The old distinctions between “my network” and “other networks,” plus the reliance on “my spectrum” versus “any available spectrum” now will change with 5G, even more than has been the case with 4G, A new TIA survey of industry executives suggests. That significant virtualization of spectrum assets and spectrum networks also will accompanied by virtualization of core networks. In fact, virtualization is an underpinning of 5G.
More than half (55 percent) of respondents plan to deploy Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and prefer the notion of operating LTE in unlicensed spectrum. That is an example of bonding unlicensed spectrum with licensed spectrum to support mobility services.
Of course, other methods of using Wi-Fi also are considered important. LTE+Wi-Fi link aggregation (LWA) and LTE Wi-Fi integration, (a forerunner to the LWA), were both favored by 41 percent of respondents, the study found.
The larger point is that 5G will customarily be deployed in complement with other licensed and unlicensed wireless technologies. That is a major step towards virtualized access.
In fact, so important a development is such virtualization that a variety of initiatives to leverage unlicensed spectrum are under way, including LTE-LAA, LWA, LTE WiFi Integration, Wi-Fi offload and MuLTEFire.
LTE-LAA and MuLTEFire use LTE radio technology operating in unlicensed spectrum. LTE-LAA uses both licensed and unlicensed spectrum bands, while MuLTEFire enables LTE radio technology to operate entirely in unlicensed spectrum.
In a larger sense, virtualization has been the trend across telecommunications for a couple of decades. With the separation of access and apps, services and products can be used by any consumer or business with internet access, irrespective of the "ownership" of the physical facilities.
So user access to products, apps and services now is fundamentally virtualized. The virtualization of the physical networks is in line with that broader movement.
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