Base stations and antennas had been getting more compact for some time, but this trend was constrained by the widely used, fairly large 7-16 connectors. Mobile networks requirements also have to meet greater requirements than before due to increasing problems with passive intermodulation (low PIM) as more frequencies are approved for their use.
In the 4.3-10 connector design, the mechanical and electrical reference levels are separate. The new system consists of a radially spring-loaded jack on the external line. This has two advantages: one is that considerably less pressure needs to be applied to achieve a good electrical connection, and the other is that the system is significantly less prone to PIM. The second of these is increasingly important in mobile networks, since the risk of passive intermodulation grows with the number of frequency bands.
This new connector type was standardized by the IEC in 2016.
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