RAN Vendors Will Finally See Growth Thanks To 5G
September 26, 2018
As expected, the Mobile World Congress Americas event held in early September in Los Angeles, California, was a hotbed of 5G announcements. Verizon took the wraps off its 5G (or 5G-like, to be specific) fixed wireless access service. This new service comes with an Oct. 1 launch date. AT&T announced Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung as its 5G network vendors. T-Mobile added Ericsson to its already-announced 5G partnership with Nokia. But the U.S. isn’t alone in making 5G news.
Elisa of Finland claimed the first standards-based 5G network in late June 2018. Vodacom in South Africa said it had a fully standard 5G fixed wireless access commercially available in the city of Lesotho in late August. Vodacom says two local business are subscribing to the service. But, with these and other 5G announcements there are questions.
What counts as first? Is it really 5G? Can it be commercial if there aren’t any compatible devices? These debates are typical of a new network technology and are short-lived discussions. What isn’t short lived is the overall impact 5G will have on the radio access infrastructure market.
Read more at FierceWireless