JCDecaux and Huawei to Drive Global Deployment of Small Cell Base Stations

Paris, 17 November 2014 - JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the largest outdoor advertising company in the world, and Huawei today announced a technical cooperation to combine both companies’ core competencies and drive crowd-sourcing small cell deployment globally. By integrating JCDecaux's site resources and expertise in site design and installation into Huawei's small cell deployment project, telecom operators can then address the challenge of acquiring suitable sites for small cell base stations thereby enriching mobile services and enhancing the user experience.

With smart devices now a well-integrated aspect of many people’s daily lives, strong signal reception is critical in improving the user experience. Macrocell base stations and traditional Digital Antenna Solutions are no longer able to meet the growing demands for data volume due to insufficient signal penetration, low signal to noise ratio (SNR), structure complexity, as well as high construction and operation costs. By comparison, small cells can improve coverage and deliver additional capacity where needed at lower equipment costs and with fewer deployment requirements. Small cell is driving the development of mobile communication, but the deployment of this technology has been hampered by the lack of suitable base station locations.

To address this, Huawei has developed the “Crowd-Sourcing Small Cell” deployment model and invited site owners into the ecosystem. With site owners involved in the deployment of base stations, operators can lower deployment costs and speed up its process, effectively establishing a new business model.

JCDecaux is pleased to collaborate with Huawei, bringing its extensive portfolio of more than 1 million assets in city centers, airports, transport environments or shopping malls to this initiative. By developing smart and aesthetic solutions and supporting the involvement of cities, diverse transport and mall operators, JCDecaux, once again, highlight their strong commitment towards connectivity initiatives.

This cooperation will be extended across continents, with Huawei’s local representatives actively proposing new partnership opportunities that could be supported by JCDecaux’s resources in target markets, driving small cell deployments on a large scale. Huawei’s small cell base stations could be found at JCDecaux’s outdoor advertising locations, helping operators to improve coverage and control the costs involved in small cell deployment, and bringing better mobile services and an enhanced experience to users globally.