Small cells are low-powered radio access points that improve 3G and 4G cellular coverage by increasing capacity and backhaul traffic. By utilizing small cells, additional spectrum, HSPA+, LTE (News - Alert), Wi-Fi offload and femtocells, operators can expand their wireless broadband capacity and coverage.  


A recent survey conducted by SpiderCloud Wireless, a provider of small cell Enterprise Radio Access Network (E-RAN) systems, further underlines the importance of femtocells. In fact, findings revealed that business productivity is significantly affected by poor mobile coverage.

In the survey, which is conducted by market research firm YouGov, a large percentage of IT decision makers revealed that their businesses have had indoor mobile coverage and/or capacity problems with their mobile operators. Businesses in the U.S. were the most affected by poor mobile coverage with as many as 61 percent of IT decision makers from businesses with 250+ employees in the country saying their business has had to overcome this issue.

Among the European businesses who participated in the survey, 50 percent of IT decision makers from large businesses in Germany report having this issue, compared to just over two fifths in Spain (43 percent) and almost two fifths in Britain (39 percent).

“Business productivity is significantly impacted by poor in-building mobile coverage and capacity,” said Ronny Haraldsvik, CMO, SpiderCloud Wireless, in a statement. “IT directors want a stronger relationship with their communications partner.”

“Fixing the mobility problem inside opens up a real opportunity for mobile operators to win and keep enterprise customers if they can provide real enterprise mobility solutions, beginning with the basics of coverage and capacity,” Haraldsvik added.

A majority of the IT decision makers whose organizations have been impacted by the indoor coverage problem said they had taken steps in the past to address the issue by contacting their mobile operator. However, in many cases, the mobile operators were not able to help, potentially leaving them with the stark choice of doing nothing or using their capex budgets to invest in their own in-building wireless solution. 

A significant trend identified in the survey is the strong interest shown by IT decision makers in opting for operator-hosted mobility services such as mobile device management (MDM) and Wi-Fi-as-a-Service. 

Commenting on this trend, Art King, director of Enterprise Services and Technologies, SpiderCloud Wireless, said, “Just as IT decision makers first look to their operator to fix the immediate problem of poor indoor coverage and capacity, so they are looking at how to avoid having to take on themselves the capital and operating expenses of building and running their own indoor wireless network.”




Edited by Jamie Epstein