1 research outputs found
Spectrum and Infrastructure Sharing in Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks: An Economic Perspective
The licensing model for millimeter wave bands has been the subject of
considerable debate, with some industry players advocating for unlicensed use
and others for traditional geographic area exclusive use licenses. Meanwhile,
the massive bandwidth, highly directional antennas, high penetration loss and
susceptibility to shadowing in these bands suggest certain advantages to
spectrum and infrastructure sharing. However, even when sharing is technically
beneficial (as recent research in this area suggests that it is), it may not be
profitable. In this paper, both the technical and economic implications of
resource sharing in millimeter wave networks are studied. Millimeter wave
service is considered in the economic framework of a network good, where
consumers' utility depends on the size of the network, and the strategic
decisions of consumers and service providers are connected to detailed network
simulations. The results suggest that "open" deployments of neutral small cells
that serve subscribers of any service provider encourage market entry by making
it easier for networks to reach critical mass, more than "open" (unlicensed)
spectrum would. The conditions under which competitive service providers would
prefer to share resources or not are also described