Theoretical Qualitative Review of Urban Telecommunication Infrastructure Paradigms: A PRISMA-Based Study

Background: With the rapid development of urban telecommunications infrastructure over the past decade, we have seen the introduction of Distributed Antenna Systems, Low-Power Wide-Area Networks, Open Radio Access Networks, 5G/6G, Wi-Fi, Massive MIMO, and the Internet of Things, all coexisting to create a dynamic landscape. Recent studies in this field have been accumulating, however, a unified theoretical basis is lacking for future research and policies in an expanding, increasingly complex urban network space. Objectives: The proposed review is an attempt to address this situation and has brought together theoretical expertise from all corners of this planet on transformative technologies. It traces the best ideas and blank spaces across such heterogeneous systems and serves as a starting point for the development of comprehensive models capable of constructing sustainable and inclusive urban networks. Methods: The review adheres to the PRISMA guidelines and combined through articles published from January 2013 to December 2023 across five major databases. IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and ACM Digital Library, and zeroed in on 78 articles for a close-up analysis with NVivo software, considering their theoretical contributions to the bigger picture. Results: Four major themes emerged in this analysis, which include network densification and space optimisation, which is prevalent in DAS, Small Cell, and MIMO literature, energy sustainability, the focus of LPWAN, and growing concerns in 5G/6G, vendor disconnection and modular architectures, at the heart of Open RAN, and a persistent argumentative tone. The results show that, because these technologies are often developed in isolation, we are seeing theoretical gaps in merging different systems and in getting the full picture of their socio-economic effects.