Abstract
Many of the technologies driving both the global economy and societal development, such as the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and Smart Healthcare, depend on adequate capacity and coverage of digital connectivity. It is therefore essential that wireless connectivity can be delivered in a cost-efficient way by Mobile Network Operators, for the benefit of all digital ecosystem actors. The contribution of this paper is to analyse the capacity, coverage and cost of different enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) infrastructure strategies, as the industry moves towards integrating new 5G spectrum bands and densifying existing networks. Both a supply-driven and demand-driven investment analysis is undertaken using a case study of the Netherlands. The supply-driven analysis estimates the capacity that can be provided to users via new spectrum, before network densification via small cells is required. The demand-driven analysis tests a range of required per user speeds including 30, 100 or 300 Mbps and quantifies the performance of investment strategies in meeting this demand. The key contribution is estimating the traffic threshold delivered per user from integrating 5G spectrum bands on the existing Dutch macrocell network. Based on the inputs of this analysis, we find that 5G spectrum bands provide an average per user traffic capacity improvement of approximately 40% for the Netherlands in comparison with the existing LTE capacity.
Highlights
In many telecommunications markets across the globe, operators have been experiencing flat or declining revenues for multiple reasons
The results indicate that the socioeconomic characteristics of rural areas make demand very sensitive to price, and the existence of other forms of digital connectivity forces lower Average Revenue Per User (APRU)
OpenSignal (2017) reports that the average mobile download speed in The Netherlands ranges from 26 to 34 Mbps depending on the operator
Summary
In many telecommunications markets across the globe, operators have been experiencing flat or declining revenues for multiple reasons. There has been strong sectoral regulation in many European countries leading to an increasingly competitive market due to new traditional and virtual Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) (Ghezzi et al, 2015). The mobile broadband market expedited by the launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 has begun to saturate due to near-universal adoption. This situation is challenging because of the huge increase in the demand for mobile data, driven by the increasing use of video content (and other media) on smartphones (West and Mace, 2010; Cisco, 2017). Decision-makers within the telecoms sector increasingly require new analytics to navigate this challenging landscape
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