A recent report from ABI Research said the demand for unlicensed and shared spectrum is growing among telecom operators.
Market activities
Recently, T-Mobile achieved 741 Mbps Internet speed using unlicensed spectrum in the U.S. FCC, the telecom regulator, has released the unlicensed spectrum to support the growth in 4G coverage of T-Mobile, the third largest cellular operator in North America.
Telefonica O2 is taking advantage of the convergence between Wi-Fi and Small Cells solutions, which is set to continue as there are new developments in unlicensed spectrum and multi-operator small cells, says Karl Liriano, head of Mobile Access at Telefonica O2.
US telecom regulator FCC authorized the first-ever LTE-unlicensed devices in the 5 GHz band—a significant advance for wireless innovation and spectrum sharing.
“This gives wireless consumers the best of both worlds: a more robust, seamless experience when their devices are using cellular networks and the continued enjoyment of Wi-Fi,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said recently.
It is expected that low, mid and high band spectrum– including licensed spectrum, bands shared with other services and unlicensed spectrum, will play a critical role in the healthy future of the mobile wireless industry, according to Chris Pearson, president, 5G Americas.
The LTE-U Development Market Report – 2016 from IHS Markit says the goal of combining licensed and unlicensed spectrum is to boost throughput and enhance user experience.
Since there is a crunch in the availability of LTE spectrum, unlicensed spectrum is critical to the mass deployment of LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro) services. Only one in four carriers has enough LTE spectrum to deploy LTE-A Pro services, according to Stephane Teral, senior research director, mobile infrastructure and carrier economics, IHS Markit.
Network operators have several ways to use unlicensed spectrum to enhance LTE performance: carrier versus link aggregation; and the neutral host model versus carrier owned. Different LTE-U options could enhance the operational model and overall business case for small cells as part of a network densification strategy.
The use of unlicensed spectrum by LTE also comes with controversy. Wi-Fi is contested spectrum, so there is the potential for friction. In order for fair coexistence, rules are needed or it could delay widespread implementation.
“Standards are still being finalized and could give the market and injection of activity,” said Richard Webb, research director, mobile backhaul and small cells, IHS Markit.
Unlicensed spectrum for densification
ABI Research says telecoms are utilizing unlicensed and shared spectrum to ensure low cost network densification.
MNOs are realizing the potential of using unlicensed and shared spectrum as a key enabler of densification for capacity. Driven first by Wi-Fi offload, which offloads cellular traffic on to Wi-Fi, MNOs’ interest in unlicensed and shared spectrum has increased as they appreciate its flexibility, especially indoors.
New LTE unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies will launch a $1.7 billion hardware market over the next 5 years, including LTE Unlicensed, CBRS, and MulteFire.
MulteFire and CBRS technologies promise very low network build-out costs with economics that threaten to disrupt the DAS market.
The technologies appeal to many Communications Service Providers, or CSPs, especially as CBRS pioneers a significant change in spectrum management for the industry. Traditional spectrum refarming cannot match the increasing mobile broadband throughput demands in the migration to 5G.
“LTE-U/LAA will appeal to MNOs planning to densify but with insufficient spectrum or Capex to acquire it,” said Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research.
Since unlicensed and shared spectrum face power restrictions, these technologies are most suitable for small cell indoor or venue deployments.
With low to no spectrum acquisition costs and deployment economics comparable to Wi-Fi, in-building wireless penetration in the vast middle-sized and enterprise verticals will increase and account for more than half of in-building small cell shipments in 2021.
There are many companies innovating in this ecosystem ranging from the Spectrum Access System (SAS) providers and Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) operators for CBRS, including Alphabet, CommScope, Federated Wireless, and small cell and infrastructure vendors like BaiCells, Casa Systems, Ericsson, Huawei, ip.access, Nokia, Ruckus, and SpiderCloud.
CBRS Alliance, which advocates for CBRS technology, counts as members all four major US MNOs such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, the major MSOs Comcast and Charter Communications, as well as Google, Intel, Nokia, and Qualcomm.
“We stand at the verge of significant disruption with in-building wireless and spectrum management technologies,” Nick Marshall said.
MNOs license spectrum to guarantee quality of service (QoS) for their subscribers. Main concern of the users of unlicensed and shared spectrum is lack of control on access to spectrum. The possibility of interference is increasing and network performance is suffering.
Emerging technologies for network densification for capacity include LTE-WLAN Link Aggregation (LWA), LTE WAN Integration with IPsec tunnel (LWIP), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), MulteFire, and the coordinated shared access technologies: Citizens Broadband Radio System (CBRS) and Licensed Shared Access (LSA).
Baburajan K
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