The amount of new wireless and 5G spectrum coming to market in the United States and other countries is staggering and beyond anything we have seen in the history of communications. Consider that all mobile operators in any single country have access to about 600 MHz to 1300 MHz of total bandwidth available.
In the 5G era, as millimeter wave spectrum is released, raw bandwidth will increase by up to 1.5 orders of magnitude in physical terms, in many markets. Unlicensed bandwidth alone might grow by about five times to 12 times, compared to available mobile spectrum.
And that will have huge price and capability implications. For the first time, mobile substitution, on a basis comparable with fixed networks, should be possible Access to all that new bandwidth will mean the mobile network’s cost per bit and retail cost, plus usage allowances, should be equivalent to, or perhaps better than, fixed network alternatives.
If you though mobile substitution was a problem for fixed networks when confronted by mobile telephony, consider what might happen next as mobile networks become a full substitute for fixed network internet access.
But “raw bandwidth” is only part of the story. Since millimeter wave networks will require small cells, physical reuse of spectrum will add to the capacity increases. All together, it is possible that bandwidth could grow by up to two orders of magnitude (100 times) in some locations.
And all that is going to cause a reset of business models for both mobile and fixed network service providers.
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