The case for picocells

It’s pretty simple: you can only sell services to users who can get a signal.

For years, mobile network planners have looked for ways of getting quick, cheap coverage inside buildings. The traditional solutions, repeaters and Distributed Antenna Systems, tend to be used only on high profile projects as they are expensive and take a long time to deploy.

Now that in-building cells are increasingly recognized as the most effective way to deliver great quality voice and data, more and more network planners are tuning instead to picocells like the nanoGSM and nano3G.

Unlike repeaters, picocell installation does not need an antenna on the roof and each picocell actually adds capacity to the network while avoiding cell distortion and interference issues. Since picocells use Ethernet cabling and existing broadband IP connections, installation is much quicker and cheaper than traditional passive DAS, and can even be done by the customer.  Not only this but they add capacity to your network as well. 

Improved in-building coverage not only increases customer usage but can also drive customer acquisition and retention strategies.

Capturing the enterprise market

Poor coverage and quality are major causes of business customer churn.  Picocells help you win and keep business customers by giving them their own private cell. Operators are using picocells as part of their offering with new enterprise services (mobile PBXs, etc.) to give a guaranteed quality to their business users

• Differentiate from commodity networks
• Increase revenues from voice and data
• Offer competitive in-office tariffs
• Decrease churn

Because they are fast and low-cost, the  nanoGSM and nano3G systems deliver rapid payback and ongoing revenues from businesses with 10 to 1000 users.

Avoiding the problems with repeaters

For a whole generation of mobile network planners, repeaters offered quick, cheap coverage inside buildings. Unfortunately, they also drain capacity from the macro network, distort the cell and can create havoc with interference, handover and manageability. But picocells allow planners to deliver high-quality voice and high-speed data while actually adding capacity to the macro network instead of draining it away.

 

Picocell	Repeater
Adds both coverage and capacity, with ability to improve data rates	Only extends coverage, no additional capacity (feeds off macro network)
Generates its own signal	Requires donor antenna which can be expensive to install on roof
Reduces uplink interference by removing handsets from outdoor network	The repeater itself can cause uplink interference creating radio planning problems
Provides full control of handover	Handover neighbours same as the macrocell
Fault and performance monitoring and full O&M support	Most repeaters are unmanaged with no automated fault reporting
Generates operator-specific signal	Cheap repeaters amplify competitors’ signals
Requires broadband IP connection to connect back into network	Works in isolation, but needs nearby macro site
Can feed a DAS system	Can feed a DAS system