This paper considers a K-cell multiple access channel with inter-symbol
interference. The primary finding of this paper is that, without instantaneous
channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT), the sum
degrees-of-freedom (DoF) of the considered channel is ββ−1K
with β≥2 when the number of users per cell is sufficiently large,
where β is the ratio of the maximum channel-impulse-response (CIR) length
of desired links to that of interfering links in each cell. Our finding implies
that even without instantaneous CSIT, \textit{interference-free DoF per cell}
is achievable as β approaches infinity with a sufficiently large number
of users per cell. This achievability is shown by a blind interference
management method that exploits the relativity in delay spreads between desired
and interfering links. In this method, all inter-cell-interference signals are
aligned to the same direction by using a discrete-Fourier-transform-based
precoding with cyclic prefix that only depends on the number of CIR taps. Using
this method, we also characterize the achievable sum rate of the considered
channel, in a closed-form expression.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Communication