New York City, NY and Singapore, October 29, 2013 – Market research firm ExelixisNet and advisory services firm Xona Partners have released their 2013 small cell deployment strategies report: “Small Cells New Order – a global status report.” The report reveals mobile operators plans for small cell network deployments and the new innovations that they will be relying on to make their investment in those networks a success.
Elias Aravantinos, Lead Analyst at ExelixisNet commented, “Densification of mobile networks has been talked about for nearly 10 years and the most recent manifestation of that vision – carrier deployed outdoor small cells – has been highly anticipated, but delayed. So what is the hold up? In this report we surveyed operators across the Americas and EMEA and the answers were surprising but encouraging: small cell network deployments are imminent but at the same time the first movers will be establishing a new order around how networks will be built in the future. This is disruptive for small cell equipment vendors.”
• Over 50% of the surveyed operators say they want to deploy small cells in 2014.
• Cost is the fundamental challenge to small cell deployments. Half the of the surveyed operators have not yet fully ascertained the value proposition for small cells and are still working on the cost model for small cell deployments.
• Operators are keeping an open mind to solving the small cell backhaul challenge with many solutions in trials. The report compares the backhaul technologies and identifies the leading vendors in each category.
• Operators are asking overwhelmingly (over 50% of cases) for multimode LTE, 3G, and Wi-Fi outdoor small cells. This puts tremendous pressure on the backhaul network capacity.
Frank Rayal, Partner at Xona Partners added, “Evolving the current wireless network to a heterogeneous architecture that includes large and small cells running multiple access technologies is a major undertaking. Small cells are a catalyst for a wave of innovations that define the network of the future. Operators are in the process of implementing the fundamental technologies that will make operating this network cost effective. In our report, we reveal the vendors that operators have identified as ones with innovative approaches to the small cell deployment challenge.”
Small Cells New Order – a global status report runs to 40 pages. The report provides answers from the perspective of leading operators on fundamental questions to small cell deployments such as:
• What type of heterogeneous network meets operators’ operational expectations?
• What do operators see as the challenges holding up small cell deployments?
• Will operatorsdeploy small cells in the same spectrum used formacro cells?
• What type of small cells will be deployed?
• What operators see as their primary small cell backhaul and how they rank the different solutions?
• Which vendors are operators considering for each backhaul technology?
Elias Aravantinos, Lead Analyst
earavantinos@exelixisnet.com
Report inquiries, contact ExelixisNet.
ExelixisNet is a global intelligence, information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day. We are the valuable partner since 2007 of senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, that trust our opinion. Our team of experts works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 2007 in New York, USA, ExelixisNet is headquartered today in Athens, Greece covering clients in North America, Middle East and Europe.
Xona Partners is a boutique advisory services firm specialized in telecom, media and technology. Founded by a team of renowned technologists and startup founders, managing directors in global ventures, and investment advisors, Xona draws on its founders cross-functional expertise to offer a unique multi-disciplinary integrative technology and investment advisory service to private equity, venture funds, and technology companies that includes pre-investment due-diligence, post-investment full-lifecycle management and new-revenue generation. Xona operates from four regional hubs in San Francisco, Singapore, Dubai and Paris.
