Private 5G Networks are not a one-trick pony game. A diversity of networks, vendors, spectrum options, partners, and digital technologies creates opportunities for specialization and sharing of resources to meet a range of unfulfilled business needs with unique offerings. Neutral hosts are a new kind of service providers who go beyond commodity connectivity and provide value-added services in ecosystems of digital service vendors, network operators, and system integrators.
Custom services for private 5G Networks
Historically, neutral hosts have been synonymous with in-building networks where they supplemented macro networks. However, in the context of 5G private networks, neutral hosts are seizing a range of business opportunities often customized for narrow locations, business services, and network needs. They also utilize the heterogeneity of technologies and networks in the 5G environment to craft innovative solutions.
Urban applications
One such need is densification in urban areas where municipalities do not want network installations to become eyesores. Dense Air, for example, specializes in innovative city applications in collaboration with municipalities in Europe, supported by densification with small cells to meet the needs of autonomous vehicles, industrial IoT, and immersive education. It owns its mid-band spectrum and collaborates with municipalities who share their assets, such as street-side poles, to create services consistent with the aesthetic needs of cities.
The communication needs of underground railways in urban areas have suffered neglect even as the commuter demand for high-bandwidth traffic has exploded. Cars have continued to dominate urban commutes due to their flexibility. Rails could be a competitive alternative as smartphone connectivity helps them cope with remote work, delays, touchless ticketing, real-time information on schedules, availability of seats, and inter-modal transport information to maintain continuity of travel.
Network deployment in high data traffic zones within narrow tunnels of underground railways calls for distinctive skills to build capacity with mixed lot technologies such as small cells, mmWave, and private cellular 5G networks. MNOs, by contrast, prefer to scale with standardized technologies. For example, the Neutral host provider, BAI Communications, is installing a 4G/5G private network for the London Tube with a combination of small cells, cellular, and fiber optics fixed wireless networks.
Localized needs
Neutral hosts often address business needs that are localized and need solutions tailored for micro-segments of customers. For example, theme parks increasingly delivering AR and VR experiences to their customers could well have access to 5G private networks, which cannot meet their needs because of large clusters of customers in relatively narrow spaces. Neutral hosts specializing in mmWave networks delivered as a service share their resources to meet their needs saving amusement parks the prohibitive fixed costs of installing them.
Emergency response
The emergency response needs a rapid response at unanticipated locations often far from the nearest macro network. Cradlepoint specializes in creating 5G pop-up private networks interconnecting devices that sit in backpacks or vehicles used by emergency response personnel. It supports, for example, Qwake, which provides a solution for firefighters to see through smoke to gain situational awareness. The solution needs high-bandwidth communications to process AR imagery, infrared to see through smoke, and data from sensors to gain situational awareness.
Private Networks and Neutral hosts: growth and opportunity
Neutral hosts have experienced robust growth in recent years. One measure of it is the growth of small cell installations by neutral hosts. According to the July 2021 market status report issued by the Small Cell Forum, small cell installations with neutral hosts will grow an estimated 37-40% CAGR for the year ending 2026. Private networks of neutral hosts will be the primary drivers, jumping from 158 thousand radio units in 2020 to 354 thousand units in 2023.
Neutral host opportunity is growing with increasing adoption of Open RAN, platforms that make it easier to configure private networks and deploy them, multi-operator and multi-technology deployments, and the imminent exponential growth of 5G Standalone technologies.
Open RAN makes it easier for neutral hosts to share their infrastructure with multiple vendors and companies. Historically, collaborations between neutral hosts and MNOs, have been hampered by the loss of end-to-end visibility needed to control the quality of service. Open networking makes it easier for neutral hosts to collaborate without partners losing control due to the integration of networks.
The Small Cell Forum has issued standards for various vendors to collaborate and share resources.
API-based integration of vendors and technologies makes it easier for neutral hosts to meet specific needs, such as those found on university campuses. Cloud-native platforms, such as Israeli company JpU’s HyperCore platform for 4G/5G private networks, are designed for neutral hosts to simplify deployments. DevOps can use API libraries to design and implement deployments, customize business logic, and integrate third-party services.
The preference for neutral hosts for multi-vendor, multi-technology, and multi-network deployments is evident from the autonomous car testing in Midlands. They lower the cost of infrastructure and meets diverse connection needs in an open network environment.
5G Standalone private networks create an environment where multiple vendors from the users’ end and those from networks can collaborate and innovate to address several use cases. The standards for such integration have been written by –ACIA (Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation).
Conclusion
Service generation will be the hallmark of 5G Standalone as the barriers to innovation fall. MNOs of yore cannot possibly develop the diversity of skills and technologies needed to create services for an expanding range of use cases rapidly. By contrast, sunk costs don’t deter neutral hosts. Instead, they use software and the flexibility of private networks to string together vendors and technologies to weave solutions together.
