Performance Analysis of Infrastructure Sharing Techniques in Cellular Networks: A Percolation Theory Approach

In the context of 5 G, infrastructure sharing has been identified as a potential solution to reduce the investment costs of cellular networks. In particular, it can help low-income regions build 5 G networks more affordably and further bridge the digital divide. There are two main kinds of infrastructure sharing: passive sharing (i.e., site sharing) and active sharing (i.e., access sharing), which require mobile network operators (MNOs) to share their non-electronic elements or electronic elements, respectively. Because co-construction and sharing can achieve broader coverage with lower investment, through percolation theory, we investigate how different sharing strategies can deliver large-scale continuous services. First, we examine the percolation characteristics in signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) coverage graphs and the necessary conditions for percolation. Second, we propose an ‘average coverage radius’ to approximate the SINR graph with a low base station (BS) density based on the Gilbert disk model. Finally, we estimate the critical conditions of BS densities of MNOs for different sharing strategies and compare the percolation probabilities under different infrastructure sharing strategies.