Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
5G ‘close … to reality’ in North America
Intel and Ericsson announced they have delivered what it claims to be a first 3GPP 5G New Radio-compliant live data call operating over the 39 GHz band. The two partners said the live data call used Intel’s RF mm-Wave chip with Ericsson Radio System commercial equipment including the 5G NR radio AIR 5331, baseband and Intel 5G mobile trial platform. The demo was conducted in labs in Kista, Sweden, and Santa Clara, California. “This live 5G demonstration on the 39 GHz band signifies how close 5G commercial services are to reality in North America. Using the Intel 5G mobile trial platform configured with a 39 GHz RF chip/antenna, we successfully demonstrated a 3GPP-compliant data call performed connecting to an Ericsson commercial 5G g-NB base station, an important step in ensuring our commercial platforms are field ready for deployment in 2019,” said Asha Keddy, vice president of Next Generation and Standards at Intel. … Read more
TIM turns up a 5G site in San Marino
Building on groundwork that began being put into place last year, San Marino, a 24-square-mile micro-state surrounded by Italy, is claiming to be the first “5G state” in Europe. Working with operator TIM and infrastructure vendor Nokia, the country’s first 3GPP Release 15-compliant network site has been activated, according to a Sept. 4 announcement. Last year, the operator began deploying 4×4 MIMO, multi-channel carrier aggregation, advanced modulation and a cloud based architecture. That came in tandem with a countrywide fiber-fed small cell deployment. Now, according to TIM, standards-based massive MIMO equipment from Nokia has been installed in Faetano. Right now the network is using the 3.5 GHz band. TIM is currently testing 26 GHz transmission at a facility in Turin, and plans to work with Nokia to activate the millimeter wave frequencies in San Marino starting later this month. TIM described San Marino as “an outdoor laboratory” to explore how 5G can be leveraged for Industry 4.0, public safety, smart city and digital tourism services. … Read more
5G OTA test milestones
Testing out millimeter wave transmission compliant with 3GPP’s 5G NR specification, infrastructure vendors Nokia and Ericsson, along with partners, both claimed firsts as it relates to establishing standard-based, over-the-air links. Nokia worked with Verizon, using the operator’s millimeter wave spectrum, to connect radio and core equipment to a test van parked in Washington D.C. Verizon plans to launch 5G fixed wireless access for residential broadband in four cities this year followed next year with the introduction of mobile 5G. Bill Stone, Verizon vice president of technology development and planning, highlighted the advancements the carrier has made with Nokia in testing 5G NR-based systems. “The cadence and frequency of these significant milestone achievements…show just how quickly we’re taking the promise of 5G technology from the lab to the field and to the marketplace where our customers will ultimately use this revolutionary technology. … Read more
Rosenworcel lays out future spectrum possibilities
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel of the Federal Communications Commission called for a reexamination of how the FCC has allocated the 5.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands, in order to open up more spectrum for both licensed and unlicensed use, during a speech at the Silicon Flatirons event. Rosenworcel suggested that the FCC could hold a voluntary incentive auction for the Educational Broadband Spectrum at 2.5 GHz and should “take a fresh look” at the Dedicated Short Range Communications band at 5.9 GHz, which was set aside nearly 20 years ago for intelligent vehicle communications. In addressing the FCC’s history of spectrum regulation, Rosenworcel called out both innovations and successes — such as the recent incentive auction — and acknowledged that some of the country’s spectrum plans haven’t panned out as expected — apropos for an event titled the “Spectrum Hall of Shame.” The agency’s bet on DSRC “didn’t pan out the way we thought it would,” Rosenworcel said. While DSRC was on the verge of being mandated in new vehicles at the end of the Obama administration, the Trump administration has quietly dropped any talk of such a mandate. Some automakers, such as Toyota — which recently opened up a large-scale pilot project to its employees in Michigan, to voluntarily have DSRC systems installed in their vehicles — are still moving forward with DSRC. But as Rosenworcel noted in her speech, DSRC isn’t the only option and technology has moved beyond the current spectrum allocation. … Read more
FirstNet Authority’s CEO departs for private sector
The First Responders Network Authority’s CEO is leaving for the private sector after serving for three years as head of FirstNet. FirstNet CEO Mike Poth has accepted a position in the private sector and will depart at the end of this month, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “Mike Poth took the helm at a critical time and has been a driving force behind FirstNet’s success. We are grateful for his service, and he leaves us with a clear path for the ongoing deployment of a nationwide public safety network,” said David Redl, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, in a statement. The departure of FirstNet’s CEO to the private sector comes less than a month after two of the agency’s senior board members stepped down. Chair Sue Swenson and Vice-Chair Jeff Johnson — both original members from when the FirstNet board was first formed — both retired from the board in August. Their resignations meant that seven seats on the 15-member FirstNet board needed to be filled; NTIA accepted applications for open seats this past spring but has not yet said who will fill them. Poth said in a statement that leading FirstNet had been “a true privilege. Now, FirstNet is here. Together with AT&T and the public safety community, FirstNet is fully prepared to continue its momentum. In the meantime, I will be focusing my efforts on ensuring the smoothest transition for FirstNet and all of its stakeholders.” … Read more
FCC pauses T-Mo/Sprint merger
The Federal Communications Commission has paused the 180-day shot clock for its review of the proposed merger of T-Mobile US and Sprint, citing new information still coming in T-Mobile US on network engineering, a financial basis for new network build-out and economic modeling. According to a letter from David Lawrence, head of the FCC’s T-Mobile/Sprint Transaction Task Force, and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale, there were three recent developments that led to the pause: On Sept. 5th, T-Mobile US submitted a “substantially revised network engineering model,” the FCC said. Although a network engineering model had already been submitted to back up network-related claims, the FCC said, the initial model was expanded and is “significantly larger and more complex than the engineering submissions already in the record. It appears to incorporate new logic, methodologies, facts, and assumptions on a subject central to the [merger application] — the transaction’s claimed network benefits.” The FCC needs more time to review it. In a letter from T-Mobile US, the carrier’s attorney explained that the initial engineering model submitted “calculates offered traffic and throughput as a function of spectrum assets, sites, and spectral efficiency” and was submitted in support of the carriers’ public interest statement. Since then, the carriers “have expanded the model to incorporate functionality that measures congestion as a function of network traffic, projects incremental builds necessary to satisfy the parties’ ordinary-course planning criteria, and measures network performance from a user experience perspective, accounting for network load.” … Read more
Sprint, Nokia set to show off massive MIMO
Sprint’s approach to 5G isn’t just an approach to 5G. It’s also a handy way for the carrier to boost its LTE network. The carrier is doing this by deploying dual mode massive MIMO and its 2.5 GHz spectrum portfolio to support both generations of cellular at the same time. As this work goes on, the carrier announced it will demonstrate a live connection over the dual mode Nokia radio during Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles. The companies are touting the demo as a “first in the U.S. live 5G NR system connection using a massive MIMO active antenna,” which can support channel widths up to 120 megahertz. The partners expect up to 3 Gbps peak downlink throughput. “We’re excited,” Sprint Chief Technology Officer John Saw said ahead of the planned demo, which is said is a step toward plans to launch mobile 5G in the first half of 2019. “Because of our large spectrum holdings, Sprint is one of the only operators in the world with enough capacity to operate LTE and 5G simultaneously using massive MIMO and huge licensed channels of 100 megahertz of spectrum on the same radios.” Sprint executives and their counterparts from T-Mobile US are currently working to get approval for a massive merger, which they say could significantly accelerate 5G deployment plans. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
