Fiber is expected to be a significant focus on planned 5G network deployments
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz. That sound you’re hearing is the marketplace buzz over mobile carriers’ plans to accelerate the rollout of “5G” wireless networks, building higher-speed, higher-density networks to meet increasing user demand. Long touted as a technology that is coming sometime off in the future, 5G is quickly moving closer to reality as service providers see the demand for mobile data capacity rise.
While 5G download speeds are being touted as approaching 1 gigabit per second, demand for 5G-type networks are not just about speed. Indeed, these networks are getting so much attention because of their ability to provide the capacity to handle increased use by individuals. No longer just a “cellphone,” today’s smart devices are being used as video-on-demand televisions, mobile gaming devices, GPS devices, business workspaces and other various devices that demand connectivity. In addition to supporting individual users, 5G networks will have the ability to support a wealth of new devices coming onto the network that are “internet ready” to connect to the “internet of things” such as smart traffic and smart parking sensors, business IoT solutions and even smart home devices.
There’s no doubt mobile traffic is growing considerably, but here are the hard facts: According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast, mobile data traffic has grown 4,000-fold over the past 10 years and almost 400 million-fold over the past 15 years. In 2015 alone, 563 million mobile devices and connections were added to networks. Today’s wireless networks weren’t built to handle that level of user demand, thus the need for the next generation of wireless networks.
So, if wireless is the wave of the future, where does that leave fiber networks? Actually, it means that we’ll also see a growing demand for more fiber networks to support 5G. According to the same Cisco report, mobile offload exceeded cellular traffic for the first time in 2015. Fifty-one percent of total mobile data traffic was offloaded onto the fixed network in 2015. In total, 3.9 exabytes of mobile data traffic were offloaded onto the fixed network each month.
The demand for faster, higher-density wireless networks – a need that can’t today be met with “4G” LTE networks – isn’t just being felt at the macro level. Demand is also spurring the need for more speed, more capacity in in-building wireless and at the municipal level as well. The end goal for 5G is to provide high-speed, high-density connectivity to the masses at all levels, providing the performance and user experience this new generation, always-on consumer is expecting. To ensure customers have enough bandwidth to meet their growing needs, wireless networks need to offload data to wired infrastructure within a short distance. As service providers deploy “small cell” configurations to increase network capacity and density, fiber will be a key element to provide backhaul from these sites.
Creating and maintaining this small cell architecture also means service providers need to think about the fiber network building blocks as they go down the 5G path. This means taking into account not only the fiber build, but the product methodology behind it for a future-proof network that will ensure low total cost of ownership and ease of restoration and maintenance.
One impact of this demand is the need to push fiber closer and closer to the user. Technology has allowed us to do this incrementally over the years, and the industry has gone from pushing fiber to the neighborhood to fiber to the curb to fiber to the home/building. Increasingly we’ll hear more about pushing fiber to the device and fiber to the user. While this sounds like a logical next step, fiber connectivity has historically been challenging, both from a civil perspective but also on the technology front. Typically, deploying fiber close to the user has meant significant disruption, expense and time. For 5G – and any subsequent wireless generations – to meet their potential, all of these challenges with fiber deployment need to be resolved. Providers need to embrace new ways to simplify fiber installations and maintenance, allowing them to reduce costs and turn up fiber networks more quickly.
So, why has fiber been so challenging? For starters, it’s expensive to deploy versus using existing cable or copper infrastructure. While adding capacity on the wireless side has challenges with deploying new base stations and antennas and making adjustments to towers to accommodate new equipment, fiber deployments mean getting hands-on with existing infrastructure, much of which is underground, accessible through cabinets on busy city streets or in neighborhoods, or, in the case of in-building connections, in the walls of buildings. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” fiber deployment – every rollout is different, meaning a specialized workforce is required for design, installation, updates and repairs.
But technology updates can play a huge role in simplifying these deployments and driving the cost out of fiber. Here’s an example: Traditional splicing methods used in fiber installation are labor intensive, with labor accounting for roughly 70% of capital expense costs. When plug-and-play, preterminated, pretested components and connectors are used, a significant piece of the cost factor is removed. Instead of hours spent on pulling and splicing fiber, skilled technicians now can be reserved for the most specialized aspects of the deployment process, and, as a result, the overall cost to deploy a fiber network is reduced. This enables service providers to achieve proper economics to make fiber deployments a reality.
There’s no doubt about it: 5G is coming, and may arrive significantly ahead of schedule. Solving the fiber technology challenges now is critical to the growth and success of 5G, and the ability to provide plug-and-play solutions for indoor and outdoor fiber deployments is a key part of the equation. By understanding how to overcome the challenges fiber poses, service providers will be able to reap the benefits of the coming 5G revolution.
Brian Larson has an extensive background in project management, engineering, and quality management/manufacturing systems, and has audited manufacturing facilities around the world. He brings his systems perspective to his design engineering and development role, ensuring that Clearfield products are designed with quality, ease of use, and functionality in mind. www.clearfieldconnection.com.
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