Competitive Carriers Association Mobile Carriers Show highlights focus on 5G, IoT and spectrum challenges for carrier members
The Competitive Carriers Association managed to deftly pull off its rebranded Mobile Carriers Show, with a degree of additional difficulty in doing so in a new host city of Nashville, Tennessee.
The event, which had previously run under the Global Expo banner, included keynote speeches and panel discussions, break out sessions, and a strong focus on traditional CCA member hot button issues like spectrum and regulatory concerns.
The event kicked off with a “CTO” panel discussion that touched on continued LTE network evolution towards “5G” technology, integration of the “Internet of Things,” and growing talk around network virtualization technologies like software-defined networking and network functions virtualization. Panel members nearly unanimously cited the significant impact they are feeling from streaming video content as a reason for network upgrade plans.
For Sprint, the move to 5G is more about finding use cases and business cases that support the technology, with the carrier noting it still sees a lot of runway left in terms of LTE and LTE-Advanced technologies.
“LTE-A addresses a lot of the problems (in terms of what people want from 5G],” said Jay Bluhm, VP of network planning at Sprint. “There needs to be a natural transition from 4G to 5G. … How they intersect and solve specific problems will be interesting.”
Ken Borner, VP of engineering and network operations at Atlantic Tele-Network, expressed similar support for current LTE-based network capabilities, adding his company’s decision would really come down to decisions made by its roaming partners.
“My challenge is that I am a step or two behind those guys, but need to stay inline and serve their needs,” Borner said at the CCA event.
One aspect all panel members said was of increasing importance was access to more spectrum. In terms of licensed assets, the ongoing Federal Communications Commission’s 600 MHz spectrum auction proceedings hung over the discussion as those participating in the bidding cannot discuss the auction directly. Borner said Atlantic Tele-Network was going to be involved in 600 MHz mostly due to the company’s need to support future roaming options for its larger carrier partners.
Perhaps more interesting was the discussion on the use of unlicensed spectrum, with Bluhm noting unlicensed was “critical” for Sprint, though not for the reasons it might be for other operators.
“We don’t have a need from a capacity perspective,” Bluhm said, adding the biggest challenge was to find a way to deploy services over unlicensed spectrum that continued to meet the quality of service expectations of cellular customers.
Bye argued the model for unlicensed spectrum use by cellular operators was already in play, explaining a majority of consumer usage today was already over Wi-Fi connections.
“Unlicensed has an important role in the delivery of services, but not by our choice,” Bye said. “It’s the consumer choice,” he said, adding it was up to carriers to attempt to make the experience better for consumers.
In terms of the growing telecom software revolution, Bluhm and Bye explained the immaturity of SDN and NFV at this point is keeping them from moving more aggressively towards those software-based platforms.
Bye said just going with virtualization does not get the full benefits of the technologies. “Once you start requiring code base, then you get the real benefits,” or what he called the “lift and shift” of truly integrating SDN and NFV into network operations.
More importantly, Bye said the integration needs to include a carrier’s operating support system so network operations are on the same page in terms of how to react to any issues in a virtualized environment.
“Currently, if we have a problem with a switch we find the vendor and pound them,” Bye said. “We have everything in place to isolate issues today. … When you start getting into a virtualized environment, whose the throat to choke? Now the burden goes back to the carrier.”
Bye also questioned the current financial models, noting most carrier investment into their mobile networks are still centered on the radio access network. “Even if you virtualize a switch, it’s not a huge savings.”
Sprint is also waiting on the continued maturity of virtualization platforms, with the carrier stating that while it’s looking at the technology, the ability to scale is key before it looks towards deployment.
“We are looking at it with NFV and SDN,” said Jay Bluhm, VP of network planning at Sprint. “The real issue is scaling the network to meet demand. Whether its NFV or SDN, our technology principles are to scale, which require different a lot of different implementation models.”
Another important keynote address saw FirstNet President TJ Kennedy provide an update on progress being made by the First Responder Network Authority towards building out a nationwide mobile broadband network serving the public safety community. Kennedy said the program remains on track in announcing partners by the end of the year to build out its planned network, despite a recent move to extend the deadline for request for proposal submissions. Kennedy added he did not expect to grant any further extensions than the one announced earlier this month allowing for submissions up to May 31.
“This is an extremely aggressive schedule,” Kennedy told MCS attendees. “Aggressive, but realistic. … Public safety has an urgency to get these tools into their hands as quickly as possible.”
RCR Wireless News also spoke with Glenn Laxdal, CTO of Ericsson North America, who provided a concise template for how CCA members should approach the oncoming move towards network changes. Laxdal said carriers should begin with a robust LTE network base; followed by moves towards virtualized platforms using SDN and NFV in a move to reduce the cost of spinning up new services, which can include IoT applications; and finally bring all of those together towards plans for 5G technology, which Laxdal said could be sometime after the 2020 time frame for many CCA members.
CCA President and CEO Steve Berry provided RCR Wireless News with some insight into the trade organizations thoughts on the recently begun 600 MHz incentive auction process, which CCA worked aggressively in leading up to the proceedings on lobbying for rules favorable to its carrier members. Berry said he expects the reverse auction part of the proceedings would likely wrap up in the next couple of weeks, with the Federal Communications Commission then commencing the more traditional forward auction portion sometime in late May.
Berry also touted CCA’s upcoming Annual Convention, which is scheduled for September in Seattle. The event will be more focused on traditional CCA activity and topics, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler currently scheduled to speak and expected deep participation from CCA’s largest carrier member T-Mobile US.
Make sure to check out livestreamed keynote and panel discussions from the event as well as interviews from the show floor.
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