Telecom trends for 2020: CSS Corp.

As the years roll by, there will come a time when the future generation will discover how videos sometimes used to pause and buffer, while streaming. When they realize that, the reactions would be puzzled looks as though saying: “What was that ‘buffering’ thing all about?”

5G is just around the corner and by the time posterity arrives, 5G would have made significant inroads,and digital life in the super-fast lane would be business as usual.

Ask anyone about their first impressions on 5G, and they’ll say bufferless streaming and fast downloading of content on smart devices. But, there’s more to it! By Q2 of 2020, the strides that 5G will make will only get swifter; 5G will impact massive IoT projects, critical communications, and enhanced mobile broadband.

Apart from the unlimited mobile Internet experiences, 5G’s ultra-low latency is transforming autonomous vehicles, smart logistics, VR andAR, remote surgeries, and the like.

Densely populated cities, financial and commercial centers are where 5G's presence will be felt the most in 2020 initially. That's because it's the Centralized Business Districts (CBD) that will offer the millimeter-wave (mmWave) aspect of 5G.

Unlike Wi-Fi, that uses 2.4- or 5.8 gigahertz band, 5G mmWave ranges from 24 GHz to a lightning 100 GHz. This will be supplemented by the 6GHz ranges as well. To experience such radical speeds, telecom carriers have to upgrade their existing network elementswith the new mmWave technology.

On the contrary, 5G speeds will be on the lower end of scale (low-band) or mid-band of the scale in rural areas, to use frequency ranges from 600MHz to 2.5GHz.

How do we overcome the complexities posed by low-band’s limited range then? The answer lies in a combination of low-band, mmWave, and non-standalone deployments (LTE and 5G together).

Low-band versus mmWave. Which one to opt for? With low-band, operators can deploy 5G at larger footprint, an optimal and cost-effective alternative for greenfield network deployments. In contrast, mmWave technology helps operators offer focused coverage andmeet the high-data demands of CBD. The other option is a non-standalone deployment, i.e., 5G + 4G, which facilitates optimal coverage without compromising the essential data demands.

While the buzz around the technology sounds too good to be true, preparation, groundwork, andgetting networks ready for 5G hold the key to successful implementation.

Let’s talk about the finer aspects of the technology: CUPS, network slicing, and network virtualization.

Virtualization plays a key role in enterprise 5G strategy. Tremendous agility, scalability and comprehensive virtualization of service delivery platforms are possible through NFV, which taps into cloud computing.

Various telcos are at different phases on the network transformation path toward a 100% virtualized and automated infrastructure. A good example is the Japanese mobile network operator, Rakuten. Rakuten has created a completely virtualized network that can support 4G currently and is 5G ready. The only area that is not virtualized is the radios that are installed on the towers.

On one hand, SDN is a smart network architecture to minimize the hardware limitations. On the other hand, NFV is a maturing technology that decouples software from hardware and deploys various functions on virtual machines. It virtualizes multiple appliances on the network.

SDN and NFV surmount the architectural challenges facing 5G networks; they lend the digital transformation to network infrastructure when it comes to 5G adoption.

Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) is an important part of 5G architecture, a good stepping stone to 5G that brings down the network latency. In upgrading toward 5G, CUPS is integral.

It offers multiple deployment options that provide greater flexibility to providers by deploying user-plan functions that meet the bandwidth and latency requirements. Hence, enterprises can scale up cost-effectively,and be 5G ready through CUPS.

The backhaul network connects the radio network (RAN) and the core network. 5G requires this network for meeting the high data speed and low latency requirements. Pulling the fiber to ever cell site is not feasible; hence, a portfolio combining backhauling technologies and fiber will support the performance of 5G.

Network slicing will play a crucial role in deploying 5G. Network slicing is the key to the networks of tomorrow. It allows the development of multiple network architectures on top of a shared physical architecture. Network slices offer the ability to create custom-built networks for every situation thereby saving costs.

Network slicing will enable large enterprises to have their own “private networks” built on top of existing service provider infrastructure.

Telco stalwarts claim that 20% of the global population will be covered by 5G, and 20 billion IoT devices will be connected. In addition, mobile data traffic will see a leap by 8 times in the next 4 years. As on 2019, we’re in the early phases of 5G, and cellular upgrades will take time. But, adoption is on the rise. Peeking into the future, 5G is akin to a train on the move. There’s nothing stopping it in 2020.

Finally, training the workforce to support NFV implementations across domains is a must for a successful 5G adoption and implementation. Enterprise leaders have their work cut out to meet the challenges and demands of the new technology. If our 5G-empowered posterity would ever retrospect and contrast 5G’s humble beginnings to its advancements, they would quip, “The goal then was speed, and now we’re enjoying it.”

• Arun Kumar

-- The author is VP, Network Services, CSS Corp.