Small Cell is a low-transmitted, small-area base station equipment. As a supplement to 3G/4G macrocells, Small Cell enables operators to provide users with better wireless broadband voice and data services at a lower cost. As LTE network capacity continues to increase, mobile operators are struggling with increased data traffic, and many operators believe that offloading mobile data is a good way to use wireless spectrum resources efficiently. Small cells are playing an increasingly important role in this regard, with more small cells being used to cover dead zones and share traffic pressure. Small Cell has the advantages of flexible and rapid deployment, which can solve the network coverage problems of hotspot absorption, blind spots, and weak coverage scenarios, and realize network ubiquity.
Objectively speaking, the development of global SmallCell in the 3G era has not met expectations. LTE brings new historical opportunities for the development of Small Cell. In the LTE era, due to the LTE frequency bands of various countries around the world are very scattered, including 2.6GHz, 2.3GHz, 2.1GHz, 1.8GHz, 1.5GHz, 800MHz, 700MHz, etc. According to a survey of 50 operators that have announced frequency plans, 62% of LTE networks will be deployed in the 2.1GHz or higher band, while 41% of them will be in the 2.6GHz or higher band. As we all know, high-band coverage performance is disadvantageous, and 80% of future data services will occur indoors, and relying only on macrocell networks cannot effectively carry out hotspot and indoor coverage, so SmallCell is crucial for the construction of LTE networks. According to reports, by 2016, the market size of LTE-TDD Small Cell will reach $700 million, while the market size of LTE-FDD Small Cell will reach $1.1 billion.
Wi-Fi competes with Small Cell in hotspots and indoor coverage. The industry has conducted a lot of research, from QoS, switching, security and other perspectives of Wi-Fi and small cell comparison, the final consensus is that Wi-Fi and small cell integration is the most in line with the interests of end users. The convergence of Wi-Fi and Small Cell products can not only expand the scope of service terminals and achieve better data distribution, but also achieve a better switching experience, reduce construction costs through shared sites or backhaul, and even lead to new business models. At some large-scale exhibitions, some mainstream small cell manufacturers have released and displayed some prototype products that support cellular technology (WCDMA/LTE, etc.) and Wi-Fi convergence. China Mobile released a new Nanocell white paper this year and signed cooperation intentions with a number of manufacturers, which is a good thing for the industry chain, and we expect more manufacturers to participate in the research and development of Wi-Fi and cellular technology convergence products.
In LTE Small Cell, we mainly have ASINCO's antenna and filter opportunities, and have now designed a number of projects in Beacon, and hope that in the near future, ASINCO's product line can blossom with the development of Small Cell.
