Template Tools
| Bottoms-up Achilles Heel - Where is the Backhaul |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
| Wednesday, 14 September 2011 16:27 |
 Bottoms-up small cell wireless networks can cut costs by 30-70% but only if you can inexpensively deliver power and backhaul. The natural design of the network puts a small cell at the end of every wired broadband line (WiFi or femto) and on massive numbers of electric poles, light poles, and similar (small cells perhaps like Alcatel's lightRadio.) But how do you get the bandwidth - ideally 100 megabits - to the cell? 100 megabit microwave prices are coming down but still generally too high. White space radios, MIMO WiFi meshes, and LTE relays are still in the labs and may not offer enough speed. There's no easy answer. That's why the first major Bottoms-up networks, like Free in France and Softbank in Japan, are based on femtos and WiFi included in home DSL gateways. Free has 5M DSL customers across France all with WiFi designed for sharing. The new "Revolution Freebox" which is selling 100,000's each quarter in France has 3x3 MIMO WiFi and soon a femtocell as well. That potentially more than doubles the capacity of Free's 3G and 4G network opening next January. Softbank is essentially giving away a DSL line and femto-powered gateway to it's iPhone wireless customers.
But how do you reach sites in public spaces, especially if you're not the local telco or cableco?
The latest FCC rules include provisions to lease space on poles, but the economics don't work if you need $6K of microwave. In one case I know, a wireless provider is considering running fiber along the poles, but the cost is high, $20K or more per mile. It's timeconsuming and costly to get equipment up on the poles.
Small cells themselves are getting cheap, soon under $1,000 for some quality units. It's logical to put them almost everywhere where the backhaul cost problem can be solved.
|