The Rise of Intelligent Small Cells

Chris GilbertCEO UbiquisysTelco 2.0 Santa Monica27 October 2010

The smartphone-driven traffic explosion

• Exponential growth in mobile data usage• Forces radical thinking on network design

Source: Signals Research Group

The conventional answer is LTE

• But LTE alone is not enough to provide the 1000x data capacity required:– HSPA and LTE vs. WCDMA 10x – Spectral efficiency improvements 2x – More allocated spectrum 5x– ~3 times smaller cell radius 10x

(but see SoftBank strategy)

Small cells have a central role to play in meeting the capacity demand

Source: Ericsson

What are intelligent small cells?• Use massively abundant, cheap IP backhaul• Automatic set-up and autonomous operation• Automatic RF planning• Form Self-Organising Networks (SON)• Local signalling – authorization, handover• Peer routing for both voice and data• Support any size, any shape of device• Low unit cost, low operating costs

Residential8 callsHSPA

Metro/rural4x24 calls

3km range

Case study: SoftBank Mobile in Japan

• 22M subscribers, 100% 3G• First operator with data ARPU > 50%• 300,000 residential, business and retail small cells

– Free, open-access, with free ADSL and WiFi

• 10,000 public space, rural and metro small cells– Strategy is 40 small cells: 1 macro cell

Self-organising networks: the “super-grid”

Enterprise grid

Super-grid of residential and metro cells

Ad-hoc networks of intelligent small cells will transform mobile in metro areas

Super-grid will drive cellular-led growth in location-aware services

• Battery friendly: presence triggers without GPS or polling

• Automatic: invisible sign-on anywhere in the world

• Universal – all customers, all phones

Retail•Automatic push offers•Local social networking

Metro•Social network auto check-in and tags•Location advertising

Residential•Home media integration•Security and automation•Remote control

Easy for appdevelopers•Global directory•Simple APIs

Cell intelligence provides easy presence and media integrationfor mass market apps

Where’s the value in this new ecosystem?

Systems Integration

Gateway

Software(intelligence)

Hardware

Chipset

• Automatic configuration• Interference mitigation• Adaptive voice and data performance• Self-organising networks (SON)• P2P routing• Local data and voice offload• Presence app capabilities• Media sharing app capabilities

The shift towards intelligent cells is increasing the strategic importance of software

Super-grid & edge intelligence implications

• Unpredictable backhaul routes and ownership– Dedicated: macro, metro– Traffic-managed IP: metro, retail, enterprise– Customer: enterprise, residential

• Policy not planning dictates network behaviour– Femto software algorithms decide in real time– Algorithms follow policy profiles

The Rise of Intelligent Small Cells

Chris Gilbert

CEO Ubiquisys