5G mmWave Broadband Access is Ready for Deployment – Join the race, no license needed!

5G, with its promise to deliver Gigabit speeds is exactly the technology wireline service providers need to bypass old and costly DSL infrastructure. However, if you ask an expert about 5G Mobile Broadband, they’d say that it’s at least two to three years down the road. They’d be right — but that’s not what we’re talking about today. 5G Fixed Broadband Wireless, the kind that gets beamed to the home and provides speeds as fast as fiber, is not just ready for deployment — it’s already in use. Millimeter (mmWave) access is a proven technology that has been widely adopted by Regional Enterprise (and some residential) Service Providers. Here’s why you should adopt it as well.

The US telecom industry chose mmWave as the main platform for 5G fixed broadband access

Facebook and Google aren’t necessarily the companies you’d think of when you think of telecoms or ISPs.  Verizon, AT&T, and others are the large players in that market, with billions of dollars already invested in fiber, towers, and spectrum. By contrast, Facebook and Google are just dipping their toes in the water — as far as infrastructure is concerned, they have a lot of catching up to do. For this reason, Early 5G — based on free, unlicensed mmWave spectrum — has been extremely attractive for these Silicon Valley giants. Why? The reason is Time to Market. Using Fixed wireless 5G technology for the last few hundred yards of connectivity allows them, as newcomers, to rapidly and cost effectively develop a network that can deliver competitive services.

• In October 2016, Google purchased a company known as Webpass, which offers Gigabit speeds over the 5G mmWave wireless spectrum to customers. The service, which is priced starting at $60/month for speeds up to 1Gbps is available now in 8 metro areas.
• Facebook, meanwhile, is directing its own efforts towards research and development as opposed to acquisition. It’s currently creating a fast wireless ecosystem known as Terragraph, using mmWave technology to create a last-mile Gigabit wireless solution. It’s currently piloting this system in downtown San Jose.
• In the meantime, the number of lightly licensed registered links grows on average 75% YoY.
• Lastly, there is a strong tail wind from the regulator. Just one year ago, the FCC opened 11GHz in mmWave spectrum to encourage 5G deployments.

Faster and cheaper to deploy -The Hybrid Fiber and Wireless Network

Fiber is and should be the cornerstone of every high-performance network. Running fiber over the last mile from the backbone to residences, however, is a pricey proposition. Even Google — a deep-pocketed company by any measure — has admitted that its initial plans to run fiber directly to residences were too expensive to carry out. Hybrid Fiber and Wireless lets companies enjoy the best of both worlds. The fiber carries massive bandwidth to the neighborhood, while a 5G mmWave transmitter distributes Gigabit speeds it to the premise.