5G Era: INWIT, Huawei Partner to Promote Rollout of Small Cells

INWIT, the largest telecom tower company in Italy, and Huawei have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for close cooperation in products and technologies, services and platforms, and ecosystems and expansions of indoor businesses.

Both sides vowed to comprehensively upgrade indoor network coverage, expand network capacity, and create 5G-oriented digital networks in Italy.

Huawei and INWIT signing a strategic MoU

INWIT, Italian tower company of Telecom Italia Group, operates in the wireless network infrastructure sectors, focusing on constructing, maintaining, and leasing towers and related resources. Now, it owns more than tens of thousands high-quality site resources across Italy. INWIT has listed indoor coverage construction as one key action on its 2018 business agenda.

As part of the MoU, both sides agreed to cooperate on the latest product solutions and joint innovations in researches and applications of small cell technologies. Aspiring missions also include joint researches into innovative site solutions and introducing partners from vertical industries to jointly build small cell ecosystems.

With such acts to pursue indoor digitization, both sides will be in good position to explore mobile office network automation for industry 4.0 and smoothly transition indoor digitalization toward 5G.

Huawei offers small cell solutions that cover a full range of scenarios. One category is LampSite, which is an indoor location that features mega capacity and support for fast deployment and software-based cell splitting. This makes it an ideal choice to realize flexible and fast capacity expansion while preparing for transition to future 5G technology.

This solution puts operators in good position to fulfill service needs with significantly improved user experience in a broad range of scenarios, including transport hubs, sports stadiums, hotels, office buildings, shopping smalls, campuses, metros, and hospitals. It also provides a strong instrument for operators to build 5G-oriented indoor digital networks.

Another example is Micro, which is an outdoor all-in-box small cell solution. With a small dimension and lower power consumption, this solution allows for flexible deployments in hotspot areas to address coverage problems. Its support for flexible backhaul solutions means additional strength for fast deployment, enabling operators to build sites where there is a power supply available.

Oscar Cicchetti, CEO of INWIT, said: "5G Action Plan has been initiated in Europe. Now, Italy is among the first to implement this plan. We side with the views that indoor digitalization serves as the optimal choice for evolution to 5G. This MoU will create more opportunities for us to jointly promote small cell solutions and applications in indoor coverage domain. This cooperation will create more value to our customers as well."

Peter Zhou, Chief Marketing Officer of Wireless Network of Huawei, said: "We are glad to have strategic cooperation with INWIT to jointly promote the mobile broadband development in Europe. Indoor places are essential to overall user experience. Digital networks are helpful to improve indoor MBB experience and capacity revenues. More importantly, they are crucial for upcoming transitions toward 5G. Our solutions allow cables to be reserved for and existing site resources to be reused by 5G networks, helping operators transition to 5G while pursue leading advantages in indoor coverage with maximized investment efficiency."

The Mobile World Congress 2018 (MWC2018) is set to take place on February 26 to March 1 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei will showcase products and solutions in Pavilion 1J50 of Fira Gran Via Hall 1, Pavilion 3I30 of Hall 3, and Pavilion for Innovative Cities in Hall 4 during the event