Verizon's Glenn Wellbrock said here Tuesday that one of the next important updates for the operator is to integrate millimeter wave radios with baseband unit (BBU) infrastructure in 2019.

"We think this is what it is going to take to make millimeter wave scalable," Wellbrock said. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) has just launched its "5G Home" service using 28GHz for fixed broadband services in four US markets. ​

Verizon is expecting to launch 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) mobile 5G next year. To do that, the operator will need to deploy many more radios for coverage than it initially needs for its very targeted fixed service.