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Recently, the Small Base Station Forum (SCF), an important industry organization in the global mobile communication field, released its market forecast research report, bringing the industry the most comprehensive analysis of the deployment of small base stations in the world from now to 2027. The report points out that by 2027, the cumulative deployment of small base stations in the global market will be close to 36 million small base station RF systems, with a compound growth rate (CAGR) of 15% in the next five years.

Based on the report, Beijing Huaxing Wanbang Management Consulting Co., Ltd. made a more in-depth analysis and believed that the global small base station industry would form a development path characterized by multi suppliers, high flexibility and low power consumption, which is different from the traditional macro base station industrialization model, based on a chip solution with higher integration. At the same time, since the small base station brings flexibility and universality to the last kilometer of mobile communication, it will drive technological innovation, operator services, and even new service-oriented manufacturing business and other business model innovation.

The most important input information of this prediction is a large-scale survey of the small base station deployers, including 69 mobile network operators (MNOs) and 32 other service providers, such as private network operators (PNOs) and neutral communication infrastructure construction and rental service providers (neutral hosts)

Some important findings in SCF’s 2022 report:

The report predicts that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of small base stations in the global market is 15%, which will deploy nearly 36 million small base station RF systems in 2027.

By the end of 2024, the most common architecture in indoor enterprise sites will be a two unit, one split network based on Split 6. 46% of the dominant deployers will choose this solution in part of their planned deployment. The second most common choice is to insist on using the integrated mini NodeB (18% of the deployers will choose this option), and then the one split of the O-RAN alliance, namely Split 7.

The report predicts that the popularity of enterprise mini NodeBs deployed and running together with edge computing and/or packet processing core network units will continue to rise. During 2020-2027, RF units with the above two functions will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 50%, accounting for 25% of the total equipment at the end of the same period, of which 27% will be operated by dedicated core processing units independent of any edge.

During 2020-2027, manufacturing, utilities and energy, retail and transportation will be the largest deployment areas of small base stations, which reflects that they will need a large number of RF units to support large sites or infrastructure networks.

By 2027, the number of system units deployed and operated by neutral communication infrastructure construction and rental service providers will be equivalent to the number of units deployed and operated by private network operators, accounting for about one-third of each. From 2023 to 2027, the private network operator will become the largest small base station operator, and will surpass the public network of mobile network operators from 2023.

The 5G small base station market is changing the pattern and promoting innovation

It can be seen from the previous report of the Small NodeB Forum that in the future, the 5G small NodeB operation mode will be more abundant, the application scenarios will be more extensive, the number will grow more rapidly, and the product forms will be more diversified. Therefore, Huaxing Wanbang believes that this will promote the formation of an industrial development mode different from the traditional macro NodeB industry in the market. On demand deployment and accurate service will be the sharp tool for operators to cope with the further development of the market, and small base stations will play an important role in it. This year, China Mobile’s 5G small base station bidding has opened the prelude to this new development.

From the perspective of the global market, to ensure that the small base station market can successfully achieve the 36 million RF system deployments and a compound annual growth rate of up to 15% mentioned in this research report, it is necessary for the small base station system to achieve architectural innovation, that is, to create a new architecture through the optimal use of modern mobile communication systems and technologies, with the help of higher integrated circuit design and manufacturing technology, and supporting carrier level software.

From the perspective of industrial division of labor, if the basic technologies required by 5G mini NodeBs, such as baseband chips and system software, provide support, the 5G mini NodeB market will welcome more system suppliers and use them to produce more diversified mini NodeB systems that meet the needs of different application scenarios. Therefore, such as the baseband chip of PC802 5G small base station recently launched by Picocom, has received special attention from the industry.

The PC802 small base station system level chip (SoC), which was launched in December 2021 and immediately adopted by dozens of customers, is the world’s first high-performance, low-power and programmable baseband chip for small base stations. It integrates a complete new generation of mobile communication functions and powerful computing capabilities, and is dedicated to 4G/5G small base station equipment. PC802 supports the distributed/integrated 5G small base station platform, including indoor residential, enterprise and industrial networks, neutral host networks and outdoor networks, and can also support the development of other intelligent networking devices.

Shortly after the baseband SoC was launched, Bikoch announced that it had achieved docking with Radisys and provided customers with a 5G Open RAN joint platform based on Bikoch PC802 and Radisys Connect RAN 5G software. At present, the cooperation has realized 4-antenna transceiver (4T4R) and reached a stable full rate. The flexible and low-power PC802 devices will help the new generation 5G NR Open RAN products achieve innovation.

Up to now, nearly 10 small base station equipment manufacturers have completed the design of 5G small base stations and made calls using this device. At the same time, PC802 has won many industry awards including the “Outstanding Innovation Award for Small Base Station Network Chips and Components” of the Global Small Base Station Forum for its excellent performance. By taking advantage of the high flexibility of the PC802 baseband SoC innovated by Birkozy, partners can make differentiated products, thus promoting the large-scale deployment of the entire 5G small base station industry for targeted applications as soon as possible.

In addition to its PC802 chip’s continuous design introduction, Birkozy is also accelerating the ecological construction of 5G mini NodeB. PC802 has recently completed the docking debugging with the 5G protocol stack of Shiju Network, which once again confirms the value PC802 can provide to partners such as 5G mini NodeB equipment developers and protocol stack software providers, including high performance, high economy and low power consumption.

Small NodeBs Facilitate New Business Models

The 5G mini NodeB based on innovative technologies such as PC802 is bringing flexibility and universality to the last mile of mobile communication. The 5G mini NodeB is a product based on innovative technology and advanced manufacturing, and it is also the carrier of mobile communication services, even edge computing and data processing services. Therefore, the development of the global mini NodeB market will drive technological innovation and operator services Even new service-oriented manufacturing business and other business model innovation.

The small base station manufacturer said that its small base station system can provide fast and low-cost coverage for small enclosed scenes, hot spots or blind areas, and can solve many problems in the construction of 5G networks in indoor coverage scenes of mining, power, manufacturing, transportation, chemical industry, parks, warehousing and other industries. When the scene richness reaches a new height, the integration of “product+service” between operators and system developers will be rapidly improved.

In fact, many infrastructure and intelligent products such as 5G mini base stations will also become an important product to promote business model innovation. 2022 is the fifth anniversary of the founding of China’s service-oriented manufacturing alliance. You can learn more about the new service-oriented manufacturing model and research results in the five-year series of activities held by the alliance, and further understand how information and communication products can empower themselves and create new value by combining and carrying new services.

Summary

In view of the rapid development of the global small base station market and the potential market of 36 million units, the 5G small base station market has become a platinum track worthy of attention. It can not only promote the birth of innovative baseband SoC and other new technologies such as Bikeqi PC802, but also incubate new 5G operation business models including service-oriented manufacturing And innovative service models to meet the diversified and evolving needs of the mobile communication market.