Tag Archives: Small Cells World Summit

News, Telecoms

SCF Small Cell Award Winners for 2022 Announced

Industry gathers to celebrate best small cell deployments and technology innovations of the year

London, UK 25th May 2022 – Small Cell Forum (SCF) has announced the winners of the SCF Small Cell Awards 2022, recognizing outstanding achievement within, and contributions to, the global small cell industry. The awards were presented at a ceremony during Small Cells World Summit in London last night.

Open to the whole industry and judged independently of SCF by a panel of distinguished analysts, journalists and industry experts, the awards attracted entries from operators and vendors from across the world and the full spectrum of the mobile value chain.

Chair of Judges, and Co-founder of Rethink Research, Caroline Gabriel said: “There was a very wide diversity of entries this year, reflecting how the small cell market is broadening in the 5G era. The judges were particularly impressed by the evidence of innovative thinking, both in technology and commercial models.

“The SCF Small Cell Awards judging process is an extremely rigorous one, and as always, it was difficult to single out winners in a very strong field, but we think the successful entries demonstrate the maturing of this market very well.”

The full list of award winners is:

  1. Excellence in commercial deployment by an MNO

Rakuten Mobile and Airspan – Rakuten Mobile deployment of Open RAN and small cells

  1. Excellence in commercial deployment by neutral host

Wireless Infrastructure Group – How WIG’s sustainable comms infrastructure enables the development of next generation sustainable mobility solutions

  1. Excellence in commercial deployment by a private network operator

Airspan Networks and Druid Software – Airspan 5G starter kit/network in a box: Accelerating adoption of 5G private networks globally using open standards

  1. Outstanding small cell technology in commercial use

Jio Platforms (JPL) – Jio’s 5G outdoor small cell, augmenting data capacity and coverage at hotspot locations

  1. Outstanding software and services technology for small cells, in commercial use

ITRI and PEGATRON – 5G Energy-Saving O-RAN System

  1. Outstanding contribution to emerging technology or architecture

Mavenir – Technology breakthrough in small cells combining Open RAN and containerization

  1. Outstanding innovation in chips or components to enable small cell networks

Picocom – PC802, Industry’s first 5G/4G small cell system on chip designed for Open RAN

  1. Outstanding contribution to new small cell business cases

Betacom – Betacom 5G as a Service – industry’s first fully managed private wireless service

  1. Commercial product or service to enable multi-operator and neutral host business models

Ericsson – Ericsson multi-operator and neutral host solutions

  1. Outstanding contribution to Small Cell Open RAN platforms or standards development

Radisys – Radisys’ Advanced Release 16 Compliant 5G NR Software

  1. Social Impact – Promoting Small Cells for Social / Economic / Environmental Development

BAI Communications and Sunderland City Council – Sunderland: A 5G small-cell powered Smart City to deliver socio-economic outcomes

Special awards

  1. Judges Choice

Corning Inc and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. – 5G mmWave delivers best-in-class mobile experience at the Big Game

  1. Chairs’ Award

Vikas Dixit – For outstanding contributions to Open6 and Fronthaul

  1. Individual Contribution to SCF Activities

Lynne Price-Walker – for member services

Networks, News

Small Cells World Summit returns to London this May with commercially focused agenda and exclusive private networks workshop

Leading industry speakers will cover topics including enterprise connectivity, shared and flexible infrastructure and Open RAN technologies

28 April, 2022, London – SCF, the global organization committed to supporting agile, low-cost mobile infrastructure through small networks, has released details of Small Cells World Summit 2022, which will take place live in London 24-25 May, followed by virtual summits in June.

The conference brings together mobile network operators, neutral hosts, enterprise, public sector, vendors, analysts, policymakers and regulators, for a packed program of leading speakers sharing innovation, best practise and debating some of the industry’s hottest topics, including enterprise connectivity and how this will be delivered, flexible and shared infrastructure and Open RAN technologies and strategies.

A special workshop will also take place, supported by the UK’s Department for International Trade, Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDM), focused on 5G private networks – the opportunities, challenges and regulatory implications. This will include contributions from policymakers and enterprises from across Europe, and representatives from the wireless industry.

Events sponsors have also been announced and are available on the website, including: Platinum sponsor Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Diamond sponsor Ericsson, and Sapphire sponsor Picocom.

Chair of SCF, Prabhakar Chitrapu, PhD, said: “The unique characteristic of SCWS is that its agenda considers the future of enterprise connectivity and digital transformation of industries through the lens of real-world requirements and learnings from commercial deployments.

“We’ve had incredible support from our industry and our sponsors, who have got behind this event because they understand the unique benefit of fostering the much-needed conversation between technologists, business professionals and regulators affecting the success of the whole eco-system. After two years enforced absence courtesy of Covid, I’m looking forward to finally having the opportunity to meet and network once again with colleagues at this two-day event in London.”

Simon Fletcher, SCF Chief Strategy Officer, added: “While at the conference we consider the implications of 5G and 6G evolution, SCWS 2022 is not a blue-sky event. It’s much more grounded – commercially focused on the technology and business models that can deliver outstanding connectivity for enterprise, industry and consumers and service models that can be monetized by our industry. We’re also pleased to be hosting a private networks workshop, supported by the DIT, DCMS and FCDO, because again this focuses on how private network technologies need to evolve to address enterprise demand and the role policy makers can play as enablers.”

SCWS London will also host the SCF Small Cell Awards Gala Dinner on the first evening, a glittering networking event to celebrate the achievements of the industry. The conference will include an exhibition area, main conference stage, break-out areas, networking and drinks functions.

To bring the conference to a global audience, and for those who are not able to travel to the UK, SCWS London will be followed by two exclusive regionally focused Virtual Summits, on June 8 for Asia and June 9 for the US. The virtual platform will host all the recorded sessions from London, and will be complimented by dedicated regional specific sessions and panel discussions, as well as online exhibitors and virtual networking.

Delegate tickets to London include free access to the virtual summits, or virtual passes can be purchased separately. Registration is open. Delegate passes to all summits, and gala dinner tickets can be purchased online now, visit www.smallcells.world

News, Telecoms

SCF Small Cell Awards 2022 announces two new categories dedicated to neutral host and private network deployments

Prestigious Awards ceremony will take place during SCWS in London

London, 16 March 2022 – Entries are open for the SCF Small Cell Awards 2022, with new categories added to showcase neutral host and private network deployments, as well as updated categories on the topics of small cells Open RAN and small cells technology.

The Awards ceremony will take place during a prestigious gala dinner in London at Small Cells World Summit 2022, on 24 May.

Companies from across the eco-system are invited to submit their entries by 1 April to the Awards, which are recognized as the ultimate industry badge of excellence.

Caroline Gabriel, Chair of Judges for the awards, and co-founder of Rethink Research said: “This year, as in previous years, we looked at the categories to see how well they reflected our industry and we felt that this year neutral host deployments needed a dedicated category as did private networks. These are growing areas of our industry right now, and I am looking forward to seeing the submissions for these categories where companies can showcase some of the real deployments taking place globally.

“I urge companies to submit an entry because the SCF Small Cell Awards are the Oscars of our sector and I am delighted that this year, after a two-year hiatus, we will be able to gather at a ceremony in London to celebrate the finalists and winners.”

The awards are judged independently by a panel of industry analysts and journalists. This year’s judging panel includes Sue Rudd, Director of Networks and Service Platforms, Service Provider Group, at Strategy Analytics; Keith Dyer, editor of The Mobile Network; Dean Bubley, founder of Disruptive Analysis, Roberto Kompany, Principal Analyst, Service Provider Networks, at Omdia and Mark Keenan, CEO of Real Wireless.

There are 10 categories in total to enter, including ‘Outstanding small cell technology in commercial use’, ‘Outstanding contribution to Open RAN networks or standards’, and ‘Outstanding innovation in chips and components to enable small cell networks’.

Submissions can be joint entries between two or more companies, and the event is open to the whole industry, not just SCF members. To find out more and to enter visit https://www.smallcellforum.org/awards/scf-small-cell-awards-2022/