Virgin Media completes small cell LTE trials in three cities

Virgin Media Business has completed trials of small cell Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband technology in Bristol, London and Newcastle.

Airspan Networks, a 4G broadband wireless access network provider, announced it worked with the cable company on the successful pilot scheme, which operated on test licences granted by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom.

The LTE architecture supplied by Airspan allows carriers to target capacity and coverage based on customer demand, as well as enabling common infrastructure to deliver indoor and outdoor 4G connectivity - a challenge at frequencies above 1GHz.

Airspan explained the "tailored approach" will give Virgin Media Business the opportunity to offer mobile operators a hosting service for use in the creation of very-high-capacity networks.

This, in turn, will allow carriers to contend with the spiralling demand for super-fast mobile broadband services in metropolitan areas.

Kevin Baughan, director of wireless at Virgin Media Business, said: "We believe that the 'small cells as a service' concept will appeal to mobile operators because a shared hosting environment is more cost effective than each operator building their own small cell infrastructure."

Airspan's vice president of product management Paul Trubridge added the company was "very pleased" with the positive outcome of the 4G trials.