Wireless expansion is a foregone conclusion

At this point, all carriers are talking traffic growth and the need for network expansion to support this growth. Ericsson recently released a report forecasting seven-fold growth in North American mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019. Cisco estimates dovetail with this estimate, predicting five-fold growth from this year through 2017. Wireless carriers have established even more aggressive targets for traffic growth, expecting LTE expansion to drive adoption over the next five years in the same way smartphone adoption drove usage well past estimates over the previous five. These carriers are heavily focused on supporting this exploding end-user demand at a high quality of service, but face restraints on spectrum availability and, therefore, are focused on building network density. Since adding cell sites directly improves service and network capacity, small cells can play a role here, but the extent to which they impact the market depends on which flavors carrier network expansions come in.

Carrier-deployed small cells (metrocells, microcells, picocells and the like, but not consumer-deployed femtocells) are not the only game in town when it comes to bolstering network density. Simply adding more macro cell sites and/or splitting existing cell cites provides a reliable alternative to small cell deployment, and on earnings calls, tower companies have been vocal about already immense but also rising opportunities surrounding these more traditional alternatives. American Tower, for example, recently indicated that 40% of current contract amendments for business from U.S. operators are coming from requests for additional co-locations at current sites compared to 30% in the year prior quarter (the remaining 60% of requests are centered on pricing changes).

Additionally, in specific areas, distributed antenna systems (networks of antennas connected to hubs) remain viable alternatives as well and have been effective in shopping malls, sports stadiums and other areas associated with amplified coverage requirements. Here again recent earnings calls highlight business development opportunities in these areas, with Crown Castle (which entered the business through its 2011 acquisition of NextG) and American Tower (which has taken an organic growth approach) reporting ongoing demand for DAS solutions. In other words, just like macro cells and cell splitting, DAS solutions offer market-tested alternatives to scaled deployments of small cell networks.

It’s the economics, stupid

When considering the options outlined above, we must consider the costs of small-cell deployments, each of which includes the upfront costs of site acquisition, permits and zoning, construction and network engineering. Recurring costs include all those associated with macro sites – network maintenance, backhaul, site leasing costs, utility costs, etc.

While each of the cost elements has its own issues, Atlantic-ACM’s interviews with ecosystem participants find that the key recurring cost item that remains a stumbling block in the economics of small cells is backhaul. Wireless operators expect macro site backhaul characteristics for each small cell but at significantly lower price points. In turn, in many cases wherein backhaul providers would need a new builds to anticipated small cell locations, challenges exist with respect to making return on investment targets fit within expected prices. Thus, without sacrifices on backhaul technology, operators may struggle with deployments outside fiber-rich, dense central business districts. In the end each of these cost components has the potential to jeopardize deployments and we can easily conjure up scenarios wherein the net costs of additional macro cell deployments are more favorable than small cell deployments. As a result of this reality, participants in the small-cell ecosystem are searching for ways to work with operators to generate cost effective solutions that make the economics work.

The bottom line

Small cells continue to present intriguing technologies with the potential to meet operator requirements for expanded density (and capacity) and maximize the use of existing spectrum assets. In the future as small-cell players innovate, driving stronger economic viability, look for outsourced models wherein ecosystem players provide more than single-element solutions, perhaps including outsourced servicing and maintenance that enable carrier to better justify small cell expenditures. For now since the economics of small cell deployments have yet to be fully defined and workable alternatives exist, the long-term outlook for small cells also remains not well understood, and whether or not they are relegated to niche applications or will generate the small-cell boom many analysts have predicted remains to be seen.

MIDDLETOWN, R.I., Nov 19, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Towerstream Corporation , a leading 4G and Small Cell Rooftop Tower company, announced they will be using their existing network to support the WBA in an upcoming Wi-Fi live roaming experience to demonstrate the Wireless Broadband Alliance's (WBA) Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) initiative at the Wi-Fi Global Congress in Beijing, China November 18 through the 21.

The WBA will offer an exclusive look at Next Generation Hotspots. The Wi-Fi live roaming experience will be a collaborative experience from companies such as China Mobile, Cisco, Aicent and Towerstream Corp.

For the demonstration, a select number of mobile phones will seamlessly roam between cellular and Wi-Fi networks using the existing Towerstream NGH platform located in the U.S. The phones will automatically recognize and pass through the connection to the Towerstream Wi-Fi network in the U.S. thus taking the phones off of the current cellular network and onto Towerstream's Wi-Fi network.

"This demonstration gets straight to the point of everything we have been working to build the last several years," said Jeff Thompson, Towerstream CEO. "With the explosion of mobile data traffic continuing to create significant performance issues, thanks to the WBA's NGH process, we are now able to offer offload options across any of our networks to carriers located anywhere in the world."

Arthur Giftakis, VP of Engineering and Operations at Towerstream added, "Towerstream is excited about showcasing its NGH compliant network fully capable of supporting carrier Wi-Fi at the Wi-Fi Mobile Congress. The demonstration offers a live example of seamless roaming between a cellular and Wi-Fi network transparent to the end user. It is our pleasure to participate."

For more information on the event, please visit - http://www.wifiglobalcongress.com

About Towerstream Corporation

Towerstream is a leading 4G and Small Cell Rooftop Tower company. The company owns, operates, and leases Wi-Fi and Small Cell rooftop tower locations to cellular phone operators, tower, Internet and cable companies and hosts a variety of customers on its network. Towerstream was originally founded in 2000 to deliver fixed-wireless high-speed Internet access to businesses and to date offers broadband services in over 13 urban markets including New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay area, Miami, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Nashville, Las Vegas-Reno, and the greater Providence area. For more information on Towerstream services, please visit www.towerstream.com and/or follow us @Towerstream.

The Towerstream Corporation logo is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6570

About HetNets Tower Corporation

HetNets Tower Corporation ("HetNets") was formed in January 2013 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Towerstream Corporation and offers a neutral host, shared wireless infrastructure solution, either independently or as a turnkey service. Its wireless communications infrastructure is available to wireless carriers, cable and Internet companies in major urban markets where the explosion in mobile data is creating significant demand for additional capacity and coverage. HetNets offers a carrier-class Wi-Fi network for Internet access and the offloading of mobile data. Its street level rooftop locations are ideal for the installation of customer owned small cells including DAS, Metro and Pico cells. Other solutions provided by HetNets include backhaul, power, and related small cell requirements. More information is available at http://www.hetnets.com .

First ever live deployment of a next generation Wi-Fi network at an international conference

Making NGH networks and hotspots a commercial reality is one of the key market objectives of the WBA in 2013. Therefore the Wireless Broadband Alliance is launching its first-ever live NGH Experience during the Wi-Fi Global Congress (WGC) in Beijing this November (18th-21st) with partners China Mobile as host operator and Cisco as the network infrastructure provider. This will be the first ever live deployment of a next generation Wi-Fi network at an international conference, offering attendees a real-life experience of seamlessly and automatically connecting to the venue Wi-Fi.

The NGH Experience will consist out of a extensive NGH network in the venue that can be used to demonstrate different innovative services (e.g. location base services), as will also demonstrate the full scale of NGH and roaming capabilities on Passpoint certified devices. Usage of the network is also open to the vendor community, to demonstrate their devices, applications and services during the event.

http://www.wifiglobalcongress.com/page.cfm/Link=68/t=m/goSection=1_47


Crown Castle CEO: Sprint, Verizon LTE overlays will pump up tower activity

October 31, 2013 | By Phil Goldstein

By the middle of next year most Tier 1 carriers' macro LTE buildouts are expected to be largely completed. Some carriers, such as AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), have indicated that the next phase of network evolution, to LTE Advanced, will be largely the result of software upgrades to existing network equipment. However, in an interview with FierceWireless, Crown Castle CEO Ben Moreland contended that despite that trend, there will still be a lot of cell site activity and amendments in the next few years.

He pointed to Sprint (NYSE:S), which has indicated it plans to build out TD-LTE service using its 2.5 GHz spectrum to 100 million POPs by the end of 2014 on top of its existing 1.9 GHz LTE network and planned 800 MHz LTE service.

Sprint announced it will brand its forthcoming tri-mode LTE service as "Sprint Spark," and said it will bring the service to the top 100 U.S. markets during the next three years with speeds capable of reaching 50-60 Mbps and perhaps faster. The first markets with limited availability of Sprint Spark will be Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Tampa.

Sprint plans to have 5,000 2.5 GHz TD-LTE sites on air by the end of 2013, a goal in line with Clearwire's previous buildout plans. Today Sprint counts a total of 55,000 macro cell sites, a level Sprint expects staying at for the next few years. Sprint's current plan for Network Vision is to modernize 38,000 cell sites with multi-mode base stations.

"Sprint hasn't done a lot of sites in the last six years," Moreland said. "As they build a very robust product with Network Vision and add capacity with the 2.5 GHz spectrum, I would expect that they're going to need to come back and add sites."

That contention fits with both comments from analysts and Crown Castle's competitors. SBA Communications CEO Jeffrey Stoops told FierceWireless in October that SBA will look to get a piece of Sprint's planned nationwide deployment of 2.5 GHz spectrum for TD-LTE services. "We're clearly interested," he said. "That's our business and we expect to get at least our fair share."

"We expect that Sprint will repurpose the Clearwire tower sites and add an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 cell tower sites, which will generate increased leasing revenue that the carrier pays to the tower companies," Gregory Fraser, a Moody's Investors Service analyst, wrote in August. "These new tower sites will replace the 16,500 Clearwire sites scheduled to be decommissioned and will therefore eliminate the risk that lost rent from those towers would not be replaced with new rental revenue."

New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin predicted over the summer that Sprint's total cell site count would increase to somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 sites, more than offsetting disconnects of old Clearwire sites. Sprint's confirmation of maintaining a cell site count of 55,000 in the years ahead seems to confirm that.

It's not just Sprint that will have new cell site activity, according to Moreland. Verizon Wireless  (NYSE:VZ), for instance, has said it will not commercially deploy Voice over LTE until its LTE network can produce the same voice quality as its 3G CDMA network. Verizon plans to launch VoLTE in the first half of 2014. Moreland said getting to that level of quality will require additional LTE cell sites. Further, Verizon is expanding its LTE network from its 700 MHz spectrum to its AWS spectrum, with 5,000 sites planned for the end of this year, which could generate additional tower activity.

Moody's also said that once AT&T acquires Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP), it "may take similar steps to those of Sprint," which will likewise benefit independent tower firms. AT&T is expected to further its LTE deployment by taking advantage of Leap's underutilized spectrum on roughly 15,000 to 20,000 sites, including the 9,700 leased sites AT&T will gain through buying the regional carrier.

Moreland said all of this activity will vindicate the company's strategy over the last two years of aggressively acquiring U.S. assets. In September 2012, T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) agreed to sell the rights to 7,200 of its towers to Crown Castle for $2.4 billion. In the T-Mobile deal, Crown noted that 83 percent of the towers were located in the top 100 U.S. markets and 72 percent were located in the top 50 markets.

In October, AT&T agreed to sell and lease 9,700 of its cell towers to Crown Castle in a $4.85 billion deal. Crown said that the towers are mostly in urban areas, with nearly 50 percent of sites in the top 50 U.S. markets.

Also, in December 2011, Crown agreed to pay $1 billion to acquire distributed antennas systems (DAS) provider NextG Networks, which has given the tower company a leg up in small cells.

Moreland acknowledged that the T-Mobile portfolio has more towers in the top urban markets than the AT&T portfolio, but he said that, ultimately, as carriers continue to densify their networks that distinction would not be material. Taken together, he said, the nearly 17,000 towers are younger than Crown's legacy towers and have, on average 1.5 to 1.75 tenants per site, leaving a lot of room for growth.

"All of it basically goes to our original strategic moves we've made over the last 18 months, which is to spend $9 billion on U.S. assets which we think are extremely well positioned to handle this path of growth from LTE," Moreland said.

Related Articles:
Sprint Spark to combine LTE in 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz, will offer 50-60 Mbps peak speeds
Sprint to cover 100M POPs with 2.5 GHz LTE by end of 2014
AT&T sells and leases towers to Crown Castle in $4.85B deal
SBA: Tower consolidation will come via sales from carriers
Moody's: Sprint, AT&T LTE rollouts will boost tower companies
Analyst: Sprint's nationwide 2.5 GHz LTE network could be boon for tower companies

Read more: Crown Castle CEO: Sprint, Verizon LTE overlays will pump up tower activity - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/crown-castle-ceo-sprint-verizon-lte-overlays-will-pump-tower-activity/2013-10-31#ixzz2jhrJsQWM

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), October 30, 2013 - Sprint (NYSE:S) demonstrated live today 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) over-the-air speed at its lab near Silicon Valley, Calif. This was the highlight of a day that showcased the innovation and what’s possible on the Sprint network as the company unveiled technology with the potential to surpass wireless speeds of any U.S. network provider.

“Sprint Spark is a combination of advanced capabilities, like 1x, 2x and 3x carrier aggregation for speed, 8T8R for coverage, MIMO for capacity, TDD for spectral efficiency, together with the most advanced devices offering both tri-band capability and high-definition voice for the best possible customer experience,” said Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint.

Sprint plans to deploy Sprint Spark in about 100 of America’s largest cities during the next three years, with initial availability in five markets today. Sprint 4G LTE service will be available by mid-2014 to approximately 250 million Americans, and Sprint expects 100 million Americans will have Sprint Spark or 2.5GHz coverage by the end of 2014. The first markets with limited availability are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa and Miami. The first smartphones with Sprint Spark capability are scheduled for customer availability in early November.

How Sprint Spark works

Sprint Spark combines 4G FDD¹-LTE at 800 Megahertz (MHz) and 1.9 Gigahertz (GHz) and TDD¹-LTE at 2.5GHz spectrum, TDD-LTE technology (2.5GHz), and carrier aggregation in the 2.5GHz band. These spectrum assets, technology and architecture are designed to deliver a seamless customer experience via tri-band wireless devices. Tri-band devices, named for their ability to accommodate multiple spectrum bands, support active hand-off mode between 800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz, providing data session continuity as the device moves between spectrum bands.

Sprint is building the Sprint Spark capability using a unique combination of spectrum capacity and network technologies. Today the company has approximately 55,000 macro cell sites; a level Sprint expects staying at for the next few years. The company also anticipates using small cells to augment capacity, coverage and speed. Small cell deployment is expected to begin in 2014, continuing into 2015 and beyond.

Radio heads

A key ingredient enabling Sprint Spark is equipment compatibility with the architecture of the Sprint initiative known as Network Vision. Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Solutions and Networks and Samsung have been selected to provide 2.5GHz radio heads and to enable Sprint Spark. Each company will service approximately one-third of Sprint’s deployment markets. These 2.5GHz radios are expected to have capabilities for 8 Transmitters 8 Receivers (8T8R), which will be a first deployment of its kind in North America. These radios will be capable of improved coverage, capacity and speeds when compared to the more traditional 2T2R or 4T4R radios used by our competitors.

Devices

Sprint Spark comes to life for customers via their devices. Building on Network Vision’s multimode capability, Sprint Spark is designed to accommodate all of Sprint’s spectrum bands on a single device. These tri-band smartphones are designed to give users the best experience by transparently shifting from one band to another, depending on such factors as location or type of application.

Sprint Spark provides the capacity to greatly improve the performance of video and other bandwidth-intensive applications while opening the way for futuristic applications. Today, wireless networks and smartphones can book flights, locate children, store photos and music, video chat and much more. Sprint Spark supports a new generation of online gaming, virtual reality, advanced cloud services and other applications requiring very high bandwidth. (See how applications like these could shape future lifestyles – “Vision of Connected Mobile Lifestyle.”)

Sprint’s new 4G LTE network is a key component of its Network Vision program. Sprint 4G LTE now covers 230 markets across the nation and is on track to serve 200 million people by the end of this year and 250 million people by mid-2014. While both LTE technologies bring significant enhancements in network speed, the 2.5GHz spectrum is crucial to the exceptional capacity, speed and flexibility expected with Sprint Spark.

Also through Network Vision, Sprint is upgrading its 3G services with all-new equipment to bring users improved coverage, better signal strength, fewer dropped calls and improved voice quality. The Network Vision 3G capability includes High Definition Voice to make HD calls Sprint’s new standard for voice quality. HD Voice is a next-generation technology for mobile phones where background noise is virtually eliminated and sound quality is dramatically enhanced. Sprint’s HD Voice offering reaches approximately 85 million people across the Sprint network today, and the company expects 250 million to have access to HD Voice capability by mid-2014. Sprint expects 12 million HD Voice devices in the customer base by the end of 2013, growing to 20 million by the end of 2014.

In addition to demonstrating the 1Gbps speeds via over-the-air wireless, Sprint has also extended its leadership in wireline speeds by commercially deploying one of the longest 100Gbps circuits in the United States. That live transmission required no signal regeneration over a distance of 2,100 km, or 1,304 miles.

For more information about Sprint Spark, visit Sprint.com/faster. There you’ll find videos and other useful information on how Sprint Spark brings to life a new wave of applications and innovations.

Sprint (NYSE:S) offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint served more than 54 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2013 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint as the most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, during the last five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.