Blockchain-Based Settlement for Indoor Neutral-Host Offloading

Abstract

Indoor users served by outdoor macro base stations often experience degraded radio performance due to penetration loss, which leads to inefficient spectrum utilization. In a neutral-host deployment, an MNO subscriber entering an indoor venue should be able to offload seamlessly onto the neutral-host infrastructure and return to macro service upon leaving. However, this requires automated procedures for subscriber authentication across operator boundaries, session-level authorization that governs which subscribers may use the neutral-host radio resources, and a settlement mechanism that accounts for the volume and quality of service consumed during the offloading period. In practice, such inter-operator procedures remain largely ad hoc, which limits the adoption of neutral-host models despite their benefits. Settlement between MNOs and neutral-host operators is typically governed by fixed monthly fees, flat-rate infrastructure access charges, or coarse traffic-volume accounting that does not differentiate between high-throughput and degraded service. While such arrangements may account for the volume of data consumed, they do not reflect the radio-layer quality actually experienced by offloaded users. A neutral-host operator (NHO) that delivers consistently high throughput is compensated identically to one whose indoor coverage is impaired by cross-tier interference or contention, weakening the incentive to maintain service quality and making it difficult to resolve disputes when performance falls short of expectations. This paper proposes a blockchain-enabled settlement framework for indoor neutral-host Open RAN deployments that explicitly links radio-layer quality of service (QoS) to economic charging. The framework enables an MNO subscriber to temporarily offload onto a neutral-host network with smart contracts automating and enforcing agreements between participating entities (e.g., MNOs and the neutral host) to ensure secure and controlled use of third-party infrastructure. Throughput gains achieved via neutral-host service are quantified through off-chain radio performance evaluation and translated into reward–penalty pricing adjustments, while settlement is enforced on-chain to provide transparency and auditability. By coupling radio performance with economic settlement, the proposed approach introduces accountability into neutral-host operation and aligns financial incentives with spectrum utilization efficiency. The framework is evaluated on Ethereum using the Sepolia test network.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Telecom, 2026 · DOI ↗