08 October 2018
Ontix is deploying a pilot small cell network in Trafalgar Square in November. Traffic will be backhauled using the company’s hybrid Metrohaul transmission network.
Ontix has signed a new strategic partnership with Westminster City Council that promises to deliver “world class” wireless service to residents, businesses and visitors across the London borough.
The wireless IaaS provider says that following a competitive tender, it was awarded a 10-year concession contract giving it exclusive rights to deploy small cells on the council’s street furniture and lampposts. Ontix claims this will provide “next-generation” wireless infrastructure to mobile operators and other wireless network operators.
A pilot wireless small cell network will be deployed in Trafalgar Square this November. This will be available for all operators to trial. A rollout across the wider Westminster area is then expected to continue during 2019, spanning many of the capital’s most popular tourist attractions.
Ontix says that in recent years, pressure on Westminster’s legacy network infrastructure has been growing, with operators struggling to access enough suitable rooftop sites to deploy the macro cells they have been using to date.
As part of its 10-year partnership with the council, the company will also use its hybrid Metrohaul platform to build a high capacity, neutral-host backhaul network to deliver 5G-ready connectivity for all operators. This will also be available as part of the small cells trial.
Ontix says this will feature a dark fibre core that will connect its fibre nodes in rings. Using the latest wireless equipment, the company says it will then provide high capacity, resilient connections from each fibre node to multiple small cells.
Ontix goes on to claim that unlike the traditional managed fibre links used by mobile operators, its costs will be lower and time to market will be shorter because it does not need to install fibre to every small cell. It adds that solution will also be resilient because its fibre will be deployed in independent ‘rings’ that will allow traffic to be rerouted if one ring is cut.
