To Move Forward, 5G May Have to Stay Fixed

June 7, 2016

Ernest Worthman

Executive Editor
AGL Small Cell Magazine

On the 5G scene, early adoption is going to be in the fixed wireless segment. That seems to be concentration point, currently, and there is a fair amount of activity there. That makes quite a bit of sense, since much of the 5G activity is going to be at the higher frequencies, and fixed wireless is much easier to do than some of the other concepts being evangelized.

Plus, fixed wireless has a deep well of expertise and technology and is much simpler, in most cases, to deploy, especially in the 28 GHz bands where fixed is already incumbent. As far as mobile in that band, the FCC still has to come out with rules for that.

As we all know, this higher-band spectrum is crucial to the 5G platform. But we are still a long way from finalized standards for it, so for the next couple of years, expect to see mostly fixed applications at the forefront of 5G.