Installers Can’t Take Data Load Off Macro Towers Fast Enough, Say Experts

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As carriers densify their wireless networks to satisfy the nation’s insatiable mobile data needs, those installing the needed infrastructure are finding ways to save their client’s money, according to panelists Tuesday at Wireless Connect 2018.

ZenFi’s Ray LaChance said New York City is seeing “significant” densification, including a “surge” in pole top installations over the past two years. “Literally every intersection in Manhattan,” has a DAS node or a small cell, he said, adding that “capacity is clearly tapped out” on macro towers.

ZinWave’s Allen Dixson said Verizon engineers in Austin, Texas densified and moved elements of their network to lessen the traffic burden on the carrier’s macro towers in that metro. “Unlimited data plans force you to do your business differently,” he explained.  

NB+C’s Tom Kane said his company’s installing a lot of small cells on the eastern seaboard, noting “We have sites that are 100 percent utilized on day one. It’s a capacity and throughput issue.”

More in-building wireless solutions help take the network congestion “off the street,” said WIN Connectivity’s Geoffrey Hammer.

LaChance forsees a shift from rooftop and small cells on poles to a centralized and cloud model that’s separated by fiber. “Computer infrastructure performs baseband processing,” and “by centralizing the gear, you get lower capex and lower operations costs,” said LaChance. Maintenance costs are reduced, and HVAC and power sources are built once and used for several sites. Such a shift means putting up more antennas in the field and you’d need “significantly less baseband processing than in a distributed RAN environment.”  

Such a system would solve another issue on the streets, running out of space on NYC poles, according to LaChance. Companies began installing outdoor DAS nodes in NYC in 2008. Some 8,000 nodes in the registration have yet to be deployed. Other gear, like surveillance cameras, traffic control systems and signage take up space on poles, leaving little room for wireless infrastructure. “We’ve seen up to four radio heads in a single box. We need one neutral device on a pole,” said LaChance. Smart poles are a great way to solve the problem, he added.

by Leslie Stimson, Washington Bureau Chief, Inside Towers

April 5, 2018                           

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