Next-Generation Networks Might Cost Less Than You Might Think

Lots of people remain concerned about the cost of building new 5G mobile networks. But capital investment plans, the way 5G is built on 4G and open, dynamic, virtualized and lower-cost platforms all combine to reduce cost.

That is important because it means our existing notions of what it costs to build an advanced next-generation platform are less than once supposed. Also, the new platforms tend to be more efficient, wringing more value out of any specific asset.

And that leads to lower service costs, lower app creation costs and potentially higher financial returns and lower cost per bit.

Consider use of existing 4G spectrum.

In all prior generations, frequency division was used to add new mobile platforms while the older platforms continued to operate. In the 5G era, time division is possible, allowing 4G spectrum to support 5G devices--using the same spectrum--as demand requires.

Discussions of spectrum sharing have so far centered on innovations such as Citizens Broadband Radio Service, where multiple license modes are available to users sharing a single block of spectrum.

That provides huge economic benefits, since new users can take advantage of new spectrum resources without the cost and complexity of migrating legacy users off those bands.

Discussions of dynamic spectrum use have centered on innovations such as TV White Spaces, where cognitive radios sense where unused spectrum is and tune to those frequencies when transmitting.

Now dynamic spectrum sharing will be used in the transition from 4G to 5G, allowing existing 4G spectrum to support 5G devices, in the existing 4G spectrum. That is one more example of the way 5G builds on 4G, as well as the growing importance of new ways of allocating spectrum that are far more efficient than past methods.

source: Ericsson

"Dynamic sharing just allows you to use the same spectrum for both LTE and (5G) NR," says Igal Elbaz, AT&T SVP.

The Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software, for example, dynamically shares spectrum between 4G and 5G within the same frequency band, based on the actual traffic demand. The solution is available on all Ericsson Radio System products shipped from 2015 onwards.