By Lynn Greiner
CANADA IS A SIGNIFICANT step closer to widespread 5G deployment now that the 3.5 GHz spectrum auction is imminent thanks to the announcement of the auction rules by Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains today.
But why is 3.5 GHz such a big deal? Robert Backhouse, SVP and CTO at Huawei Canada, explained.
“I think the only thing that’s prevented 5G from being on in Canada is waiting for the C band (3.5 GHz) auction,” he said in an interview with Cartt.ca. “Canada is a pretty technically advanced country and the operators here are advanced and have got a lot of really clever people. I think it probably would have been launched by now if not for the auction.” As things stand today, carriers are only conducting limited 5G testing on other bands.
Of the three sets of 5G spectrum, 3.5 GHz occupies the sweet spot. While millimeter wave (30-300 GHz) offers a ton of capacity, its distance coverage is small – from two meters indoors to 300 meters outdoors – and 600 MHz offers distance and good building penetration but lacks capacity, 3.5 GHz provides a good balance of capacity and distance. Internationally, Backhouse said, 80% of 5G is being deployed on C band. That means most 5G devices entering the ecosystem will use 3.5 GHz, either on its own or as one of their primary supported bands.
Added Viet Nguyen, head of government and industry relations for Ericsson Canada, “The spectrum is a prime 5G band in the global ecosystem. The 3.5 GHz is the first mid band spectrum for 5G that is aligned with the international band plan, therefore can leverage the large international equipment ecosystem. ”
Backhouse noted that the 3.5 GHz band can make use of massive MIMO, and will allow multiple signals (64 transmit/64 receive on C band) to be sent and received simultaneously over one radio channel. This stretches the capacity of the available bandwidth and, with beamforming, signals can be directed, giving recipients good signal while cutting down on interference.
Furthermore, antenna technology is improving, so carriers hope to be able to cut down on the number of bristling antenna farms that occupy the tops of many buildings today.
All this puts the 3.5 GHz spectrum in high demand.
“We expect all Tier-1 operators to compete vigorously for a share as it will be critical for capacity as 5G rolls out,” Nguyen said. “This mid band spectrum is highly in demand for all types of geographic areas: urban, suburban, rural.”
