- Neutral host RAN - for public and private uses - is spreading across Europe
- The UK already has a specification that enables open RAN radios to be shared by several MNOs on a private network
- SNS Telecom estimates that by 2027 as much of one fifth of all small cell deployments in carpeted enterprises will be multi-operator
Even as neutral host private radio access networks (RAN) are starting to arrive in the United States, the market is “way ahead” in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, according to network infrastructure company Boldyn.
Neutral host RAN enables 4G and 5G cellular subscribers to get a strong signal from multiple carriers, even when no public network towers are nearby, rather than just relying on service from a single mobile network operator (MNO).
Neutral host RAN systems generally use either multiple small cells that enterprises deploy to share several operators' coverage among users in an office building or factory or a virtualized baseband system that enables a multi-operator core network (MCON) to support multiple MNOs.
Lotta Roma Mova
“Neutral host is critical for us globally,” Andy Penley, group CTO at Boldyn, told Fierce this week. He highlighted the Roma 5G project as the largest neutral host project for Boldyn. This is a project to prepare Rome for the influx of visitors expected for the Pope’s jubilee in 2025 by sprucing up its communications infrasructure.
This will include deploying public 4G and 5G in 83 metro stations, as well as public Wi-Fi and small cells all across the city to support multiple mobile operators. “We’re doing 2,200 small cells and 1,800 IoT [Internet of Things] sensors,” Penley noted. “On the DAS and the small cells, it’s all neutral host. We expect at least 2 of the carriers to join very soon and a third before the end of next year.”
Outside of major public projects, Boldyn is also hard at work on neutral host private networks in Europe.
"The UK market has built a JOTS [joint operators technical specifications] compliant platform where they can share radios in an Open RAN configuration,” Boldyn’s U.S. CTO Marc Rohleder told Fierce.
He explained that the standards are set by operators, tested by Boldyn and can be rolled out “at a much quicker pace with a truly shared brand.” This has not happened in the U.S. yet, he said.
There may be a catch, however, as Asad Khan, research director for 5G at SNS Telecom and IT, noted in an email. “In the UK, the JOTS NHIB (Neutral Host In-Building) specification has made it easier for third parties to provide mobile connectivity services on behalf of one or more of the operators. However, some small cell vendors have voiced concerns regarding the NHIB model's preference for the MORAN (Multi-Operator) RAN approach, which, unlike MOCN, requires dedicated spectrum for each operator.”
“Neutral host provider Freshwave has recently partnered with all four national mobile operators (EE, Three, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone) to roll out in-building 4G mobile connectivity using CommScope's multi-operator small cells. From a global perspective, SNS Telecom & IT estimates that as much as one-fifth of all RAN node installations in carpeted enterprise environments and public venues will be based on multi-operator small cells by the end of 2027,” the analyst added.
Going forward, this will much more widely require a neutral host approach from both operators and suppliers.