The promise of mmWave

5G millimeter wave spectrum uses very high frequencies: 24 GHz and higher on the 5G spectrum chart. In these frequencies, and their abundance lies the great promise of delivering very high-speed broadband in the multi-gigabit range. However, the physics of high-frequency transmission represents a challenge for mmWave communications, which have traditionally suffered from interference and propagation loss.

Until recently, mmWave spectrum was not widespread, limiting the number of operators able to adopt and champion the technology. Today, mmWave spectrum is becoming more widely available and always much less expensive than sub-6 GHz, making it a cost-effective, high-capacity option for operators.

Available spectrum is, of course, only useful when technology is available and sufficiently mature to use it. The 5G ecosystem has grown significantly since mmWave was initially launched. Chipsets are available for mobile and FWA applications and extensive R&D has gone into solutions that overcome many of the challenges of mmWave.

And through deployments and breakthroughs in technology, we’ve shown that mmWave is capable of much more than was once assumed:

• mmWave can be used in urban, suburban and rural areas without the need for costly network densification
• mmWave can be used in non-line-of-sight conditions
• mmWave can avoid environmental disruptions
• mmWave can cover distances exceeding 10 km in the right rural environment.

The capacity crunch

The first wave of 5G radio brought new frequency bands to the table, offering significant capacity through increased bandwidth and 5G technologies, later resulted in higher spectral efficiency. These 5G sub-6GHz upgrades were made for enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), but operators soon learned that this additional capacity could generate all new revenues through broadband services delivered by FWA. Sub-6 GHz launched the FWA revolution and made it the #1 new revenue generating use case for 5G.

Of course, nothing comes for free, and many operators have struggled with the reality that FWA customers consume 20 times more data than mobile customers. To sustain growth, operators need additional capacity.

That capacity is available using millimeter wave spectrum at 24 GHz and higher. A typical operator has access to 400-800 MHz spectrum at mmWave compared to ~ 40-50MHz at sub-6 GHz TDD (Time Division Duplex). Therefore, mmWave is ideally suited for providing high-capacity and high-data-rate FWA services.

At congested base stations, mmWave can provide a capacity overlay, serving nearby FWA subscribers and freeing up mid-band resources for mobile users and distant FWA customers. Nokia studies indicate that sub-6 GHz networks can become saturated at 12% penetration of FWA services in suburban areas. With a mmWave overlay, operators can support up to 40% penetration while achieving an 84% higher Discounted Cumulative Cash Flow (DCCF) in year seven. All while leaving plenty of capacity available for mobile broadband.

More than just capacity: a versatile business enabler

mmWave FWA is now proving its value across a range of broadband use cases. Whether in high-traffic urban centers, dense residential areas, or targeted enterprise deployments, mmWave has evolved from a technical curiosity to a strategic enabler of business value that brings a new set of opportunities.

• In dense urban areas, mmWave supports premium 5G (fixed and mobile) experiences while easing mid-band congestion
• Multi-dwelling units and high-density housing can be served with a single mmWave broadband backhaul enabling operators to serve the entire building while ensuring that every tenant receives the same, consistent level of broadband service
• In enterprise and venue environments, it creates opportunities for high-value service tiers and SLAs
• For industrial applications, it enables fast and reliable connectivity to locations that can be difficult to reach, enabling high-speed telemetry and video monitoring
• For business applications mmWave has the capacity to establish true Ethernet links between business entities with Ethernet PDU (Protocol Data Unit)

Overcoming challenges with intelligent solutions

FWA has adapted in recent years to meet the mmWave challenges of high attenuation and propagation loss. According to GSA’s mmWave Hot Topic, 203 operators in 56 countries are now investing in mmWave network deployments—supported by a growing ecosystem of mmWave-capable devices. Adoption of mmWave FWA has taken time, but its growth is marked by technological advancements.

Fixed Wireless Access devices for the home are far more powerful than ever before. Very high-gain antennas are now capable of picking up reflected signals, which enables non-line-of-sight operation. Devices with a 360-degree view of the radio environment can detect these reflections from any angle to increase the likelihood of finding a usable signal. With the added benefit of intelligent algorithms, they can adapt automatically to changing environments without the need for human intervention, enabling consistent coverage as trees grow, neighborhoods change, and obstructions occur, with sub-6 GHz signals on hand to maintain connectivity under the worst of conditions. And thanks to the latest high-gain antennas, mmWave is being successfully harnessed to provide 5G FWA to rural and remote areas that were previously believed to be impossible to serve with mmWave.

These aren’t just theoretical benefits. NBN Co. in Australia is using mmWave to offer FWA at multiple service tiers, including a gigabit service, to customers who previously only had access to satellite internet services. As of January 2025, NBN had more than 70,000 subscribers using those FWA broadband services and has demonstrated connectivity speeds of up to 2.3 Gbps at almost 9 km from the transmitting site.

The post mmWave: the broadband business opportunity hiding in plain sight appeared first on GSA.

Many CSPs are deploying 5G NSA with the aim of evolving to 5G SA as the

technology matures. This calls for the transition from 5G NSA to 5G SA to be

straightforward for the CSP and transparent to the end user. This paper

describes ways to make that transition happen, focusing on the 5G core.

Introduction

By the end of 2025, Ovum expects there to be 3 billion 5G subscriptions, which will be worth

USD 800 billion in annual subscription fees. 3GPP has defined several deployment options to

hasten the introduction of 5G while supporting a move to fuller 5G services.

The industry has aligned on options Non-Standalone (NSA)3X and Standalone (SA)2. Option

NSA3X allows Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to quickly deploy 5G enhanced mobile

broadband (eMBB) service on top of their existing 4G core and radio networks, using 5G radios

to provide high-speed, low-latency data capabilities for their customers. Option SA2 enables

CSPs to offer their customers the full capabilities of 5G technology through the addition of a

cloud-native 5G core.

5G core – ready for networks

Many CSPs have introduced the 5G NSA deployment option 3X, shortly called NSA3X in the

following.

NSA3x is supported by many smartphones able to allow higher data speeds. As well as

smartphones, many different types of device can connect. All devices, from smartphones to

data sticks to Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, are referred to by the generic term User

Equipment (UE).

NSA3x enables 5G radio access by leveraging the existing 4G core, the Evolved Packet Core

(EPC). The 5G core can be introduced in parallel to the existing EPC as an evolutionary step

based on deployment options such as SA2, SA5 and NSA7. Currently the industry is mainly using

SA2 as the next step.

EPC and 5G core will both continue to exist to provide support existing 4G devices, while 5G core

will be the only core network option for 5G greenfield CSPs. Even then, roaming

5G Non-Standalone to 5G Standalone – Nokia

https://gsacom.com

LinkedIn

Twitter

YouTube

Weibo

WeChat: GSA Express

© GSA 2021

The post 5G Non-Standalone to 5G Standalone – Nokia appeared first on GSA.

The 5G system based on 3GPP Release 15, comprising 5G core and 5G radio (or New Radio [NR]) with 5G User Equipment (UE), is currently being commercially deployed throughout the world at both sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequency bands. Concurrently, the second (Release 16) and third (Release 17) phases of 5G are being developed in 3GPP. With 5G Release 16 nearing completion, and Rel-17 commencing development, this paper traces the main themes of these releases of 5G and provides an executive overview of the most important features being introduced.

Introduction and timeline

The 5G system is being developed and enhanced to provide unparalleled connectivity and functionality for everyone and everything, everywhere. The second phase of 5G is being finalized in 3GPP, with the Rel-16 version of the specifications being frozen around the middle of 2020. The 3GPP Plenary meetings in December 2019 decided the work program for the set of features to be included in Rel-17, which is scheduled for completion 15 months after Rel-16.

Key themes

Releases 16 and 17 together contain tens of features. For brevity and clarity, we focus here only on the key features we have identified, which we have categorized into four main themes:

1. Industrial IoT

2. Other verticals

3. Network deployment and automation

4. Device enhancement

It is important to recognize that Rel-16 and 17 are not just about incremental improvements to the performance of Rel-15. Rel-15 already provides outstanding performance in KPIs like data rate, spectral efficiency and latency. Rather, Rel-16 and 17 are primarily about expanding the ecosystem that can take advantage of 5G, by adding features to provide the full range of functionality required by new industry segments, as well as making 5G networks easier to deploy and optimize.

An extended list of features in Rel-16 and 17 is given in the Annex for reference. It should not be forgotten that aspects such as security and network/service management are also integral to the whole 5G system design, even though they are not explicitly highlighted in this paper.

©2020 Nokia

The post 5G Releases 16 and 17 in 3GPP – Nokia White Paper appeared first on GSA.

The 5G smart sea port field trial by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Deutsche Telekom (DT), and Nokia is a perfect demonstration of key 5G use cases that require URLLC, eMBB, MTC, and network slicing. These use cases will improve the productivity of the port authority, as well as provide a series of environmental and social benefits. The fact that this is a field trial and not a lab trial was very important in our scoring, because network slicing can be challenging in such a complex and changing environment.

The Hamburg Port Authority AöR (HPA) has been providing future-oriented port management services since 2005. To ensure safe and efficient processes in the Port of Hamburg and to meet the demands of a growing port, the HPA relies on intelligent and innovative solutions. The HPA is responsible for resource-efficient, sustainable planning and the implementation of infrastructure projects in the port. It is the contact point for all kinds of questions concerning the waterside and landside infrastructure, the safety of navigation for vessels, port railway facilities, port property management, and business conditions in the port.

The port covers an area of 80 square kilometres, of which half are land areas. The location is naturally advantaged by the branching Elbe river, creating an ideal place for a port complex with warehousing and trans-shipment facilities.

By 2025, the port is expected to grow to:

• approximately 18 million containers/year

• tens of thousands of trucks/day including self-driving and remote-controlled vehicles

• approximately 100,000 mobile sensors.

©2020 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA
 

The post 5G Smart Sea Port: Hamburg Authority – Nokia White Paper appeared first on GSA.

In this white paper, we look at a new Quality of Service (QoS) architecture that supports application-layer scheduling controlled by an agile packet scheduler. A wide variety of scheduling based on dynamic frame sizes, flexible timing, different numerologies and new paradigms, such as preemptive scheduling, supports different network implementations that can meet diverse and challenging reliability and latency targets.

©2018 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA

The post 5G agile scheduler for low latency communication appeared first on GSA.

©2018 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA

The post Unleashing the economic potential of network slicing appeared first on GSA.

In this white paper, we look at a new Quality of Service (QoS) architecture that supports application-layer scheduling controlled by an agile packet scheduler. A wide variety of scheduling based on dynamic frame sizes, flexible timing, different numerologies and new paradigms, such as preemptive scheduling, supports different network implementations that can meet diverse and challenging reliability and latency targets.

©2018 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA

gsacom.com

The post 5G agile scheduler for low latency communication appeared first on GSA.

There are a variety of techniques, existing and in standardization, that will reduce latency in both LTE and 5G networks. This white paper explores the components of latency and shows how they can be eliminated or their effects minimized.

©2017 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA

The post Low latency in 4.9G/5G appeared first on GSA.

©2017 Qualcomm & Nokia

Both Qualcomm and Nokia are Executive Members of GSA

The post Making 5G a Reality – Qualcomm & Nokia white paper appeared first on GSA.

This white paper outlines these technologies, showing how techniques such as beamforming and network slicing can take advantage of 5G’s attributes to bring substantial benefits across the whole industry.

©2017 Nokia

Nokia is an Executive Member of GSA

The post Building blocks of 5G networks – Nokia white paper appeared first on GSA.