Author: Alan Weissberger
AT&T to shut down 3G network in 2022; Verizon at end of 2019
AT&T will shut down its 3G network in early 2022 as the company shifts its focus to 5G implementation (?) and compatible 4G LTE networks. Research firm Ovum estimates that the number of devices using 3G exceeds 85 million, while AT&T reports that 3G was still the choice for 11% of the company’s postpaid users last year.
AT&T’s decision to shutter 3G, disclosed in a Wednesday regulatory filing, follows rival Verizon Communications’s warning that it will disconnect 3G cellphones at the end of this year. Verizon said in a recent filing it is “aggressively refarming 3G bands” for 4G but still needs more spectrum to keep up with its users’ demands. Verizon executive Ronan Dunne told investors at a Thursday meeting that its 5G service will reach 30 cities this year. AT&T’s 5G service touched parts of 12 cities at the end of 2018, with nationwide service expected in 2020.
The demise of 3G in the U.S. has been all but certain after cellphone carriers spent billions of dollars over the past decade to blanket the country with 4G service. That standard, also known as long-term evolution, or LTE, allows users to download data 10 times as fast as its predecessor and has paved the way for many smartphone apps that require ample mobile bandwidth.
Winding down obsolete versions is a habit for telecom companies. In the 1990s they pushed analog cellphone users to the first digital standards, and later persuaded 2G users to upgrade to one of several wireless technologies with the 3G label.
The companies are driven by necessity. Cellphone users with unlimited data plans stream more video on the go, testing the limits of what service providers can handle. Getting customers off 3G allows carriers to free up wireless frequencies for 4G signals over broader swaths of the radio spectrum.
Early 3G phones kicked off the smartphone era by giving customers a reason to use their devices for more than just talking and texting. Apple Inc.’s cellphone sales took off after it launched the iPhone 3G.
AT&T said 11% of its postpaid customers were using 3G service at the end of 2018. More than 85 million devices use 3G, according to research firm Ovum. They include smartphones, tablets and devices like vehicle-location trackers. The coming changes could also affect users of prepaid cellphone brands like TracFone that use other companies’ networks.
Telecom executives are already shifting their attention to the latest group of engineering standards known as 5G, which are expected to make video streaming and downloads even quicker. The specifications also support many more connections at once, allowing carriers to go after more types of gadgets.
The end of 4G LTE service, if it comes, is years away. ITU-R [1] and ITU-T haven’t finished writing 5G standards, and telecom companies say it will take years to make 5G commonplace. Companies are less motivated to kill 4G service because it can work in tandem with 5G, unlike previous generations that forced carriers to devote a band of wireless spectrum to one technology.
Note 1. An AT&T representative chairs ITU-R WP 5D which is responsible for the IMT 2020 (official 5G) standard. Another AT&T rep chairs the WP 5D SWG on Radio Aspects within the Technology WG. Hence, AT&T has tremendous influence and impact on IMT 2020 yet it’s marketing communications department falsely claims the company has deployed “standards based” mobile 5G.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-gives-3g-service-three-years-to-live-11550765221
Have a 3G phone? Here’s why it’s time to start thinking about upgrading
China Mobile & Huawei deploy indoor 5G at Shanghai rail station
Guests at the launch event included: Zhang Jianming, Vice Chairman of Shanghai’s Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology; Wang Guannan, Deputy Division Chief of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission; Bai Zhengguo, Station Master of the Shanghai Railway Station; Li Xuecheng, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile Shanghai; Peter Zhou, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Huawei’s Wireless Solution; Zang Binyu, Dean of the School of Software at Shanghai Jiao Tong University; and Xiao Yuhuo, General Manager of China Mobile Tietong Shanghai.
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“Hongqiao Railway Station is leading the 5G commercial deployment in Shanghai,” said Zhang Jianming, Vice Chairman of Shanghai’s Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology. “The 5G digital indoor system will deliver a new travel experience. Passengers will feel they are getting more out of their journey. The railway station will show how 5G applications can improve the user experience and offer real benefits to the public. It will help speed up digital transformation for all sectors across the digital economy.”
“Shanghai is committed to building a Dual-Gigaband City. We are now planning field tests and pre-commercial trials of the technology. Ultimately, we will deploy 5G base stations across the whole city, and lead 5G commercial use in China,” he said.
“With Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Huawei, we have set up platforms to bring together the industry, academia, and research institutes. Through more investment in new infrastructure including AI, industrial Internet, and IoT, we will revitalize this city and build a hi-tech, intelligent Shanghai.”
As 5G industrialization accelerates, Huawei is working with partners in many industries to develop the indoor 5G industry, and enable smart buildings, remote healthcare, and smart railways. The whole world is becoming more intelligent.
Within the 5G world, the functions of mobile Internet, big data, cloud computing, and smart devices are constantly integrating and transforming. 5G is more than a next-generation technology. It is key infrastructure for the future digital world. Just as 2G transformed voice services and 4G transformed mobile Internet, 5G is the engine that will transform the world.
This vision of the future led Huawei to invest consistently in 5G R&D from 2009 onwards, paving the way for its leadership of the industry today. Huawei’s technological leadership has made it the technology supplier of choice for more and more customers. As of mid-January 2019, Huawei has signed 30 5G contracts and has shipped more than 25,000 5G base stations. Huawei possesses 2,570 patents on 5G.
VSG’s U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD: CenturyLink #1, AT&T #2; U.S. CE port base grew >12%
Vertical Systems Group (VSG) announced that six companies achieved a position on its 2018 U.S. Carrier Ethernet (CE) LEADERBOARD (in rank order based on year-end 2018 retail port share): CenturyLink, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast and Windstream. CenturyLink powered its way to the top spot in the year-end 2017 leaderboard after its acquisition of Level 3 Communications. AT&T led the U.S. Carrier Ethernet ranking from 2005-2016. Cox dropped out of the leaderboard and into VSG’s challenge tier on slower-than-market port growth.
To qualify for a rank on this 2018 LEADERBOARD, network providers must have 4% or more of the U.S. Ethernet services market. Shares are measured based on the number of billable retail customer ports in service as tracked by Vertical Systems Group.
“Despite its relative maturity, the Ethernet market continues to expand at a healthy pace. U.S. port installations grew more than twelve percent in 2018, in line with our forecasts,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “However, revenue growth is not keeping pace with port growth due to falling prices and changing service mixes. One notable catalyst is the deployment of SD-WAN, which is resulting in customers shifting from switched Ethernet services to dedicated Internet access.”
Highlights of Vertical’s year-end 2018 U.S. Ethernet market share analysis:
- U.S. retail Ethernet customer installations grew to more than 1.1 million ports, up 12 percent from year-end 2017.
- Six Ethernet providers qualify for the 2018 LEADERBOARD, as compared to seven in 2017 and nine in 2016.
- Cox dropped out of the LEADERBOARD and into the Challenge Tier on slower than market port growth.
- Four Incumbent Carriers (CenturyLink, AT&T, Verizon, Windstream) and two Cable MSOs (Spectrum Enterprise, Comcast) are represented on the latest LEADERBOARD.
- The two Cable MSOs (Spectrum Enterprise and Comcast) had the highest port growth in the second half of 2018.
- Ethernet pricing declined in 2018 across all port speeds for the six service types tracked by Vertical (i.e., EPL, EVPL, DIA, Access to VPN, Switched Metro and VPLS).
- Each of the 2018 U.S. LEADERBOARD companies has received MEF CE 2.0 certification.
In addition to the LEADERBOARD providers, all other companies selling Ethernet services in the U.S. are segmented into two tiers as measured by port share.
The Challenge Tier includes providers with between 1% and 4% share of the U.S. retail Ethernet market. For year-end 2018, the following seven companies attained a position in the Challenge Tier (in alphabetical order): Altice USA, Cogent, Cox, Frontier, GTT, Sprint and Zayo.
The Market Player tier includes all providers with port share below 1%. Companies in the Market Player tier include the following providers (in alphabetical order): Alaska Communications, American Telesis, Atlantic Broadband, BT Global Services, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Crown Castle Fiber, DQE Communications, Expedient, FiberLight, FirstLight, Fusion, Global Cloud Xchange, Great Plains Communications, Logix Fiber Networks, LS Networks, Masergy, Midco, NTT America, Orange Business, RCN Business, Segra, Tata, TDS Telecom, Telstra, TPx, Unite Private Networks, US Signal, WOW!Business and other companies selling retail Ethernet services in the U.S. market.
Detailed Ethernet share results that power the Year-End 2018 Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD are available now exclusively through Vertical Systems Group’s ENS Research Program subscribers of @Ethernet. Contact us for subscription information and pricing.
Here’s VSG Mid year 2018 Global Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD:
AT&T’s 5G Use Cases at NGNM Conference on Licensing Practices in 5G Industry Segments
Dawn Of The 5G World – AT&T Perspective
by Michael Robinson Director, Business Development AT&T Intellectual Property
Current “5G” Deployment:
• Live in 12 Cities: Atlanta, Charlotte & Raleigh, NC, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, FL, Louisville, KY, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio & Waco, TX
• Millimeter wave spectrum
2019-2020 “5G” Deployment:
• Live in 9+ additional cities: Austin TX, Las Vegas, Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, CA, (millimeter wave spectrum)
• Nationwide coverage available early 2020 (sub 6Ghz spectrum)
5G Use Cases:
1. Healthcare
• Provide more effective healthcare and improve revenue realization for providers
• Minimize need for annual exams or office visits
• Wearables/Home Sensors provide near constant monitoring
• Alert healthcare providers of potential ailments or abnormalities
• Preventative Care: wearables will calculate daily recommendations, provide prompting based on medical records, real-time vitals, projected needs
• Hospital of the Future: collaboration with Rush University Medical Center and the Rush System for Health
2. Retail
• Enable in-store 3D printers to create custom products
• AR/VR to try on clothing
• Home improvement stores use VR to create personalized demo of remodeling options
3. Finance
• Create highly customized financial/insurance experiences
• High resolution video enables customer interaction with in-person or AI representatives
• Security – AI cyber immune system to send threat intelligent defender cells from one edge of the network to the other
• Insurance companies
• Dispatch drones for claim investigations
• Holographic teleportation for adjusters – tour damaged property to provide benefits more rapidly
4. Manufacturing
• IoT neural network enables a ‘brain’ to react, calibrate and optimize end-to-end manufacturing process
• Robots mimicking human capabilities to carry out high-risk, dangerous tasks
• Network reliability and low latency enables manufacturing equipment to communicate wirelessly with back-end systems for time critical operations
• Samsung Austin Semiconductor “Innovation Zone”
• Test bed for the Smart Factory
• Location services to improve safety
• Industrial IoT sensors – environmental & equipment conditions
AT&T Foundry (Plano, TX) – Use Case Development:
• Plano Foundry prototypes innovative solutions for AT&T customers in manufacturing, retail, finance, public sector
• 5G functionality (2019) to co-create 5G solutions:
• Using 5G-enabled network slicing in a manufacturing shop floor to create a separate network for operational equipment efficiency,
• Transform the retail buying experience for consumers through innovative solutions like digital signage, IoT-enabled smart shelving and auto-inventory tracking,
• Enabling life-changing healthcare technologies, like Aira, that use our IoT connectivity to bridge the physical gap between caregiver and patient,
• Deploying drones to rethink the damage assessment process for insurance companies, and ………………
• Applying AI or machine learning techniques to enhance situational awareness for first responders
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/itu-ngmn/Documents/2018/Michael_Robinson_Presentation.pdf
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NGMN Alliance Backgrouner: by Peter Meissner, CEO NGMN
The NGMN Alliance was founded by leading international mobile network operators in 2006 with the “Objective to ensure that functionality and performance of next generation mobile network infrastructure, service platforms and devices will meet the requirements of operators and, ultimately, will satisfy end user demand and expectations.”
§ NGMN actively drives global alignment and convergence of technology standards and industry initiatives with the objective to avoid fragmentation and to guarantee industry scale.
§ A global presence has been established that comprises a leadership network of about 90 Partners: Operators, Vendors, Software Companies and Universities. These Partners are contributing to and delivering the results of the Work Programme with a focus on 5G. Several Cooperation Partners support the NGMN Alliance by two-way liaison statements.
§ The 5G Eco-System is different! New use cases beyond mobile broadband like massive IoT as well as highly demanding requirements from Vertical Industries on low latency, ultra-high reliability and security are causing substantial network transformation. Service Based Architecture, Network Slicing as well as Network Function Virtualisation are the solutions with major impact on network architecture and operations.
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India 5G Delayed due to spectrum sale and lack of fiber connectivity
The Indian government expects initial “5G” rollouts by late 2020. But sector experts say the country is running late and could be at least three years behind South Korea, Japan, Australia, the US, China, France and Germany in rolling out 5G networks. Pre IMT 2020 standard 5G services are likely to be rolled out in those markets by late 2019 or early 2020.
Some of the key reasons why India is slipping behind in 5G – after having missed the 3G and 4G early adoption train – include dismal state of fiber network infrastructure (needed for backhaul), absence of relevant use-cases and a very modest presence of household electronics plugged into the Internet.
Financial stress in the industry and a missing handset/mobile device ecosystem have already delayed a 5G spectrum sale to late 2019.
Further, high debt levels and the prospect of high reserve prices could further kill the appetite of telcos even when 5G airwaves are auctioned, especially for older carriers such as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, whose India operations remain in the red, say experts.
Problems related to setting up and maintaining fiber networks and poor 4G Internet availability in the villages and small towns, they say, could further scale down the business case for early 5G rollouts in India. 5G smartphones won’t come to India before 2020, although they will be available in early adopter markets next year (again, pre-standard and likely based on 3GPP release 15 5G NR).
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel said recently that the current wave of popular 5G use-cases such as “driverless cars to remote surgery are not practical in the Indian context,” which is why it expects deployments are four years away. He also said the company is in no hurry to bid for 5G spectrum.
Experts say a major deterrent to India’s 5G ambitions is lack of adequate fiber connectivity – less than 20% of the country’s telecom towers are linked by fiber. This can limit the capacity to connect the core of a mobile network to nodes and then on to towers for transmitting data. A reliable fiber-based network is critical to support 5G data speeds of 10 Gbps and next-gen applications such as video-on-demand and internet of things (IoT) to smart cities.
“If 5G is to succeed in India, at least 70-80% of mobile towers will have to be fiberised, failing which, severe data speed limitations will continue as present backhaul networks in India use microwave spectrum,” says TR Dua, director general of Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association, an industry grouping representing Indus Towers, Bharti Infratel, American Tower Corporation, GTL, Reliance Infratel and Tower Vision.
TV Ramachandran, president of the Broadband India Forum, agrees, saying, “Most 5G use-cases would fall if we don’t provide strong fibre connectivity.” The forum counts Huawei, Qualcomm, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Hughes and Intel among its members.
In comparison to India, China already has 75-80% of its mobile towers fiberised.
Moody’s Investors Service expects China to commercially deploy 5G services in late-2019 or by 2020, with pilot trials already under way. The Chinese government allocated 5G spectrum this month to the country’s top 3 telcos – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – to conduct field trials in the run-up to the commercial rollout of 5G services.
By contrast, India’s telecom department said that the 5G spectrum sale would take place in the secondhalf of 2019. It though recently invited telcos, equipment vendors and other stakeholders to partner with the government for 5G trials. Sources say trials are still some time away.
Nitin Soni, director (corporates) at global rating company Fitch, does not expect 5G to arrive in India before 2022 at the earliest because the telecom industry balance sheet – saddled with Rs 7 lakh crore in debt – is in no shape to support a 5G spectrum sale in the next one year.
“Even if 5G spectrum is auctioned by late-2019, I don’t foresee enthusiastic bidding, especially if reserve prices are high as older carriers are still struggling. Besides, India is nowhere near having ubiquitous fibre connectivity or a devices ecosystem comparable with China or Korea, which could delay 5G rollouts by another three years,” says the Singapore-based Fitch director.
Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm, says the primary reason South Korea, Germany, Japan or the UK have been able to brace for 5G early is due to the strong “financial condition of their telecom operators.”
The reserve price of 5G spectrum recommended by India’s telecom regulator, he said, “is much higher compared to Germany, South Korea or UK.”
In August, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) set Rs 492 crore per unit as the minimum rate for 5G spectrum (in the 3.4-3.5 GHz bands), compared with Rs 131 crore per unit and Rs 66 crore per unit in South Korea and the UK, respectively.
A key global learning, Rajan says, is “pricing the spectrum at reasonable rates” to allow telcos to bid aggressively and roll out 5G services.
Fitch’s Soni says China has stolen a march over India as “it’s streets ahead in developing data-intensive 5G content coupled with music, movie and sport apps in regional languages,” which is slated to drive consumption once 5G services get rolled out there.
Experts also say that unlike India, China already has a buzzing internet of things ecosystem, wherein cars, machines and ordinary home appliances are plugged to the internet, providing the perfect springboard for 5G to rapidly gain traction.
The Modi government, though, doesn’t want India to miss the 5G bus – like the country did on 3G and 4G – as the economic impact alone of this superfast wireless broadband technology is estimated at over $1 trillion by 2035.
The government has set up a highpowered 5G Forum to advise on the path forward, which has suggested that most rules on regulatory matters be promulgated by next March to pave the way for early rollouts.
US chipmaker Qualcomm has downplayed concerns around 5G ecosystem challenges, saying that although the global infrastructure ecosystem is diverse, the vendors overseas and in India are the same.
“Different countries are at different stages of mass deployment of fibre and so on,” says Durga Malladi, senior vice president, Engineering & GM (4G/5G), at Qualcomm Technologies.
Reference:
Addendum:
Reliance Jio president Mathew Oommen told ETTelecom: “For service providers, just voice or even traditional data revenue alone is not going to be the cure. They have to invest and innovate so that they would not get displaced by other aggressive providers or more importantly by OTT companies.”
India telecom market leader Reliance Jio, second ranked Bharti Airtel and financially stressed Vodafone Idea (Vi) have filed applications for participation in the upcoming 4G spectrum auctions, due to start on March 1. The auction for over 2300 MHz of airwaves—valued at Rs 3.92 lakh crore at base price—though is likely to see limited bidding intensity for spectrum worth less than Rs 48,000 crore, with Jio and Airtel expected to be the main players. Industry executives have confirmed to ET that the three telcos have filed in their applications although Airtel, Jio and Vi did not respond to ET’s queries.
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/jio-airtel-vodafone-idea-apply-to-bid-in-spectrum-auctions/80769608
Point Topic: Global fixed broadband take-up & forecasts to 2025 + Rethink TV: China to lead in gigabit broadband services
1. Point topic – FTTH/FTTP/FTTB:
Market research firm Point Topic predicts that 59% of broadband subscribers worldwide will be served by fiber to the home/premises/building (FTTH/FTTP/FTTB) by the end of 2025. That represents an 11% jump from current levels. Please see Rethink TV’s findings below, which corroborate the rise of fiber access based broadband network access.
Point Topic forecasts that there will be 1.2 billion fixed broadband subscribers worldwide by the end of 2025. Broadband subscriber totals exceeded 1 billion in the third quarter of this year, the market research firm points out. Approximately 89% of these subscribers reside in one of the top 30 markets as defined by subscriber numbers recorded in this year’s second quarter.
Within these markets, FTTH and related options will grab market share primarily from xDSL, which should decline 19% to 9% during the forecast period. While overall subscriber numbers for fiber to the curb (FTTC) and VDSL, as well as DOCSIS-based hybrid fiber/coax (HFC), should climb during the forecast window, market share will remain fairly stable. FTTC will account for approximately 12% of connections, while HFC will check in at 19%, the researchers estimate.
While legacy copper networks have been losing customers to more advanced technologies for years. It looks like direct fibre networks will attract the majority of new customers, with DSL figures forecast to drop to hundreds or tens of thousands in most technologically advanced markets.
However, one cannot completely discount FTTC/VDSL and cable platforms, preferred by some operators, and especially their more advanced versions such as G.fast and Docsis 3.1 which are capable of gigabit speeds. We have seen their deployment gather pace in certain regions of the world (see their latest map).
The advent of 5G should have a dampening effect on fixed broadband in the forecast period, according to Point Topic. They are awaiting data from the field as 5G service is rolled out before predicting how much of an impact that market will have on fixed broadband.
The forecasts include data for the top 30 fixed broadband markets and the rest of the world. Point Topic has based them on historical data on fixed broadband take up. The forecasts include trends in subscriber churn for various broadband technologies, the size of the addressable market at country level, and current and planned network upgrades.
http://point-topic.com/free-analysis/fixed-broadband-take-up-forecasts/
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Point Topic’s most recent outputs put the total number of global fixed line broadband subscribers at 983 million at the end of June. Current adoption rates mean that the billionth broadband line appeared in September 2018, probably in China they say.
Technologies rarely manage to spread through the world so quickly, in only twenty years more than half the households in the world have a fixed broadband line.
http://point-topic.com/billion-lines-fixed-broadband-half-world/
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2. Rethink TV – China to lead in gigabit broadband:
A recent report from Rethink TV, the video research arm of Rethink Technology Research, says that “in advanced countries such as France, Switzerland and South Korea, more than 50% of households will take 1Gbps broadband by 2023.” Rethink TV says that 57% of the world’s 1Gbps connections installed by 2023 will be in China. Over 42% of all Chinese homes will have access to 1Gbps services, thanks to “a series of massive build-outs led by China Mobile.” Rethink CEO and co-founder Peter White, says that China will have 191 million homes connected to 1Gbps by 2023, leading the world market. Japan will have 19.4 million and South Korea will have 9.5 million 1Gbps homes. Today, China is already substantially in the lead with 18.8 1 Gbps lines, with France on 4 million, Japan on 3.8 million and the US on 3 million.
In sharp contrast, only 11% of North America households will have 1Gbps connections by 2023 (see map) – even though the US, at 33.5 million households, will be the second largest market behind China.
“Gigabit broadband will accelerate faster than previous forecasts have imagined, growing tenfold over the next five years,” said Rethink. “After a two-year period of being high priced luxuries, 1Gbps broadband will become commonplace and inexpensive.”
Fiber optics based network access will take over in most parts of the world from copper-based technologies such as G.fast, except in the US, where cable TV networks will rely on DOCSIS 3.1. “Laggards in percentage terms will include the United Kingdom and Germany and much of Latin America,” said Rethink.
https://rethinkresearch.biz/report/gigabit-broadband-forecast-to-2023/
Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) makes 600MHz band available for 5G services-AT&T or Telcel?
International Law Office (subscription required):
In October 2018, after relocating more than 200 TV channels, Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) approved the relocation of the last two TV channels that transmitted in the 600MHz band in order to free it up for 5G broadband services. In doing so, Mexico became the first country to finish implementing this transition and liberate the 600MHz band.
This transition will enable Mexico to make the 600MHz band available to the market through a bidding process and exploit international mobile telecoms (IMT) applications for 5G mobile broadband services. It is anticipated that the 600MHz band auction will be launched in 2020 so that the deployment of the network can commence in 2021.
Mexico had already successfully switched off the 700MHz band for analogue TV in November 2015. In such band, the government implemented the Red Compartida (or Shared Network) project through a public-private partnership in order to:
- provide broadband in areas that lacked coverage;
- improve service quality;
- reduce the price of mobile services;
- promote competitiveness; and
- improve digital service innovation.
The auction was won by Altán Redes, a new joint venture responsible for the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the Red Compartida.
In addition, in 2018 the IFT conducted a bidding procedure in which it allocated 120MHz of the 2.5GHz band in favour of AT&T and Telefonica.
In light of the above, Mexico has allocated 584MHz to IMT, which represents 44.9% of the International Telecommunications Unit recommended spectrum allocation for 2015.
With the future auction of the 600MHz band, the IFT will take the lead in providing more spectrum for telephony and 5G mobile internet services. This is in line with the spectral policy, which has allocated more than double the amount of spectrum to the market over the past five years, resulting in greater benefits for Mexican users.
In addition, the IFT is considering using the 3.3GHz to 3.6GHz band for 5G technology, as some companies are already using this band for such purposes.
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With this, Mexico becomes the first country in the world to completely dislodge the frequencies from 614 to 698 Mhz to start testing the 5G network.
AT&T will likely be the first operator to deploy its 5G network in Mexicoo (at some point next year). Telcel would follow closely with the launch of its own technology a year later, in 2020 . The reality is that there is still a lot of work to be done , but apparently Mexico is on the right track.
In Xataka Mexico | 5G, everything you need to know about the new generation of mobile networks
References:
AT&T to deploy live mobile “5G” in the U.S. on Dec. 21st, but limited to single WiFi hotspot endpoint
Whew! I don’t have to hold my breath any longer! But is it really 5G? And whom other than stadiums/parks will buy it with only a single end device offered- a WiFi hotspot?
AT&T announced today that they will be offering their so called “5G” mobile network service in 12 cities on December 21st. The telco/media conglomerate says: “AT&T will be the first and only company in the U.S. to offer a mobile 5G device over a commercial, standards-based mobile 5G network.”
Please see Author’s Closing Comments below, which refute that “standards based” claim. We’ve repeatedly pounded the table that 3GPP Release 15 NR NSA is not 5G and nothing that comes out of 3GPP is a standard (as per their own website!).
As expected, AT&T’s initial 5G launch will use mmWave spectrum [1], which is claimed to offer users a faster mobile experience than standard LTE. The 5G service starts small and will be limited. AT&T’s mobile 5G network is live in parts of 12 cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, N.C., San Antonio and Waco, Texas.
Note 1. Millimeter waves occupy the frequency spectrum from 30 GHz to 300 GHz. They’re found in the spectrum between microwaves (1 GHz to 30 GHz) and infrared (IR) waves, which is sometimes known as extremely high frequency (EHF). The wavelength (λ) is in the 1-mm to 10-mm range.
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“This is the first taste of the mobile 5G era,” said Andre Fuetsch, president, AT&T Labs and chief technology officer. “Being first, you can expect us to evolve very quickly. It’s early on the 5G journey and we’re ready to learn fast and continually iterate in the months ahead.”
In the first half of 2019 AT&T plans to deploy mobile 5G in parts of these 7 additional cities: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. The company says that as the 5G ecosystem evolves customers will see enhancements in coverage, speeds and devices.
“As the ecosystem evolves, this technology will ultimately change the way we live and conduct business,” said Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer, AT&T Business. “We expect that our initial adopters will be innovative, growing businesses. They’re the starting point for what we think will be a technology revolution like we’ve never seen before.”
“Today’s news is a seminal moment in the advancement of mobile 5G technology,” said David Christopher, president of AT&T mobility and entertainment, in a statement. “This proves we are well on our way to the promise of mobile 5G for consumers.”
Early adopters will only have one choice of end user equipment: the NETGEAR® Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot (aka “a puck”) on the mobile 5G+ network. AT&Ts 5G service will start out in dense urban areas. Through an initial offer, AT&T says they will deliver select businesses and consumers their first mobile 5G device plus 5G data usage at no cost for at least 90 days. Next spring, customers will be able to get the Nighthawk for $499 upfront and 15GB of data for $70 a month on a compatible plan and no annual commitment [2].
AT&T said its hot spot and the data it uses will be free for subscribers in the first 90 days of the rollout. After that period, the device will sell for $499 with a 15-gigabyte data plan priced at $70 per month—a rate slightly cheaper per-datum than the 10-GB for $50 it offers with 4G LTE hotspots.
An AT&T spokesperson said businesses and customers in the initial rollout areas can express interest in joining the early phase of the network on the company’s website. The spokesperson also said the network should eventually reach theoretical peak speeds of 979 megabits per second, but actual average rates will be lower.
In December, AT&T announced two 5G-capable smartphones for 2019. A Samsung-branded 5G smartphone operating on AT&Ts mmWave is will be released in the spring of 2019. Toward the end of 2019, AT&T will release another Samsung 5G smartphone with multi-frequency band support. None of those devices will meet the still uncompleted IMT 2020 standard for mobile 5G (see Closing Comments below).
Note 2. The NETGEAR Nighthawk device will require a 5G compatible AT&T data plan. Device availability and 5G+ coverage areas are limited.
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Expect to hear more about 5G soon at events like the big consumer electronics trade show CES in January in Las Vegas and MWC Barcelona (formerly the Mobile World Congress) in February in Spain. Wireless service providers including AT&T and Verizon are already talking up 5G. And device makers are previewing gadgets that will work with the technology.
Samsung recently demonstrated prototypes of 5G smartphones that are expected to operate on both Verizon and AT&T networks. Many other manufacturers are racing to follow suit, though Apple is not expected in the initial 5G wave. Analysts predict that iPhones with the new technology won’t arrive until 2020.
Qualcomm, the wireless chip maker, said it had demonstrated peak 5G download speeds of 4.5 gigabits/second, but predicts initial median speeds of about 1.4 gigabits/secon. That translates to roughly 20 times faster than the current 4G LTE experience, but is much lower than IMT 2020 objectives for peak and average bit rates.
The 5G speeds will be particularly noticeable in higher-quality streaming video.Downloading a typical movie at the median speeds cited by Qualcomm would take 17 seconds with 5G, compared with six minutes for 4G.
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From a previous IEEE Techblog post–AT&T’s 5G Roadmap (only mobile 5G was shown on Al Burke’s SCWS 2018 presentation – nothing on fixed 5G):
- 2019: 5G NR access with LTE Core network and LTE Access (=signaling?). The spectrum for AT&Ts initial mobile 5G rollout was not disclosed, but many believe it will be mmWave.
- 2020-2022+: 5G NR access with 5G Core network (3GPP Release 16 SA or IMT 2020?); also LTE Core with LTE Access
- 2019-2022+: mmWave NR : Evolution to Ultra High Speed and lower latency
- End of 2019-2022+: (unspecified time frame?), AT&T will provide sub 6 GHz 5G coverage in the U.S. speed and latency; dedicated & shared spectrum (LTE-NR-Coexistence)
When AT&T introduces its “5G” FWA residential service it will be based on LTE, according to Mr. Burke. In answer to a question from this author during the Q&A session, he said it would start as LTE but then transition to 5G NR based FWA. The spectrum to be used was not revealed by Mr. Burke, but it will likely be mmWave (like Verizon’s 5G Home).
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Author’s Closing Comments:
A claim we’ve heard before (by Ericsson and Vodafone), but don’t believe: LTE network and terminal equipment will upgrade to 5G NR via “only a software upgrade.”As noted many times by this author and others,
AT&T has repeatedly stated they would roll out “standards based 5G” in 12 cities by the end of 2018 (they have only 3 weeks to fulfill that promise) and 19 cities in 2019. Some of the cities identified by AT&T for the 2018 launch include Houston TX, Dallas TX, Atlanta TX, Waco TX, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, Oklahoma City OK, Jacksonville FL, Louisville, KY, New Orleans LA, Indianapolis IN, and San Antonio TX.
How long can AT&T claim their “5G” network is standards based when they only support 3GPP release 15 “5G NR” NSA access with a LTE core network and LTE signaling? The ONLY 5G RAN/RIT standard is IMT 2020 which won’t be completed till the end of 2020. AT&T knows this well because one of their representatives is the Chairman of ITU-R WP 5D where IMT 2020 is being standardized.
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References:
SCWS Americas: Verizon and AT&T 5G Roadmaps Differ on FWA vs mobile “5G”
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/
AT&T Fiber Expansion Adds 12 More Markets, Now Reaches 10M Locations
AT&T has expanded its AT&T Fiber service (Fiber to the Premises or FTTP) to 12 additional markets, including three in Texas and three in Florida. The telco’s FTTP offering now reaches more than 10 million locations in 84 metro areas, with 3 million of those having come this year. The company hopes to reach at least 14 million locations by mid-2019. That’s impressive!
AT&T now has fiber to more than 2 million business customer locations – with another 6 million locations within 1000 feet of fiber.
In a press release, the company said that mobile 5G success will rely on a quality fiber connection to the wireless towers or small cells, which then translate the fiber connection into an ultra-fast wireless signal for customers. Under the AT&T plans, eligible broadband customers can choose from a range of internet speed plans.
New research conducted for the Fiber Broadband Association by research firm RVA, LLC found 18.4 million U.S. fiber broadband homes as of September 2018, up from approximately 15 million a year earlier. Service providers made broadband available to a record-breaking 5.9 million new homes in the year ending September 2018, RVA said.
Network operators now market fiber broadband to 39.2 million U.S. homes, including 1.6 million homes that can get fiber broadband from two or more providers, according to the research.
Note:
AT&T says it offers Fiber to the premises in Santa Clara, CA (my home town for almost 49 years), but it’s not available anywhere in ny neighborhood. When I enter my zip code and address in the box on their website, I get no mention of fiber availability, but instead this box:
We found existing AT&T wireless service at your address.
This is my account and I’d like to see my offers and deals.
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In other words, it’s a frustrating cop-out on FTTP for Santa Clara, CA. Suggest readers check AT&T Fiber availability for your address/zip code.
References:
https://about.att.com/story/2018/internet-powered-by-att-fiber-available-12-metros.html
https://www.telecompetitor.com/att-fiber-expansion-12-more-cities/
Gartner Group Innovation & Insight: Cutting Through the 5G Hype
Executive Summary:
Most 5G deployments will initially focus on islands of deployment, without continuous national coverage through 2022. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must adapt digital business initiatives to the available network services.
Key Findings:
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Despite service provider hype, most 5G rollouts will initially focus on islands of deployment. Broad availability of full-function public 5G from CSPs is unlikely before 2023, putting some digital business plans at risk — unless private networks are rolled out.
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Early public 5G deployments will be spotty in coverage, but will satisfy some enterprise use cases such as high-speed fixed wireless access.
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Enterprises may choose to deploy private 5G networks to address specific needs such as upgrading factory, stadium or warehouse networks. This may leverage Wi-Fi for access and 5G for the backbone.
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Application use-case requirements (such as latency) must be clearly defined, so alternatives to 5G can be considered where applicable. In many cases, Proto-5G (an enhanced 4G) will be good enough to satisfy application use cases.
Recommendations:
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Incorporate realistic networking assumptions for business plans by working with business leaders and network service providers to identify the availability of required advanced wireless services such as Proto-5G and 5G.
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Address current use-case requirements by identifying where 5G alternatives such as Proto-5 G can be leveraged when and where 5G is unavailable or too expensive.
Strategic Planning Assumption:
Analysis:
Adding to the confusion about 5G availability is the fact that many CSPs are claiming that everything they deploy is 5G. However, what they deploy may be little more than rebranded or advanced LTE, or a subset of 5G that is deployed in a very limited footprint.
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5G deployments will take more than twice as long as 4G/LTE because higher-frequency radio spectrum is required. This will force deployment of large numbers of new cellular radios.
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Spectrum allocation is progressing slowly.
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4G/LTE is successful and profitable.
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There are no killer applications to pay for the required investment.
Network-based CSPs in North America, Greater China and Japan will launch projects to complete 90% of nationwide 5G population coverage by 2023. CSPs in Western Europe will achieve similar coverage by 2026, while other regions will not achieve the same coverage until after 2026.
Figure 1. Estimated Timing of 5G Network Launches
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Definition:
The official ITU specification, International Mobile Telecommunications-2020, targets maximum downlink and uplink throughputs of 20 Gbps and 10 Gbps, respectively; latency below 5 ms endpoint to RAN; and massive scalability, although initial deployments may be less ambitious. New system architecture includes core network slicing and edge computing.
Description:
Figure 2. Three Technology Pillars of 5G
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
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eMBB: High-throughput data transfer, with maximum speeds of 20 Gbps for downlink (although initial deployments will fall between 4 Gbps and 8 Gbps) and 10 Gbps for uplink.
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mMTC: Targets support of up to 1 million low-power nodes per square kilometer.
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URLLC: End-to-end cellular network latency of 5 ms or less.
The Evolution of 4G Versus the Promise of 5G:
Table 1: Proto-5G (Enhanced 4G) Compared to Existing 4G and 5G Wireless Access in the Future
|
Feature
|
4G
|
Proto-5G
|
5G Wireless Access
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Requirement and Target
|
Up to several hundred Mbps downlink throughput
About several tens of ms latency
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More than 500 Mbps downlink throughput
About 10 ms latency IoT connectivity support
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More than 10 Gbps downlink throughput
About 1 ms latency URLLC support
|
|
Frequency
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Licensed (less than 6GHz)
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Licensed and unlicensed (less than 6GHz)
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Millimeter waves, in addition to Proto-5G’s frequency bands
|
|
Device IoT Support
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LTE user equipment Cat. 1
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LTE user equipment Cat. 0, M1 and NB-IoT
|
To be discussed in the technology standards
|
|
LTE = Long Term Evolution; URLLC = ultrareliable and low-latency communication
|
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Benefits and Uses:
In a shift from traditional cellular deployments, organizations will benefit from private network deployments that replace or augment campus Wi-Fi networks and wired in-building networks for applications such as factory automation and surveillance.
Figure 3. Expected Use for 5G-Capable Networks
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Figure 4. Use Cases for Deploying 5G-Capable Networks for Operational Efficiency
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Figure 5. Migration to 5G Will Enable Emerging Edge Computing Applications
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Adoption Rate:
As a result, Gartner expects most 5G deployments to initially focus on islands of deployment, without continuous national coverage, typically reaching less than full parity with existing 4G geographical coverage by 2022 in developed nations.
Table 2: Representative Sample of 5G Deployments and Expected Use Cases to Be Supported
|
Country
|
CSP
|
Launch Target
|
Use Cases and Demos
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
U.S.
|
Verizon
|
October 2018 and broader rollout in 2019
|
|
|
AT&T
|
AT&T plans to be the first U.S. company to introduce mobile 5G service in 12 cities in 2018.
|
|
|
|
T-Mobile
|
Build out 5G in 30 cities in 2018 and 2020 l for full nationwide coverage
|
|
|
|
Sprint
|
5G commercial services and devices by 1H19
|
|
|
|
South Korea
|
SK Telecom
|
Commercial launch March 2019
|
|
|
KT
|
Official 5G provider of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
Commercial launch March 2019
|
|
|
|
LG U+
|
Commercial launch March 2019
|
|
|
|
Japan
|
NTT DOCOMO
|
NTT DOCOMO will start 5G preservice in September 2019 and launch commercial service in spring 2020.
|
|
|
KDDI
|
Commercial launch in 2019 and massive deployment from 2020
|
|
|
|
SoftBank
|
Commercial launch in 2019
|
|
|
|
China
|
China Mobile
|
Commercial 5G services in 2020
|
|
|
China Telecom
|
Commercial 5G services in 2020
|
|
|
|
China Unicom
|
Commercial 5G services in 2020
|
|
|
|
Europe
|
EE in the U.K.
|
In late 2019
|
|
|
Deutsche Telekom in Germany
|
Strong preparation course for 5G rollout in 2020
|
|
|
|
Telia in Finland
|
Target 2019 for commercial rollout of 3.5GHz
|
|
|
|
Vodafone in the U.K.
|
Vodafone is gearing up for a full commercial launch of 5G services in mid-2019 and expects to have about 1,000 5G mobile sites in service by 2020.
|
|
|
|
Telefónica in Spain
|
2020
|
|
|
|
TIM in Italy
|
First 5G use cases made available in June 2018, and full rollout in Bari and Matera to be completed during 2019.
|
|
|
|
Swisscom in Switzerland
|
Swisscom plans to introduce 5G at select sites in 2018. Extensive coverage can be expected in 2020.
|
|
|
|
Middle East
|
Etisalat in UAE
|
Per a 14 May 2018 announcement, fixed devices and services will be available from September 2018 with the service gradually extended across the UAE.
|
|
|
Ooredoo in Qatar
|
Per a 14 May 2018 announcement, the first Ooredoo 5G site was launched, just days after Ooredoo’s new 5G Commercial Core Network was activated.
|
|
|
|
STC in Saudi Arabia
|
Per a 16 May 2018 announcement, the company will continue building the network gradually in Saudi Arabian cities until the 5G-capable devices are available during 2019.
|
|
|
|
eMBB = enhanced mobile broadband; IoT; Internet of Things; N/A = not available; UAE = United Arab Emirates; VR = virtual reality
|
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Risks:
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Service provider hype will convince business leaders that 5G is broadly available well ahead of actual deployments.
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Differences in Proto-5G technologies will lead to inconsistent solutions across providers and regions.
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CSP capital expense budgets are constrained, which will slow deployments in all but the highest-demand locations and for the applications that generate immediate service provider revenue.
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Full-featured 5G requires a 4x increase in antenna density and an upgrade of the entire antenna to radio access node network, which will be challenging in cities due to existing buildings and lack of rights of way.
Acronym Key and Glossary Terms:
| AR |
augmented reality
|
| CSP |
communications service provider
|
| ITU |
International Telecommunication Union
|
| LTE |
Long Term Evolution
|
| ms |
millisecond
|
| RAN |
radio access network
|
| URLLC |
ultrareliable and low-latency communication
|
| VR |
virtual reality
|