Tiny Cube-shaped Mobile Mast To TransportRural Broadband

An innovative latest mobile network technology will banish ugly mobile masts and help deliver rural broadband, its makers claim.

The system, dubbed light Radio, shrinks and simplifies the electronics in mobile network base stations to slash costs and power consumption by around half, said Alcatel-Lucent, the French networking giant.

It offers connectivity to 2G, 3G and forthcoming 4G data networks via tiny cube shaped antennae that fit in the palm of a hand and can be installed wherever there is power. The cubes do not have the range of a traditional mobile mast, but they are cheaper and fewer obtrusive, so can be installed in groups to offer the same or better coverage.

Meanwhile the most challenging computing functions of a traditional mobile base station  handled by the base band unit  are removed to a single microchip that can be positioned anywhere within the network. Centralising such processing will cut maintenance costs dramatically.

Main mobile operators including Orange, China Mobile and Verizon Wireless are now setting up trials of light Radio, to begin later this year.

Unveiling the technology in London, Ben Verwaayen, Alcatel-Lucent's chief executive, claimed that "light Radio will signal the end of the base station and cell tower as we identify it today".

WORLD TECHNOLOGY { WT }