Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) brings a number of features that elevate the performance of Wi-Fi significantly from that of older generations. These features solve many of the challenges that limit the performance of current Wi-Fi networks, and raise the performance to a level close to that of cellular networks based on 4G and 5G technologies. Since 5G private networks… Read More »
Auction 110 [see here] for 100 MHz in 3.45 – 3.55 GHz scored $22.5 Billion in gross proceeds for an average of $0.736/MHz-PoP. AT&T, Dish and T-Mobile won 83% of the MHz-PoP. For details, download the full summary here:
The row between the wireless and aviation industries on potential interference between 5G and aircraft radio altimeters is sounding like a storm in a tea cup! The genesis of this dispute is a report in October 2020 by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) citing potential interference to altimeters operating in the 4.2 – 4.4 GHz band… Read More »
5G fanatics would lead you to believe that 5G will make fibre obsolete. So how real are their claims and how does 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) compare to FTTH on performance and RoI? To answer, we teamed-up with our partners at DTS to objectively assess the performance of fibre and millimeter wave (mmWave) FWA. We combined our… Read More »
Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) has emerged as one of the hot 5G discussion topics [see here on T-Mobile and Verizon]. This feature which allows simultaneous operation of LTE and 5G technologies has become a bellwether of product maturity and 5G leadership for equipment and silicon vendors and for service providers. But how important is DSS and is it… Read More »
The basic building blocks of 5G were introduced in Release 15 which is now in commercial deployments. In addition, the 5G roadmap has defined two more releases. Release 16 brings in new features in addition to improvements to features introduced in Release 15. Last December, 3GPP identified Release 17 work items. Below, is a summary roadmap in easy… Read More »
In my previous article, I wrote about developments in virtual RAN, and indicated that the actual focus on the service providers is on core network migration strategies. The RAN receives high attention because it consumes more of the MNO capex and opex than the core network. This makes it a primary target for cost reduction. However, the core… Read More »
Over the past week, I had the opportunity to get a full status update on Radio Access Network (RAN) transformation at the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Summit in Amsterdam. I also had the opportunity to speak with a few service providers on the evolution of the telco network. Understanding the pain points and motivation of the carriers is… Read More »
As 5G rolls out, edge computing is the hope of service providers to finally provide differentiated services. Service provides have two paths to monetize the edge: a consumer services path and an enterprise services path. The former plays to the strengths of the mobile service providers. The latter, enterprise path, is as an incremental opportunity that 5G could… Read More »
Research from Xona Partners on 5G deployment trends and prospects reveals that operators will focus on mid-band spectrum. The millimeter wave technology will remain a niche play in the short and medium terms. 5G is a Mid-Band Play Operators around the world have spent over $16.2 Billion acquiring 3.5 GHz spectrum (C-band) in the 18 months between January… Read More »
The FCC concluded Auction 102 netting over $2 billion for over 2,900 licenses in the 24/25 GHz band. A good milestone, but more critical is the availability of 3.5 GHz spectrum which has better performance tradeoffs than millimeter wave spectrum. With all the talk about the ‘5G race’, availability of mid-band spectrum makes the most difference on who… Read More »
It is common to pin the 5G value proposition on its performance, mainly capacity* and latency. These features will enable applications that operators can monetize. However, I will argue here that capacity and latency are secondary to realizing the full 5G value proposition. Capacity and latency make for big headlines and are easy to grasp by the common… Read More »
In my earlier post, I outlined a few myths about 5G to avoid the cascading technology trap. Here, I like to extend the discussion and share a few data points on the cost of 5G networks. Over the past few months, our team has analyzed vendors’ roadmaps and product features, assessed spectrum and its cost, and developed deployment… Read More »
There are a few myth about 5G that I came about in discussions with executives, investors, smart city officials and other parties active in technology development and planning for new services. Two examples: Don’t bother deploying a certain IoT technology – for example LoRaWAN or similar technology – because 5G will serve all these applications (e.g. street lighting,… Read More »
Applications of millimeter wave (mmWave) technology in 5G fixed access are subject to a few important levers. To start, it’s important to understand that the cost of fixed access networks is directly proportional to the number of houses passed. This provides the advantage of growing the network selectively on geographic basis. But it also means that economies of… Read More »