ICT Standards for Smart Cities
Recently, the Telecom Secretary has released the report of Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC).
- The title of this report is “Rollout of Small Cells for 5G Networks by leveraging Street Furniture”.
- A small cell is a cellular base station. Its coverage area can range from ten meters to several hundred meters. However, the coverage area of a typical mobile macro cell can be up to several kilometers. Thus, the coverage area of a macro cell is greater than that of a small cell.
- TRAI has identified Street Furniture as a suitable asset for setting up small sales.
- Street Furniture refers to the Electric Posts, Advertising Hoardings, Bus Shelters and Towers installed on the street.
The following are the different types of 5G small cells versions:
- Femtocells: Their coverage area is up to 10 m.
- Picocells: Their coverage area is up to 200 m.
- Microcells: Their coverage area is about two kilometers.
Why are small cells needed in a 5G network?
- For Offloading: Due to increased pressure on the macro site of an area, it becomes unable to serve the entire population of the area concerned.
- For Capacity Augmentation: Macro sites serving a building/area may not be able to serve parts of that building/area with sufficient capacity. It is also needed for providing indoor coverage in basements, underground metro tunnels etc.
Related Issues:
- At present, there is no regulatory mechanism in relation to small sales.
- Right of way (Row) rules are implemented unevenly by the states and municipal bodies.
- Sustainability issues: This includes issues such as the ability of electric poles to bear the load of small cells and the possibility of poles falling.
Measures to be taken in this regard:
- Simplified and streamlined procedures should be adopted for building/street furniture permits in respect of small sales.
- Criteria should be framed to facilitate the acquisition of new sites.
- More transparency should be ensured in respect of available properties such as towers, buildings and other structures.
Source – The Hindu
