The Small Cell Forum, or SCF, recently announced the arrival of its 2021 work program. This solution highlights technical and commercial initiatives for the expansion of the small cell environment.
The work program builds on a market status report, which identifies an increased demand for new cellular services, particularly in the connected enterprise and industrial or community settings. The report highlights how different kinds of service provider partners can support these scenarios, including private network operators, neutral hosts, and system integrators.
The report believes that new entrants will power up to 30% of the outdoor small cell network install base, and 71% of indoor systems by 2026. According to SCF, not all of these entrants will be new companies. There’ll also be incomers appearing from the cloud, Wi-Fi, enterprise/private spaces too.
New Opportunities for Innovators.
In the next 12 months, SCF will be concentrating on the evolving need for small cells in digital transformation. The company is working to offer access to low-cost, scalable, and secure mobile infrastructure.
In the last 12 months, SCF has worked hard to deliver the solutions its user base needed. Going ahead, the company will be focusing on reducing barriers to entry for new technology, improving confidence, and supporting the rise of new business opportunities. Crucial initiatives include:
- Edge computing: An opportunity for network operators and networks. Small cells are ideal for the distributed edge cloud, and SCFs plan will unite technology development with market engagement. This strategy will support various vertical-specific needs.
- Neutral host requirements: Many networks delivered to support industrial or enterprise 5G will focus on small cells. Neutral host will offer the kind of connectivity teams need to make these networks cost-effective.
- Automation, planning and management: To improve service-oriented and AI-enabled automation, teams need to unify business management. SCF is building small-cell-centric strategies that are scalable and lightweight, to support a range of scenarios.
- Robust APIs: The SCF APIs will enable multi-vendor and fully open 5G small cell designs all the way to chip level. Additionally, the company will be creating a set of interface specifications for supporting virtual small cells in the 5G context.
Looking into the Future
According to Chair of Small Cell Forum, Prabhakar Chitrapu, during this difficult year for the global economy, it’s important to for businesses to reinvigorate and reinvent. SCF thinks that cellular connectivity and small cells will be essential to transformation.
CEO of SCF, Sue Monaham said that latest market status report shows that small cell networks are at an important juncture, with rising demand for new use cases and cellular services, particularly in enterprise and industrial sectors. These environments will lead to many new deployment opportunities with new providers too.
