The Impact of Unlicensed Access on Small-Cell Resource Allocation

摘要

Small cells deployed in licensed spectrum and unlicensed access via WiFiprovide different ways of expanding wireless services to low mobility users.That reduces the demand for conventional macro-cellular networks, which arebetter suited for wide-area mobile coverage. The mix of these technologies seenin practice depends in part on the decisions made by wireless service providersthat seek to maximize revenue, and allocations of licensed and unlicensedspectrum by regulators. To understand these interactions we present a model inwhich a service provider allocates available licensed spectrum across twoseparate bands, one for macro- and one for small-cells, in order to serve twotypes of users: mobile and fixed. We assume a service model in which theproviders can charge a (different) price per unit rate for each type of service(macro- or small-cell); unlicensed access is free. With this setup we study howthe addition of unlicensed spectrum affects prices and the optimal allocationof bandwidth across macro-/small-cells. We also characterize the optimalfraction of unlicensed spectrum when new bandwidth becomes available.