5G Makes Solid Progress
While the world continued to grapple with the impact of the pandemic this past quarter, 5G continued making solid progress. It’s been a tremendous quarter. As of mid-August, 105 5G networks went live globally and 162 5G devices have been made available commercially. We saw the introduction of the world’s first 5G standalone network, the first 5G mid-band spectrum auctions in the US completed, nationwide 5G networks began to emerge, and eight 5G networks in the Caribbean and Latin America went live.
Cambridge Broadband Networks Group launches exciting new strategy for the future of Fixed Wireless Access
Verizon to suspend advertising on Facebook
TIGO is recognized once again as a leading Great Place to Work in Latin America
Continued advances at 3GPP ensured Release 16 came out on time with exciting improvements to MIMO, dynamic spectrum sharing, carrier aggregation and power-saving. It also saw developments for new industry verticals, Integrated Access and Backhaul, 5G NR-U (unlicensed), ultra-reliable low latency, intelligent transportation systems and vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and positioning. Release 17 looks even more exciting.
In the US, the FCC also successfully defended its Small Cell Order in the Ninth Circuit, streamlining network densification – and we’re seeing real progress on spectrum, with progress in CBRS, C-Band and the 3.1 – 3.55 GHz band.
Keep your helmets strapped on for more of this wild ride.
Chris Pearson, President, 5G Americas
