Telecom operators, who are looking for 5G mobile launches in 2020 or before, have revealed their network deployment related challenges during a survey by Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).
The chart indicates about 5G subscriber forecast prepared by research agency Ovum and 5G Americas.
The survey said 33 percent of telecom operators expect they will offer commercial 5G services by 2020. Operators believe that the telecom industry must overcome lack of diversity in 5G network densification, disparate data offload strategies and uncertainties around backhaul technology.
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Lack of technology partner diversity is likely to challenge 5G network densification efforts. Because small cell sites are very important for 5G deployments, operators need to ensure right partnerships to address site acquisition challenges for small cells.
Most telecom operators will partner with building owners (75 percent), electrical utilities (64 percent) and public lighting companies (61 percent) for their network densification. Without broader partnership strategies, operators in many markets will struggle with their 5G network densification objectives.
Data offload strategies of operators differ depending on market conditions, competitive landscapes and the legacy systems that they operate. While 55 percent of respondents plan to deploy Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and prefer the notion of operating LTE in unlicensed spectrum, 79 percent plan to use plain Wi-Fi.
41 percent favored both LTE Wi-Fi integration as well as more advanced LTE Wi-Fi aggregation (LWA) technology, while 4 percent are interested in deploying MulteFire where they do not have access to licensed spectrum or as an alternative technology for small cell partnerships.
Every operator identified fiber as an important backhaul and transport technology for 5G. The survey said fiber is costly to implement and is not economical for many deployment scenarios. 61 percent identified point-to-point millimeter wave technology as important.
Millimeter wave backhaul technologies have been challenged by operational complexities, but advancements in antenna technologies and signal processing are helping address its technical challenges.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the significant deployment challenges ahead; areas like network densification, data offload and backhaul are all key to make 5G a reality, and operators need to ensure they have a strategy in place for the mainstream rollout of 5G,” said Robert DiFazio, vice president of InterDigital Labs.
26 percent of operators are planning to trial 5G over the next 24 months. This is especially evident in markets such as China, Japan, Australia and the United States.
Almost half of respondents expect to have made 5G investments as part of their capital expenditure budgets by the end of 2020.
More than two thirds of respondents are in favor of trialing radio rather than core network technology. For the operators trialing core network, efforts are being focused around deploying NFV and SDN functionality – precursors of 5G.
90 percent believe that security is challenging for autonomous vehicles. 66.7 percent said security will be a challenge for ultra-reliable and low latency services; and 63.3 percent said security will be difficult for massive machine type communications.
