US Can Lead World on 5G, but Carriers Need Spectrum, Infrastructure Changes, Says CTIA Chief

Companies are lining up to take advantage of 5G as soon as it is launched, Baker said. “We are talking about real companies and real capital,” she said. “Winning matters,” she said to applause. “Let’s win.”

“This spring, we got a great down payment with FCC action to modernize federal rules,” Baker said, referring to a March order, approved 3-2 (see 1803220027). “This month, we need the FCC to give clear direction to localities on procedures and fees for tomorrow's 5G networks.” Small cells take an hour or two to install, but siting approvals can take years, Baker said. “It took us 30 years to deploy 150,000 towers,” she said. “Tomorrow's 5G networks will require five times that amount [of installations] in the next few years.”

The FCC is making progress on spectrum for 5G, scheduling the first high-band auctions, but the mid-band remains a question, Baker said. The U.S. is sixth in the world on allocating mid-band spectrum for broadband, she said. The FCC is poised to open the 3.5 GHz band and is studying the 3.4 GHz and C bands, she said. “The trick is translating those efforts into a real auction schedule with real clearing targets.” Baker hopes the FCC will have a mid-band auction scheduled by this time next year.

CTIA Chairman Marcelo Claure, executive chairman of Sprint, said he is frequently asked why Sprint waited until this year to finalize a deal with T-Mobile (see Notebook at end of 1809120017). “The answer is clear, it’s simple, it’s always the same and it’s 5G,” he said. “We waited until we could jointly announce we will build the world’s most advanced 5G network.”

Claure said the FCC is right to tackle infrastructure changes. “The FCC draft order would control the costs and speed up the process for local government review of small-cell deployment,” he said. The other way the government can guarantee a strong 5G future is by allowing T-Mobile/Sprint to proceed, he said. The combined company will spend more than $40 billion over three years to build out its network, he said.

“Like all good partnerships, we need each other,” Claure said. Sprint holds a “massive amount” of mid-band spectrum and T-Mobile has an “enormous amount” of 600 MHz spectrum, he said. “The combined company is going to generate [connection] speeds 15 times faster than what we see today.” In many areas of the U.S. with little or no wired broadband, consumers will have a wireless alternative and competition, he said.

In 1998, the U.S. lost the race to be the first to 3G, Claure said. “We didn’t want to let that happen again” and U.S. carriers spent hundreds of billions of dollars on 4G, he said. “We knew that 4G would be big, but I don’t think anybody had an idea that we were going to create the app resolution,” he said. “We have helped create the world’s most valuable companies.” The fight won't be easy and countries like China and South Korea also want to lead on 5G, he said.

GSMA Director General Mats Granryd said the world will be watching 5G in at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. “We will see things like 360-degree 8K video streaming, virtual reality, facial recognition, connected cars and other smart city applications,” he said. “Just imagine what the experience will be like when the Summer Olympics come here to LA in 2028.”

GSMA Intelligence forecast Wednesday that the number of 5G connections worldwide will reach 1.3 billion by 2025, covering 40 percent of the world’s population or some 2.7 billion people. The Americas is expected to account for more than 260 million 5G connections or 20 percent of the global market, GSMA said.

A second GSMA report projects that almost half of all mobile connections in North America will be running on 5G networks by 2025, “suggesting that the region will migrate to 5G at a much faster rate than comparable markets in Europe and Asia.” The report said U.S. carriers will launch the first commercial 5G networks this year with Canadian operators following in 2020. “It’s expected that by 2025, the 5G adoption rate in North America (49 per cent of connections) will be significantly ahead of Europe (30 per cent) and key Asian markets such as China, Japan and South Korea (30 per cent, aggregate),” GSMA said.

5G

All signs at the conference are that the Trump administration’s approach on 5G is working, said NTIA Administrator David Redl. “If this conference is any guide, we’re right on track,” Redl said in a speech. “All the major providers are moving forward with plans to deploy networks, obtain 5G device deals and move from testing to launch in the next year or 18 months.”

Government “must make enough spectrum available to meet industry’s needs,” Redl said. NTIA is working with the FCC “across multiple fronts to make spectrum available,” he said. “These efforts will be ongoing because we know the industry demand for spectrum is only going to grow.” NTIA also is conducting the “research, development, testing and evaluation” that will lead to more sharing, he said. It's focused on faster siting, Redl said: “We are collaborating wherever possible on the global standards that are defining 5G technologies and continue U.S. government preparations” for key upcoming ITU conferences.

Redl noted that at the beginning of the summer​​​​​​​, his agency asked for comments on ways to increase quality and accuracy of broadband availability data (see 1807190047). “We received 53 sets of comments indicating a variety of data sources and approaches that we can use to support these efforts,” he said. “This fall, NTIA’s broadband team will begin acquiring the tools needed to begin data collection. We are looking to partner with industry and government agencies in new ways in order to achieve these goals. We hope to create a scalable platform and a phased approach to a new national broadband map, to make the most of our resources.”