IoT and 5G are impractical without convergence and coexistence of licensed and unlicensed technologies
London, 18 November 2016 – The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), in partnership with Maravedis-Rethink, has today published its Annual Industry Report for 2016, revealing that the Internet of Things (IoT), the hyper-dense network and 5G will not be economic or practical without the convergence and coexistence of licensed and unlicensed technologies. Ultimately, success will depend on unlicensed technologies working in conjunction with licensed networks, enabling new performance levels and flexibility for service providers of all kinds.
Each year, the WBA conducts an industry-wide survey, and puts its findings into a report in order to update the industry on the state of the wireless broadband market. This year’s report focuses on next generation Wi-Fi, the need for convergence and coexistence between unlicensed and licensed technologies, as well as the development of connected cities and city services.
Key findings from the Annual Industry Report include:
- Nearly 80% of respondents believe they will deploy Next Gen Wi-Fi by 2020, driven by the need to improve quality of experience (QoE), reduce churn, and provide seamless access between Wi-Fi networks, and between Wi-Fi and licensed networks
- The key challenges for companies in developing and deploying wireless services are creating a sustainable business model, ensuring QoE and device availability
- IoT, streaming video/OTT and Wi-Fi calling will be primarily driving future traffic growth
- 63% of respondents believe that convergence will be important to crucial for network strategies, while 71% believe coexistence will be important to crucial
- Operators remain a key partner for cities, compared to infrastructure vendors or systems integrators, and are key in supporting and providing CAPEX, OPEX, maintenance and revenue sharing or generation
- Dealing with public expectations, privacy and security are concerns and challenges for cities
- Providing connectivity for city services, along with location based services and big data analytics have increased in relevancy and importance
Furthermore, the WBA’s ‘Roadmap for Coexistence and Convergence in 5G’ market research also supports these findings. While 62% of respondents believe 5G will be a combination of licensed and unlicensed technologies, 88% of respondents believe that unlicensed spectrum technologies are critical for the development of 5G, due to factors such as enhanced throughput, reduced latency, better coverage and lower costs.
“There has been a long history of innovation within the Wi-Fi community, and our latest Industry Report shows there are no signs of this slowing down,” said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the WBA. “5G, smart cities, Wi-Fi and convergence and coexistence between licensed and unlicensed technologies are going to play a huge role in the development of networks and in turn, deliver better services for the consumer.”
The 2016 WBA Annual Industry Report is available to download here.
About the Wireless Broadband Alliance
Founded in 2003, the mission of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is to champion the development of the converged wireless broadband ecosystem through seamless, secure and interoperable unlicensed wireless broadband services for delivering outstanding user experience. Building on our heritage of NGH and carrier Wi-Fi, WBA will continue to drive and support the adoption of Next Generation Wi-Fi services need coexistence and convergence of unlicensed and licensed networks across the entire public Wi-Fi ecosystem, including IoT, Big Data, Converged Services, Smart Cities, 5G, etc. Today, membership includes major fixed operators such as BT, Comcast and Time Warner Cable; seven of the top 10 mobile operator groups (by revenue) and leading technology companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, Huawei Technologies, Google and Intel. WBA member operators collectively serve more than 2 billion subscribers and operate more than 30 million hotspots globally.
The WBA Board includes AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, China Telecom, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Intel, KT Corporation, Liberty Global, NTT DOCOMO, Orange and Ruckus Wireless. For a complete list of current WBA members, please click here.
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About Maravedis-Rethink
Maravedis-Rethink is a premier wireless infrastructure analyst firm. We focus on broadband wireless technologies (including LTE, WiMAX, small cells, core and backhaul) as well as industry spectrum regulations and operator trends. Since 2002, Maravedis and Rethink Research have provided clients worldwide with strategic insight to help them achieve key business objectives. Clients can access Maravedis- Rethink’ technology, spectrum and market intelligence through subscription-based research services which include disruptive reports, webinars and online databases, analyst support and briefings as well as custom consulting engagements.
Maravedis-Rethink has offices in 7 countries across 4 continents.
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