US outfit NextWave, engaged historically in various wireless spectrum pursuits, focused lately on municipal private cellular, has said its New York metro-area rollout is gathering pace with 120 eNodeB radio stations from Airspan Networks now operational as part of phase-one of its city-sized infrastructure development project. NextWave holds Band 41 (2.5 GHz) licenses to cover a number of US cities. Its New York project is a “first-of-its-kind”, it said.
The phase-one deployment covers “large portions” of Manhattan and surrounding boroughs, including transportation and industrial hubs; the second phase, initially scheduled for completion “by early 2023”, will cover the entire New York metro area of approximately 15 million people, it has said. The resulting private network infrastructure, now pegged for “later in 2023”, will be “completely devoted” to enterprises.
NextWave is offering “more than 50 MHz of bandwidth” at 2.5 GHz on a localized basis to private and public organizations for mission critical applications”. Airspan, a notable player in the open RAN and private RAN markets, is supplying its AirHarmony-brandd eNodeB units to the project; these will take a “prominent role”, said the Florida RAN vendor. NextWave is to follow the same plan, with Airspan, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
A statement said: “NextWave’s… service is one of the first private networks to prioritize seamless transitions between in-facility 5G coverage and urban 4G/5G transportation channels. This will allow private network users to maintain high levels of security and performance, even when they leave their facility, with the added value of this spectrum being supported by popular smartphones and other widely available mobile broadband devices.”
John Dooley, a director at NextWave, said: “Airspan’s… ability to efficiently scale from our phase-one build of 120 eNodeBs to a much larger network in multiple markets is especially compelling. As we expand to meet rapidly evolving requirements, the roadmap of new 5G product offerings will ensure that we can offer the best performance and security possible for enterprise and critical infrastructure users.”
Henrik Smith-Petersen, chief sales officer at Airspan, said: “As private networks grow… [a] blend of 4G and 5G solutions will be required… Our… interoperability, seeks to answer that requirement… Hybrid networks will drive connectivity for millions. Airspan is extremely proud to be a part of innovating to bring connectivity to millions of people and applications.”