The manpower cost in developing small cell backhaul infrastructures

The whitepaper demonstrates the potential savings available to operators using the model of a small cell network that grows organically over a five year period to meet the increased capacity needed for the operators' overall network. It addresses an expansion in backhaul to support an initial deployment of 100 small cells that grows to 5110 small cells in year five, and the likely costs incurred as the result of continuous network planning and implementation.

In the report, the cost savings achieved by deploying a self-organising, multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) backhaul system - 42% lower CAPEX and 34% lower OPEX - are due to reduced manual labour costs associated with planning, installation and topology optimisation of small cell networks. Unlike point-to-point (P2P) systems, which would require repeated re-planning as the small cell network grows, a fully self-organising MP2MP system such as that from CCS, enables simple organic growth and a rapid response for network operators to expand capacity when and where demand is highest.

“Small cells are going to be essential assets for operators needing to increase the capacity density of their mobile networks. However if this growth is to be part of a well-paced evolution, the costs of reshaping and optimising ever-expanding networks will be substantial,” says report author, Monica Paolini, President and Founder of Senza Fili Consulting. “This TCO analysis shows the advantages of self-organised systems in keeping the cost and complexity down in expanding small-cell networks.”

CEO of CCS, Steve Greaves, commented: “We are delighted by the results of this important research conducted by Senza Fili Consulting. The outcome is a great vote of confidence for CCS and vindicates our proposition for a self-organising, self-optimising backhaul network.”