Rural carriers can make investments today to set the stage for 5G  

5G is the predominant discussion topic within the telecom industry, but that’s a long ramp and, particularly for rural carriers, there are many other priorities that need to be addressed to ensure long-term competitiveness. “The ability to compete and hold their own against the Tier 1 operators within their specific geography, I think, is overarching what’s important,” Amy McCune, Ericsson’s vice president and general manager, told RCR Wireless News during the Competitive Carrier Association’s Annual Convention.  

McCune oversees Tier 2 and Tier 3 Ericsson customers. While 5G is very much on the roadmap for rural carriers, McCune said customers are also examining the costs and benefits of upgrading to an IMS core and offering new services like voice-over-LTE. “We see a handful of our customers that have been on board and have made the leap to a voice-over-LTE solution. The rest of them are recognizing that they absolutely need to get there and plotting the course to do it in an economically reasonable timeframe.”  

A major driver here is the eventual sunsetting of Tier 1 3G networks, which has a direct impact on the roaming agreements that allow smaller carriers to offer services outside of their geographic coverage area. In terms of the benefits realized from an investment in IMS and VoLTE, McCune said chief among them is “the ability to re-farm that spectrum to use for additional capacity within their network. That’s the very first benefit they are able to plan for and execute on.”