Spectrum, mobile & wireless update February 2017

New technologies are offering support for Internet of Things (IoT) developments ahead of the launch of commercial 5G services. This month AT&T announced it is to accelerate deployment of its LTE-M (Long Term Evolution for Machines) network for IoT devices in the US and Mexico. Devices designed to operate on LTE-M networks are expected to have lower costs, longer battery life of up to 10 year, better coverage underground and deep inside buildings and be much smaller in size. Also see coverage from Network World (also see this article on LTE-M and also NB-IoT, or Narrow Band – Internet of Things) and CCS Insight.

Gigabit LTE services are now live in some areas of the world, with operators intending to launch more, offering a stopgap before the launch of 5G. Network World reported on the operational launch of Telstra’s Gigabit LTE network in Australia (also see this previous post). ZDnet reported on the launch by Optus of a gigabit-speed 4.5G service in Sydney which will be rolled out across Australia's capital cities during 2017, and will reach 70 percent of Optus' network in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. ZDnet also reported on Nokia’s continued investment in LTE.

Also this month the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorised the first LTE-U (LTE for unlicensed) devices in the 5 GHz band, following a process to ensure co-existence of LTE-U with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed devices operating in the 5 GHz band (more background on this here and also see commentary from CCS Insight: “LTE-U is the repurposing of 4G LTE technology to be used over unlicensed spectrum, in this case the 5 GHz band. It will allow wireless carriers to boost capacity by providing subscribers with LTE hot spots, which cover a limited distance but provide greater throughput than traditional 4G signals.”)

Rural mobile and wireless broadband developments this month:

• EE demonstrated its Air Mast balloon and drone based mobile coverage solutions for keeping rural communities connected, which can also support disaster recovery and search& rescue activities. The use of small cells connected back into the EE network over satellite or using EE’s 4G spectrum can enable calls and internet access in very remote areas.
• ISP Review reported on wireless broadband deployments in Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, for 200+ homes in rural Devon and Somerset and  the village of Stone in Gloucestershire. It also reported that wireless broadband ISP Connexin which operates networks in Hull and Lincolnshire is the first company in the UK to trial an Elva-1 PPC-10G with RF Com wireless link, able to deliver 10Gbit/s speeds, and on the roll-out of a free Wifi network in Inverness.

Other spectrum, mobile & wireless news this month:

• Three announced the acquisition of UK Broadband Limited, which holds 124MHz of spectrum in the 3 and 3.6GHz bands and provides broadband access to 15,000 customers in the UK. In 2014 launched a LTE network in London under the name Relish.
• Cisco’s latest Mobile Visual Networking Index (VNI) predicted a seven-fold increase in global mobile data traffic from 2016 to 2021. By 2021 mobile data traffic will represent 20% of total IP traffic, up from 8% in 2016. Cisco also predict that machine to machine (M2M) connections  will be the fastest growing mobile connection type, as global Internet of Things (IoT) applications continue to gain traction in consumer and business environments.
• RootMetrics published its summary of mobile operator performance in the UK for the second half of 2016; also see coverage from ISP Review.
• ZDnet reported on the development by Japanese researchers of a terahertz transmitter that can send data at 100GBit/s over a single channel in the 300GHz band, suggesting that satellite links could deliver fibre speeds in future.
• Finally a study by Ericsson and Vodafone Germany investigated user reactions to broadband delays, to understand how network performance affects subscriber emotions, stress levels and operator brand. Results showed that even small delays and disturbances raise users’ levels of tension and stress, and have a negative impact on subscriber loyalty and operator brand.