2. 1) Small Cell Backhaul Trends
Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Research
2) Operator Issues for Small Cell Backhaul
David Orloff, AT&T
3) Small Cell Forumâs Work on Backhaul
Julius Robson, Small Cell Forum
Q&A
Agenda
3. SMALL CELL BACKHAUL TRENDS
CAROLINE GABRIEL, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, RETHINK TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
4. OUTDOOR SMALL CELL GROWTH
ďĄ Operators start to shift from targeted hotspots
to large-scale deployments
ďĄ Densification programs
ďĄ Spectrum availability
ďĄ Shift to capacity
ďĄ Maturing of HetNet enablers
ďĄ Drives demand for small cell backhaul
ďĄ $6.4bn spend between 2016 and 2020 on
outdoor small cell backhaul kit (IHS)
85
173
287
412
528
667
13
20
30
50
67
88
0
200
400
600
800
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
,000units
Urban Rural+Remote
Outdoor small cell shipments Source: Mobile Experts
5. GROWTH BRINGS NEW CHALLENGES
India CAGR 125% 2020 375K
CALA CAGR 140% 2020 140K
NAM CAGR 45%
2020
260K
42,600
CAGR
66%
878,000
CAGR and installed base outdoor
small cells Source: Rethink
Outdoor backhaul connections installed
Source: IHS
Rising number of connections = new
challenges
⢠More fiber in
many markets
⢠Wireless
solutions
maturing e.g.
PMP
⢠Development in
mmWave
spectrum
⢠Large
deployments
must be
automated and
repeatable
⢠Regulatory and
site issues
multiplied
⢠Fronthaul
6. BACKHAUL IS A MAJOR HEADACHE AGAIN
ďĄ Survey of over 65 MNOs - small cell barriers to
mass deployment
ďĄ Backhaul has moved back up their priority list
ďĄ Changed from technology issue to one of
scalability, process and architecture
ďĄ Many issues of 2013 have been addressed, new
ones have arisen
2013 2015 2017
Backhaul Automation Automation/
scalability
Securing optimal
sites
Integration with
other networks
Backhaul
Provisioning and
management
Monetization Site issues
Monetization Backhaul Monetization
Site costs Site issues New architectures
e.g. virtualization
Top 5 barriers to outdoor deployment of small
cells Source: Rethink MNO survey
7. THE CHANGING BACKHAUL ISSUES
Was a technology issue ⌠but
ďĄ More solutions coming to market
ďĄ More fiber in many markets, including dark fiber
ďĄ NLOS wireless backhaul maturing
ďĄ Self backhauling and aggregation
ďĄ New spectrum
ďĄ Still performance issues but higher confidence these
will be addressed
ďĄ More providers entering space eg cablecos, SCaaS
New issues are about large scale logistics
ďĄ Regulation non-harmonized eg street furniture
ďĄ SON needed to lower costs
ďĄ MNOs want standardized repeatable processes from
site negotiation to management
ďĄ Uncertainty re spectrum, mmWave targeted for 5G
access
ďĄ Virtualization â cost efficiencies and flexibility, but
fronthaul issues
ďĄ Rural and remote issues
Small cell backhaul is a moving target, will be central to new Small Cell Forum work program
8. 1) Small Cell Backhaul Trends
Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Research
2) Operator Issues for Small Cell Backhaul
David Orloff, AT&T
3) Small Cell Forumâs Work on Backhaul
Julius Robson, Small Cell Forum
Q&A
Agenda
9. 1 Regulation regarding telecom equipment installation varies with location
⢠There is no clear and uniform regulation on how telecom equipment should be installed in public
areas, street furniture, etc. Not even in the same country
2 NLOS wireless backhaul performance doesnât fulfil expected targets:
⢠Trials find uneven performance due to urban environment (trees, vehicles, âŚ). Small Cell
wireless backhaul performance lower than traditional wireless backhaul solution for Macro, but it
is expected to provide similar performance between Macro and Small Cell 4G sites.
3 Todayâs Small Cell wireless Backhaul is far from being âplug, play and forgetâ
⢠Self-healing or self-organised features are not fully deployed, resulting in (unexpected) high
O&M costs
4 High Uncertainty over Wireless Backhaul Spectrum
⢠Unlicensed spectrum plus further 5G spectrum allocation is throttling Small Cells wireless
backhaul rollouts.
SCF Member Operator Viewpoint
Š Small Cell Forum Ltd 2016
10. We are keen to encourage further work into backhauling, the sort of
things we have in mind are:
⢠Self-backhauling options/techniques,
⢠how backhaul options affect antenna design,
⢠how to do backhauling for high-density deployments,
⢠how to do backhauling for high reliability
⢠Urban densification is definitely of interest, particularly comparison of different backhaul
& fronthaul options:
⢠Wireless options are very important to us as well as fixed-line
⢠How can different functional splits be deployed over fixed line, both fibre and copper?
⢠Can G.Fast support RRHs with a higher layer split than CPRI?
⢠Can we make more efficient use of fibre assets using higher layer splits?
SCF Member Operator Viewpoint
Š Small Cell Forum Ltd 2016
11. Small Cell Forum on Small Cell Backhaul
Julius Robson
SCF Steering Group
13. Home and SOHO
Š Small Cell Forum Ltd 2016
Residential Femtocells prove that compact
cellular base stations *can* be plug and play
and operate over consumer grade broadband
for backhaul
SCF developed the original proposal for Iuh interface developed 3GPP
..and now weâre developing nFAPI to enable CRAN small cells over EthernetâŚ
Image courtesy of Ubiquisys
14. On site LAN needs to be configured to support small cell traffic
WAN backhaul likely to be operator provided to ensure QoE of voice service
A small cell centric SLA includes:
⢠Backhaul bandwidth provisioned according to end user usage as opposed to small cell
capacity limits
⢠QoS prioritisation and security features
[SCF078] Enterprise Small Cells
Š Small Cell Forum Ltd 2014
Enterprise SCBH comprises separately managed LAN and WAN segments
15. Urban Densification
⢠Urban small cells are cells deployed by operators in areas of high demand
density on an open-access basis to all the customers of the operator.
⢠They can be deployed outdoors on street furniture or indoor public locations such
as transport hubs and retail malls.
15
16. Backhaul services: MEFâs
Carrier Ethernet profiles describing
connectivity performance requirements
for backhaul.
Backhaul Deployment
Planning and deployment processes
needed for Non Line of Sight, LoS and
wireline backhaul technologies
[095] Urban Backhaul Topic Brief
Network Architectures:
Defines the interfaces between network
nodes which backhaul must support
Backhaul topologies:
How different link technologies can be
combined together and the impact on
end-end performance
Backhaul
technologies:
Wireless and wired last mile
backhaul solutions
Backhaul requirements:
performance and features required from
the transport connections to meet the
needs of network interfaces
Synchronization
Implications for the performance
of the underlying transport
Business Case Backhaul TCO
model comprising CAPEX and OPEX
18. Enabling Digitalized Enterprise
Education of verticals â Via Enterprise Taskforce marketing group
will develop an education program geared to specific vertical
segments with a particularly urgent need for small cells.
Internet of Things â defining the most promising commercial use
cases for enterprise and vertical IoT services that rely on small
cells, and ensuring the key technical elements are in place.
Mobile Edge Computing â developing common frameworks based
on ETSI MEC for delivering content close to the user, personalizing
services and analyzing data locally, in order to add value to the
enterprise small cell case.
Multi-operator â detailing the business case and the enabling
technologies for multi-operator and neutral host platforms, with a
direct route towards 5G concepts like network slicing.
Unlicensed â focusing on the enterprise aspects of deploying small
cells in licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum, including
technologies such as LWIP (lightweight IP).
What next:
SCF Work Streams 2016-2017
Deploying Hyperdense Networks
Interoperability â ensuring that enabling technologies, such as NFV,
management and orchestration, and automation are fit for 5G purpose and
fully interoperable.
Backhaul â delivering affordable gigabit backhaul to meet next generation
capacity requirements everywhere.
Site acquisition â defining an efficient repeatable process for acquiring
sites in order to remove one of the biggest barriers to urban densification.
SON â identifying how self-optimizing network technology can simplify the
deployment and management process.
Internet of Things â identifying the market drivers for small cells to
deliver IoT services, especially indoors.
Unlicensed spectrum â integrating many spectrum bands and licensing
schemes within a single network to maximize flexible capacity, including
coexistence, policy management, traffic shaping and authentication issues.
July 2016
Backhaul issues
⢠Deployment scalability for
dense deployments
⢠E2E SON, including backhaul
⢠Planning regulation
⢠Backhaul, fronthaul and
everything in between
⢠Self-backhaul
⢠5G backhaul
⢠Backhaul spectrum
Work items Kick off at our
Rome Plenary 13-15 September
19. Rome Plenary 13-15 September
Registration http://www.smallcellforum.org/events/next-plenary/
⢠Kicking off âDeploying Hyperdense networksâ and digital enterprise
⢠Deployment stories workshop
⢠Finalising virtualisation release supporting the new nFAPI definition
⢠Laying the foundations of practical and profitable 5G standards
Looking for a clear way of describing this to journalists â two main workstreams: Deploying Hyperdense Networks and Enabling Digitalized Enterprise
Looking for Champions. So far
Deploying Hyperdense Networks, championed by AT&T, Jio;
Enabling Digitalized Enterprise, championed by Orange, Vodafone;
Hoping Ericsson & Huawei might do hyperdense
Hoping Cisco, Spidercloud will do Enterprise â Spidercloud to carry on, Cisco because Lisa kicked off the taskforce