Excerpt:
5G DEPLOYMENT IN LEADING COUNTRIES
This chapter reviews the status of 5G deployment in those countries and economies considered to be most advanced in their plans for 5G – the USA, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
2.1. USA
The plans of the major four MNOs – AT&T and Verizon, as well as Sprint and T-Mobile – will determine the USA’s progress in 5G for the next five years. They are quite diverse in terms of what they term “5G”, their business models, rollout schedules, and which parts of the spectrum will be used. Only prototype handsets have been available but first consumer models are expected in 2019.
All MNOs have started trials of 5G technologies and equipment, with commercial launches planned by the end of 2019. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a high-band spectrum auction (i.e. above 10 GHz) in November 2018, but it is unclear when mid-band spectrum (i.e. above the UHF band from 3 GHz - 6 GHz) will be made available. By early 2019, sixteen states had enacted legislation to enable small cells to be deployed more easily.
Verizon: In October 2018 Verizon launched “5G Home”, claimed as the first commercial 5G service, over its proprietary 5GTF network standard. Speeds range from 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps, depending on location. It offers Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband for home connectivity in parts of four large cities, with more in 2019. The service tariff is $70 per month or $50 per month for existing customers.
Independent field testing of the 5G network in Sacramento revealed 5G Home coverage of around 10% of the city (Dano, 2019). However, the FWA technology used is a pre-standard version, likely to be replaced when 3GPP standard equipment is available. Verizon's network is based on the 28 GHz spectrum for which it holds a licence. This band suits rapid data downloads but not coverage of large areas. Verizon claims a range of about 300 m from transmitter sites and potential customers’ locations, but field tests showed it was about half this. Since 2017, Verizon has been testing mm-wave 5G service in 11 cities (in Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Bernardsville, Brockton, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Sacramento, Seattle, and Washington, DC). It demonstrated a 5G video call at the 2018 Super Bowl and a 5G NR data lab transmission with Nokia and Qualcomm in February 2018. In June 2018, Verizon tested two-way data transmission and multi-carrier aggregation and very high speeds outdoors. In August 2018, Verizon with Nokia succeeded in transmitting a 5G NR signal to a moving vehicle, using spectrum in the 28 GHz band in a New Jersey trial. Then in September 2018, it completed testing 5G transmissions to a test vehicle in Washington, at 28 GHz, using a 5G prototype core network with Nokia 5G radio equipment. It also transmitted 5G signals in commercial trials in Washington, DC and Minneapolis with the prototype user devices for its 5G NR network.
T-Mobile USA: In contrast, while T-Mobile is not ignoring high-band frequencies, it does not want to waste its vast 600 MHz spectrum investment. To demonstrate that mmWave bands are not a prerequisite for 5G, T-Mobile’s latest 5G demo, opened in January 2019 operating at 600 MHz. It is targeting early 2019 for its commercial launch. The MNO expects the FWA (fixed-wireless access) coverage based 5G to offer 100 Mbps data rates for up to two-thirds of the US population in the next 5 years and cover 90% of the USA by 2024 (European 5G Observatory, 2019). The 600 MHz band will be the carrier for launch and first rollout, with 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands in a second stage. Their strategy is to demonstrate high speeds with a broad coverage early and corner the US market.
At the January 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it announced making the first data and video calls using the 600 MHz band. Using the latest 5G New Radio (NR) standard from 3GPP, running over an experimental 5G setup designed and created in collaboration with Intel and Ericsson (Bosnjak, 2019), integrated with the company's live commercial (LTE) network. T-Mobile also confirmed a successful tri-band video call leveraging its latest technologies, for three users connected via three different spectrum bands – 600 MHz, 28 GHz, and 39 GHz. Thus, T-Mobile is to expand capital expenditure for its 600 MHz 5G rollout in 2019, by 6%, from $5.8 billion in 2018 to $6.1 billion in 2019 (TelecomLead, 2019).
This chapter reviews the status of 5G deployment in those countries and economies considered to be most advanced in their plans for 5G – the USA, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
2.1. USA
The plans of the major four MNOs – AT&T and Verizon, as well as Sprint and T-Mobile – will determine the USA’s progress in 5G for the next five years. They are quite diverse in terms of what they term “5G”, their business models, rollout schedules, and which parts of the spectrum will be used. Only prototype handsets have been available but first consumer models are expected in 2019.
All MNOs have started trials of 5G technologies and equipment, with commercial launches planned by the end of 2019. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a high-band spectrum auction (i.e. above 10 GHz) in November 2018, but it is unclear when mid-band spectrum (i.e. above the UHF band from 3 GHz - 6 GHz) will be made available. By early 2019, sixteen states had enacted legislation to enable small cells to be deployed more easily.
Verizon: In October 2018 Verizon launched “5G Home”, claimed as the first commercial 5G service, over its proprietary 5GTF network standard. Speeds range from 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps, depending on location. It offers Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband for home connectivity in parts of four large cities, with more in 2019. The service tariff is $70 per month or $50 per month for existing customers.
Independent field testing of the 5G network in Sacramento revealed 5G Home coverage of around 10% of the city (Dano, 2019). However, the FWA technology used is a pre-standard version, likely to be replaced when 3GPP standard equipment is available. Verizon's network is based on the 28 GHz spectrum for which it holds a licence. This band suits rapid data downloads but not coverage of large areas. Verizon claims a range of about 300 m from transmitter sites and potential customers’ locations, but field tests showed it was about half this. Since 2017, Verizon has been testing mm-wave 5G service in 11 cities (in Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Bernardsville, Brockton, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Sacramento, Seattle, and Washington, DC). It demonstrated a 5G video call at the 2018 Super Bowl and a 5G NR data lab transmission with Nokia and Qualcomm in February 2018. In June 2018, Verizon tested two-way data transmission and multi-carrier aggregation and very high speeds outdoors. In August 2018, Verizon with Nokia succeeded in transmitting a 5G NR signal to a moving vehicle, using spectrum in the 28 GHz band in a New Jersey trial. Then in September 2018, it completed testing 5G transmissions to a test vehicle in Washington, at 28 GHz, using a 5G prototype core network with Nokia 5G radio equipment. It also transmitted 5G signals in commercial trials in Washington, DC and Minneapolis with the prototype user devices for its 5G NR network.
T-Mobile USA: In contrast, while T-Mobile is not ignoring high-band frequencies, it does not want to waste its vast 600 MHz spectrum investment. To demonstrate that mmWave bands are not a prerequisite for 5G, T-Mobile’s latest 5G demo, opened in January 2019 operating at 600 MHz. It is targeting early 2019 for its commercial launch. The MNO expects the FWA (fixed-wireless access) coverage based 5G to offer 100 Mbps data rates for up to two-thirds of the US population in the next 5 years and cover 90% of the USA by 2024 (European 5G Observatory, 2019). The 600 MHz band will be the carrier for launch and first rollout, with 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands in a second stage. Their strategy is to demonstrate high speeds with a broad coverage early and corner the US market.
At the January 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it announced making the first data and video calls using the 600 MHz band. Using the latest 5G New Radio (NR) standard from 3GPP, running over an experimental 5G setup designed and created in collaboration with Intel and Ericsson (Bosnjak, 2019), integrated with the company's live commercial (LTE) network. T-Mobile also confirmed a successful tri-band video call leveraging its latest technologies, for three users connected via three different spectrum bands – 600 MHz, 28 GHz, and 39 GHz. Thus, T-Mobile is to expand capital expenditure for its 600 MHz 5G rollout in 2019, by 6%, from $5.8 billion in 2018 to $6.1 billion in 2019 (TelecomLead, 2019).
T-Mobile signed two $3.5 billion contracts with Ericsson and Nokia in August 2018 to support this nationwide 5G NR network deployment. Under the contract, Ericsson will provide T-Mobile with its 5G NR hardware and software, as well as Ericsson’s digital services software for management. T-Mobile has also announced target cities for mobile 5G launch by 2020 in Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York City.
AT&T: on 21 December 2018, AT&T was the first in the USA to announce a 3GPP standards-based mobile 5G launch, for a commercial network. It planned to launch 5G services to 12 cities by the end of 2018. Interestingly, despite its pilots, AT&T remains reserved about 5G for fixed wireless access (FWA). Further rollout will be in 2019, for 19 additional cities. Its technology partners include Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and Intel for its four city-wide trials performed since early 2017, on FWA and mobile 5G (European 5G Observatory, 2019), demonstrating its first mobile 5G device using mmWave spectrum as well as the “first mm-wave mobile 5G browsing session”.
In addition, AT&T has been offering its own form of 5G that has caused some controversy, termed 5G+ but which is essentially an upgrade of LTE. AT&T proposes the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot device to run on AT&T’s 5G+ network but over mmWave spectrum rather than UHF. Controversially, it has branded its LTE network as 5G Evolution or 5G E, a clear example of the hype surrounding 5G (Reardon, 2019).
AT&T is also proposing 5G hotspots for the dense urban areas of 12 cities and to extend to parts of seven other cities in 2019. In the home, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot device (or “puck”) will run on AT&T’s 5G+ network over 28 GHz mmWave spectrum. Customers outside the 5G+ network coverage will be able to use the device for the best received local mobile network such as AT&T’s 5G Evolution LTE network (with carrier aggregation). Note that the early 5G customer equipment and tariff plan is not cheap. The initial cost of a Nighthawk hotspot device is $499, with a15 GB data plan contract for 5G costing $70 a month.
Sprint: a much smaller MNO, it has planned a commercial launch in the first half of 2019. Customers for its mmWave network in nine target cities should have their first 5G smartphone from LG of Korea by mid-2019. It tested 5G in the 2.5 GHz range for the dense environment of the Atlanta Super Bowl in 2018, with a software upgrade for pilot smartphones. Sprint has the most 2.5 GHz spectrum of any MNO in the USA, and proposes to re-use it for both LTE and 5G, in city centres, via massive MIMO, so it can leverage its current macro cell sites and towers (Alleven, 2018). Sprint is still discussing a proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, hoping to combine its 2.5 GHz 5G network for city centres with T-Mobile’s 600 MHz network for rural and suburban use, with future centimetric bands near 26 GHz, and higher, for dense urban settings in the future.
Conclusion
The USA is moving towards some form of rollout of mobile broadband as 5G but not necessarily in a holistic, well-orchestrated operation. It is more a set of ad hoc commercial manoeuvres. Some of these are simply rebranding existing LTE, rather than delivering novel networks. Re-use of the LTE spectrum in the UHF ranges (300 MHz to 3 GHz) is significant. The latter decision is probably warranted by its geography of large rural spaces and high density urban centres situated more on the coasts. Thus, the insistence for 5G on high centimetric bands (25–30 GHz and higher) is probably less justified than for the dense conurbations of Asia and the EU.
AT&T: on 21 December 2018, AT&T was the first in the USA to announce a 3GPP standards-based mobile 5G launch, for a commercial network. It planned to launch 5G services to 12 cities by the end of 2018. Interestingly, despite its pilots, AT&T remains reserved about 5G for fixed wireless access (FWA). Further rollout will be in 2019, for 19 additional cities. Its technology partners include Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and Intel for its four city-wide trials performed since early 2017, on FWA and mobile 5G (European 5G Observatory, 2019), demonstrating its first mobile 5G device using mmWave spectrum as well as the “first mm-wave mobile 5G browsing session”.
In addition, AT&T has been offering its own form of 5G that has caused some controversy, termed 5G+ but which is essentially an upgrade of LTE. AT&T proposes the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot device to run on AT&T’s 5G+ network but over mmWave spectrum rather than UHF. Controversially, it has branded its LTE network as 5G Evolution or 5G E, a clear example of the hype surrounding 5G (Reardon, 2019).
AT&T is also proposing 5G hotspots for the dense urban areas of 12 cities and to extend to parts of seven other cities in 2019. In the home, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot device (or “puck”) will run on AT&T’s 5G+ network over 28 GHz mmWave spectrum. Customers outside the 5G+ network coverage will be able to use the device for the best received local mobile network such as AT&T’s 5G Evolution LTE network (with carrier aggregation). Note that the early 5G customer equipment and tariff plan is not cheap. The initial cost of a Nighthawk hotspot device is $499, with a15 GB data plan contract for 5G costing $70 a month.
Sprint: a much smaller MNO, it has planned a commercial launch in the first half of 2019. Customers for its mmWave network in nine target cities should have their first 5G smartphone from LG of Korea by mid-2019. It tested 5G in the 2.5 GHz range for the dense environment of the Atlanta Super Bowl in 2018, with a software upgrade for pilot smartphones. Sprint has the most 2.5 GHz spectrum of any MNO in the USA, and proposes to re-use it for both LTE and 5G, in city centres, via massive MIMO, so it can leverage its current macro cell sites and towers (Alleven, 2018). Sprint is still discussing a proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, hoping to combine its 2.5 GHz 5G network for city centres with T-Mobile’s 600 MHz network for rural and suburban use, with future centimetric bands near 26 GHz, and higher, for dense urban settings in the future.
Conclusion
The USA is moving towards some form of rollout of mobile broadband as 5G but not necessarily in a holistic, well-orchestrated operation. It is more a set of ad hoc commercial manoeuvres. Some of these are simply rebranding existing LTE, rather than delivering novel networks. Re-use of the LTE spectrum in the UHF ranges (300 MHz to 3 GHz) is significant. The latter decision is probably warranted by its geography of large rural spaces and high density urban centres situated more on the coasts. Thus, the insistence for 5G on high centimetric bands (25–30 GHz and higher) is probably less justified than for the dense conurbations of Asia and the EU.
A significant challenge concerns the administrative local barriers to small cell rollout. The need for many small cells implies long delays and high costs. Local regulations continue to prevail despite the FCC’s mandate on a light-touch regime and minimal permit costs. This has led to a wide divide between local and central government on the principles of having to obtain permission for rollout and the charges for that. Local administrations, especially in the larger municipalities, are at loggerheads with the FCC (Zima, 2018). Several court challenges are being made to the FCC mandate of August 2018 that overrides local objections to a “one-touch” regime.
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