As mobile data demand continues to grow, driven by video streaming, IoT and remote working, mobile operators are being placed under greater pressure to improve coverage and capacity. Small cells are playing a vital role in meeting this demand and supporting the continued rollout of 5G technology.
Despite strong forecasts, the actual number of small cell deployments has consistently fallen short of expectations over the past decade. This gap can largely be attributed to challenges in site selection, high deployment costs and difficulties in demonstrating clear business value. However, recent findings from the Small Cell Forum highlight a renewed opportunity for progress through the adoption of new technologies.
According to the report, “Technology and business innovations are addressing traditional barriers, enabling new economics, new use cases and opening up networks to many potential network deployers and operators.” These advancements could drive a 12% increase in small cell deployment between 2024 and 2030 and support the continued 5G rollout.
Several of our technologies are already in use to support intelligent small cell deployment:
Once embedded into Android and IOS applications, Aptus passively collects anonymous network performance data. This crowdsourced data provides insights into true user experience and enables rapid data collection.
Benefit: The crowdsourced data reveals how users are experiencing the network and is being used to deploy small cells to maximise the impact on network performance and 5G coverage.
Platform enables visualisation of geospatial and crowdsourced data into a single view. Supplementary data streams can be included in the platform to provide additional insights.
Benefit: Visualising the crowdsourced data on a map supports teams to effectively plan small cell deployment to maximise impact. The platform can also be used to visualise the data before and after small cell deployment to justify future investments.
Platform enables teams to create customised dashboards, combining crowdsourced data with other alongside network and business data streams.
Benefit: Custom dashboards allow teams to monitor specific datapoints across the network and compare network performance before and after deploying a new small cell.
AutoMobile & Beacon:
Data collected using our network testing devices complements crowdsourced data. Tests can be conducted before and after small cell deployment to collect data to measure the impact of investments.
Benefit: Units can be used to collect data from certain areas to validate small cell deployment and justify future investments into the network.
As end-user’s expectations of their mobile network connectivity evolves and the demand for 5G increases, operators must move beyond estimated coverage maps and use real experience data to guide network improvements. Crowdsource data, especially when integrated with business and network data streams, offers a practical and scalable way to plan small cell deployments with precision and confidence.
Learn more about how our technologies can support your small cell strategy with real-world data and practical planning tools. Contact the team today.
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