Operators need to plan for band withdrawals

Telcos and wireless internet service providers operating enterprise services on frequencies being taken back for 5G need to urgently devise a new strategy to keep their networks up and running, says Cambridge Broadband Networks Group (CBNG).

With regulators around the world withdrawing spectrum ready for the arrival of 5G, CBNG is urging service providers, using sub6 point to multi-point platforms, to look for reliable and cost-effective alternative solutions now or face losing their services entirely.

“Many network operators have been using sub6, specifically 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz radios for a long time for enterprise and residential broadband services in semi-urban and rural areas,” said Paul Wright, Vice President of Sales and Customer Operations at CBNG.

“Now that these channels are under threat of being taken away for 5G, those operators are being forced very quickly to look for other solutions on different frequency bands to continue providing their services.”

5G technology is currently designed to operate on the FR1 and FR2 ranges, with FR1 covering all channels from 410 MHz up to 7.125 GHz and FR2 from 24–25 GHz up to 52.6 GHz.

FR1 has become popular with 5G early adopters due to its characteristics of long range and non-line-of-sight operation which has seen rapid product development for 5G New Radio solutions. It is this that is driving regulators to start clawing back licences and putting telcos and wireless internet service providers in a difficult position.

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