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Indoor Neutral-Host Networks Over Shared Spectrum and Shared Infrastructure: A Comparison Study of Real-World Deployments

Joshua Roy Palathinkal, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Vanlin Sathya, Mehmet Yavuz, Monisha Ghosh

TL;DR

A multi-site measurement study comparing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled NH networks against public MNO 4G/5G macro deployments and Wi-Fi shows NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but trails Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency due to packet routing overhead to the MNO core.

Abstract

Indoor high-capacity connectivity is frequently constrained by significant building penetration loss and the inherent uplink power limitations of a typical outdoor macro-cell deployment. While Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) must optimize spectrum across low-band (<1 GHz) and mid-band (1-7 GHz) frequencies, uplink performance remains disproportionately degraded due to link budget asymmetry. Neutral-host (NH) networking provides a scalable alternative by transparently offloading MNO subscribers via spectrum sharing and shared infrastructure. We present a multi-site measurement study comparing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled NH networks against public MNO 4G/5G macro deployments and Wi-Fi. Our results show: (i) significant building penetration loss with up to 15.5 dB in low-bands and 17.9 dB in mid-bands, resulting in a ~10 dB RSRP deficit for MNO mid-bands compared to low-bands; (ii) NH networks provide a 30 dB higher median indoor RSRP with indoor NH normalized downlink throughput matches MNO outdoor performance, while its uplink performance exceeds MNO levels in both indoor and outdoor settings; (iii) NH proximity enables superior uplink efficiency, utilizing 64-QAM for 56% of transmissions (versus <6% for MNOs) and reducing median UE transmit power by 5 dB; (iv) MNOs rely on low-band spectrum for indoor uplink transmissions, while the NH deployment maintains high-performance mid-band connectivity; and (v) NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but trails Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency due to packet routing overhead to the MNO core.

Indoor Neutral-Host Networks Over Shared Spectrum and Shared Infrastructure: A Comparison Study of Real-World Deployments

TL;DR

A multi-site measurement study comparing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled NH networks against public MNO 4G/5G macro deployments and Wi-Fi shows NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but trails Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency due to packet routing overhead to the MNO core.

Abstract

Indoor high-capacity connectivity is frequently constrained by significant building penetration loss and the inherent uplink power limitations of a typical outdoor macro-cell deployment. While Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) must optimize spectrum across low-band (<1 GHz) and mid-band (1-7 GHz) frequencies, uplink performance remains disproportionately degraded due to link budget asymmetry. Neutral-host (NH) networking provides a scalable alternative by transparently offloading MNO subscribers via spectrum sharing and shared infrastructure. We present a multi-site measurement study comparing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled NH networks against public MNO 4G/5G macro deployments and Wi-Fi. Our results show: (i) significant building penetration loss with up to 15.5 dB in low-bands and 17.9 dB in mid-bands, resulting in a ~10 dB RSRP deficit for MNO mid-bands compared to low-bands; (ii) NH networks provide a 30 dB higher median indoor RSRP with indoor NH normalized downlink throughput matches MNO outdoor performance, while its uplink performance exceeds MNO levels in both indoor and outdoor settings; (iii) NH proximity enables superior uplink efficiency, utilizing 64-QAM for 56% of transmissions (versus <6% for MNOs) and reducing median UE transmit power by 5 dB; (iv) MNOs rely on low-band spectrum for indoor uplink transmissions, while the NH deployment maintains high-performance mid-band connectivity; and (v) NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but trails Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency due to packet routing overhead to the MNO core.
Paper Structure (16 sections, 1 equation, 12 figures, 7 tables)

This paper contains 16 sections, 1 equation, 12 figures, 7 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Measurement Methodology & Data Collection
  4. Deployment Overview
  5. MNO Macro
  6. CBRS Neutral-host
  7. Enterprise Wi-Fi
  8. Results
  9. Cellular Coverage and Building Loss
  10. Indoor Coverage Enhancement via Dedicated Small-Cells
  11. PCI-Specific Analysis
  12. Cellular PHY-Layer Performance Comparison
  13. Comparison of Uplink Metrics
  14. Band-Specific Analysis in the Uplink
  15. Comparison of End-to-End Network Performance
  16. ...and 1 more sections

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: Neutral-host architecture rochman2025neutral.
  • Figure 2: Overview of deployment sites.
  • Figure 3: Cellular measurement footprint for Sites-A,B,C.
  • Figure 4: RSRP/SS-RSRP comparison over all sites.
  • Figure 5: Indoor-outdoor RSRP comparison for MNO-B NR low- and mid-band PCIs at Site-A.
  • ...and 7 more figures