5G Coming 'Sooner Than People Thought,' Samsung Exec Says; Verizon Eyes 5-6 Cities This Year
Next-generation 5G service "is coming sooner than people thought" five years ago, when it was expected in 2021-2022, said John Godfrey, Samsung senior vice president on a panel at the FCBA retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Friday. Fixed 5G services are…
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coming this year and mobile service in 2019-2020, he said. Verizon Vice President Melissa Tye said her company announced fixed service for Sacramento and plans to deploy in 4-5 more cities this year, with mobile service targeted to begin in 2019, though she said it's hard to say when will be ubiquitous. Godfrey and Wiley Rein attorney Anna Gomez said 5G promises higher speeds and capacity and lower latency. Asked about upcoming FCC 28 GHz and 24 GHz auctions, Godfrey said, "It's all about capacity," noting there's 800 MHz being made available in the 28 GHz band. The two bands "are going to be the workhorse of 5G for carrying heavy loads," he said. Tye said Verizon is currently focused on securing more spectrum in the 2.5-6 GHz mid-band, "the sweet spot" of good propagation and bandwidth. Gomez said densified small-cell networks needed local actions on zoning, permits and rights of way. Godfrey praised the FCC's streamlining of environmental and historical reviews for small-cell base stations, but added, "there's still a lot more to be done to speed up the approval process," and cities don't have to wait for the FCC to tell them what to do. Gomez said the FCC tried to have broad stakeholder representation on its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, but it's difficult because localities are feeling under attack. Audience member Best Best attorney Gerry Lederer asked when the FCBA will invite local governments to participate in the conversation, saying he was disappointed in the organization. Moderator Megan Stull, a Google counsel, said FCBA was open to local government participation and wants to work with localities. Asked about IoT, Godfrey said it will be the internet's connection to the physical world, which started on mainframes and then moved to personal computers and mobile devices: "It will be available everywhere on everything." The IoT needs ubiquitous, highly dense networks to connect things, which 5G will help provide, he said, calling it a "rocket fuel" for all sorts of services and applications that "you can't imagine." Panelists agreed privacy and cybersecurity will be major challenges in a 5G, IoT world.