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
This study compares indoor neutral-host networks with traditional MNO deployments, showing that NH networks significantly improve indoor coverage, uplink performance, and spectrum efficiency through shared infrastructure and spectrum sharing.
Contribution
It provides the first comprehensive real-world measurement comparison of CBRS-enabled neutral-host networks against MNO macro and Wi-Fi deployments.
Findings
NH networks offer 30 dB higher indoor RSRP than MNOs.
Uplink performance in NH exceeds MNO levels and uses higher-order modulation.
NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but is slightly behind Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency.
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…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAdvanced MIMO Systems Optimization · Wireless Networks and Protocols · Cognitive Radio Networks and Spectrum Sensing
