Sprint and fellow CCA members remain bullish in the possibility of LTE-based networks in light of 5G trials, while spectrum is set to impact QoS, tower models
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – With all members on a “CTO” panel discussion at this week’s Competitive Carriers Association Mobile Carriers Show citing the significant impact they are feeling from streaming video content, it was of little surprise they were looking for technology help today and not waiting for the hope of “5G” technologies.
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.”
Sprint has been the quietest of the nationwide operators in terms of espousing 5G plans, with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility both stating plans for trials beginning as early as this year and T-Mobile US also noting plans to begin some testing later this year. However, Sprint management has stated that its current LTE plans are in fact laying the groundwork for what the industry can expect in terms of 5G network architecture.
“We’re not building a network that’s 4G,” noted Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati at an investor conference earlier this year. “4G is almost a thing of the past. We’re building a 5G network for the future, and 5G networks are fundamentally different to 4G networks. They’re all around high capacity and the more spectrum you have the more capacity you have.”
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 support for more diverse spectrum resources, Bye said carriers also need to be cognizant of deployment issues surrounding the need for antennas to beam out those spectrum bands.
“Multifrequency is adding more [radio units] and then there are issues with the towers themselves being able to handle it,” Bye explained. “Look at towers in dense urban areas. They are already big and heavily loaded. Some of these towers are 15 to 20 years old. Where are the new towers or antennas going to go?”
Bye acknowledged there were new antennas coming along, including a model from Huawei on the CCA show floor designed to handle a multitude of spectrum bands in a single panel, but carriers will then have to deal with the costs associated with having to roll a truck to every tower in order to install the new equipment. Panel members noted the technology advances and equipment costs were of nearly lesser importance than the cost and challenges associated with actually upgrading the tower sites.
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