Ofcom pushes small cells to increase 4G capacity

Communications regulator Ofcom has indicated that small cells, such as femtocells and microcells, will have to be incorporated into the 4G network infrastructure (typology) if mobile operators are to cope with the massive surge in demand for data.

This suggests that 4G technologies, such as LTE and Wimax, would not cope with increases in demand without the use of small cells.

This finding comes from Ofcom's new research report, '4G Capacity Gains'.

Small cells are low-powered radio access nodes that improve indoor and outdoor coverage to increase capacity and offload traffic.

"Capacity improvements to meet traffic increases will need to come from a combination of additional spectrum and topology (mainly from more numerous smaller cells)," says the report.

"We anticipate that topology will be a more important factor in capacity for future networks than it has traditionally been with 3G networks."

However, the research did identify that 4G technologies on their own, such as LTE and Wimax, will deliver more than 200 per cent of the capacity of existing 3G networks.

"This increased efficiency means that 4G networks will be able to support increased data rates and more users," said Dr Stephen Unger, chief technology officer at Ofcom.

"The research we commissioned indicated that early 4G mobile networks with standard configurations will be 3.3 times (230 per cent) more spectrally efficient than today's standard 3G networks," he added.

"It is anticipated that this efficiency will increase to approximately 5.5 times (450 per cent) by 2020."

The UK's 4G spectrum auction will begin in the first quarter of 2012, with the process of release set to be completed by the end of 2013.

The auction will release the 800MHz and 2.6GHz block of spectrum required for next-generation mobile broadband.