Nine new members have joined the Small Cell Forum in its efforts to drive wide-scale adoption of small cells and the development of interoperable networks on the path to 5G.
The newest members include: network technology company Ciena, Druid, Fastback Networks, InCoax, NextNav, Plasma Antennas, Raycap, Shenzen Gongjin Electronics Co., and Technicolor.
“Small cells are now widely accepted as the key way in which large scale capacity will be delivered across mobile networks. Therefore, it remains critical that the whole telecoms and services ecosystem is ready to support the growing wave of small cell deployments both on today’s LTE networks as well as future evolutions,” David Orloff, chair of Small Cell Forum, commented in a statement. “I am delighted to welcome our new members, each of whom will bring their own knowledge and insight, helping the Forum as we accelerate towards a 5G future.”
Major players that previously signed on include Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, and Intel. Together, SCF operator members reportedly have more than 2 billion subscribers and operate more than 15 million hotspots globally.
AT&T’s David Orloff chairs the group’s board, which recently elected the following new members:
- Piyush Raj, American Tower
- Prabhakar Chitrapu, AT&T
- Luigi Tarlazzi, CommScope
- Mark Reudink, Crown Castle
- Martin Ljungberg, Ericsson
- Tormod Larsen, ExteNet Systems
- Nansen Ding, Huawei
- Mike Cronin, Node-H
- Randy Cox, Nokia
- Caleb Banke, Qualcomm Technologies Inc.
- Tareq Amin, Reliance Jio
- Aya Mukaikubo, SoftBank Corp
- Art King, SpiderCloud Wireless
“Small Cell Forum is an influential body and pragmatic decision-making authority that has continually advanced the case for ubiquitous connectivity over the last 10 years,” Piyush Raj, director of technology innovation for American Tower, noted. “We are looking forward to participating on the board to help deliver innovative solutions and expert guidance to help ensure the best and most efficient possible outcomes for future networks.”