As connectivity needs change, 5G is becoming more prolific — and denser — than the generations of cellular technology that came before it. Delivering on 5G coverage and capacity requires outdoor small cells (the small‑cell site on a pole or structure, including the radio and supporting power equipment) to move into streetscapes, utility rights-of-way, and other challenging environments.
Where cell sites were once concentrated on dedicated towers, they’re now being mounted on light poles, building façades, street furniture, and any other structure carriers and neutral hosts can get permission to use.
The power model selected to support these cells as they multiply across the streetscape can determine whether your deployment is a success — and how quickly the site can start generating revenue.
The Status Quo: AC to Every Site
For years, the default way to power outdoor small cells was to extend utility AC to each site and let the radio or a nearby power unit handle the conversion.
This approach still works for isolated single-node sites and locations with existing AC service nearby, but it creates problems as it scales:
- Expensive trenching through the right‑of‑way
- Lots of individual service drops to coordinate
- Backup power scattered across locations
- No clean way to standardize on a repeatable design that can be redeployed quickly
These problems can compound quickly once deployment moves past a few sites — which is the reason it’s time to consider a different power model.
Digital Electricity® Is Built for Outdoor Small Cells
Digital Electricity (DE) gives carriers, neutral hosts, and integrators a single, coherent architecture for outdoor small cells.
Instead of pulling AC to every node, it terminates at a centralized outdoor cabinet. From there, DE distributes power over inherently safer, fault-managed circuits through the right-of-way to endpoints. This backbone can be extended along a street, around a campus, or across a district, with fewer utility touchpoints and a single, maintainable location for backup and monitoring.
With Digital Electricity as the underlying architecture, you choose how each node is powered based on what’s installed there. For instance, over that backbone, you can deliver native DC to modern radios, AC via small inverters for legacy equipment, or a mix of both on the same structure. You’re not locked into a single AC or DC deployment model. As radios evolve, you can swap gear without redesigning the entire power system.
Flexible Power Where It Matters
Over the same DE circuit, you can support different types of loads on the pole or structure without redesigning how power is delivered through the right‑of‑way. The result: lower installation costs, faster deployments, and room to mix legacy and new equipment on the same site.
DC for Modern Radios
Most modern 4G and 5G radios are DC devices, even when they accept AC at the input. With Digital Electricity, an endpoint at the node converts the DE circuit into a stable DC output tailored for the radio. AC doesn’t have to be run to the pole, and rectification or conversion hardware doesn’t have to be duplicated at each site.
It also simplifies backup design: Batteries are centralized at the cabinet, so the outdoor small cell still sees clean DC power during an outage without any extra UPS gear on the pole.
As higher‑power radios are rolled out, the backbone stays the same; only the edge hardware needs to change. DE channels and endpoints can be sized accordingly, instead of layering more AC infrastructure into streetscapes.
AC Legacy Loads
Streetlights, legacy radios, cameras, and other equipment may need AC input. With DE, those devices can be supported by adding a small inverter stage or AC module at the node, powered over the same DE circuit that feeds the DC radio. There’s no need to maintain a separate AC infrastructure just to support a handful of legacy loads.
This is especially valuable in brownfield environments where existing equipment needs to remain in place to protect investments. As the network evolves, it can gradually be transitioned to DC‑native alternatives when refresh cycles allow.
Mixed Loads
In many environments, an outdoor small cell needs to support DC radios and AC loads on the same pole.
With DE, a different architecture to support this mixed load isn’t needed — using the appropriate combination of DC output and AC inversion at the endpoint is the only thing required. The same DE pair coming from the cabinet can serve both types of devices, while monitoring and protection remain centralized.
Is Digital Electricity Right for Your Deployment?
The denser 5G deployment becomes, the more likely it is that Digital Electricity is a viable powering option for outdoor small cells. To decide for sure, here are a few questions worth asking:
- How many outdoor small cells are deployed along a corridor or in a cluster? Once you move past three or four along the same streetscape, centralizing power pays off quickly.
- How restrictive is the right-of-way? If permitting and trenching are issues, then Digital Electricity will offer big cost and time savings.
- How important is centralized backup? Maintaining one battery bank instead of one per pole makes for lower costs and less maintenance over the life of the network.
- What does your mix of equipment look like? A mix of AC and DC gear, or plans to swap radios down the road, indicates the need for flexible power at the node.
- How quickly do sites need to generate revenue? Faster civil work means earlier revenue.
5G isn’t slowing down, and the power model carrying it can’t be the same one the industry has relied on so far. Running AC power to every pole was practical when sites were measured in dozens, but it doesn’t scale well.
Digital Electricity gives operators a way to stay flexible at the node as radios and ancillary equipment evolve. The architecture you choose now will shape how quickly your next wave of sites comes online — and how profitably they run.
