Samsung’s 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell Will Help MSOs Rapidly Deploy Their Own Cellular Networks

Cable companies are the leaders when it comes to broadband services—it’s their core business. However, during the last five years, wireless mobile services have become an increasingly important component of their overall connectivity offering. In fact, the top two cable Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) garnered 653,000 new mobile subscribers in the second quarter of 2022¹ and now have almost 9 million mobile subscribers in the US.

Generally, the Multiple System Operators (MSOs) have had limited access to wireless cellular networks. Instead they’ve operated by leasing capacity and coverage from major mobile operators and then offering mobile service under their own brand.

But in recent years, that has all changed with the introduction of Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum (3.55 to 3.7 GHz) that was made available by the FCC. Top cable companies spent more than $1.1 billion in the 2020 FCC auction², buying Priority Access Licenses (PALs) for CBRS in over 1,500 counties covering nearly 70% of the U.S. population. The CBRS spectrum provides an opportunity to deliver new mobile service for what can be a fraction of the spectrum acquisition cost of most mobile networks. As a result, MSOs have the option to leverage CBRS to build their own cellular infrastructure using a highly targeted approach in their busiest areas that can help serve their growing number of MVNO customers.

Various MSOs have openly discussed their strategies for leveraging their CBRS holdings for delivering next-generation mobile services. Mobile services are a key area for future growth—particularly in offering additional 5G capacity in high traffic locations. Using CBRS holdings to offload traffic instead of paying for MVNO capacity provides the MSOs with “owner’s economics” and could result in substantial cost savings and provide a significant opportunity for them to further expand their wireless businesses.

To help MSOs maximize their CBRS holdings and to accelerate the deployment of next-generation networks, Samsung will be introducing a new solution within its already existing CBRS portfolio: a new 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell. Designed to be easily deployed on the MSOs aerial strand assets, it enables use of their existing infrastructure, helping them save on deployment costs.

Samsung’s New 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell
As a simple and easy-to-deploy outdoor small cell solution, Samsung’s new 5G CBRS Strand unit can help cable companies advance their growth and service expansion strategies. Comcast will be the first to use Samsung’s new small cell solution with their CBRS licenses and is actively testing several of our other 5G radio solutions.

For MSOs, Samsung’s 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell has been designed by Samsung to be an optimal solution to support the cable and broadband industry’s mobile service strategies. Designed to be installed on outdoor aerial cables, this compact and lightweight solution can be easily deployed. It integrates baseband, radio and antenna into a single form factor and will support two sectors to deliver high capacity across a wide wireless coverage area. The solution will also have integrated DOCSIS 3.1 modem for backhaul, and is also DOCSIS 4.0 ready.

Furthermore, Samsung’s 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell will support wide bandwidth of up to 80MHz across the entire CBRS spectrum, and provides dynamic configuration capabilities to meet MSOs specific power consumption requirements.

The 5G CBRS Strand unit will be equipped with the company’s newest in-house chipset—a second generation 5G modem System on a Chip (SoC)—which delivers increased capacity, performance, as well as feature parity with mobile operators’ requirements and a single unified element management solution. It will be able to deliver consistent performance with flexible antenna configurations capable of providing 90-, 180- and 360-degree coverage, depending on the MSO’s target service area.

As MSOs and cable companies advance their own commercial mobile networks, Samsung’s 5G CBRS Strand Small Cell will play a central role in helping them accelerate their growth. By using their own CBRS spectrum—and less on contracted MVNO capacity—MSOs can expand their 5G cellular coverage and offer intelligent bundling options. This will ultimately provide a scalable wireless solution that MSOs can commercially deploy almost anywhere in their cable service areas.