The Future of In-Building Wireless

We stand at the threshold of fundamental changes in the methods, technologies, and spectrum used to deliver wireless indoors. Advanced technologies such as 5G, LTE-Advanced Pro, License Assisted Access (LAA), OnGo (Citizens Broadband Radio Service or CBRS), MulteFire, and the Internet of Things (IoT) will effectively unify and converge indoor wireless systems into a multi-technology merged radio connectivity fabric operating over licensed, shared, or unlicensed spectrum. All of this will leverage advances in Centralized Radio Access Networks (C-RAN), Virtual Radio Access Networks (V-RAN), Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), and fronthaul.

These new technologies will stimulate a transition in the ownership of indoor wireless systems from the current Mobile Network Operator (MNO) owned and operated system to a neutral host and/or venue/enterprise funding and ownership. This will spark the rise of the “Building-as-a-Service” and “Bring-Your-Own-Wireless” paradigms, and drive consolidation and partnerships between traditional indoor wireless players and building management companies, Multiple System Operators (MSOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), and tower companies.

The mobile Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies of today will continue to evolve to offer ever higher throughput to match relentless subscriber traffic demand. The operation of LTE-Advanced Pro or Gigabit LTE dictates good radio conditions in the indoor environment and this eliminates relying on the outdoor signal for mobile indoors. The mobile signal must now originate indoors.

The introduction of unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies such as OnGo, LAA, and MulteFire in the small cell form factor will significantly lower the cost for achieving good indoor coverage and capacity, and will challenge conventional Distributed Antenna System (DAS) technologies with a deployment cost equivalent to Wi-Fi. This will increase the size of the market and stimulate new uses cases, such as private LTE, MSO/MVNO operators, and neutral hosts.

The advent of 5G will bring with it its own challenges as massive Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO); beamforming; and good Signal-to-Interference-Plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) and line of site conditions for millimeter wave (mmWave) will all be required.

Using Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), traditional DAS and small cells will merge to become a lower cost Distributed Radio System (DRS). As a result, economic indoor connectivity delivery will become feasible for the vast number of 100,000- to 500,000-square-foot buildings. Leveraging C-RAN and then V-RAN permits RAN baseband functionality to move to Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) data centers either in the venue or in a regional data center. This has the effect of freeing up space in the in-building “telco closet.” However, in a countervailing move, MEC will place cloud functionality (compute, storage, and networking) at the network edge inside the building for low-latency and analytics applications, economizing on backhaul in the process. MEC promises to enable applications including distributed content and Domain Name System (DNS) caching, RAN-aware and application-aware content optimization, active device location tracking, intelligent video analytics, and virtual/augmented reality content delivery.

However, issues of cost, complexity, space, edge location, security, and intended use cases will all play a part in an effective MEC deployment. As a result, each MEC deployment will differ as factors such as available RAN and backhaul resources, applications, subscriber Quality of Experience (QoE), MNO policy, and content provider preferences become design criteria.

In this foresight, we outlined the major trends that we expect will transform the in-building wireless market, but our analysis would not be complete if we did not include winning strategy recommendations for the various players in the ecosystem.

We believe that part of a winning strategy for DAS and small cell vendors, system integrators, VARs and building management companies, MNOs, MSOs, and tower and fiber companies will involve partnerships and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) as companies position themselves to acquire the necessary new skills and Intellectual Property (IP) to leverage these new technologies and business models.

DAS vendors will evolve their systems to future high-throughput, multi-technology converged systems as network densification efforts must move indoors. This will require the acquisition of complementary IP either through M&A or technology partnerships with other vendors and MNOs. The emergence of neutral host and enterprise wireless ownership will incentivize DAS vendors to partner with system integrators, VARs, and building management companies for successful DAS and DRS deployments. The United States will lead in the transition to DRS, spurred on by the virtualization initiatives of many of its leading MNOs.

Small cell vendors will leverage virtualization for low-cost and neutral host/multi-operator deployments. Small cell vendors must include new technologies, such as LAA, OnGo, MulteFire, and 5G New Radio (NR) in their roadmaps. Independent small cell vendors are now at risk of acquisition by larger DAS vendors.

System integrators, Value-Added Resellers (VARs), and building management companies will all partner with DAS vendors and MNOs as wireless becomes the fourth utility and the value of connectivity within a building becomes increasingly relevant to property value and tenant retention; this ecosystem stands poised to participate in a growing market.

MNOs with limited Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) for enterprise wireless are threatened by the rise of private and standalone LTE and a loss of subscribers. The MSO’s move to wireless risks a loss of subscribers and revenue without an MVNO’s agreement with an MNO. Additionally, MNOs also have the opportunity of offloading capacity or trading/swapping capacity with the MSO to diminish churn/retain subscribers.

MSOs can leverage their Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) plant to offer wireless in a quad-play business model as an MVNO and use this to offer MNO capacity offload or trade/swap capacity with the MNO. MSOs and MNOs will partner to facilitate the MSO’s entry to wireless and improve the MNO’s wireless services.

Neutral hosts (tower companies, fiber companies, etc.) can participate in the densification efforts of MNOs by offering capacity and coverage in buildings and venues not covered by the MNO RAN. Today’s LTE-Advanced and the future hyper-dense 5G RAN will dictate extensive fiber for fronthaul, backhaul, and longhaul, and tower companies and fiber companies have the opportunity to monetize their plant.

For more details please see our presentation Indoor Wireless Networks Transformative Horizons (PT-2054), and our analysis report Network Evolution in Unlicensed and Shared Spectrum (AN-2755).