There no longer is one network or product strategy that always works best for every mobile operator, in every market. Nor is there one infrastructure approach that works for every service provider, since every contestant has different spectrum holdings, capital, market share and fixed assets.
That is likely the case for an apparent difference of opinion about the value of dynamic spectrum sharing, which allows radios to support either 5G or 4G devices using 4G spectrum. T-Mobile US recently has argued that DSS is not as useful right now as once expected. Verizon continues to insist it is quite useful.
In the end, the difference of opinion boils down to a couple practical realities. It is likely that one of T-Mobile’s radio suppliers is momentarily unable to provide DSS that is spectrum efficient. Also, T-Mobile US has launched 5G using low-band spectrum only, without DSS.
Verizon’s DSS platform appears not to have the same present issues, while Verizon also is deploying its initial 5G platform using millimeter wave spectrum with DSS. Since Verizon’s launch strategy is to deploy 5G first in dense urban areas for capacity, it really has to rely on 4G for coverage.
T-Mobile’s low-band approach means it does not have the coverage issues Verizon must contend with and therefore arguably has less need for DSS.
Neither position is “right” or “wrong” in a generic sense, applying to all mobile operators in all markets. T-Mobile and Verizon have different spectrum and fixed network assets, different amounts of available spectrum per user and different network loading profiles.
The point is that use of DSS is neither wrong nor right in all cases. In principle, DSS is useful in many scenarios, for many mobile operators, simply because it allows more flexible use of whatever 4G and 5G capacity is available at any given time, in any given area, to 5G devices and users.
The non-standalone mode of operation introduced in 3GPP Release 15 allows 5G deployments to use 4G core networks and base stations, while adding new 5G base stations.
Basically, dynamic spectrum sharing works one way when mobile operators deploy 5G NSA radios, and a different way when the full 5G network core is added.
In NSA mode, the 5G radios use the 4G core as well as 4G and 5G radio interfaces. There is one 4G core network, but two radio platforms, both using 4G spectrum assets.
When the full upgrade is made to the 5G core, and radios are in standalone mode, 5G devices still can use spectrum and signals from either a 5G radio or a 4G radio, as needed, but each network (5G and 4G) then relies on a single 5G virtualized core network.
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