53% of the world's population is still offline, with many living in remote areas without basic infrastructure like electricity or transport. To address this, the ITU aims to connect 60% of the world by 2020. However, connecting rural and remote populations at low cost remains a key challenge. In India, 67% of the population lives rurally, with lower mobile penetration of 57% compared to 167% in urban areas, representing a major growth opportunity. While increased smartphone access has brought more Indians online, consumer goods companies have seen reduced sales as people spend more on phones than products. Small cell solutions can help connect rural and remote populations by providing localized network functions and leveraging various deployment architectures, backhaul solutions, and business cases

1. Zahid Ghadialy, Parallel Wireless
Mumbai Densification Summit
3-5 October 2017
Small Cells for Rural and Remote
© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017

2. © Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
53% of the world’s population is still offline, with the majority
located in Africa and Asia-Pacific. The reasons for being offline
or for limited Internet use are manifold: many do not have
access because they live in remote or difficult to-reach areas
and do not have access to digital or other basic infrastructure
such as electricity or transport. Some do not see the benefits
of being connected, often because of limited awareness,
cultural impediments or limited relevant digital content. Still
others are illiterate, and many are too poor to afford even the
most basic of Internet packages and devices. Existing
inequalities in terms of income and education, particularly
prominent among women, and other factors exacerbate the
problem. To tackle the large offline populations, ITU within its
Connect 2020 Agenda has made it a goal to bring 60% of the
world’s population online by 2020. The key challenges in
meeting Connect 2020 Agenda Targets are finding replicable
solutions that can be scaled to connecting the large rural
offline populations at minimal costs, and finding effective
strategies for narrowing the usage gaps (including the gender
gap) across all regions – Connecting the Unconnected

3. 80
%
60
40
20
% Population in Rural Areas
Source: world bank
In 2016, 67 % of India’s population lives in rural areas – higher than the global average

4. Mobile Penetration in India
© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
Source: “Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 28th February, 2017”
TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA, April 2017
90% Wireless Tele-density
Overall India Average
Urban (1/3 population) 167%
Rural (2/3 population) 57%
India’s figure 90% wireless teledensity is actually dominated by a
small proportion of city people with multiple mobile subscriptions
The largest growth opportunity is the 2/3rds of the population in rural
areas where mobile penetration is only 57%
(Mobile subscriptions per 100 people)

5. © Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
NEW DELHI—A new wave of affordable
smartphones has brought hundreds of
millions of Indians online for the first time,
giving them access to better education, jobs
and entertainment. But there is one sector
that isn’t thrilled with this development:
consumer-goods companies.
...
“The growing consumption of mobile data
and impressive growth in the number of
mobile users … has resulted in consumers
increasing their spends on phones rather
than on fast-moving consumer products,”
said Sanjay Khajuria, a spokesman for
Nestlé in India.
Wall Street Journal – Aug 15, 2016

6. © Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
Not just Rural…
Remote
Temporary
& Moving

7. Rural, Remote & related deployment scenarios
[SCF151]
© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
Disaster Recovery
Humanitarian
Rural Community
Transportation
Military
Special Event
Remote Industrial
Public Safety
…for rural coverage in
UK, LATAM & Thailand
..in the PEAK kit
..on ambulances
..on oil rigs
and down mines
SCF members have commercially
deployed small cells…
..for Formula 1
telemetry
..on cruise liners,
ferries and on
planes
Rural
and
Remote

8. © Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
Radio
Rural and Remote
Small Cells
Overview [105]
Backhaul
Regulatory
Deployment
Services
Network
Architecture
Inter-
operability
Market
Market status [050]
Network Architectures
[153]
Synchronisation [075]Backhaul [155]
Backhaul Requirements &
Solutions [049]
Deployment [156]
Business Drivers
[150]Small Cells - The Big
Idea [030]
Regulatory Aspects
of small cells [076]
Case histories [151]
Small Cell
Security [099]
Services for Rural
and Remote [157]
Core Virtualisation for
small cells [154]
Small Cells and health
[001]
Value of Small Cell
Plugfests [085]
SON API [083]
Multi technology
Small Cells [073]
SC-API [082]
SCF Rural and Remote Release

9. Drivers
[SCF150]

10. Business Cases
[SCF150]

11. Architectures for Remote [SCF153]
© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
[SCF154] describes NFV techniques applied to the small cell network architecture to enable
support of scaled down local EPC functionality running on commodity hardware
Local instances of virtualised core mitigate cost and performance
issues of long range backhaul

12. © Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
Backhaul
[SCF155]

13. Case Studies [SCF151]
© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2017
http://www.smallcellforum.org/resources/deployment-stories/