The document summarizes a report published by the Small Cell Forum in November 2015 titled "Crossing the Chasm". The summary includes: 1) Shipments of small cells rose dramatically from 4.05 million in 2014 to an estimated 10.37 million units in 2020, with enterprise use being an important driver of growth. 2) By 2020, small cells are projected to achieve significant scale with an installed base 7 times larger than macrocells, positioning small cells to drive the future RAN architecture agenda. 3) The Small Cell Forum's work program aims to answer how to support new architectures, spectrum options, business cases, and service models to enable the widespread adoption of small cells.

1. Crossing the chasm: Small cell industry 2015
Alan Law, Chair, Small Cell Forum

2. November 2015
Crossing the Chasm:
Innovators Early adaptors Early majority Late majority
Chasm
Plateau of productivity
Technology trigger
Trough of disillusionment
Slope of enlightenment

3. Important new report includes
data from:
• Market Status Report, Mobile
Experts, November 2015 – available
exclusively to SCF members
• Potential for small cells
infrastructure-as-a-service in the
US, iGR, Q3 2015
• Small cell operator survey Q3 2015,
Rethink Technology Research
Download the full report TODAY
at scf.io
Crossing the Chasm:
report published today
November 2015

4. • Shipments rise from 4.05m
to 10.37m units 2014-20
• Enterprise important engine
for growth – 110% upswing
in 2015
• Large urban rollouts starting
in 2015, shipments up
fourfold 2015
• 2014 – market matured;
2015 – growth accelerated
The big question is:
‘How do I monetize & deploy
at scale?’
Argument for small cells has been won
November 2015

5. By 2020 small cells can achieve significant
critical mass – installed base 7x macrocells.
This means:
• Small cells will drive the RAN architectural
agenda
• Small cells at the heart of 5G and IoT
• Attractive volumes for whole ecosystem,
driving innovation
This is a real turning point:
Small Cells now own the debate
42,500,000
6,400,000
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
30,000,000
35,000,000
40,000,000
45,000,000
Small cell Macrocell
units
Seizing the opportunity
November 2015
7x more
Small
Cells by
2020

6. • Small Cell Forum (Phase 1) provided
leadership for cooperation and addressing
barriers
• Small Cell Forum (Phase 2) is about
supporting:
• new architectures
• new spectrum options
• new business cases
• new service models
• a broadening ecosystem
• real world use cases
Delivering needed industry knowledge
through our new work program
Enterprise small cells
License-exempt spectrum
HetNet and SON
Virtualization
Multi-operator support
Delivering 5G and IoT
Our new work program:
answering the question HOW?
November 2015

7. November 2015
• Small Cell Forum achievement so far built on a single successful architecture and the
main engine for immediate and continued growth
• However, today no single architecture will suit huge range of future wireless use cases. A
flexible approach is required to:
• address range of operator scenarios and services
• provide choice of architectures in line with spectrum, fiber, other considerations, while
maintaining underlying common standards
Meeting future network needs –
broadening the remit
Base Station Densification Broader set of use cases NFV and SDN

8. Future generation deployments very
different: Dense, automated, multiband,
neutral host, separate layer, some
virtualized
Requires new approaches:
• Emergence of low-power radio heads, now
adopted within SCF definition
• First step in evolution towards virtualized
small cells with many split options
• Transition to virtualized RAN blurs
boundaries between conventional
neutral-host DAS systems and new
virtualized RAN architecture.
Today’s generation
Future generation
Ad hoc, opportunistic
A well-planned
second layer
Small numbers
Dense
Manually organized
SON
Homogeneous cells
Move to Virtualization
3G or LTE
Multimode including
Wi-Fi
Same spectrum as
macro
Many bands – including
licence-exempt
Single operator
Neutral host or shared
ownership
Meeting future network needs –
optimized network architectures
November 2015

9. Key drivers to
deploy small cells
2015-20:
• Cost capacity and
coverage still key
• Support new
revenue streams –
eg. M2M
• Harness new
spectrum bands
eg. 3.5GHz and
above
• First step to
Virtualization
We will deliver workable architectures
to address global drivers
Source: Rethink Technology Research
November 2015

10. Building for
the future
Small Cell Forum
work program
2015/16

11. November 2015
Small Cell Forum – work program roadmap
Multi-operator
2013 2014 2015 2016 20172012
WI
SI
LAA
SC Wi-Fi with WBA
Home
Enterprise
Urban
Rural and Remote
Virtualization
License-exempt
HetNet & SON
R1
R2
R3 R4
R5
R5.1
R5.2
R6
definition of nFAPI
China Mobile
Cisco, ip.access
Vodafone, Qualcomm
5G, IoT
Truphone, ip.access
AT&T, Ericsson, Airhop
Reliance Jio, Huawei
Kick-off
Deliverables Defined
Release
Enterprise
Orange
Spidercloud, Huawei
R2

12. • Installed base more than doubled 2015
(Source: Mobile Experts)
• Wide target market – ie. from venues to
factories to SoHo
• 62% of large US companies interested in
small cells (Source: iGR)
• Enterprise has higher than average
interest in small cells for indoor coverage/
voice, new services, IoT, Virtualization
(Source: Rethink)
• Drives new value chains – by 2020 only
20% of Enterprise small cells MNO-
managed
286,350
639,327
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
Q314 Q315
units
Enterprise: small cells enable a more
effective Enterprise workforce
November 2015
+110%
growth
during 2015

13. Many vRAN deployments will start in
small cell layer
• 43% of small cell deployers will also be
adopting Virtualization by 2018
Critical for Small Cell Forum members
to drive this work:
• nFAPI work will define best splits and
create unified platform; and
• Enable new deployment models which
lower barriers – eg. ‘as a service’,
per-AP licensing
Small Cell Virtualization – enabling new
deployment models
Conventional small cell Virtualized small cell
MAC
FAPI
P5 & P7
PHY
Vendor
Ext
nFAPI
P5 & P7
nFAPI
P5 & P7
PHY
Vendor
Ext
MAC
RF
Vendor
Ext
nFAPI Interworking
November 2015

14. November 2015
Small Cell Forum drives interoperability and unity while supporting flexible use cases
Small cell Virtualization –
answering the big questions
Topic Findings
What are the real business benefits of
Virtualization in the RAN?
Identified centralization benefits, transport
costs and MANO/automation elastic scaling
capabilities
Are current small cell architectures well
suited to Virtualization?
Yes – FAPI MAC/PHY decomposition well suited
to provide Virtualization baseline
Can Virtualization deliver a phased roadmap –
eg. aligned with longer-term 5G directions?
Yes – Flexible Virtualization over non-ideal
transport now emerging as core 5G
requirements
How do we ensure Virtualization supports
innovation across a multi-vendor ecosystem?
SCF’s nFAPI workstream set to accelerate
multi-vendor PNF/VNF interoperability

15. November 2015
Small cell Virtualization –
deliverables and timelines
nFAPI Definition
nFAPI Demonstration
PDCP/RLC Recom’tions
(ETSI ISG NFV) PoC
nFAPI Std Ownership
VNF SVC API/MEC
Multi-operator Scoping
2017
Placeholder for SVC
engagement
Placeholder for Multi-Op engagement
Kick-off
Deliverables
Complete
2015 2016
PNF Management
ETSI-MANO Recom’tions NET
Board
IOP
RPH
R5.1 R6

16. • SON becomes essential as
networks density
• By 2020, 40% of small cells deployed in
hyper-dense environments (150 per km2)
• SON must be interoperable and able to
work with all technologies and with
Virtualization
• Absolute priority is to avoid fatal
fragmentation – eg. Release 6 solutions
and requirements, Plugfests, services API
HetNet and SON –
enabling mass-market scale
November 2015

17. November 2015
• Small Cell Forum best placed to drive unlicensed as it is small cell-specific in higher
band
• LTE in 5GHz – only applies to small cells
• 25% of MNOs say leveraging unlicensed a top three driver to deploy small cells
• Work with Wi-Fi and other license-exempt technologies in unlicensed bands
• Work item includes FAPI support for LTE-LAA, Wi-Fi coexistence
• With 5G, look right up to 90GHz and beyond
Maximizing potential with
unlicensed spectrum
LTE Unlicensed
small cell
Unlicensed
Licensed Anchor
Carrier
aggregationLTE/LTE-U

18. Work stream mission: “To make
licensed radio small cells the
preferred solution for vertical
market, multi-operator
solutions”
Work items include:
• Business case
• Existing and upcoming technology
• Regulatory
• Spectrum licensing – existing and
new licensing regimes
• Existing deployments – Why they
work and why aren’t there more
of them?
Multi-operator/neutral host –
delivering new opportunities
Serves all the
building’s
customers
Cheap to
buy, install
and maintain
Competitively
worthwhile for
MNO
Works at the
highest traffic
densities
Small
Cell
✗ ✓ ✓ ✓
Small
Cell
(multiple)
✓ ✗ ✓ ✓
MORAN ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗
DAS ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓
MOCN ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Wi-Fi ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗
November 2015

19. • Small Cell Forum playing a leadership
role in 5G debate
• IoT and 5G networks – many areas
unclear but will certainly be small cell
driven
• Allow operators to differentiate on
standard platform
• Two key areas of Small Cell Forum activity
– ultra-density and fully service-oriented
networks with open APIs
• Forum submitted vision to 3GPP
• Work with NGMN, ETSI, GSMA,
4G Americas
Maximizing future potential in IoT and 5G
Service oriented
networks
• Enterprise use cases
• Open API
• Edge services
Ultra dense networks
• Deployment
• Backhaul/fronthaul
arch
• HetNet & SON
NGMN, MEC (ETSI, GSMA), 5GPPP
November 2015

20. November 2015
• Small Cell Forum has been successful in establishing deployments and growth –
enable the ‘HOW’
• Small cells are the primary method to address the capacity needs of the future
• We are driving critical work for the industry as part of our Release Program
(scf.io)
• Join us: Shape the future of the small cells and the integrated HetNet
Join us – seize the opportunity

21. Crossing the Chasm:
report published today
scf.io
November 2015