CALIFORNIA, USA: A majority of mobile operators and transport providers will have over 90 per cent of their cell sites connected with IP/Ethernet, by 2013, finds Infonetics Research in its Small Cell and LTE Backhaul Strategies report.

"While operators handle most of their mobile traffic with macrocells (90 per cent on average) and the backhaul network, we were surprised to find that operators we surveyed already offload about 10 per cent of their traffic over indoor and outdoor small cells, WiFi hotspots, and residential femtocells - and they intend to triple that to about 30 per cent at some point in 2013 or later," notes Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder, Infonetics Research.

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Ethernet is only part of the story: 70 per cent of respondents plan to use some form of MPLS at their cell sites, and prefer to lease a "layer 2 only" service from transport providers, the report adds.

Howard adds: "This trend really highlights the importance of spectrum offload and backhaul offload strategies to operators. Of the mobile traffic handling alternatives, outdoor small cells will see the most growth in use among our respondents, increasing five-fold from 2011 to 2013 or later. And for operators deploying outdoor small cells, the most popular technologies to use in 2013 will be Ethernet on fiber, Ethernet-only microwave, and Ethernet on copper."

Small cells are commonly expected to be a key characteristic of LTE networks, yet there is a growing acceptance that they will also play a vital role in HSPA networks, where they have so far played only a minor role.