Wi-Fi intentionally was designed as a non-licensed band for shared access. In the future, Wi-Fi protocols also might have to contend with structured new ways of using Wi-Fi on a shared basis, as new protocols being developed by the global mobile industry will create ways for mobile services to use Wi-Fi in a more seamless way.
Not all contestants, especially those who see themselves competing with mobile operators, are going to be happy about the new capabilities.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a standards body developing mobile standards. Among other projects, it is working on license assisted access, a way to augment LTE in Wi-Fi spectrum using “Carrier Aggregation,” the way to bond different frequencies.
The emerging issue is how to assure that traditional Wi-Fi users have reasonable access to 5-GHz Wi-Fi capacity when mobile operators also will be contending for access.
Perhaps not too unsurprisingly, cable TV operators and mobile service providers in the United States tend to have different views.
Whatever protocols eventually are developed to assure fair access, whichever ecosystem gets commercial operations at scale might have a stronger regulatory argument.
The effort, which is global in scope, attempts to create ways for mobile service providers to support unified use of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, with better end user experience, more efficient spectrum use and lower operating costs.
Of course, other contestants might well prefer that those applications not contend directly for spectrum and resources, leaving more capacity for rival apps, services and devices.
In principle, the techniques should work for melding licensed and unlicensed spectrum at any frequency, on a global level.
No comments:
Post a Comment