Sprint says it will be the first U.S. carrier to offer a mobile 5G network, but it won't launch 5G this year. Instead, Sprint will lay the groundwork with massive MIMO rollouts in
Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles,
followed by
Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C.
T-Mobile US said it will bring 5G to 30 U.S. cities this year, but named just four of them:
New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas.
The "un-carrier" is using its 600 MHz spectrum and is building its millimeter wave spectrum portfolio so that it can also deploy in the higher bands. It looks like the company will get a chance to acquire more millimeter wave assets later this year when the FCC auctions spectrum in the 28 GHz band.
Spectrum auction tied to banking law
At Mobile World Congress, FCC Chair Ajit Pai said that if Congress amends banking regulations by May 13, the FCC will auction spectrum in the 28 GHz band this November. Pai said he is optimistic that Congress will act in time, making it easier for the FCC to deposit the upfront payments it requires from bidders. Right now federal law makes it expensive to collateralize public deposits in excess of the amount insured by the FDIC. But the FCC has managed to hold spectrum auctions in the past with this law in place, so even if Congress doesn't act on this we expect the 28 GHz auction to happen within the next 12 months.
28 GHz is the millimeter wave band that is emerging as a focal point for early 5G deployments. Tests have shown that signals can successfully penetrate buildings and trees, but delivering high speed data at capacity will require very dense small cell deployments. These signals propagate for a mile or less, and Ericsson has said that in practical deployments millimeter wave small cells might need to be just a few hundred meters from one another.
FCC moves to change small cell regulations
At its March 22nd open meeting, the FCC will vote on an order that would shorten the historic and environmental review procedures for macro sites, and eliminate most of these procedures for small cells. The order would put small cells into the same category as Wi-Fi routers and signal boosters with respect to environmental and historic review.
Currently, cell sites of any size are classified as federal undertakings subject to federal regulation, because they use spectrum licensed by the government. Network operators and their agents are required to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act when designing and building small cells.
For the tower industry, 5G is now
Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all said that the tower radios and antennas they are deploying now will be software upgradeable to 5G. Ericsson says that by the fourth quarter, operators will be able to migrate their current LTE spectrum to 5G through a software upgrade to existing equipment. Millimeter wave deployments will require new equipment, but these will primarily be small cells, not tower antennas and radios.
