Shares planned pathway to 5G HetNet and seeks operator insight
Looks to develop leading Operator Group for Asia
London and Shanghai – 30 June 2016: At Mobile World Congress Shanghai this week, a specially convened mobile operator round table summit meeting will focus on the path to the future HetNet mobile network and the 5G environment.
The summit discussion, chaired by Small Cell Forum, will see leading operator members of the Forum – including China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom and Vodafone – co-hosted by Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, and representatives from Cisco and iBWave.
Timed to coincide with the publication of Small Cell Forum Release Seven: HetNet and SON; the Summit will layout the broad direction of Small Cell Forum’s work program for the next 12 months and seek the insight and requirements of major operators to ensure that the program aligns with both regional and overall market needs.
Previewing the round table, Small Cell Forum Chair Alan Law said: “This week we published our full HetNet and SON pathway to 5G document. Crucially it includes a working guide to deploying HetNets now – a requirement which is high on the agenda of operators today – as well as outlining the migration path to 5G, a developing and evolving infrastructure.
“Our discussions in Shanghai, with global and regional operators, taking place in the presence, and with the participation, of some of the biggest names from the vendor community, will help Small Cell Forum, and its members, to continue to shape and define the evolution of mobile networks,” said Law. “This event is taking place in the world’s most advanced mobile market where we already have significant operator engagement. Our aim here today is to lay the foundations for the Small Cell Forum Asian Operator Group, to ensure our work program is fully aligned with carrier requirements in this region.”
Dr. Yuefeng (Peter) Zhou, the President of Small Cell & Wi-Fi Wireless Network in Huawei and Small Cell Forum Board member, said, “We are delighted to have helped facilitate this round table. Operator input has been vital to the Small Cell Forum’s work over the years. Refreshing that operator input, and taking into account the varying regional and global requirements, will be key to delivering on Small Cell Forum’s 5G Vision.”
“The mobile industry is ramping up connectivity world-wide,” said Alan Law. “In a future multi-x mobile network environment, small cell infrastructure, small cell technology and small cell techniques will sit at the heart of what we used to call the macro network. Our round table summit in Shanghai will help guide that development and ensure that the output of the Forum’s work program, addresses key requirements and enriches the marketplace.”
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About Small Cell Forum
Small Cell Forum works to drive the wide-scale adoption of small cells and accelerate the delivery of integrated HetNets. We are not a standards organization but partner with organizations that inform and determine standards development. We are a carrier-led organization. This means our operator members establish requirements that drive the activities and outputs of our technical groups.
Today our members are driving solutions that include small cell/Wi-Fi integration, SON evolution, virtualization of the small cell layer, driving mass adoption via multi-operator neutral host, ensuring a common approach to service APIs to drive commercialisation and the integration of small cells into 5G standards evolution.
The SCF board includes Airspan, AT&T, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, ip.access, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Reliance Jio, Softbank, Spidercloud, Sprint and Vodafone.
Further information contact:
Kevin(dot)taylor(at)robertsontaylorpr(dot)com