Many operators are seeing fixed wireless access as the likely first phase of “5G” deployments as the technology can help solve the last mile problem with fiber-to-the-home and fiber-to-the-premise deployments, while incorporating future 5G air interfaces, spectrum, radios and antenna systems into existing networks.
The future development of 5G technologies promises to incorporate a range of disparate applications and requirements – from narrowband internet of things technologies and machine-to-machine communications to low latency, high bandwidth use cases like autonomous vehicles and remote industrial control – in a single network.
But before the 5G standards are set and the full vision of mobile 5G is realized, telecommunication operators are working to refine their understanding of the technological components while establishing the use and business cases needed to create a return on the massive research and development spend that will ultimately result in a global 5G standard.
In the U.S., Verizon Communications and AT&T have both identified 5G fixed wireless access as the first phase of deploying next-generation networks; timelines suggest this first wave is tracking for commercialization in 2017, well ahead of the standardization goal of 2020. As consumer demand for broadband to support emerging applications like streaming 4K video and virtual reality gaming grows at a fast pace, service providers are investing heavily in FTTH, which is a costly proposition.
To solve for the last mile problem associated with FTTH, some operators are looking to 5G, which can provide fiber-like speeds without the need to roll trucks to every house in a neighborhood or every unit in an apartment complex. Further, fixed wireless can help speed up commercialization of new services and create new revenue opportunities for operators.
Adam Koeppe, VP of technology planning for Verizon, commented on the potential for fixed wireless 5G to help solve for last-mile fiber deployment challenges.
“Early results indicate it is certainly possible,” Koeppe said. “Field technical trials based on FWA use case have been built to mimic FTTx environment, and so far we have seen delivery of [one gigabit per second] speeds and higher. We have to prove this can be done reliably. With a higher order of [multiple-input/multiple-output antenna technology] and beamforming, you can better aim the radio pattern down to something like a pencil point. This gives us a very narrow, concentrated beam to the [customer premise equipment] or end-user device.”
Samsung is currently working with some U.S. operators, including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile US, on testing fixed wireless 5G in real-world conditions and planning a 5G trial service for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Samsung is also working through a White House-led initiative to advance 5G wireless technologies.
“Our 5G FWA solution is a part of our broader fixed-to-mobile strategy that enables us to offer an integrated, stable and adaptive solution in these early stages of the technology and beyond as Samsung is working to pave the way for commercialization of 5G,” explained Mark Louison, SVP and GM of Samsung Networks.
Ericsson also believes tone of the 5G use cases currently gaining momentum in the industry is fixed wireless for both small and medium-sized enterprise and residential applications.
In a recent report, Ericsson said “FWA is a concept for providing broadband service to homes and SMEs that is particularly attractive in cases where there is no infrastructure in place to deliver wired broadband via copper, fiber or hybrid solutions. … FWA can also be used when the existing infrastructure is not able to provide sufficient service.”
“Compared with fiber-to-the-home and other wireline solutions, FWA offers a variety of benefits including significantly lower rollout costs, rapid service rollout and lower [operating expense],” Ericsson added. “This is because the bulk of the costs and most of the complexity involved in fixed access deployments are associated with the last mile: the portion of the network that reaches the user premises.”
Ericsson said its research suggests 5G-based FWA is definitely an option to fulfill future service requirements of the homes and SMEs of tomorrow in many types of environments around the globe.
“With 5G, we have the opportunity to achieve true network convergence since the same technology and indeed the same infrastructure can be used to provide next generation [mobile broadband], [internet of things] and FWA,” the vendor said.
