Small Cell Forum to launch Urban Release at Mobile World Congress

Small Cell Forum to release first of two-part Urban small cells Release at Mobile World Congress.

The Small Cells Forum will launch the third part of its release programme during Mobile World Congress.

The Forum has split its planned third release – addressing outdoor small cell deployments – into two parts.

The first part – Release Three: Urban Foundations – will outline business cases, deployment strategies and bring together the work of the Forum for outdoor deployments of small cells in metro areas.

It will define the fundamental concepts behind urban small cell rollout and contain a series of documents on topics ranging from market drivers and regulatory aspects to radio, architecture, backhaul, deployment and services.

Release Four: Urban arrives in June. The Forum says it will build on the foundations laid in release three, adding depth and detail to complete the content.

A further outdoor release – Rural – is planned for later in 2014.

The SCF claims that estimates for the potential of urban small cells indicate a multi-billion-dollar market developing in a very short space of time, adding that most operators plan to incorporate urban small cells in future rollouts. It thinks it is imperative, therefore, that all participants are prepared to meet the technical, economic or regulatory demands and challenges of this market.

The Forum has claimed its policy of bringing together the work of its working groups, SIGs and member activities into a series of dedicated programme releases has been a success for its members and the market.

Release One, made available at MWC 2013, covered residential and home deployments. Release Two: Enterprise went public in December 2013 and has attracted more than 30,000 downloads – almost as many as Release One attracted in total.