WCA September 2018

Telecom news

densely populated urban areas, such as major cities. (“Almost Half of US Consumers Will Have Access to 5G by 2023,” 12 th June) 5G-only devices are predicted to hit store shelves by the end of 2018; devices which support 5G in the mid-bands are estimated to arrive in early 2019; and devices which support high-spectrum bands are predicted to appear in early to mid-2019. Cellular IoT [Internet of Things] connections are also expected to rise. According to Ericsson, 3.5 billion IoT cellular connections will be in use by 2023, an outlook which doubles last year’s forecast. China’s interest in large-scale IoT deployments and new technologies able to support vast networks – including NB-IoT and Cat-M1 – explains the high expectations as to IoT deployment rates. Ø Ø “2018 is the year 5G networks go commercial as well as for large-scale deployments of cellular IoT,” Fredrik Jejdling, Ericsson’s head of business area networks, told ZDNet . “These technologies promise new capabilities that will impact people’s lives and transform industries. This change will only come about through the combined efforts of industry players and regulators aligning on spectrum, standards and technology.” Huawei rejects assertions of US lawmakers that it exploits academic collaborations to advance its commercial aims Huawei boss Eric Xu has been critical of USA Senator Marco Rubio and other US lawmakers over their campaign against Huawei research partnerships with US universities. Robert Clark, contributing editor of Light Reading , reported that Mr Xu, the current rotating chairman of the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant, said Mr Rubio and fellow Republican representative Jim Banks were “close-minded and ill- informed” about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd research projects.

Fibre, copper and cable networks supported 77 per cent of fixed subscribers worldwide at the end of last year, according to London-based Point Topic, which compiles global broadband statistics. New research by the company found that more than half of people get their broadband over these types of networks in more than 40 countries. Leading the list are Singapore (97 per cent of subscribers), China (89 per cent), the United States (87 per cent) and the United Kingdom (55 per cent). The fibre and fibre/copper options include fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), fibre-to-the-building (FTTB), fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), very high bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL), VDSL2 and Gfast. These approaches served 530 million connections, accounting for 57 per cent of the worldwide total. Gfast, which provides an avenue to quick upgrades that preserves existing copper investments, is in trials with 30 operators, while cable and hybrid fibre-coaxial cable (HFC) held 20 per cent of the market. “We are finding that customers across most global regions increasingly prefer faster broadband services delivered over fibre and cable platforms, as opposed to ADSL,” Point Topic’s research director Dr Jolanta Stanke was quoted as saying in a press release from the Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry consortium based in Fremont, California, USA. “This trend will continue as more bandwidth-hungry young consumers become paying decision makers, even though superfast 4G LTE and 5G mobile broadband services will compete for their wallets.” Ø Ø As noted by Carl Weinschenk of TeleCompetitor (29 th May), the voracious demand for connectivity is evident in the increased demand for fibre, cable and coax despite the parallel growth of LTE and, soon, 5G. Although 5G is in its infancy, the investments in fibre, coax and copper are being made because planners expect 5G to be mainstream soon.Mr Weinschenk also called attention to research released in April by market analysis and consulting firm Broadbandtrends (Roanoke, Virginia, USA) showing that four in five service providers have Gfast plans for this year and that 27 per cent are in active deployments. Fixed broadband statistics indicate that fibre now underlies 77 per cent of all connections worldwide

Ericsson: 5G networks will go commercial in 2018 but transformation requires industry-regulator ‘alignment’ Swedish telecom giant Ericsson on 12 th June released its Mobility Report, which provides projections and analyses of the latest trends in the mobile industry. As reviewed in ZDNet by cybersecurity journalist Charlie Osborne, the most recent edition of the report suggests that 5G networking deployments will roll out commercially in the very near future. According to Ericsson, the USA is expected to lead 5G deployments, with all major operators in the country planning a 5G rollout between late 2018 and mid-2019. By the end of 2023, the company predicts,

almost 50 per cent of all USA mobile subscriptions will be based on the new standard. North East Asia is expected to follow this trend with 34 per cent of all mobile contracts, with Western Europe at number three with 21 per cent of subscriptions utilising 5G technologies. Ericsson looks for a major rollout of 5G deployments by 2020, leading to over one billion 5G subscriptions in total by 2023 and accounting for approximately 12 per cent of all mobile subscriptions worldwide. “It cannot come soon enough, it seems,” wrote Ms Osborne. “The report also suggests that, by then, traffic demand will reach almost 107 exabytes per month – the equivalent of every mobile subscriber streaming ten hours of full HD video.” Unsurprisingly, she noted, deployments are first expected in

Illustrations: BigStockPhoto.com • Artist: Asmati

72

Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2018

www.read-wca.com