Future of Outdoor Wireless Networks

By CIOReview | Wednesday, February 3, 2021

The government will also continue to clear additional spectrum to accommodate users and data. Simultaneously, Open RAN implementations will get serious traction, ushering in a new generation of products and boosting 5G rollouts.

FREMONT, CA: The telecommunications sector is looking forward to developing a future where connectivity is truly ubiquitous and accessible for all. To assist achieve this objective, operators will continue to scale their rollouts of 5G networks across the world in 2021, while governments clear additional spectrum to accommodate users and data. The RAN's Disaggregation will continue as Open RAN implementation gain serious traction and usher in a new generation of products and advanced technology. Here is a closer look at some trends below.

Although the pandemic and resulting shutdowns have impacted the global implementation of 5G networks in certain countries and regions, rollouts will continue apace in 2021 as 5G smartphones hit the market. To help these new devices, the world expects operators to focus on 5G networks' pragmatic deployments by assessing which implementations can benefit from active massive MIMO deployments.

Massive MIMO substantially raises spectral efficiency to offer more network capacity and extensive coverage. However, operators will have to decide if the extra costs and real-world power needs associated with active MIMO implementations are justified, or if a passive antennae configuration will suffice. Indeed, initial higher-end massive MIMO implementations in certain geographic locations have reportedly struggled to keep up with energy demands and are routinely shut down for hours at a time to conserve energy.

Clearing the spectrum to integrate more users and data is vital to building a future where connectivity is ubiquitous and accessible for everyone. However, most of the low and mid-band spectrum has historically been utilized by the military, commercial satellite operators, wireless internet service providers, and utilities. Efforts to repurpose or share bands for next-generation services usually need the active involvement of incumbent users and government regulators, and extensive discussions about reducing the impact to existing services.