The role of licence exempt spectrum in mobile

The role of licence-exempt spectrum in mobileAnd the opportunity for polite small cells to exploit it

15/04/2023 Company Confidential © Real Wireless Ltd. 2015

Licensed spectrum• Taking the UK as an example, while spectrum availability is growing it does not keep pace with

demand growth• Small cells bridge the gap: but the economics get harder as the spectrum per bit diminishes

15/04/2023 2Company Confidential © Real Wireless Ltd. 2015

2010 2015 2020 2025 20300

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

rW high

rW mid

rW low

PB/m

onth

UK mobile demand growth

20102011

20122013

20142015

20162017

20182019

20202021

20222023

20242025

20262027

20282029

20300

100

200

300

400

500

600

7003600 MHz -3800 MHz 3600 MHz -3800 MHz (UKB)

2600MHz (unpaired) 2300 MHz (2310 - 2390 MHz)

2100 MHz TDD (2010 -2025 MHz) 2100 MHZ TDD (1900 - 1920 MHz)

1452 -1492 MHz 3400 MHz - 3600 MHz

3400 MHz - 3600 MHz (UKB) 2600 MHz

2100 MHz 1800 MHz

900 MHz 800 MHz

700 MHz in 2026

Avai

labl

e do

wnl

ink

ban

dwid

th (M

Hz)

UK licensed spectrum growth

Source: Real Wireless for Ofcom Source: Real Wireless for Ofcom

Yet licence-exempt (unlicensed) spectrum is abundant• Vastly more licence-exempt

spectrum than licensed, even today• And it’s free!• But:

• Low power requirements• Politeness requirements • A big installed base to protect

• Operators need to offer an assured Quality of Experience

• Ideal for small cells • with a polite air interface • with effective SON capabilities


<400 MHz 400 MHz - 6 GHz

(Non EU spectrum

law)

400 MHz - 6 GHz (EU law only)

6 GHz - 50 GHz

50 GHz - 250 GHz

10 MHz

100 MHz

1000 MHz

10000 MHz

100000 MHz

58 MHz

1057 MHz 812 MHz

13700 MHz22000 MHz

EU licence-exempt spectrum(log scale)

Source: Real Wireless for European Commission

TECHNOLOGY

SPECTRUM TOPOLOGYCapacity

But doesn’t more spectrum mean less small cells needed?

• No – it makes them more cost-effective by increasing the available capacity per cell• Bigger bang for the buck!


Spectrum Technology Topology

Can LAA-LTE meet the needs?• Provides excellent service integration and management with existing MNO

networks• But unmodified it fails to protect existing Wi-Fi users


Offered load

Operator 1 total throughput

Operator 2 deploys Wi-Fi

Operator 2 deploys LTE with no listen-before talk

Source: Cisco 3GPP RAN WG1 R1-144603Nov 2014 Simulations by Real Wireless on behalf of Cisco

Coexistence scenario: Enterprise deployment by two operators

LAA-LTE with 3GPP category 4 LBT scheme is much fairer• The 3GPP LAA-LTE Study Item has agreed a very “Wi-Fi like” LBT scheme which provides nearly the same

coexistence performance as Wi-Fi


Operator 1 (victim) Operator 2 (aggressor)

Source: Cisco 3GPP RAN WG1 R1-153421, May 2015Simulations by Real Wireless on behalf of Cisco

Wi-Fi to Wi-FiLAA to Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi to Wi-FiWi-Fi to LAA

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