Technology is advancing rapidly.
There are myriad areas where the rate of change is on the upswing enabled by
many factors – better access to information, focus, market dynamics and intense
pressure to stay ahead of the curve. Where wireless is concerned multiple
actors- governments, regulators, OEMs and providers are looking at the next
developments and how to prepare and tackle for it. In areas where the reach of
technology is still un served or some previous versions of technologies are
available, the need is to upgrade and possibly replace some existing ones provided
the monies and revenues justify the same.
In this post, I try to capture some of the developments taking
place in the wireless space.
·
5G is an area where the interest seems to be extending
beyond seminars and discussions over coffee to trials on the ground. Although standards are not yet frozen completely
with the International Telecommunication Union setting 2020 as the target date,
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project the body driving WCDMA and
LTE is working on it quite a bit. Operators in Japan and the US are pushing for
early freezing of 5G specifications. Trials are ongoing and even in countries
where 4G is still not rolled out across the length and breadth, 5G is in favor
with vendors and operators signing on the dotted lines to work in this emerging
area. Breakthroughs in the Radio area in terms of speed, latency and demos of
functionalities like network slicing keep pouring in. Data savvy areas like the
East Asia are leading the pack.
·
Older generations of mobile technologies are
slowly fading away. Not that these were expected to last for ages. 2G is
already being given the burial in Japan with the last rites been done with. How
about countries like India? It looks like 2G will still be there for some more
time. Why is it so? Mainly because 2G nodes were still getting installed and
integrated as recently as in the past years. One major reason is the prevalence
of a large chunk of “feature” phones which are user friendly to the users who primarily
rely on voice. These phones do not burn that much of hole in the pocket in
buying a new one either. The falling price of smart phones and the transition
to data will help in the acceleration of replacement of older technologies.
·
Talking of newer technologies and smart phones, are
the applications there? What will users get to do with enabling technologies
and devices? Will it only be movies, sports clippings, YouTube and WhatsApp
content? Or will we see increased use of Internet of Things both for industrial
and consumer use? Finding the right type of application, content and use cases will
be important otherwise justification for having newer generations of
technologies in terms of speed, latencies, power may not be the only allure to
justify huge investments. A Hobson’s choice for providers – Build the systems for
fast and newer applications first or get the applications and use cases and
then decide on how much bigger and wider the highways need to be built? Will
one lead to the other?
·
Different standards in the technology game are cozying
up to each other. We have seen Wi-Fi from the stables of the IEEE family working
as a standalone functionality in PCs, laptops and mobiles to connect to the
net. ETSI followed by 3GPP started off
with developing GSM and WCDMA with their own set of specifications and there
was not so much of talking with each other. Now standards emanating from
different standard forums are moving towards integration and the trend is increasing.
A common core network can now handle both WCDMA/ LTE and Wi-Fi. Again, IMS
started by TISPAN for fixed-line for voice functionality is now integrated with
3GPP offerings to offer VoLTE or Voice over LTE for mobile users.
·
CDMA, 3G, LTE networks are offered by operators
to serve end customers and thereby earning revenues based on usage. These are
commercial networks. Captive networks to
a certain extent are present which use these technologies to serve their
in house users. These can be in the defense sector or used by large scale enterprises. With IOT and Smart cities and newer types of
users, will we see different types of services in wireless and mobility space
to serve different hues of customers? As
an instance, a utility company may stretch out to offer IOT services to
enterprises willing to use IOT specific networks considering that they already
have the assets in place like an oil pipeline, or cables and wires carrying
information from one substation or station to another? What would the rules and
regulations be? We are now venturing out into newer vistas and rules will need
to re-written.
·
One interesting area to watch out for is the interplay
between services offered in the licensed and unlicensed bands of the spectrum.
3GPP technologies -GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, LTE have been designed to use licensed
spectrum while Wi-Fi, DECT and others of that category uses the unlicensed part
of the spectrum. This is how devices and equipment have been made and used.
Developments are taking place in multiple areas- one free more spectrum in
newer bands to cater for existing 3G & 4G and upcoming 5G space and how to
use the unlicensed frequencies for mainstream 3GPP technologies. Using
unlicensed bands will give flexibility to service providers. The ISM band and
more generally 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands are normally unlicensed. The protagonists who pay for licenses to the
government would not like to see similar services offered in non-licensed bands
by other providers. Especially so if they are not being subject to the same
rules as framed by the government and regulators. This has to do not with technology per se but
more to do with policies and regulations and does affect the way services are
availed by the end user.
Would love to hear comments, criticisms and feedback.
