BROWSING: 5G Fundamentals

In the 5G era, operators are thinking of providing differentiated services to drive new monetization opportunities, according to Spirent Communications The key objective of 5G is to enable new monetization avenues beyond the traditional connectivity business model. Service providers should think of their networks as...

Editor's note: Part 1 of this piece, drawn from a panel discussion at RCR Live: Telco Reinvention in London, is available here. Leveraging an expertise in reliability to deliver enterprise services In the first installment of this story on what operators can do to return...

Facing challenges at every layer of technology and business, operators need a “silver bullet machine gun”  The world of operators is confusing at the moment. Networks are rapidly changing, business models need to change just as rapidly, money is tight and return on the billions...

First and foremost, says the Managing Director at nexGworx, enterprises want their unique challenges to be understood While private 5G networks are widely viewed as the next big revenue driver for operators and other industry players, questions remain around whether the intended customers — enterprises...

The small cells form factor is 'a necessary but not sufficient condition' for enterprise 5G adoption, says Celona CEO From Celona’s perspective, enterprise consumption of 5G is how the cellular technology is going to truly be propagated throughout the market. Further, because of the ways...

There are early signs of sustainability as a 5G value proposition, but can saving money through reducing power consumption be construed as 5G monetization?  If you look at major global corporations, you’ll like notice an increasing emphasis on reducing power consumption, achieving net-zero carbon emissions,...

Beyond consumer-facing 5G services like fixed wireless access and step-changes in subscription plans—which are certainly making operators new service revenue—so far 5G monetization has fallen a bit short of the world-changing, trillion(s)-dollar hype around the sweeping digital transformation of industries. Based on a panel...

The shift to 5G Standalone—and enterprise service delivery—requires cross-domain network resource management and an OSS/BSS re-alignment The latest generation of cellular that’s available out in the world today largely follows a 5G Non-Standalone architecture meaning new radios and spectrum were added to existing core infrastructure....

5G monetization hinges on CSP, enterprise and ecosystem readiness So far, consumer-facing efforts at 5G monetization have been largely limited to providing home internet service with fixed wireless access (FWA). We have yet to see things like bespoke service tiers for cloud-based mobile gaming or...

Ericsson has tracked a two-year revenue increase in the top 20 5G markets as measured by device penetration New research from Ericsson finds that 5G monetization is picking up in the top 20 global markets as measured by device penetration. After years of stagnant ARPU,...

In the US market at least, FWA seems to be leading new 5G service revenue generation When Verizon initially launched 5G in 2018, it was a pre-standard mmWave FWA. Since then, and in line with the articulated plan to provide nationwide broadband using wireless and...

Ericsson breaks down the current (and future) market for FWA, and outlines how operators can effectively monetize the service Ericsson conducts ongoing research and monitoring of major developments impacting the global ICT industry, its customers, and itself. With regard to fixed wireless access (FWA), the...

Corning exec: 'The fundamentals we are putting down now will carry forward to 6G' The evolution of 5G into a more mature, software-defined and cloud-native network technology brings with it material changes in the types of skills operators need. As a result, telecom companies are...

The Industry 4.0 concept is driving the popularity of private 5G networks, which are also being increasingly adopted in the manufacturing and logistics space due to the lower costs of spectrum, Renu Navale, vice president in the Network and Edge Group and general manager...

AI and ML use for network energy saving, load balancing, and mobility optimization are key 3GPP Release 18 marks the first release of the 5G-Advanced standard. R16 and R17 exposed new functionality to help 5G address IoT and edge computing, enabling 5G to reach new...

According to a recent study by the GSMA, the industry is targeting commercialization of Rel.18 from 2024 onwards 3GPP approved its Release 18 (Rel.18) package at the December 2021 RAN plenary meeting. The package includes 27 diverse study or work items that will further boost...

3GPP approved its Rel. 18 5G Advanced package at the December 2021 RAN plenary meeting 3GPP's Release 18 (Rel.18) will certainly set the initial phase towards 5G-Advanced as the mid-point of 5G standardization. Indeed, the 3GPP has already announced its decision to recognize Rel.18 as...

Beyond RF challenges, US midband spectrum has limitations built into service rules As demand for various wireless services has grown, however, it has gotten harder and harder for federal regulators to come up with bands that can be (relatively) easily repurposed—either the cost or the...

KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Rakuten Mobile and Softbank have all deployed mmWave 5G Right now mmWave 5G deployments are focused on adding capacity to congested network hot zones, places like stadiums, music venues, shopping malls, transit hubs and dense central business or downtown areas. In addition...

mmWave 5G was the subject of some industry skepticism in its earlier days, particularly around the ability to support mobility use cases and the sheer economics of densification required to provide a workable degree of coverage. mmWave has since been the subject of significant...

mmWave-backed fixed wireless access is making gains outside of dense urban areas Fixed wireless access is emerging as a primary driver of new revenues for mobile operators. It’s how Verizon initially went to market with 5G and has since evolved to a significantly larger geographic...

The U.S. moved comparatively early on making mmWave spectrum available for 5G services with Verizon launching a pre-standard fixed wireless access service in the second half of 2018. Since then, in addition to the completion of the initial 5G New Radio standard by the...

GMSA Intelligence sees substantial cost savings when comparing 5G fixed wireless access with fiber-to-the-home Bridging the digital divide is a focus of governments and operators around the world. The primary stumbling block is finding the right balance between conducive policy and incentivization with economic feasibility...

When it comes to 5G and spectrum, there are a lot of complicating factors at work. While previous generations of cellular technologies typically brought new spectrum into play, 5G is making use of familiar sub-6 GHz frequencies that have been foundational to cellular networks,...