Spectrum & RAN Sharing: A Measurement-based Case Study of Commercial 5G Networks in Spain

Abstract

Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, which often also includes spectrum sharing, is a strategic cooperative agreement among two or more mobile operators, where one operator may use another's RAN infrastructure to provide mobile services to its users. By mutually sharing physical sites, radio elements, licensed spectrum and other parts of the RAN infrastructure, participating operators can significantly reduce the capital (and operational) expenditure in deploying and operating cellular networks, while accelerating coverage expansion -- thereby addressing the spectrum scarcity and infrastructure cost challenges in the 5G era and beyond. While the economic benefits of RAN sharing are well understood, the impact of such resource pooling on user-perceived performance remains underexplored, especially in real-world commercial deployments. We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first empirical measurement study of commercial 5G spectrum and RAN sharing. Our measurement study is unique in that, beyond identifying real-world instances of shared 5G spectrum and RAN deployment "in the wild", we also analyze users' perceived performance and its implication on Quality of Experience (QoE). Our study provides critical insights into resource management (i.e., pooling) and spectrum efficiency, offering a blueprint (and implications) for network evolution in 5G, 6G and beyond.