Move Toward 5G Wireless Networks Won’t Leave 4G Behind, Executives Say
LAS VEGAS -- The nascent move toward 5G wireless networks won’t leave behind 4G and other advancements to carrier networks, predicted executives from carriers and device and network equipment makers. They said some smart and other devices using the Internet of Things may use 4G for the foreseeable future, especially those that are sold now or are already deployed. Some speakers at a CES panel Wednesday, and in answers to our question from the audience, described the move toward 5G as an evolution to what they characterized as already robust networks.
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With IoT and “different carriers and different technologies, how can you work together?” asked ZTE USA CEO Lixin Cheng. He used an example of a smart refrigerator, saying it may last for 10 or more years but be capable of connecting only to a 4G network. It’s “impossible” to update all IoT devices to 5G, so it’s key that networks are compatible with all available technology and deliver enough bandwidth to support the functions consumers expect, said Cheng. He also said 5G can represent a “larger, smarter network.”
Existing technologies and 5G can work together, said Surya Bommakanti, Ericsson North America vice president-mobile broadband practice. “We will very much work to make evolutions to LTE part of what 5G is all about.” LTE Advanced and “further evolutions to LTE” will “certainly be here for a significant period to come,” he predicted. “What we’re deploying today is really powerful already.” Rolling out more Wi-Fi hot spots and LTE Broadcast are ways carriers can meet consumer demand to download more data and video on wireless devices, executives said.
The top complaint of Wi-Fi end-users is they want hot spots in more places, Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa said: “People just want Wi-Fi everywhere. But we’re not in a world" where that’s yet the case. LTE Broadcast, where carriers transmit the same video images to large numbers of users who all can view a given stream, is a way to deal with wireless network congestion, said 4G Americas President Chris Pearson. “It’s one of the tools of the tool kit, but it isn’t the solution.”
Executives said increasing video consumption over mobile devices will continue. Such use “is the key bandwidth hog,” Pearson said. “But that’s good. It means people are using our networks.” Pearson said LTE Broadcast, using network resources that are “way more smaller and efficient than one-to-one” distribution of video to wireless customers, is a way to deal with bandwidth-intensive video streaming. Bommakanti cited uses of LTE Broadcast, a technology he likened to “the hottest of hot spots,” at stadiums and entertainment venues with tens of thousands of attendees. Game attendees can view the contest from multiple camera angles for instance, Bommakanti said. He said at least one carrier is bringing LTE Broadcast online this year, after many operators have trialed it in recent years.