Description
5G will bring about fundamental structural economic changes, such as significantly lower broadband pricing as a whole, and also much greater flexibility for enterprise, industrial, and government market segments in terms of how they connect public to private networks. These benefits will not be realized without significant expansion of existing cellular systems. In addition to macro cell sites, the 5G network densification market will rely upon substantial deployment of small cells, especially in urban areas, as well as carrier WiFi.
5G Network Densification Market Dynamics
5G will facilitate substantial advancement in terms of enhanced communications, applications, content, and commerce. This will be due in part to much greater broadband capacity compared to predecessor technology, offering speeds in a range of several gigabits per second. One of the most important 5G capabilities in support of greater data speed is the 5G New Radio (NR) component, which utilizes millimeter wave radio frequency (RF) propagation. Unlike lower band and mid-band RF (2.5-3.5 GHz), 5GNR frequencies involve a much lower (millimeter) wavelength (as compared to centimeter to a meter for LTE) and corresponding higher frequency in the 30–300 GHz range.
These higher frequencies suffer from attenuation, which means that they fade over distance and suffer loss due to solid objects. Because of fading and blockage issues (buildings, trees, etc.), 5G antennas will ultimately be found virtually everywhere in metropolitan areas. However, Mind Commerce research indicates that 5G smart antennas alone will not be enough. There will be a continued need for WiFi for seamless coverage, and in some cases, supplementation of capacity as will be the case with WiFi6, which has much improved capacity management than previous versions.
Combination of Small Cells and WiFi to Provide Network Coverage and Capacity Necessary for Seamless Broadband
Based on a combination of cellular small cells, macro cells and carrier WiFi, Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) are expected to play a pivotal role in addressing the ever-growing capacity and coverage needs of mobile networks. HetNets are important for both the evolution of LTE and the optimization of 5G networks, which rely upon a greater number of shorter-range radio units for continuous communications. Accordingly, the term HetNet is often used in conjunction with the 5G network densification market.
Driven by continuously growing network usage demand and diverse use case scenarios, carriers are investing in WiFi and small cells as part of HetNet infrastructure to ensure sufficient coverage and capacity as part of the 5G network densification market. Not only do WiFi and small cell deployments minimize network planning, redesign and real estate costs, they also allow carriers to avoid and/or minimize new frequency allocation costs. In many cases, small cells can utilize the same frequency spectrum that carriers have allocated for macro cell deployment, while WiFi access points leverage unlicensed spectrum.
The associated savings in both capital expenditures and operational expenses, combined with higher throughput rates, make WiFi and small cells a necessity for mobile network operators worldwide. For these reasons and others, Mind Commerce sees carrier WiFi and small cells infrastructure as highly complementary components of the overall 5G network densification market, growing in tandem at a brisk rate over the next ten years. However, the market still faces a number of serious challenges including but not limited to interference management, optimization and backhaul.
It is also important to note that the 5G network densification market will be a key consideration for the private wireless market. This is because enterprise, industrial and government facilities seeking to establish their own radio network communications will often need a mixture of WiFi and 5G to meet their combined communications and budgetary needs, which must balance cost vs. capabilities. Requirements include capacity, coverage, reliability and latency. Neither 5G nor WiFi alone can meet all of these needs for some scenarios, hence requiring a combination of both in many deployments.
5G Network Densification Market Report
This 5G network densification market report evaluates the market for small cells and WiFi to support cellular wireless communications. It provides market analysis and forecasts for the technologies, solutions, and infrastructure to support increasingly denser 5G networks. The report provides analysis and forecasts for 2022 through 2027.
Analysis includes consideration of outdoor deployments in a variety of form factors and locations as well as indoor deployment and extension of radio signals from outdoor-to-indoor. The latter is particularly important with 5G new radio, which leverages the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum band. Solutions from leading vendors such as Pivotal Commware will facilitate seamless 5G communications for indoor environments that otherwise may not receive a 5GNR mmWave signal.
