Abstract
Since the first generation of cellular networks was rolled out, the priority has been to improve the connectivity and capacity of densely populated areas, such as urban centers, whereas rural areas received less attention. The lower subscriber density of such areas makes it difficult to get a positive business case with current wireless technologies and current cost structures. Base stations are deployed more sparsely in rural areas and are typically shared by several operators and are thus not able to provide high-performance connectivity, compared to urban areas, resulting in a connectivity gap. Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is currently introducing Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) in 5G NR scope with Release 17 for broadband services, and this development will likely continue in 6G networks. In parallel, Sparse Terrestrial Networks (STN) using high towers and large antenna arrays, are being developed to deliver very long transmission ranges. In this paper we discuss the characteristics and the expected performance of networks based on satellites or terrestrial large cell networks, in relation to the traffic density and required infrastructure, with a focus on remote and sparsely populated areas. The two solutions are found to deliver in complementary traffic and partly different use case scenarios.
Highlights
Achieving coverage for wireless services in rural areas has been a long-standing quest for cellular networks
In both cases power limitation comes into play: in the handheld case the user equipment (UE) is power limited in the UL, and in the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) case the satellite is power limited in the DL
In more urbanized areas with a higher population density and traffic well exceeding 100 kbps/km2 there is little doubt that densifying the terrestrial grid will be a more efficient method compared to deploying a high number of satellites; this depends on the difficulty to achieve a higher area capacity with satellites
Summary
Achieving coverage for wireless services in rural areas has been a long-standing quest for cellular networks. For cellular networks an interesting objective is to cover all area where people live, and enterprises operating with broadband services In practice this can be translated into a few Mbps in UL and DL available to a high fraction of the population and/or a high fraction of the area of a region or a country. An extension of the fixed fiber or cellular network with the same site density and traffic capacity as for urban and sub-urban areas serving many high-ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) users is economically infeasible. This leads to poorly developed networks or no connectivity at all in rural areas where the urban operator-competition
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