Mobile Spectrum: Another 3400 MHz of Capcity Coming

As important as spectrum (another word for capacity) has been in the mobile business, it will arguably be more important in the 5G era, as new use cases for private networks develop, and as new ways of using spectrum allow competitors to enter markets, lower the cost of networks or create new services.

Having recently auctioned off a huge amount of 24-GHz and 28-GHz spectrum, the Federal Communications Commission now is preparing to auction 2400 MHz of additional spectrum for mobile use in the 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz ranges.

That just-concluded auction doubles or triples the amount of spectrum available to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile US, for example. Auction 103 could double or triple holdings yet again.

For starters, the range of use cases and revenue models for wireless networks is growing. Networks of all types might see use cases for internet of things applications. Wi-Fi might be the way cable operators creep into facilities-based mobile competition.

Citizens Broadband Radio Service (shared spectrum) might be a major way some service providers approach building 5G in outdoor and indoor settings using mid-band resources. Some think this could be a major opportunity for at least some cable operators, who might use CBRS spectrum to create bigger indoor connectivity roles as well as provide outdoor mobile coverage.

source: Skyworks

On the other hand, providers such as Sprint have lots of other mid-band spectrum, and might not be so interested in CBRS. T-Mobile’s position largely hinges on the fate of its merger with Sprint. Verizon and AT&T might see much more upside in CBRS.

And many with interests in enterprise private networks expect CBRS to be a major development for them, especially in some industrial settings, at first.

At the same time, new coordinated and dynamic spectrum sharing capabilities make 4G an integral part of the 5G network in ways that might not have been so obvious just a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the two biggest observations are that Verizon, the service provider with the most customers, has relatively restrained capacity resources.

Dish Network, which has not yet launched, is the great spectrum wild card, if not likely the firm with the greatest chance to rearrange mobile market shares.

So Verizon arguably has the greatest need for mechanisms to boost effective capacity; Dish Network has the greatest need for a network; Sprint arguably having the greatest need for an acquirer.

Some expected Verizon to rely mostly on new spectrum acquisition to power its 5G network, but Verizon has instead chosen to emphasize small cell deployments fueled by dense fiber backhaul networks, millimeter wave rather than lower-frequency assets and now spectrum sharing and spectrum aggregation.