Carriers Getting Ready for 5G Networks, Advanced Voice Services

The U.S. leads the world in 4G LTE deployment, but there's more work to do, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Some have predicted the U.S. may catch up 1410140033">1410140033. The world's wireless economies are planning for 5G, Rosenworcel said, referring to South Korea's plans to do 5G trials by the time it hosts the 2018 Winter Olympics, and Japan's plans for rollout by the time it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics. The U.S. "must build on our 4G success" and build on it right now, she said. Rosenworcel urged the government and industry to think differently about high-band spectrum, federal spectrum, and unlicensed spectrum.

Rosenworcel identified the 600 MHz to 3 GHz bands as the "current sweet spot for mobile communications." The world is moving from networks designed for analog voice to networks designed for high-speed data, she said. Rosenworcel cautioned against limiting capacity and traffic to operating in the traditional frequency range. The nation must "look way up" and "bust through our old 3 GHz ceiling," she said. Getting the policies and technical issues right also will help find more resources to play with "as we move toward next generation wireless networks," she added.

Finding ways to repurpose federal spectrum for commercial use will help the industry and government keep up with increasing commercial wireless demand, Rosenworcel said. Spectrum below 3 GHz will need to be identified for commercial mobile use, she said. Federal authorities use a significant amount of that spectrum, she said. Rosenworcel insisted on the need for a "federal incentive policy pipeline," and a spectrum policy "based on carrots and not sticks," which includes ways to develop incentives and ways to reward federal authorities for efficient use of their spectrum. There are a lot of options that involve exploring revenue opportunities from leasing or shared access, and that reward efficient use of spectrum, she said.

It's time to give unlicensed spectrum its due, said Rosenworcel. Unlicensed spectrum is a big part of economic growth, she said. "It is essential for managing the flow of traffic on our licensed airwaves." Good spectrum policy going forward requires both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, she said.

Mobile broadband has been one of the greatest success stories in the Americas, said Kris Rinne, AT&T senior vice president-network and product planning. Most of the growth in mobile subscriptions through 2019 will be in LTE connections, she said. With smartphone penetration reaching saturation in the U.S., the industry can look forward to growth in the adoption of the connected car, wearables and machine-to-machine, she said. By 2018, 62 percent of new cars sold worldwide will have embedded connectivity, she said. Consumers also will benefit from Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and HD Voice, she said. These services will result in more "spectral efficiency" and an introduction of rich communication, she said.

Wireless providers must have flexibility to manage networks, Rinne said. Massive growth in data means congestion will remain a problem in the future, she said. Other challenges include differing handset capabilities and differing spectrum bands, she said.

LTE Rollouts

The wireless industry is taking advantage of existing networks and innovating to meet consumer demand, said carrier executives.

Sprint is completing its LTE rollout in the 1.9 GHz and 800 MHz bands, said Ron Marquardt, vice president-technology. The company is working more aggressively to innovate as quickly as possible, he said. The pending shutdown of Sprint’s WiMAX data network "opens up some new capabilities,” he said. The company’s deployment of LTE and Time-Division Duplex must be synchronized, he said: “We can move to other configurations in LTE once WiMAX is turned off.”

There are great networks in the U.S., said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer. But that's "not without work," he said. The wireless industry must secure spectrum assets wherever they come from, he said. Upcoming FCC spectrum auctions provide a small slice of the growth opportunity, he said.

Ray supported the discussion of 5G, but cautioned that there's a lot of work ahead on defining it. T-Mobile is focusing on pushing forward with LTE and launching nationwide VoLTE, he said. The industry is still troubleshooting issues in 4G, he said. It's good that the debate on 5G is starting, but there's a need to maximize all of the capabilities of the technologies that have already been invested in, he said.

Although voice isn't growing at the same pace as data, it's still a critical piece that drives customers' perceptions of the quality of what a carrier is delivering, said Rinne. AT&T wants to move voice to an all-IP infrastructure, she said. It's more spectrally efficient than having the call move back through the 3G infrastructure, she said.

Market evolution, business model shifts in video and technological advances, like virtualization and cloud orchestration, will make 5G happen, said Paul Polakos of Cisco's Service Provider Mobility CTO team. The industry should be aggressive and think outside the box on what network capacity is, he said. “We must work toward defining what 5G is,” and think about what its capabilities will be, he said. Simplifying the 5G network for service providers also is important, he said. Taking the complexity out of the mobile network “is vital to building a more manageable platform,” he added.

Enough network support of “digitalization” will lead to a full transformation of mobile networks, said Erik Ekudden, Ericsson vice president-head of technology strategy. By 2019, there will be 9.2 billion mobile subscribers worldwide and 2.6 billion LTE subscribers, he said. There will be 10 times more mobile data traffic, which will be driven by video, he said.