Metrocells will need wireless backhaul with sufficient data throughput to deliver the high speeds which 3.5G and LTE are capable of. It's also important that the total capacity of that wireless backhaul within a geographic area matches or exceeds that of the metrocells themselves.
The key tradeoffs are the cost (and availability) of suitable spectrum, the cost of the equipment itself and the ease of deployment and maintenance. The relatively unused 42GHz sits between the licence free 60GHz and the more heavily utilized 28GHz bands, attracting some spectrum licence fees while offering lower costs by using a Point-to-Multipoint topology.
A recent Point-to-multipoint backhaul research report from ExelixisNet (March 2013) forecasts a dramatic 54% CAGR revenue growth of the 42GHz band in the next 5-years. That is a very positive upward trend from the current very small baseline, and won't outnumber the traditional 26 and 28GHz PtMP bands, which will still lead the PtMP revenue chart. Field testing and lobbying are expected to be the key drivers, along with the evolution of the small cells deployment between 2014 and 2015. Millimetre PtMP solutions in 42GHz, when ultimately offering "gigabits per square kilometre" for a limited range could position as a very good alternative to meet the challenges of the small cell backhaul.
Shayan Sanyal, Chief Commercial Officer for Bluwan adds on the prospects of this spectrum from a millimeter PtMP perspective: "We are at the beginning of what can be achieved from an RF performance perspective; already today, radios have been produced that can provide up to 2.3 Gbps on a single sector at 64 QAM and even more based on chipset improvements. Applications cover not just small cell backhaul, but multi-layered heterogeneous network backhaul, backhaul/RAN sharing initiatives and high capacity enterprise access".
The complete article can be found on ThinkSmallCell.