benefit from the performance boost enabled by a small cell. It then works with partners Nokia and Ericsson to deploy the solution itself, reducing congestion and enabling customers to benefit from speeds of up to 300Mbps for 4G cells, and 600Mbps for 5G. EE is unique within Europe in combining licenced 1800MHz and 2600Mhz spectrum with unlicensed 5GHz spectrum in its 4G small cells, which helps to deliver excellent capacity and speeds. The new 5G cells in Croydon are configured with licensed 1800MHz spectrum for 4G and 3.5GHz for 5G.

In addition to the above announcements, Freshwave, a connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider, announced that they have deployed neutral host solution in the City of London and EE are the first MNO to go live on this infrastructure. Their press release said:

A first-of-its-kind outdoor small cell project in the City of London has been such a success that it has now moved beyond the trial phase. Twenty-five new sites for mobile network operator (MNO) EE are now live on Freshwave’s infrastructure, adding capacity and enhancing the 4G and 5G network experience for EE mobile users in one of the world’s preeminent financial districts. Dozens of additional new sites for EE are also currently being built and will enhance mobile connectivity to the UK’s best network(1) in even more of the Square Mile when they are brought live in the future.

Freshwave, a connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider, built new mobile infrastructure for the project and EE was the first MNO to go live in December 2022. Across all of the sites involved in the initial pilot, EE is seeing up to 7.5TB of data downloaded per week. 

Freshwave’s bespoke solution enables the network to accommodate all four MNOs on 4G and 5G from day one with no adjustments needed to the infrastructure – making it a UK first. The solution features specially designed wideband antennas, cabinets and columns and extensive dark fibre to each cabinet.

As a neutral host, Freshwave operates the network deploying shareable infrastructure, reducing equipment duplication and creating a more cost-effective solution. This approach also minimises street clutter and the associated disruption during street works. Shareable infrastructure also reduces the environmental impact, while still assuring the mobile connectivity people expect when out and about.

The 25 new live sites are strategically located throughout the Square Mile, including notable landmarks such as outside St Paul’s Cathedral, Cannon Street and the Bank of England on Threadneedle Street.

Outdoor small cells are installed at street level which make them ideal for adding capacity to mobile networks. In busy urban areas, where large numbers of people use their mobiles simultaneously, demand on the macro network can be substantial. Outdoor small cells help alleviate some of this demand themselves, relieving the macro network and ensuring a better experience for users. 

I anticipate many more announcements like these in the future, as the industry increasingly relies on higher frequencies to relieve capacity constraints in densely populated urban areas. 

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Tuesday, 6 August 2024

Upcoming “Line 15 South” Metro Line of the Grand Paris Express gets 4G/5G Mobile Infrastructure

TOTEM is Orange’s European TowerCo subsidiary. Operating in France and Spain as of November 1, 2021, TOTEM manages over 27,300 tower sites, flat roofs and other sites in these two countries. A neutral player, TOTEM provides solutions enabling operators to provide connectivity wherever pooling between operators is possible.

TOTEM began installing the 1,000 pieces of 5G equipment that will connect the 16 stations and 33 km of the future “Line 15 South” of the new Parisian metro system. The teams at Société des grands projets, the developer of the Grand Paris Express, incorporated this major industrial project into the design of the future 100% connected metro line.

Deploying a 5G mobile network in the tunnels of a metro is a real technical challenge: it's an indoor space with a high density of people, movements, and very thick (and therefore wave-impermeable) walls. TOTEM is deploying this pooled 5G network for all operators, working within the technical constraints of the tunnels and meeting the specific mobile coverage needs of all operators. 

A growing need for indoor connectivity: With 80% of connectivity used indoors, TOTEM has positioned itself as the leading TowerCo in this market, connecting underground transport, stadiums, concert halls, and shopping malls.

The following video is from the press visit to the construction site of Line 15 of the Grand Paris Express at Noisy-le-Grand in April 2024:

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Friday, 17 September 2021

Bigbelly's Telebelly Small Cells to Connect Rural and Urban Users


Bigbelly claims to be the world leader of smart waste and recycling solutions for public spaces. According to their website, they have a proven solution that has been deployed in 50 countries around the globe. When the company started back in 2003, the mission was to transform one of the least efficient and resource heavy operations - waste operations. Today, Bigbelly provides a public right-of-way platform to deliver smart solutions and host communications infrastructure.

Earlier this year, they announced that Telebelly, an integrated pole and antenna solution that expands the Bigbelly station’s service by offering enhanced wireless services to the communities it serves, is set to boost connectivity across UK cities following its decision to launch. The press release said:

The move is expected to accelerate growth of the UK’s small cell network, which is a series of small antennas attached to existing urban infrastructure within densely populated areas. It will also pave the way for 5G by making it easier for telecommunication companies to deploy a faster and more reliable service without relying on large-scale mast installations.

Telebelly, which is 4G and 5G capable, will also reduce visual clutter associated with the growing number of small cells currently secured externally to fixed structures such as streetlights, as it is securely and internally housed.

Bigbelly anticipates interest in Telebelly from UK local authorities, which are seeking solutions for their public spaces that utliise, wherever possible, existing or multi-purpose infrastructure.

Councils, mobile network operators and other third parties are now able to consider the existing 2,500 Bigbelly units in operation across the UK, as well as new locations, for potential Telebelly sites. Wherever a public waste bin is appropriate, a Telebelly may be the solution to hide small cells in plain sight.

Meanwhile their press release in Australia announced:

Today Bigbelly Solar, Cellular Asset Management Services, and Smartsensor Technologies, Bigbelly distributor in Australia, announce they have deployed a number of Telebelly Wireless cabinets, a hybrid telecom and waste management cabinet to benefit the community providing waste services and wireless coverage.

Bigbelly Solar says this is a global first, with Blackman Park in the municipality of Lane Cove being the first one in the world to go live.

The Lane Cove council commented: “Lane Cove has been using Bigbelly compacting waste bins successfully in the community to help provide more capacity and a cleaner environment compared to conventional litter bins. The integration of this solution with mobile connectivity allows us to additionally provide much needed mobile service in currently underserved locations.”

Bigbelly Solar says the benefit of these units is that they blend in with the surrounding environment and matches the recognisable form of an adjacent big belly waste bin.

Not only does the community benefit from the increased mobile coverage footprint, each new Telebelly station now features a Bigbelly high capacity solar-powered waste compactor, complete with hands-free capabilities.

In addition to providing 4G voice and data services, the Telebelly could also be configured to provide Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and Wi-Fi. A strong and reliable wireless connectivity not only provides a telecom advantage; such a service improves safety and security around public spaces.

Telecommunications have played an integral part during the recent Covid-19 crisis, allowing Australians to continue to work from home and stay connected with friends and family.

For those living in areas with limited coverage due to topography, small infrastructure solutions allow mobile operators to utilise public spaces such as parks and community ovals with coverage while also providing waste solution for the community’s benefit. Bigbelly Solar says these smaller solutions will reduce congestion on the network thus allowing mobile operators to provide mobile coverage in homes and businesses.

Meanwhile in the USA, where their Smart Waste & Recycling solution has been deployed in all 50 states, they deployed Telebelly small solutions in Milwaukee last year. Their blog post says:

The City of Milwaukee first connected with Bigbelly when a major wireless carrier reached out regarding siting challenges ahead of a significant event in the area. The event was fast approaching, and the city required a solution to host small cell in those central, inevitably high-traffic locations. The City looked to solve the all-too-common problem of hiding small cell infrastructure in a manner with the least visual impact. In other words: their complex technology needed to hide in plain sight.

Like many central locations, these high-traffic downtown areas were deemed to be “aesthetically sensitive.” Project approval was fully contingent on the Telebelly’s concealment solution: its ability to be compact, efficient, safe, and self-effacing.

The City was excited about the Telebelly’s multipurpose capabilities, such as small cell hosting, smart waste, IT hosting and more. But most importantly, Milwaukee was intrigued by the Telebelly’s ubiquitous form factor; its simple & understated aesthetic is inherently non-intrusive. This was essential to their form factor challenge.

Within six months of the initial conversation with the wireless carrier, the Telebellies were installed and ready to go! Already, both wireless carriers and the City are thrilled with the installation & performance of their new fleet, and assert that the Telebelly units are an excellent solution for areas which are traditionally difficult to permit.

Readers of this blog will no doubt be aware of many different solutions for both the scenarios listed above, coverage and capacity, that I have covered over the years with similar solutions. It remains to be seen how operators and councils embrace it. 

Embedded below is a detailed video from them from Smart Cities Week 2020, discussing "Smart Alternatives to Small Cell Deployment":

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Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Passive and Active Infrastructure Sharing

I have written about Network sharing before here. In that particular tutorial, my main focus was to explain Active Infrastructure / Network Sharing mainly. So the focus was on two most common approaches, MORAN and MOCN. The Passive Infrastructure / Network Sharing can be a bit involved as well depending on the agreement between the different parties. Here, let's focus on this.


Quoting from the GSMA whitepaper:

Passive infrastructure sharing is where non-electronic infrastructure at a cell site, such as power supply and management system, and physical elements such backhaul transport networks are shared. This form can be further classified into site sharing, where physical sites of base stations are shared and shared backhaul, where transport networks from radio controller to base stations are shared. Passive infrastructure sharing is the simplest and can be implemented per sites, which enables operators to easily share sites and maintain their strategic competitiveness depending on the sites shared. Operation is also easier with this form of sharing because network equipment remains separated. However, the cost-saving potential of sharing is limited relative to other forms of sharing.

 Active infrastructure sharing is sharing of electronic infrastructure of the network including radio access network (consists of antennas/transceivers, base station, backhaul networks and controllers) and core network (servers and core network functionalities). This form can be further classified into MORAN (Multi-Operator Radio Access Network), where radio access networks are shared and dedicated spectrum is used by each sharing operator, MOCN (Multi-Operator Core Network), where radio access networks and spectrum are shared, and core network sharing, where servers and core network functionalities are shared.

 As in the case of site sharing, MORAN and MOCN can be implemented per sites and enables strategic differentiation. However, operation of network equipment needs to be shared (or at least issues must be shared with participants) and therefore increases the complexity of sharing relative to site sharing. The cost-saving potential is greater than site sharing. Core network enables greater cost-saving potential but is complicated to operate and to maintain strategic differentiation. It is important to note that core network sharing has not been popular and only a few cases have been suspected to be so.

The pros and cons for different sharing types can be seen in the table above.

This old presentation from 2014, explains the pros and cons of the two passive sharing approach nicely


Passive sharing: Site + tower sharing

  • What is shared?
    • Cell site
    • Shelters, towers
    • Power, A/C
    • Security for buildings and systems
  • Potential advantages
    • Cost sharing for site acquisition, infrastructure, lease, maintenance, power
    • Reduced network footprint
  • Potential drawbacks
    • Entrants may not benefit if they lacks own sites to offer
    • Costly to negotiate and implement when established networks are being consolidated


 Passive sharing: Backhaul

  • What is shared?
    • All elements of site sharing
    • Backhaul links: cables/fiber, leased lines, microwave
  • Advantages
    • Cost savings in equipment cost
    • Cost saving in deployment
      • Joint-digging of trenches (70-80% of costs)
      • Microwave links – reduced license fees
    • Faster deployment timeframe


The presentation has examples from different parts of the world and also pros and cons of active sharing. Check it out here.

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Thursday, 15 August 2019

Small Cells and Neutral Host Networks

Back in January, techUK hosted a conference titled, 'Neutral Host Networks: Vision and Reality'. There were quite a few interesting presentations and they are available freely on their website. Here are some slides I found interesting. 

The first one was from Huawei where they talked about 'Neutral Host Models in 4G & 5G Architecture' and covered the Lampsite neutral hosting in detail. If you don't know about Lampsite, check out this earlier post on Huawei Lampsite 3.0 here.

Duncan Wall, Business Development Director, Arqiva talked about 'The benefits of neutral host networks in urban and rural environments - Progress toward that vision'. There were quite a few details on what Infrastructure could be shared and benefits of sharing, new tower proposition, street trends, etc.

I like the simple site design picture shown above. The shared cabinet can host 4 small cells (from 4 operators) and that can feed the shared antenna on top of the lamp post.

In addition, there are presentations from Real Wireless, LS Telecom, BAI Communications, LS Telecom, Disruptive Analysis & Opencell. All presentations available here.

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Friday, 11 January 2019

Dense Air: The Neutral Host Small Cell Wholesale Network Operator


Dense Air was launched at MWC 2018 as a new wholesale network operator, that “enhances and extends” the coverage and capacity of existing Mobile Networks as a “Carrier of Carriers” operator, typically on a neutral host basis.

According to the announcement:

Dense Air uses Airspan’s comprehensive portfolio set of 4G and 5G small cells to offer services to Mobile Operators in licensed spectrum dedicated to small cells for densification/extension deployments.

According to Paul Senior, Acting CEO of Dense Air, “By adding small cells, running in dedicated licensed spectrum to Macro networks at cell edge either outdoors or indoors, we can dramatically improve the service experience to end users, increase speeds and network capacity. Importantly, Dense Air does not and will not offer retail mobile services and does not compete in any way with mobile service providers.”

“The economics of both 4G and 5G small cell deployments can be dramatically improved when deployed using a neutral host solution, i.e. when a single network of small cells can host multiple operators. Our mission is to help MNOs and MVNOs improve their networks by densification without the need to spend CAPEX”.

Interested readers can refer to earlier posts about Airspan's Magic Box and their deployment in Reliance Jio.

According to the website, Dense Air now has spectrum in following countries:
  • Dense Air Ireland: Operating in 3.6GHz (Band 42 & 43)
  • Dense Air Belgium: Operating in 2.6GHz (Band 38)
  • Dense Air Portugal: Operating in 3.6GHz (Band 42 & 43)
  • Dense Air New Zealand: Operating in 2.6GHz (Band 7 & 41)
  • Dense Air Australia: Operating in 3.6GHz (3GPP Band n77 & n78)

Their most recent win has been the spectrum win in the six largest Australian cities, by participating in the ACMA 5G Spectrum Auction. The acquired spectrum supports 5G operation in 3GPP bands n77/n78.

So what exactly is Dense Air and what do they do? As per their launch press release:

Dense Air is an optimised network densification and network extension service.
  • Solution delivered using Indoor and Outdoor Small Cells
  • Service operates in licensed, dedicated spectrum
  • Dense Air small cells provide services on a “Neutral Host” basis
  • We support 4G LTE and LTE Pro networks and later 5G NR
  • Dense Air fills coverage holes and capacity weak spots in Macro Networks
  • Services are offered on a wholesale “Carrier of Carriers” basis to Mobile Network Operators
  • We DO NOT compete with Mobile Operators or other Service Providers
  • Our services are delivered in Urban, Suburban or Rural areas
  • The focus is on mobile use cases, including eMBB, IoT, Public Safety
  • We also enable Private LTE Networks for Large Enterprises and Governments

A presentation by Paul Senior at UK Spectrum Policy Forum meeting last year is embedded below and can be downloaded from techUK website here:




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Sunday, 2 July 2017

Huawei Lampsite 3.0

Huawei Lampsite post has been the most popular post on this blog. Hence its about time I add more up to date info on this product.

According to this ThinkSmallCell post:

Huawei, which has already seen a lot of success with its Lampsite 2.0 product, announced a version 3.0 at MWC this year. It was already possible to separately associate the independent radios at each radio head with a different network operator, using the same physical equipment to serve two operators. But the limitation had been that the operator had already approved and installed Huawei as one of their existing RAN vendors.

One of the big differences with Lampsite 3.0 is that it can also accept RF inputs from external basestations, so you could connect an Ericsson or Nokia (or third party Small Cell). Each RF node is capable of sharing up to 240MHz of RF bandwidth across up to four bands, easily catering for multi-operator, multi-mode and multi-band.


According to Huawei's pres release for MWC 2017:

Huawei launched its next-generation indoor mobile broadband solution, LampSite 3.0, at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. This award-winning solution comes complete with a suite of groundbreaking features that drive digital transformation and more fully enable the indoor digital economy, including support for on-demand concurrence of multi-band, more flexible multi-carrier aggregation, distributed MIMO, and 256 QAM.

In the past three years, LampSite 1.0 and 2.0 have seen large-scale global deployment. With the development of 4G networks, more and more stadiums, transportation hubs, shopping malls, and exhibition halls have leveraged these solutions to make huge improvements in their indoor networks. Success stories are everywhere. The Beijing Capital Airport deployed more than 2,200 LampSites in three months, and within 24 months after deployment, mobile traffic grew by a factor of 67. In the Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world, LampSite enables per-user downlink speeds over 90Mbps, a record only broke by Singapore Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which uses LTE carrier aggregation technology to reach speeds of 251Mbps.

Additionally, LampSite was chosen by Fira Gran in MWC 2016 to upgrade its DAS network in Hall 1, Hall 3 and Hall 6. Even at peak times, attendees can stream and share HD video without a second's lag. Global carriers around the world have chosen LampSite to maximize their indoor broadband performance.

From LampSite 1.0 and 2.0, to today's 3.0, Huawei has set three key initiatives in its mission to enable the indoor digital economy, which will also help carriers and enterprises accelerate the pace of their digital transformation:

Build a Better Indoor Experience: With the rapid development of mobile Internet, a variety of new services continue to emerge, such as 4K video, AR and VR. Meanwhile, the demand for better user experience continues to grow. LampSite 3.0 breaks through a series of key RF technology bottlenecks to provide better indoor experience. By supporting multi-band concurrent signals, more flexible multi-carrier aggregation, distributed MIMO, 256 QAM and a host of other innovative technologies, LampSite 3.0 provides a solid user experience with speeds up to 2Gbps. Beyond speed, with dynamic capacity adjustment technology, it can easily cope with growth in traffic demand, enabling one-time deployment and long-term evolution. Compared to DAS, it can reduce cost per bit by 30% to 40%.  

Activate the Industry Ecosystem: In most cases, installation requirements for indoor networks can be strict. Governments and building owners often require one-time deployment, a collective effort between multiple carriers. This places a lot of pressure on carriers to adopt more robust, future-proof solutions. 

For the first time in the industry, LampSite 3.0 provides up to 240MHz full-bandwidth capabilities, which enables indoor digital networks to support multi-carrier sharing scenarios. Effective deployment of shared digital infrastructure like this involves greater collaboration between property owners and different industry players, but it also enables all parties to share in the digital dividends of the indoor economy. For example, this model gives enterprises, building owners and even investors the option to deploy indoor networks themselves, then lease them to operators, creating shared success across the entire industrial ecosystem. Best of all, when four carriers share the network, LampSite 3.0 leads to considerable cost savings, reducing TCO for each carrier by up to 70%.

Enable Business-to-Vertical  (B2V) Opportunities: Powered by an open digital capability platform, the LampSite solution can provide accurate indoor location services. This enables carriers to surpass traditional B2C and B2B service boundaries with an immense range of vertical applications, such as intelligent shopping malls and intelligent airports. In addition to high-precision indoor cellular positioning, LampSite 3.0 enables indoor IoT, big data and other technological innovations, helping open doors to an endless array of B2V fields. 


Many vendors are now pushing for Neutral Host solutions and Huawei is no exception. As I have mentioned in my other post, network sharing will be very important for 5G and many operators are already exploring neutral host solutions.

According to another ThinkSmallCells post:

Huawei Lampsite 3.0 is a distributed radio system which supports four radio heads per remote node, and adds the capability to feed the system from an external basestation (which could be a Nokia or Ericsson), thus making it more like a multi-operator DAS solution. There is also a “Lite” version for individual shops or restaurants.

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Monday, 6 June 2016

MulteFire: A double-edged sword


MulteFire has been a lot in news recently. ThinkSmallCell published a whitepaper and an interview with Stephan Litjens, Chairman of MulteFire Alliance, outlining its objectives and roadmap. Light Reading held a webinar, which is available here for anyone interested. The overview of the webinar says that the attendees will learn how MulteFire:

  • Delivers LTE-like performance with WiFi-like deployment simplicity
  • Compares to other LTE technologies operating in unlicensed spectrum
  • Coexists harmoniously with other technologies in unlicensed spectrum, including Wi-Fi
  • Broadens the LTE ecosystem to existing and new wireless providers
  • Provides a neutral host to serve any user


I agree with LTE-LAA and MulteFire and they both have a potential to deliver amazing speeds and capacity for the operators and any service providers who would use it. While it is a great technology enhancement, MulteFire can potentially disrupt the industry as we know today. Let me explain.

Picture courtesy of Keith Parsons

The way every one is seeing MulteFire is that operators can use the freely (or nearly free) 5GHz spectrum that is available. While there are or will be some restrictions, it could be used with low power indoors. The WiFi service providers have been eyeing this spectrum from a log time and 802.11ac is one such standard that makes use of this spectrum.

The end user does not necessarily understand the technology very well. Even though Wi-Fi enhancements are quite good and complex, from an end users perspective, Wi-Fi is free and "why should I have to pay so much for Wi-Fi?" ThinkSmallCell wrote an article on this topic back in January here.

The same consumer will have no issues generally paying for a MulteFire kind of technology as the origin of that is from the cellular world. While I have seen articles suggesting that MulteFire is more efficient than Wi-Fi protocols, I think we can disregard the efficiency angle from this particular post.

My first point here is that end users may be more willing to pay for MulteFire than for Wi-Fi.

The second point is that there is nothing stopping these Wi-Fi service providers from using MulteFire. As that would be a standard out of the box technology, possibly available as small cells, they can use it in conjunction with their Wi-Fi hotspots to provide more 'premium' coverage. Of course they will have to use different parts of spectrum for both these technologies. So here is a possibility of Wi-Fi service providers providing limited mobile services.

Now there is nothing stopping a large Wi-Fi SP to become an MVNO and use 4G/5G for high mobility connections and Wi-Fi / MulteFire for low mobility connections.

This does not just stop here. Many big warehouses and industrial complexes use private LTE networks. In this case they lease the network from a company that may also have chunk of licensed spectrum they bought. In some cases some operators are also providing commercial networks with pico cells / small cells. With MulteFire being widely available, these businesses / warehouses can use out of box small cells with any available devices supporting the technology.

Here there will be disruption with the value of these private licensed spectrum falling to a very low value. These private LTE network providers will have to up their game and compete against new entrants. The focus would change from technology and hardware to services.

There is a possibility of similar kind of disruption happening in testing arena where the only reason some test & measurement companies charge so much is because of technology being niche. Mass availability of small cells in license exempt spectrum may change this equation.

While these are just my thoughts, I am hoping that you would provide your view in the comments so we can have a healthy discussion on this topic.
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