Electricians are set for a boom as demand for small cell infrastructure grows, a senior executive at wireless broadband equipment vendor Radwin predicts.
Adi Nativ, vice president of marketing and business development, told TelecomAsia the need to tap the power supplies of street furniture including lampposts is something local authorities will insist is handled by a properly qualified tradesman.
The Radwin man made the prediction while demonstrating his firm’s new non line-of-sight small cell backhaul product at the Mobile World Congress. Nativ explains that operators began recognizing the potential of street-level small cells in 2011, but need a solution to combat interference from cars, trees, trains, and even people.
Radwin – which specializes in sub 6-GHz kit - is offering a point-to-point and point-to-multipoint solution to the problem, and is already conducting trials with operators in the US and Europe.
“It’s generating a lot of excitement,” Nativ told TA.net, adding. “You can hand it to operators and let them test it themselves,” rather than providing generic test data.
Despite the apparent enthusiasm for the product, Nativ says the industry still needs convincing about the potential of the non line-of-sight approach. The small cell market must also be a collaborative effort if it is to succeed, he explained. “We’ll play an important role, but the whole industry needs to work together.”
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