ip.access Advocates Infrastructure and Spectrum Sharing at Small Cells World Summit

London, UK – 18^th May 2017 ­– ip.access, a Mavenir company since September 2020, today announces that it is hosting an interactive workshop at Small Cells World Summit with the GSMA and Wireless Infrastructure Group. The panel will discuss the multiple benefits of infrastructure and spectrum sharing in various models, and the challenges ahead for the “middleprise” market as well as emerging markets with lower ARPUs.

Nick Johnson, CTO at ip.access commented: “Providing in-building and rural coverage still presents a big cost issue. In developed and emerging markets alike, a significant part of the population lives and works in areas with poor coverage and insufficient capacity. These areas can’t support standalone investment by all operators.” He added: “We look forward to discussing the importance of shared cellular infrastructure and spectrum sharing between operators, and how it extends the competitiveness of the market.”

Demand for in-building cellular capacity has continued to grow exponentially in the past few years. However, we see operator revenue static or falling. In the developed world, there is a large ‘middleprise’ of enterprise venues between 25k and 500k sq. ft that demand multi-operator service, but are currently unable to get it using traditional deployment models. The neutral host model can help lower the economic threshold for extending coverage, by providing a multi-operator competitive framework through shared capex and opex.

As part of the workshop, Nick Johnson, CTO & head of PLM at ip.access will be chairing a panel discussion with:

• Alastair Davidson, Strategy Director, Wireless Infrastructure Group
• Bob Slorach, CTO, Wireless Infrastructure Group
• Genaro Cruz, Regulatory Specialist, GSMA
• Jonathan Vesey, Infrastructure market engagement, GSMA

The workshop, The Neutral Host for a Global Market: Sharing makes Good Business Worldwide, will take place on 22^nd May at 2:55pm, the first day of Small Cells World Summit, at the Intercontinental O2 Hotel in London, UK.

ip.access is also proud to announce that it has been shortlisted for three Small Cells Forum awards:

• Outstanding Innovation in Small Cell Business Case, for its Neutral Host Multi-Operator Small Cell solution
• Excellence in commercial deployment (enterprise) for their work with Druid to deploy a private small cell network to deliver enhanced cellular connectivity and patient mobility across care campuses
• Excellence in Commercial Deployment of Rural/Remote Small Cells for their work with Panasonic avionics and Aero Mobile to deliver 3.5G inflight mobile connectivity

The winners of the Small Cells Forum awards will be announced at this year’s Small Cells World Summit (SCWS), which takes place 22^nd to 25^th of May in London, UK. To register for the event, click here.