On the Value of Spectrum Sharing among Operators in Multicell Networks

This work considers the benefits of allowing spectrum sharing among co-located wireless service providers operating in the same multicell network. Although spectrum sharing was shown to be valuable in some scenarios where the created interference can be eliminated, the benefits have not clearly shown for multicell networks with aggressive reuse. We explore this question and show that spectrum sharing is preferred for just a certain subset of the users defined by their distance from the serving bases, while beyond this distance, an orthogonal division of resources between operators gives better results. The claims are backed with theoretical analysis matching our simulations.