#hetnets

Surging mobile data traffic fueled by rapid proliferation of feature-rich and data-hungry smartphones, limited spectrum availability, and growing consumer requirement for ubiquitous network coverage are poised to drive the global market for Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) to exceed US$37 billion by 2024.

The telecommunication industry has evolved from an operator-driven business into a consumer-driven business. The ever-growing demand of mobile network users for Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) represent the main underlying force driving the growth of all major telecom technologies, including the small cell and HetNet phenomenon. Amid an overwhelming increase in penetration and usage rates of smartphones, tablets and other mobile computing devices, subscribers continue to demand ubiquitous and reliable connectivity from their carriers. At the same time, mobile network operators face a number of challenges including limited spectrum, declining voice-call revenues, higher infrastructure costs, regulatory restrictions, and difficulties in acquiring land for further deployment of tower base station, among others. The conventional homogenous network architecture is not viable for handling the deluge of present and future signal and data traffic. The search for alternative cost-effective and efficient approaches led to the conceptualization of the Heterogeneous Networks or ‘HetNets’. HetNets employ a heterogeneous architecture with small cells of several sizes, including microcells, picocells, and femtocells; other low power nodes such as relay nodes, Wi-Fi access points, Distributed Antenna Systems (DASs), and remote radio heads/units (RRHs/RRUs); Cloud RAN; and Wi-Fi within a densified macrocellular overlay.

Strong growth is projected for the market in the coming years driven by the urgent need to build up capacities for meeting the fast increasing mobile data traffic. By the end of 2020, the number of connected devices worldwide would reach a whopping 50 billion triggering massive increase in mobile traffic, which is anticipated to grow at an annual growth rate exceeding 80% over the next few years. The pivotal role of small cells in densification of LTE networks and as building blocks of 5G deployments of the future represents another important growth driver. Small cells are expected to support 5G by enabling robust capacity and broader coverage through efficient utilization of licensed spectrum as well as offering access to unlicensed/shared spectrum. Other factors benefiting market prospects in the near term include the shift in focus of carriers and femtocell vendors from the residential consumer segment to the lucrative enterprise femtocell market; increasing use of small cells in outdoor and indoor public access environments; and the growing prominence of Software Defined Networking (SDN) in the backhaul approach of mobile network operators who are striving to sustain high QoE levels even amid rising wireless data traffic rates. Also, the significant CAPEX/OPEX savings and energy savings that Self Organizing Networks (SON) software delivers during deployment of new RAN infrastructure, is attracting considerable interest and investment from carriers across the world.

As stated by the new market research report on HetNets, Europe and the US represent the leading markets worldwide. Rapidly rising usage levels of smart devices driving demand for mobile bandwidth sky-high; overall consumption of wireless data expected to manifold from the current levels by the turn of the decade; the nomadic nature of smartphone and tablet users leading to the development of network choke points in indoor and outdoor environments such as residential buildings, commercial high rises, restaurants, shopping malls and transit stations and the resulting pressure on mobile networks represent key factors driving HetNets deployments in these developed markets.

Major players in the market include AirHop Communications, Inc., Airspan Networks Inc., Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, American Tower Corp., Aricent Group, AT&T Inc., Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited, Ceragon Networks Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., CommScope Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ip.access Limited, Mobilitie, LLC, NEC Corporation, Nokia Networks, NXP Semiconductors N.V., Qualcomm Incorporated, Qucell, Inc., RadiSys Corporation, Ruckus Networks, Samsung Networks Business, SpiderCloud Wireless, Inc., Telefonaktiebolaget L. M. Ericsson, and ZTE Corporation, among others.

The research report titled “Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets): A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, issues, drivers, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities of global companies. The report provides market estimates and projections for major geographic regions including the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and Rest of World. End-use sectors analyzed for the global market in terms of annual Installations of Small Cells include Residential and Non-Residential (Urban, Rural/Remote, and Enterprise). Architectures analyzed for the global market in terms of annual installations of Small Cells in Non-Residential Sector include All-In-One, Virtualized Controller, Distributed Radio Unit, and Small Cell with DAS.

For enquiries e-mail us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Paul Brody, Global Industry Leader, Electronics, IBM

By Paul Brody

People have been talking and writing about the “Internet of Things” for more than a decade. It’s the idea that at some point billions of electronic devices and sensors will be connected to the Internet in parallel to the hundreds of millions of people who have access to the Net. But, unlike so many of the whiz-bang technologies that are forever predicted but never arrive, such as flying cars and time machines, the Internet of Things is on the verge of becoming a reality.

So, what exactly is bringing the Internet of Things to fruition? A big factor is the plunging cost of connectivity, which is being driven by the emergence of Heterogeneous Networks (often referred to as “HetNets”). HetNets offer a way to increase the density and bandwidth available to mobile devices. 

To give you an idea of their potential scale, Free.fr, one of the world’s first HetNets, located in France, has more than 4 million WiFi hotspots connected to the  network and enjoys data transfer costs that are probably far below $1 per gigabyte. While the rise of HetNets is driven by insatiable consumer demand for smartphone bandwidth, the biggest impact will be felt when it becomes cost-effective to connect just about anything (cars, washing machines, vending machines, lights etc.) to the Internet. And, anyone who was inLas Vegas earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show knows that this type of ‘uber-connectivity’ is no longer just a pipe dream.