Service provisioning and pricing methods in a multi-tenant cloud enabled RAN

Abstract

The Cloud Enabled Small Cell (CESC) concept proposed in EU funded project SESAME has emerged as a promising solution to form a multi-tenant, multi-service architecture at the network edge according to 5G needs. It allows several operators/service providers to engage in a sharing model of both radio access capacity and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities. From a business perspective, the shared ecosystem guarantees benefits such as easy system upgrades and CAPEX/OPEX reduction. However, depending on the adapted model which is reflected at Service Level Agreement (SLA) between involved stakeholders, cost and benefit of each party are subject to change. This paper is an effort to identify and analyse different radio and cloud models and pricing schemes for the joint provisioning of radio access capacity and MEC services in a multi-tenant Radio Access Network (RAN).