Cellcom selects CBNL’s millimeter wave backhaul for LTE small cells
- Cellcom to accelerate LTE densification by adopting CBNL’s 28GHz licensed point-to-multipoint as a backhaul component for their outdoor small cell strategy
CBNL has today announced that Cellcom, an innovative wireless company that serves its customer base throughout Wisconsin and Michigan, has selected its 28GHz VectaStar platform as a backhaul solution for their outdoor small cell strategy, increasing capacity and coverage of their LTE services.
With an initial trial of VectaStar currently underway, Cellcom plans to utilize the technology to backhaul some of the company’s first LTE outdoor small cells as a densification strategy.
By choosing CBNL’s leading millimeter wave technology, Cellcom is maximizing the benefits of spectrum that holds exceptional levels of capacity, as highlighted recently by the Federal Communications Commission who opened it up to deliver 5G.
VectaStar innovatively reuses spectrum to offer efficient use of the 28GHz band.
For example, VectaStar’s FDD platform and proprietary dynamic µ-TDMA software can offer up to 4.4Gbps of provisioned capacity per sector from just two 50MHz channel pairs.
The capacity of VectaStar, together with total cost of ownership savings of up to 50 percent compared to licensed point-to-point, has provided Cellcom with a business case to unlock the true benefits of millimeter wave.
Not only does this provide a highly efficient path to offer cutting-edge LTE services, but enables Cellcom to scale to even greater capacities in the future.
Bob Sobieck, Director of RF engineering at Cellcom, said:
“Cellcom is committed to providing the very best coverage and extraordinary levels of service for our customers.
"We’ve been quick to identify additional opportunities of 28GHz, and are focused on continuing to maximize the band to scale our capacity and deliver the most modern LTE services.
“By investing in the most innovative technologies, such as this, we are able to unlock the benefits of millimeter wave and look forward to bringing these to market in the form of faster data rates and deeper coverage.
"We look forward to working with CBNL and strengthening our long-term collaboration.”
VP North America at CBNL, said:
“We’re delighted VectaStar has been selected as a key technology to deliver Cellcom’s small cell strategy.
"Cellcom is the latest in a series of forward thinking carriers to target millimeter wave and select VectaStar as the technology that can maximize the spectrum to quickly scale backhaul and fixed wireless networks.
“With the ability to deliver 14.4Gbps per hub site and drive significant efficiency through spectrum reuse, VectaStar offers a transformational business case to scale networks and realize the true potential of this 5G spectrum.
"We have developed a strong partnership with Cellcom and look forward to supporting them as their network grows.”
The project marks the quick adoption of 28GHz VectaStar in the US, which has already been deployed across nine states since launching just over 18 months ago.