Bath, UK: London must install 70,000 small cells across the city in order to offer world-class LTE-everywhere mobile broadband by 2015, according to Picochip CTO Doug Pulley. Presenting the results of Picochip’s report at the Basestation Conference, Pulley remarked that there needs to be in excess of ten million small cells worldwide by end of 2015, in addition to residential femtocells.
“With the Olympics just around the corner and the Mayor of London admitting that the networks will struggle to cope, the need for small cells to deliver added coverage and capacity is greater than ever,” said Pulley. “While Wi-Fi will offer some respite to the network, ultimately London’s population density means that small cells, deployed in the most congested areas, are the only way for the mobile networks to cope with the traffic.”
Pulley foresees small cells split between retail locations, from large shopping centres down to smaller coffee shops, as well as enterprises including large office blocks. There would also be the need for nearly 12,000 “outdoor” metropolitan small cells, and 1772 cells covering London underground stations and walkways.
Picochip
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