- Verizon has recently launched its first 5G neutral host private network
- Other operators are also getting into the game
- Shared CBRS spectrum and other technologies are pushing the field further
Neutral host private networking, which can enhance enterprise wireless coverage, is starting to take hold with carriers.
A neutral host private networking system can enable an enterprise to spread connections from mobile operators into areas of a campus or building with otherwise poor signal coverage. This can be particularly important to enable workers to make a call or send a text during an emergency
Neutral host private networking is a recent technology development that enables access to multiple public operators' cellular networks across a private 4G or 5G network system. This is unlike many current private networks, which only offer users access to a single operator's cellular connection.
Using multiple small cells can enable enterprises to share several operators' coverage among users in an office building or factory. If the baseband unit of the neutral host equipment supports virtualization, the same can be achieved with a single small cell that can support multiple network operators and frequencies.
The shared spectrum model that enables carriers to “roam” onto it, using a multi-operator core network (MOCN), is “gaining prominence in the U.S.” because operators and vendors are using CBRS, Dean Bubley, director of Disruptive Analysis said. Multiple communication service providers (CSPs) are following this approach, including Verizon, InfiniG and various tower companies and infrastructure companies.
Neutral host players
Recently, we’ve seen Verizon reveal its first 5G private networking neutral host product, and an accompanying deal with engine maker Cummins in upstate New York. Startup Celona is offering a 4G-based neutral host system on CBRS that T-Mobile is certified on, and Boldyn is providing ASM Global with neutral host private networking in U.S. venues such as Cowtown Coliseum.
“Some examples of [operator] neutral host deployments include Cal Poly (with T-Mobile), Duke University (with DISH), University of Virginia (AT&T),” noted AvidThink principal analyst Roy Chua in an email to Fierce Network. “There's some indication that Verizon might be open to attaching to someone else's private 4G/5G network as well but it has so far advocated a neutral host solution where Verizon is the anchor tenant and the other carriers have to agree to come onto their network.”
So far, Verizon is using Ericsson as its sole supplier for its neutral host private networking product. But Verizon recently began certification of Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) for more general private networking, so maybe that will change in the future.
We also spoke with Boldyn, which is an important distributed antenna systems (DAS) and private network vendor in the Europe and North America.
“At least in the U.S., certainly this is early days in the sharing of [radio access network] in that sense of a [private networking] neutral host,” Marc Rohleder, U.S. chief technology told us on a call. In the traditional sense of DAS neutral host, where the idea for a private network neutral evolved from, “that has been Boldyn’s bread and butter for 10 years,” Rohleder explained.
“We see the neutral host model evolving from the traditional DAS...to more of a shared RAN,” he said. “We are in the early stages of testing that with some carriers, we have not developed a production system yet, but we believe this absolutely the path we will be going to address some mid-tier kind...of venues,” Rohleder stated.