TIA Survey Reveals Deployment Hurdles for Operators Before Commercial 5G in 2020
March 16 2017 - 5:00AM
A recent survey report for the Telecommunications Industry
Association (TIA) from Tolaga Research, and sponsored by
InterDigital (NASDAQ:IDCC), has identified a number of deployment
hurdles that must be overcome before 5G is fully commercialized in
2020 and beyond. In line with common industry assumptions, TIA’s
survey reveals that 33 percent of operator respondents expect they
will offer commercial 5G services by 2020, but that a lack of
diversity in 5G network densification, disparate data offload
strategies and uncertainties around backhaul technology must be
overcome before 5G can become a reality.
The TIA survey has revealed that a lack of partner diversity is
likely to challenge 5G network densification efforts. Small cell
sites are a key requirement for the mainstream rollout of 5G, which
means operators need to ensure they have the right partnerships in
place to address site acquisition challenges for small cells. The
survey revealed that most operators planned to partner with
building owners (75%), electrical utilities (64 %) and public
lighting companies (61%) for their network densification efforts.
Without broader partnership strategies, operators in many markets
will struggle with their 5G network densification objectives, and
it is therefore crucial for operators to broaden their range of
partnerships to enable the small cell densification demanded by
5G.
The survey also revealed that operators have diverse data
offload strategies for 5G, looking towards both licensed and
unlicensed spectrum in order to meet bandwidth requirements for 5G.
However, data offload strategies differ depending on market
conditions, competitive landscapes and the legacy systems that they
operate. While just over half of respondents (55%) plan to deploy
Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and prefer the notion of operating
LTE in unlicensed spectrum, the majority, at 79%, plan to use plain
Wi-Fi. 41% favored both LTE Wi-Fi integration as well as more
advanced LTE Wi-Fi aggregation (LWA) technology, while just 4% are
interested in deploying MulteFire where they do not have access to
licensed spectrum or as an alternative technology for small cell
partnerships.
As 5G requires high capacity backhaul to deliver its intended
peak data rates, it is unsurprising that every operator identified
fiber as an important backhaul and transport technology for 5G.
However, fiber is costly to implement and is not necessarily
economical for many deployment scenarios. But point-to-point
millimeter wave technology was also identified as important by 61%
of operators – higher than all other technologies identified except
fiber.
Millimeter wave backhaul technologies have traditionally been
challenged by operational complexities, but advancements in antenna
technologies and signal processing are helping address its
technical challenges. At Mobile World Congress this year,
InterDigital demonstrated Crosshaul technology with its EdgeLink™
60GHz Platform, integrating fronthaul and backhaul traffic over a
common packet-based transport network, to provide a unified control
plane and user plane for the diverse set of 5G traffic
requirements. The EdgeLink™ 60GHz Platform is a millimeter
wave transport solution that delivers multi-gigabit per second
throughput with low-latency and high-availability.
“There is a clear industry consensus that we will see commercial
deployments of 5G by 2020, which means there are increasing
pressures for technology players to showcase market thought
leadership and bring 5G to life sooner rather than later. However,
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
Dr. Robert DiFazio, Vice President, InterDigital Labs. “This
research demonstrates the efforts operators are putting into making
5G a reality. However, while significant strides are being made,
there is still some way to go to ensure operators have the
capabilities to handle and offer 5G services.”
Additional insights from the survey also reveal:
- Over a quarter (26%) 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.
- Fiber was ranked as the most important backhaul and transport
technology for 5G, followed by millimeter wave.
- Security concerns around 5G are on the rise. Almost all
respondents (90%) believe that security is more challenging for
autonomous vehicles; 66.7% believe security will be a challenge for
ultra-reliable and low latency services; and 63.3% believe security
will be difficult for massive machine type communications.
- There is optimism around network slicing. 70% of operators
believe it is important for network efficiencies; 73.4% believe it
is important for enhanced service quality; and 83.4% believe it’s
important for revenue opportunities.
InterDigital develops wireless technologies for mobile devices,
networks, and services, and is a key contributor to global wireless
standards. It designs and develops a wide range of innovations, and
has been involved in the development of 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G. It
is playing a key role in a number of key 5G projects including the
EU 5G-Crosshaul project. 5G Crosshaul is a next generation
integration project involving players such as Nokia, Ericsson,
Orange and Telefonica, and will bring a coordinated approach to the
transport technologies and protocols needed for 5G deployments.
The full TIA White Paper, entitled ‘5G Operator Survey,’ is
available to download here.
About InterDigital®
InterDigital develops mobile technologies that are at the core
of devices, networks, and services worldwide. We solve many of the
industry's most critical and complex technical challenges,
inventing solutions for more efficient broadband networks and a
richer multimedia experience years ahead of market deployment.
InterDigital has licenses and strategic relationships with many of
the world's leading wireless companies. Founded in 1972,
InterDigital is listed on NASDAQ and is included in the S&P
MidCap 400® index.
InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.
EdgeLink is a trademark of InterDigital.
For more information, visit: www.interdigital.com.
Methodology
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and
InterDigital commissioned Tolaga Research to develop a study of 31
executives employed by network operators that are either directly
involved in 5G technology development and trials, or have a clear
understanding of the 5G activities being pursued by their company.
The objective of the survey was to gain insights into the 5G trial
and deployment activities, design priorities and target markets for
communication network operators across different global
regions.
InterDigital Contact:
Patrick Van de Wille
Email: patrick.vandewille@interdigital.com
+1 (858) 210-4814
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