SmallCell Integration Event (SmallcellNordic 2013): Mobile Services and the 5Cs

Jan, Amirhossein and myself attended on Tuesday, November 12, a one day workshop on SmallCell Integration; an event organized by COPPERBERG. This event availed the opportunity for attendees and speakers from traditional telecom operators (such as TeliaSorna, Telnor), smallcell operators (such as Cloudberry), solution providers (such as Ericsson, Cisco, Eutelsatbroadband ) and academia (KTH) to get togather, discuss and share ideas and perspectives. As one of the scheduled speakers could not make it; the organizers requested KTH team to present instead an input from the academia and the research side (I will revisit the presentation delivered by KTH later in this blog). After the main sessions of the presentations; the attendees had the chance to engage in different round table discussions kicked off by key questions put forward by the moderators.
The event started with a presentation delivered by Tom Guldberg of Cloudberry, on the forceful future challenges facing MNOs: the 5Cs which are namely, Customer satisfaction (Service Level and affordability), Coverage, Capacity, Cost and Control (Mobile Operators used to be able to control and monitor the operation of network). Regarding these challenges, could the Smallcell solutions emerge as a game changer? Operators already outsource part or all of their O&M services to optimize cost; Tom Guldberg argues that Smallcell can add to company strategy and business adaptability in numerous ways. Smallcell has proved to be a promising solution to extending network coverage and capacity in cost-efficient ways. Furthermore, smallcell could be the answer to how fast MNOs can deliver the service in a more tolerated way. The questions are whether the industry ready/need to take leap towards smacllcell, whether it is the time for new partnership, remodeling of mobile business and operations mindset or whether new players will enter the scene.
In the second presentation, Mr. Chris Gillbert from Cisco, raised question on how the Smallcell is shaping the future of mobile access. According to him more than 18 million Wi-Fi APs have been deployed by Cicsco worldwide in addition to around two million licensed cellular Smallcells networks (95% coexist with the same frequency bands of the outdoor cellular network).
KTH team (Jan and Amirhoessin) presented some recent results from the ongoing research in the Smallcell deployment field at KTH such as the possible sharing scenarios and business models for smallcell deployment, perceived opportunity of Integrated Femto-WiFi deployment. The audience showed great interest in KTH research findings.
Mr. Chris Gillbert of Cloudberry stated that “the reached results shown by KTH align with the trends we perceive in real world”. On the other hand, Mr. Ronny Haraldisvik raised different view: “I think sharing in smallcell is not going to happen… I am not sure that MNOs are in favor of such direction.. MNOs see the indoor solution as way to differentiate themselves from other competitors in the market.”
The next blog will be titled “Radio Dot System… redefines the network coverage concept”, to reflect our observations on Ericsson and Eutelsat broadband presentations as well the key remarks on the round- table discussions.

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