Mobile Internet and IoT Will Drive 5G Use Cases, Execs Believe

A survey of 58 mobile operator executives finds fifth generation mobile networks (5G) primarily will be driven by mobile broadband and Internet of Things use cases.

The survey, conducted by Heavy Reading, found 76 percent of respondents saw better broadband performance  key use case, while 74 percent found support for Internet of Things apps were a specific value of expected 5G networks.

A third of respondents expect their company to launch commercial service before 2021. However the majority do not expect full commercial service until after 2022.

Significantly, operator executives  strongly expect 5G will incorporate two, or more, radio interfaces — perhaps to support different frequency bands or use-cases. Some 66 percent say they believe that will be the case.

That is a bit of change from 4G, though was a reality for 3G and 2G.

A full 54 percent thought that 5G would include “multiple radios (more than two).” This expectation of multiple Radio Access Technology Systems (RATS) does not necessarily contradict a view held by some that there is a need for a new 5G radio that should be scalable across multiple modes of operations across different bands.

The study of expected 5G attributes was conducted by Gabriel Brown Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading, with support from the Telecommunications Industry Association and Interdigital.

Spectrum sharing is expected to rather routine, and some mobile executives now believe spectrum sharing will be “essential” for fifth generation mobile networks.

Some 26 percent of 58 global mobile operator executives say spectrum sharing  it is “essential” to 5G, while another 32 percent say it is “important.” Together, 58 percent of respondents think spectrum sharing is crucial for 5G.

A quarter of respondents think spectrum sharing is  “nice to have,” while 17 percent are negative on the concept, a study about expected 5G attributes found. The study was conducted by

Gabriel Brown Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading, with support from the Telecommunications Industry Association and Interdigital.

There are now more examples of mobile operators seeking to use shared spectrum and it appears very likely that this model will be used more extensively over time, said Brown.

LTE in the unlicensed 5GHz band (LTE-U or LTE-AAA), and the recently released 3.5GHz shared access Band 42 in the United States provide potential examples.

Asian respondents are more likely to view shared access spectrum as critical to 5G (40 percent) than Europeans (28 percent) or North Americans (13 percent).