Disaggregation of 5G Core (5GC) Network

When talking about mobile networks, we generally talk about disaggregation and virtualization of the RAN rather than the core. The 5G Core Network was also designed with disaggregation in mind, supporting service-based architecture (SBA) where Network Functions (NFs) are modular and can be deployed as microservices.

The 5G Core (5GC) is the foundation for Standalone 5G (5G SA) networks where the end users can experience the power of 'real' 5G. A newly published forecast report by Dell’Oro Group pointed out that the Mobile Core Network (MCN) market 5-year cumulative revenue forecast is expected to decline 10 percent (2024-2028). The reduction in the forecast is caused by severe economic headwinds, primarily the high inflation rates, and the slow adoption of 5G SA networks by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

While most people think of 5G Core Network as a single entity, in reality it contains many different network functions that can be supplied by different vendors. One way to select the vendors is based on grouping of NFs based on functionality as shown in the picture above. Here we have categorised them into User Plane & Mobility, Subscriber Data Management, Routing & Selection, and Policy & Charging. 

An example of of this disaggregation can be seen in the image above where Telenor worked with partners to build a truly multi-vendor, 5G core environment running on a vendor-neutral platform. According to their announcement: 

“The main component of 5G-SA is the 5G mobile core, the ‘brain’ of the 5G system. Unfortunately, most 5G core deployments are still single vendor dependent, with strong dependencies on that vendor’s underlying proprietary architecture. This single-vendor dependency can be a killer for innovation. It restricts open collaboration from the broader 5G ecosystem of companies developing new technology, use cases, and services that the market expects,” explains Patrick Waldemar, Vice President and Head of Technology in Telenor Research.

As an industry first, Telenor, along with partners, have established to build a truly multi-vendor, 5G core environment running on a vendor-neutral platform. The multi-vendor environment consists of best of breed Network Functions from Oracle, Casa-Systems, Enea and Kaloom, all running on Red Hat Openshift, the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform.

“To protect the 5G infrastructure from cyber threats, we deployed Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud Compute, and their Next Generation Firewall is also securing Internet connectivity for mobile devices. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is being used as a scalable automation system, while Emblasoft is providing automated network testing capabilities. The 5G New Radio (NR) is from Huawei,” says Waldemar.

In their whitepaper on "How to build the best 5G core", Oracle does a very similar grouping of the NFs like the way I have shown at the top and highlights what they supply and which partner NFs they use.

When the mobile operator Orange announced the selection of suppliers for their 5G SA networks in Europe, the press release said the following:

Orange has chosen the following industrial partners:

• Ericsson’s 5G SA core network for Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Poland
• Nokia’s 5G SA core network for France and Slovakia 
• Nokia’s Subscriber Data Management for all countries
• Oracle Communications for 5G core signaling and routing in all countries

I was unable to find out exactly which NFs would be supplied by which vendor but you get an idea.

Finally, I have depicted four scenarios for deployment and which Cloud Native Environment (CNE) would be used. In a single vendor core, the CNE, even though from a third party, could belong to either the vendor themselves (scenario 1) or may be suggested by the operator (scenario 2). 

In case of a multi-vendor deployment, it is very likely that each vendor would use their own CNE (scenario 4) rather than one suggested by the operator or belonging to the lead vendor (scenario 3).

If you have been involved in trial/test/deployment of a multi-vendor 5G Core, would love to hear your feedback on that as well as this post.

Related Posts: 

• 3G4G: 3GPP 5G Specifications
• 3G4G: Control and User Plane Separation of EPC nodes (CUPS)
• 3G4G: 5G Service Based Architecture (SBA)
• The 3G4G Blog - Opinion: What is "Real 5G" or "True 5G"
• The 3G4G Blog: The Politics of Standalone vs Non-Standalone 5G & 4G Speeds 

A Different Approach for Mobile Network Densification

I am fascinated by and have previously written blog posts about transparent antennas. Back in 2019 NTT Docomo announced that they have been working with glass manufacturer AGC to create a new transparent antenna that can work with a base station to become an antenna. Then in 2021, NTT Docomo and AGC announced that they have developed a prototype technology that efficiently guides 28-GHz 5G radio signals received from outdoors to specific locations indoors using a film-like metasurface lens that attaches to window surfaces. Transparent antennas/lens are one of the pillars of Docomo’s 6G vision as can be seen here.

I succeeded in my quest to find a wow product finally at #MWC24. Wavethru by AGC is an amazing solution for densification by providing coverage inside-out. Lookout for a post on the Telecoms Infrastructure blog in a few weeks time #3G4G5G pic.twitter.com/RmuD1NQ7nS

— Zahid Ghadialy (@zahidtg) February 29, 2024

Every year at Mobile World Congress I look for a wow product/demo. While there were some that impressed me, the suite of products from Wave by AGC (WAVEANTENNA, WAVETHRU and WAVETRAP) blew me away. Let’s look at each of them briefly:

WAVEANTENNA is the transparent glass antenna which is generally installed indoors, on a window or a glass pane. It can be used to receive signals from outdoors (as in case of FWA) or can be used to broadcast signal outdoors (for densification based on inside-out coverage). In the newer buildings that has thermal insulation films on the glass, the radio signals are highly attenuated in either direction, so this solution could work well in that scenario in conjunction with WAVETHRU.

The WAVETHRU process applies a unique laser pattern to the glazing with 30 µm laser engraved lines that are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Treatment is so gentle, it does not affect the physical properties of the glazing, which remain the same. This radio-friendly laser treatment improves the indoor radio signal by around 25 dB, to achieve almost the same level of performance as the street signal. Just 20% to 30% of the window and floors 0 to 4 need to be treated to improve the indoor signal on all frequency ranges under 6GHz.

In case of coverage densification by providing inside-out radio signals, WAVETRAP can be used for EM wave shielding by stopping back-lobes within the building. 

This video from WAVE by AGC explains the whole densification solution:

 

Now the question is, why was I impressed with this solution? Regular readers of this and the Telecoms Infrastructure Blog will have noticed the various solutions I have been writing about for mobile network densification in downtown areas and historic cities with listed buildings where limited space for infrastructure deployment presents several challenges. 

In brief, we can categorise these challenges as follows:

• Physical Space Constraints like lack of space or strict regulations as in case of listed buildings and heritage sites. 
• Aesthetics and Visual Impact could be an important consideration in certain historic city centres. Deploying large antennae or towers can clash with the architectural character and heritage of the area and may require concealing antennae within existing structures like chimneys, bus shelters, phone boxes & lampposts, or using disguised designs like fake trees to minimize visual impact.
• Technical Challenges can arise in dense urban environments due to interference from neighbouring cells, unreliable backhaul connectivity, interruptions in the power supply due to siphoning, etc.
• Community Engagement and Perception is another important area to consider. There is no shortage of NIMBY (Not in my back yard) activists that may oppose new infrastructure due to health concerns, aesthetics, or fear of property devaluation. Engaging with the community, providing accurate information about EMF exposure, and addressing misconceptions are crucial.
• Regulatory and Permitting Hurdles that may arise due to many cities and councils imposing zoning and permits requirements. Obtaining permits for infrastructure deployment involves navigating local regulations, zoning laws, and historic preservation boards. There may also be height restrictions that may hinder optimal antenna placement.
• Finally, Cost and ROI are important consideration factors as all of the above increases the costs as well as the time required. Customized designs, site acquisition, and compliance with regulations are one of the major factors that not only increase costs but also delays infrastructure rollouts. Operators often weigh the benefits of improved coverage and capacity against all the expenses and headaches of infrastructure deployment and then decide on what to deploy and where.

A solution like WAVEANTENNA in conjunction with WAVETHRU and WAVETRAP can significantly reduce the hurdles and improve coverage significantly. 

While I have talked about the solution in general, it can also be applied indoors to Wi-Fi, in addition to 4G/5G. This may be useful in case of Enterprise Networks where appearance is of importance and probably not of much use in case of warehouses or Industrial/Factory Networks. 

Do let me know what you think.

Related Posts: 

• Connectivity Technology Blog: Futuristic Glass Antenna by NTT Docomo and AGC
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Docomo and AGC use Metasurface Lens to Guide Millimeter Waves (mmWaves) Indoors
• Free 6G Training: Special Articles on 5G Evolution & 6G in NTT Docomo Technical Journal
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: UK will make Street Furniture accessible for Telecoms Infrastructure
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Deutsche Telekom 5G Small Cells in Phone Boxes
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Disguising Small Cells in Rural areas
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Small Cells in BT Phone Boxes
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Small Cells in the Bus Stop
• The 3G4G Blog - AT&T Blog: "Providing Connectivity from Inside a Cactus"
• The 3G4G Blog: The Art of Disguising Cellular Antennas 

Resilient Timing for Critical National Infrastructure

Critical infrastructure requires precise timing to operate. This reliance makes the infrastructure vulnerable to disruptions in timing that can be either intentional or unintentional. Intentional disruptions can be caused by GNSS jamming or spoofing or network attacks.. Unintentional disruptions are usually caused by equipment failures or acts of nature.

Back in April 2022, Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) hosted a webinar on this topic, a precursor to the Annual Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems (WSTS). The webinar featured top industry experts delivering insight into the latest techniques for adding resilience and robustness to timing infrastructure. It covered the most critical topics in timing resilience, including:

• Redundancy
• Holdover
• Management
• Monitoring
• Alternative reference time sources

Examples address networks used for critical industry applications such as:

• Power grids
• Telecommunications
• Finance systems
• Broadcast/media

The video of the webinar as follows:

Experts participating in the webinar and their presentations are as follows:

• Introduction – Marc Weiss, PhD
• Redundancy and Monitoring – Doug Arnold, Principal Technologist, Meinberg
• Solutions for Backup Resiliency – David Chandler, Product Line Manager, Microchip
• Diversity of Sources (Beyond GNSS) – Anand Ram, Vice President, Business Development, Calnex
• An Example of Resilience and Assurance – Nino De Falcis, Senior Director of Business Development, Oscilloquartz

Please feel free to share other useful resources on this topic in comments.

Related Posts: 

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Synchronization for 5G - Requirements, Solutions & Architecture
• The 3G4G Blog - CWHeritage Talk: The History of Synchronization in Digital Cellular Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Synchronisation Requirements 

ETSI's Summit on Sustainability: ICT Standards for a Greener World

The ETSI Summit on Sustainability - How ICT developments and standards can enable sustainability and have a positive impact on society, took place on 30 March 2023 and focused on the key role of the ICT industry and related standardization activities to support Green initiatives. The event brought a large and global audience of over 220 stakeholders including operators, solution providers, policy makers and standards bodies or fora working on the topic.

A multitude of presentations including two interactive panel sessions, rhythmed the day and succeeded to make it a highly interactive Summit, pointing out challenges and how ICT can be both the problem and the solution.

The opening session examined the sustainability challenges and global green initiatives from numerous global standards bodies and fora. One of the suggested actions was to adopt ESG (Environmental Social Governance) goals as an integral part of the company’s objectives. Another highlight from the session was the need for standards work on the measuring and reporting of “avoided emissions,” that is being covered by ongoing work in ETSI. Feedback from the audience pointed out that it would be beneficial to further investigate the balance of ICT deployments vs real needs. Do we really need to endlessly deploy new technologies, when exiting ones serve the need?

The following are presentations from the welcome address and session 1:

• Welcome Address by Luis Jorge Romero, Director General, ETSI
• SESSION 01 - The Sustainability Challenge and Global Green Initiatives chaired by Bettina Funk, ETSI GA Chair: The session examines several regional and global initiatives working on sustainability and seeks to identify synergies and areas of cooperation.
• Some Standardization Needs for Green Digital Twin Transition by Emilio Davila Gonzalez, European Commission
• ITU Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Dominique Wurges, ITU-T SG5  
• IEC Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Alfonso Sturchio, IEC TC111 
• ISO/IEC/JTC1 Sustainability & Working with ETSI by Thomas Wegmann, Liaison officer ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 39
• The work of GeSI toward Energy Efficiency (and other sustainable technologies) by Luis Neves, GeSi
• Green Future Networks by Anita Doehler, NGMN Alliance

The second session focused on the role of ICT in sustainability and was animated by two panels. The first one addressed the operators’ objectives and their plans for sustainability. The second one dealt with various initiatives being taken by solutions providers to meet the needs expressed by the operators and society as a whole. Suggested actions emerging from the debate included putting sustainability criteria in the procurement phase towards the vendors and enhance collaboration between operators, to share their common requirements and provide them to the supply chain ecosystem. In an animated exchange between the Panellists and the audience it was highlighted that there is an urgent need to reduce energy consumption, extend the lifecycles of ICT equipment and systematically recycle and repurpose in order to reduce ICT waste.

The following are presentations from session 2:

• Session 02 - The Role of ICT in Sustainability: The session comprises two interactive panel sessions examining 1) Operators objectives and plans for Sustainability and 2) several initiatives being taken by solutions providers to meet those objectives. Session Chaired by David Boswarthick, ETSI
• Operators Panel Moderated by Anita Dohler, NGMN Alliance e.V.: The purpose of this panel is to examine what are the sustainability plans, challenges & priorities for Operators
• Saima Ansari, Deutsche Telekom
• P. Balaji, Vodafone Idea
• Marc Grant, AT&T
• Luca Pesando, TIM
• Solution Providers Panel Moderated by Joe Barrett, GSA, Global Mobile Suppliers Association - The purpose is to examine what the current solutions and remaining challenges on Sustainability are.
• Howard Benn, Samsung
• Raffaele Bolla, 6Green Project
• Ralf Bucksch, IBM
• Susanna Kallio, Nokia

The afternoon opened with an  overview of ETSI, 3GPP and oneM2M activities supporting technologies for sustainability. One of the presentations highlighted that ICT should initially focus its own environmental impacts and consider digital sobriety as it is recognized that the cleanest energy is the one that is not consumed.

The following are presentations from session 3:

• Session 03 - ETSI Activities Supporting Technologies for Sustainability Chaired by Nick Sampson, ETSI OCG Chair: This session will present the sustainability standards work that is ongoing in ETSI and our Partnership Projects oneM2M and 3GPP.
• TC EE’s Approach to Sustainability by Benjamino Gorini, TC EE Chair 
• The Work of TC ATTM and OEU for Green and Sustainable Networks and Cities by Lynn Reiner. TC ATTM TM6 Chair
• 3GPP’s Approach to Energy Efficiency by Jean-Michel Cornily, Rapporteur for 3GPP EE work items
• oneM2M Work on IoT for Sustainability by Dale Seed, Chair oneM2M SSC 

The summit concluded with a dynamic exchange around what more telecoms can do to move forward in the right direction. ICT and specifically data centres create a significant carbon footprint, and there was a call to use the ISO Net Zero guidelines in order to develop sustainable strategies. The industry should adopt an eco-design (sustainability by design) approach and seek to have products that are energy efficient, with longer life cycles, recyclable and repairable.

The following are presentations from session 4:

• Session 04 - What More Can Telecoms Do to Ensure Global Sustainability Targets are Reached? Chaired by Dirk Weiler, ETSI Board Chair: This session will address alternative perspectives on the principle challenges and gaps that need to be urgently addressed. What more can be done, both in ETSI and beyond, and what could be future directions/actions for the industry?
• Environmental Impact of ICT – Data Centers by Bruno Lafitte, ADEME
• ISO Net Zero Guidelines – a Global Basis for Net Zero Action by Emily Faint, BSI
• ECOS: Driving Environmentally Friendly Standards, Policies and Laws by Mathieu Rama, ECOS

As a conclusion it was agreed that ICT is part of the sustainability problem and must seek to reduce its own emissions, whilst at the same time ICT is certainly part of the solution and should be applied to other domains in order to help them reach their own sustainability goals. As a first step, making ICT more sustainable should be the #01 priority for the industry today and ETSI groups TC EE (environmental engineering), TC ATTM (access, terminal and multiplexing) and ISG OEU (operational energy efficiency for users) are currently providing the standards to enable this transition to greener digital technologies.

Event Wrap-Up / Conclusions is available here.

Should you wish to learn more about the summit, all of the presentations including the conclusion slides are available here.

Related Posts: 

• The 3G4G Blog: Energy Consumption in Mobile Networks and RAN Power Saving Schemes
• Free 6G Training: Technology Enablers for Spectrum & Energy Efficient 6G Wireless Access
• The 3G4G Blog: Reducing 5G Device Power Consumption Using Connected-mode Discontinuous Reception (C-DRX)
• Free 6G Training: Sustainability as an Integral Part of 6G System Architecture Design
• Free 6G Training: 6G Flagship Webinar on 'Green Networking in B5G'
• Free 6G Training: AT&T Wants a Sustainable and Affordable 6G 

Huawei's Power Digitalization 2025 Summit

Back in October, Huawei held Better World Summit 2020 (a.k.a. "Win-Win Future" Global Online Summit). The theme of this online summit was "Power Digitalization 2025”. Experts and operators shared their ideas, vision and challenges. The following summary was shared by Huawei:

Today, how should global operators respond to opportunities and challenges brought by changes in the digital world, under the rapid development of digital technology and digital economy.

“Energy, as the foundation of the digital world, has become a key part and an important point of competitiveness in the digital economy.” Zhou Taoyuan, President of Digital Power Product Line, Huawei, pointed out that “The entire industry needs to attach greater importance to energy”

With the rapid development of emerging technologies such as 5G, cloud, AI, big data, and the IoT, a digital transformation has kicked off, opening the digital age where things are sensing, connected, and intelligent, "ubiquitous Connected, omnipresent intelligence" is becoming a reality. This has thrown the development of 5G and big data centers into the spotlight. But at the same time, the large-scale and rapid construction of 5G and data centers have brought huge challenges to energy infrastructure, such as increasing energy consumption, long construction periods, and high operation and maintenance costs.

“Pay-as-you-go model is becoming more popular in many countries, as data center owners are looking to a decrease their investment and turn their Capex into Opex. And that goes also for a number of other services as part of running and maintaining data center.” Lilia Severina，Global Major Accounts Director of Uptime Institute，talked about the insights into data center trends at the meeting. “Existing site energy facility cannot meet the power demands of 5G sites. There is a pressing need for reform and innovation in this area.Digitization，intelligent and integrated 5G power system enable faster, more affordable, and simpler 5G network deployment.” Liu Baochang, Deputy Director of Information Energy Department, China Mobile Group Design Institute Co., Ltd, expressed his opinion on the development trend and insights of site power in the 5G era.

Violaine Petit, Sales and Marketing VP of CRT Informatique, shared an interesting case about building data centers of CRT in a castle.“CRT did not just want to build something regular. We wanted to be different. We also wanted to invest in a meaningful project. Based on our business development and rejuvenating the castle, CRT successfully deployed two data centers in the castle to meet the dynamic digital development requirements of government and enterprise users. It can be said that the castle data center not only expands CRT's business boundary, but also can protects the country's cultural heritage, can be said to be two birds with one stone.”

Today, people lead a convenient life because of development of science and technology, while they also worry about the environment. How do we transit towards a net-zero carbon economy? Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Director of Science Based Targets, CDP, has his own view. “This includes changes in policies, technologies, economic structures and patterns of production and consumption, but the most important thing is that we change the way we live today. One of the changes is energy transition. Transitioning from fossil-based to clean and renewable energy and phasing out CO2 emissions in other parts of our economy.”

Zhou Taoyuan said, “Huawei integrates traditional power technologies and digital technologies to achieve power digitalization. In this way, we can use ‘Bit to manage Watt’, and provide simple, green, smart, and reliable digital power solutions to solve challenges faced by traditional power industry. ”

Fang Liangzhou, the Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei Digital Power Product Line, Huawei, said“Huawei uses a target network architecture to guide the planning, construction, O&M, and operation of digital power infrastructure, driving the rapid development of the digital economy. Concerning site power, Huawei proposes implementing 5G without increasing site power-related OPEX, and aims to reduce costs from three aspects as well as tapping into new sources. As for data centers, Huawei proposes a simple, green, smart, and reliable next-generation data center facility that uses the "four reconstructions" initiative to tackle issues such as long data center construction period, high energy consumption, and challenging O&M.”

In the future, Huawei will keep cooperating with global operators to face the challenges and seize the opportunities brought by the digital world. Huawei aims to inject green power into operators and help them grow business sustainably in the future. 

#Huawei’s #BWS Power Digitalization 2025 is streaming live now. Join us to learn more about “Leading Power Digitalization for a Smart and Sustainable World”: https://t.co/3TZUKlh2M1 #BWS #Huawei
https://t.co/bUFPRCnwM3

— Huawei Carrier Business (@HuaweiCarrier) October 30, 2020

Surprisingly the only video I could find is on Periscope, embedded in the tweet above. You can jump on to the relevant sessions using the timestamps as follows

0:01:20 1. Opening Speech - Zhou Taoyuan, President of Digital Power Product Line, Huawei

@acarrillopineda : we need to transition to a net-zero carbon economy #5GBetterWorld #tmt #telecom #telecoms #5G pic.twitter.com/0WJWxIvCa8

— Roberto Kompany (@RobertoKompany) October 30, 2020

0:07:14 2. Building a Net-zero Emissions Economy - Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Director of Science Based Targets, CDP

Intelligent means are required to reduce power consumption in 5G era, says Liu Baochang from China Mobile. #5GBetterWorld #tmt #telecom #telecoms #5G pic.twitter.com/qasGS9knXx

— Roberto Kompany (@RobertoKompany) October 30, 2020

0:17:18 3. Trend and Insight of Site Power Facility in 5G era - Liu Baochang, Deputy Director of Information Energy Department, China Mobile Group Design Institute Co., Ltd

0:31:30 4. Perspective and Practice of Lithium Battery Application - José Pedro Nascimento, Network Director, Altice Portugal

4 planned steps to reduce mobile site power consumption and increase efficiency says Li Yao Deputy Director of NOC, China Mobile Pakistan#5GBetterWorld #tmt #telecom #telecoms #5G #5gnetworks pic.twitter.com/pFx6YP8Xfw

— Roberto Kompany (@RobertoKompany) October 30, 2020

0:40:10 5. Network Energy-Efficient Operation in EM Market - Li Yao, Deputy Director of NOC, China Mobile Pakistan

Data center outage causes by Lilia Severina @UptimeInstitute #5GBetterWorld #tmt #telecom #telecoms #5G pic.twitter.com/V1Djpee82D

— Roberto Kompany (@RobertoKompany) October 30, 2020

0:51:40 6. Trend and Insight of Data Center Facility - Lilia Severina, Global Major Accounts Director of Uptime Institute

1:10:30 7. Prefabricated Modular Data Center Case Sharing - Operator customers

1:16:20 8. Partnering To Power The Digital Datacenter - Violaine Petit, Sales and Marketing VP of CRT Informatique

Traditional data centers cannot meet demands in cloud era says Dr. Fang Liangzhou CMO of Digital Power Product Line, Huawei. #5GBetterWorld #tmt #telecom #telecoms #5G pic.twitter.com/kp3tv6GIVD

— Roberto Kompany (@RobertoKompany) October 30, 2020

1:25:10 9. New Era, New Power. PowerX 2025 Target Network - Dr. Fang Liangzhou, CMO of Digital Power Product Line, Huawei

Let me know what you think.

Radio Design Webinar: Optimising Your 700 MHz Deployments

 

Radio Design, the award-winning market leader in the provision of wireless infrastructure sharing solutions and RF filter systems, hosted a webinar last week focused on the deployment of the 700 MHz frequency band. This new 700 MHz spectrum is in great demand across the world, mainly due to its long anticipated use as low band 5G spectrum. The webinar explores the potential of this band, as well as how to prepare for potential challenges when deploying.

For people who are familiar with our trainings, we divide the spectrum into three layers, the coverage layer, the capacity layer and the high-throughput layer. 700 MHz is the most popular coverage layer spectrum worldwide.

The slide above from the webinar talks of the recent Austrian 5G Spectrum auction that we blogged about. See tweet below for details

Operator Watch Blog: Austria Gets New 5G Spectrum - https://t.co/jN3sdIeci8 featuring tweets from @JimStLeger @tefficient #3G4G5G #OperatorWatch #Spectrum #4G #5G #Austria #Europe #RTR #H3A #Drei #TMobile #TMA #A1 pic.twitter.com/FAPAZsIGnl

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) October 3, 2020

In the webinar, slides and video embedded below, Radio Design’s founder – Eric Hawthorn – kicks things off by analysing the benefits of deploying the 700 MHz band in the real world, before passing over to Global Engineering Director – Steve Shaw – who explores some of the technical problems which can arise, as well as some of the solutions. Last but not least, COO and co-owner of Keima – Iris Barcia – provides her insight into the benefits of deploying the 700 MHz band.

Radio Design Webinar: Optimising Your 700 MHz Deployments from 3G4G

Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog: Hungary Allocates 5G Spectrum in 700 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 3.6 GHz
• Operator Watch Blog: Austria Gets New 5G Spectrum
• Operator Watch Blog: Finland now has Ideal 5G Spectrum Allocation
• Operator Watch Blog: Italy's 5G Spectrum Auction Controversy
• Operator Watch Blog: Bhutan improving 2G, 3G & 4G coverage while preparing for arrival of 5G in 2022
• Operator Watch Blog: Malaysia Decides on Innovative Approach for 5G Spectrum
• The 3G4G Blog: Automated 4G / 5G HetNet Design
• The 3G4G Blog: 700 MHz Spectrum - Google: Loser or Winner? 

Mobile Network Cell Tower Site Construction

I attended an IET Prestige lecture by Phil Sheppard, Director of Strategy & Architecture at 3UK recently. He showed an interesting video on how a site is constructed. I combined some of his slides and video to show here. The video is as follows




Related Posts:

• What is meant by Infrastructure in a Telecoms Network?
• Mobile Network Infrastructure Sharing in Japan over Electric Power Infrastructure
• Quick tutorial on Mobile Network Sharing Options
• Network Sharing is becoming more relevant with 5G
• Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future

What is meant by Infrastructure in a Telecoms Network?

Here is our new tutorial explaining what is meant by Infrastructure in Telecoms Network. Slides and Video embedded below.

Beginners: What is Infrastructure? from 3G4G

Related Posts:

• Mobile Network Cell Tower Site Construction
• Mobile Network Infrastructure Sharing in Japan over Electric Power Infrastructure
• Quick tutorial on Mobile Network Sharing Options
• Network Sharing is becoming more relevant with 5G
• Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• NTT Docomo's Underground LTE Small Cells with possibility to deploy 5G in future

Mobile Network Infrastructure Sharing in Japan over Electric Power Infrastructure

On the 3G4G Small Cells Blog, I have written about the Autralian operator Telstra trialing small cells on Tasmania’s power poles to fix mobile black spots. This looks like a similar initiative in Japan but at a much larger scale.

KDDI have an announcement in Japanese here but Rakuten has one in English:

TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power COmpany) Power Grid, Incorporated, KDDI CORPORATION, SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten Mobile Network, Inc. announced that the four companies have reached an agreement to collaborate on trials of base station site and equipment sharing utilizing TEPCO PG’s utility poles and other electric power infrastructure, ahead of the introduction of 5th generation mobile communications systems (5G) in Japan. The trials are due to be begin in the first half of FY2019.

5G utilizes high frequency bands in order to enable higher speeds and greater capacity. As a result, the number of base stations required for 5G is expected to be larger than for 4G. The growing number of base stations not only creates difficulties in securing installation locations, but also calls for consideration on the impact too many antennas and other equipment might have on the landscape.

TEPCO PG has been working together with KDDI to explore the shared utilization of utility poles and other electric power infrastructure and base station equipment between mobile network operators, and as preparations are now complete, the companies are set to begin the trials using actual equipment.

The trials, which SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile Network are also set to join, aim to verify the feasibility of location and equipment sharing between mobile network operators. Specifically, the trials will evaluate the equipment, layout, workability, serviceability and the level of radio interference resulting from sharing the antenna for base station installations on utility poles. There are also plans to expand the number of companies participating in the trials to include other organizations planning to utilize 5G in the future.

Sharing utility poles among a number of mobile network operators makes it possible to flexibly build out base stations in urban areas and rapidly launch services in rural areas. It is also expected to address the issue of securing locations for base stations and lowers the impact of base station equipment on the landscape.

Through the trials, TEPCO PG, KDDI, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile Network aim to reduce the infrastructure construction costs and contribute to the smooth nationwide introduction of 5G.

The picture on the top is from KDDI press release, translated using Google Translate.


Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Quick tutorial on Mobile Network Sharing Options
• The 3G4G Blog: A practical use of MOCN in ESN

Theoretical Throughput Calculation of FDD 5G New Radio (NR)

A nice video by Peter Clarke on 5G NR throughput calculation for FDD. Right now it's only in the video form but will hopefully be available as a tool on his excellent website here. A tool for 4G throughput calculation is available here.




Related Links:

• 5G SpeedTests and Theoretical Max Speeds Calculations
• Understanding the 5G NR Physical Layer
• 5G (IMT-2020) Wireless Resources