Telecom service providers will delay small cell deployment, said Amdocs in a survey released at the Cable Congress 2014 today.
The survey — conducted in January by Real covering 40 national and large regional MNOs, MSOs and converged wireless/wireline operators from North America, Europe and APAC – said 70 percent of MNOs plan to have significant small cell deployments by 2018, while the majority predict slow rollout.
The report said cable MSOs have enough experience for small cell deployment.
Challenges identified by MNOs in small cell rollouts include project management (65 percent), negotiation with partners (45 percent) and technical aspects (40 percent).
The report said MSOs can overcome through their expertise in the installation and maintenance of dense networks in the field.
To succeed, 70 percent of telecoms are prepared to use small cell networks rolled out by or owned by a third-party, such as an MSO.
The Amdocs report said 85 percent of MSOs believe that technical aspects of small cell rollout are different from their normal deployments and as a result only 40 percent of MSOs have plans to support small cell deployments this year. 70 percent has either already launched or plan to launch public Wi-Fi, which has very similar requirements to small cells in terms of backhaul, power and installation.
85 percent of respondents believe that automation is critical or important for small cell deployment; however 80 percent believe their existing processes and tools are inadequate.
Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing for Amdocs, said: “While this research indicates that there are many reasons why MSOs should partner with mobile service providers to provide backhaul, automated small cell rollout is also important for MSOs as they expand their Wi-Fi footprint and upgrade their Wi-Fi networks.”
