Generalized resource sharing for multiple operators in cellular wireless networks

Sharing wireless channel resources among cellular network operators saves costs by efficiently utilizing hardware and spectrum. Following the approach of resource sharing, we introduce a general formulation that covers current fixed and dynamic approaches as special cases. Unlike previous approaches, our formulation maximizes spectral efficiency by occasionally penalizing an operator within defined boundaries. This interesting tradeoff between sharing guarantees and system performance is studied by simulation. Our results clarify the costs of fair sharing and how much spectral efficiency can be gained by relaxing fairness in a controlled manner. This study, thus, provides important insight into the efficient design of shared base stations in future cellular networks.