@conference {3448, title = {Financing and Pricing Small Cells in Next - Generation Mobile Networks}, booktitle = {12th International Conference on Wired and Wireless Internet Communications (WWIC{\textquoteright}2014), Paris, France}, year = {2014}, month = {May 26-28}, pages = {41-54}, abstract = {

Small cells technology has also strong potentials for enhancing cell coverage and network capacity of next-generation cellular networks including 5G. From mobile network operators{\textquoteright} perspective, small\ cell deployment will additionally achieve large reduction to the network\ costs in both elds of capital expenditure and operational expenditure.\ In this study, we analyze the bene ts of small cells{\textquoteright} deployment for operators and we list the subscriber incentives for choosing small cells instead\ of other access types, such as WiFi, for indoor deployment. Furthermore,\ we provide a nancial analysis of the small cell costs for deployment and\ operation against the corresponding macrocellular costs. We also examine pricing models that could be used to incentivize subscribers and to\ expedite the small cells{\textquoteright} penetration into the market so as to become an\ economically viable solution. Finally, we present our experimental results\ demonstrating possible use cases of our cost and pricing models.

}, author = {Christos Bouras and Vasileios Kokkinos and Andreas Papazois} }