5G Will First be Commercialized in Fixed Wireless Mode

There is one thing both AT&T and Verizon seem to agree on, where it comes to 5G: fixed wireless is where we will see the early commercial deployment. In part, that is because the licenses restrict use of 28 GHz spectrum for fixed uses only, not mobile, and 28 GHz is among the first new millimeter bands expected to be made available for commercial use by the Federal Communications Commission.

Some might question how useful 28 GHz spectrum will be as a platform for Internet access (mobile or fixed) because of the extremely high frequency. As observers will note, lower frequency signals (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 2 GHz) are better for coverage and in-building reception.

Since millimeter waves tend to be line of sight, and do not propagate as far as lower-frequency signals, some might wonder whether such frequencies will be so useful for outdoor coverage applications, such as Internet access.

In principle, the answer seems to be that the expected architectures (small cells) will help by reducing the expected coverage area. That means any specific location might have a reasonable chance of connecting with multiple transmitter sites. If signal from one small cell is difficult, perhaps another small cell, shifted 90 to 180 degrees, will work.

Beam-bending techniques also are in development. Even with older generation radios (2000 or so), it was possible to transmit 28-GHz signals 1.5 to three miles. That is enough coverage to be useful for Internet access purposes.

Small cells, of course, will, by design, not be expected to transmit over such distances. So the rough rule of thumb is that, in a fixed application, “roughly line of sight” paths will be designed. But it remains to be seen whether peer-to-peer and mesh network architectures also will play a role in getting around obstacles.

Some providers of business access services using point-to-point radios use just that technique to relay signals (trunking) between network nodes to reach locations inaccessible to any one antenna location.

Expect Google and Faceblook to talk about those issues at the Spectrum Futures conference in Singapore, 20-21 October, 2016.

Bringing stakeholders together to do something about that is the mission of the Spectrum Futures conference. Here’s a  fact sheet and Spectrum Futures schedule.

source: METIS