GIGABIT LTE

DEPLOYMENTS:
Setting the
stage for 5G
By Sean Kinney

JUNE 2016

JANUARY 2018

Report Sponsors: Featured Analyst:

Ken Rehbehn, Founder &

Principal Analyst,
CritComm Insights
 FEATURE REPORT
In January 2017, Australian
operator Telstra commercially
launched a gigabit LTE network
that relies on LTE Advanced Pro
features to deliver enhanced mo-
bile broadband experiences. To
pull this off, Telstra worked with
Ericsson on the network infra-
structure piece to connect a Net-
gear mobile router equipped with
Qualcomm’s X16 LTE modem. In
the 12 months that followed this
first launch of gigabit LTE, 44
additional operators in 26 coun-
tries--including all four major op-
erators in the United States--have,
to varying degrees, begun de-
ploying gigabit LTE. In that same
timeframe, OEMs have expanded
the ecosystem of gigabit LTE com-
patible devices to include flagship
smartphones like the Sony Xperia
XZ Premium, LG V30 and Sam-
sung’s Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8.
The fast adoption of gigabit LTE
across the telecommunications
ecosystem warrants an exam-
ination of how the technological
building blocks of gigabit LTE are
impacting operators’ network,
business and spectrum strategies
and approach to service assurance
and test and measurement while
simultaneously laying the ground-
work for rapid commercialization
of 5G networks.
2
What is gigabit LTE?
The combined features that de-
liver gigabit LTE were enhanced
and adopted by standards-setting
body 3GPP in October 2015 with
the group’s Release 13. The primary
building blocks of gigabit LTE are:
• 4X4 multiple-input, multi-
ple-output (MIMO), which uses
four antenna ports at the trans-
mitter and receiver to multiply
the capacity of an RF link. With
compatible user equipment,
4X4 MIMO can transmit four si-
multaneous data streams deliv-
ering faster mobile data speeds.
• Carrier aggregation effectively
joins together non-contiguous
bits of radio spectrum, both li-
censed and unlicensed, into a
wider channel. Compatible with
both TDD and FDD LTE net-
works, intra- and inter-band car-
rier aggregation can combine up
to five component carriers of 20
megahertz channel widths.
• 256 quadature amplitude mod-
ulation (QAM) manipulates
phase and amplitude of wave-
form to allow a higher bit rate
per hertz. The higher the order
of modulation, the more bits
per modulation symbol are
transmitted.
The result of combining 4X4
MIMO, carrier aggregation and 256
QAM is faster data throughput over
a mobile network, but it’s import-
ant to note that networks branded
as gigabit LTE don’t necessarily
provide 1 Gbps speeds. The actual
peak speed depends on the con-
figuration of the network. For in-
stance, a network equipped with a
dedicated download channel, 4X4
MIMO, 256 QAM and aggregation of
a 15 megahertz LTE channel with a
5 megahertz LTE channel would re-
sult in a peak theoretical speed of
400 Mbps. A network with a shared
download and upload channel, 4X4
MIMO and 256 QAM that aggregates
three 20 megahertz LTE channels
could hit speeds in the range of 730
Mbps. A network with a dedicated
download channel, 4X4 MIMO, 256
QAM, but aggregating four 20 mega-
hertz spectrum channels--one 20
megahertz channel of licensed LTE
spectrum and three 20 megahertz
channels of unlicensed 5 GHz spec-
trum--could hit the 1 Gbps mark.
Ken Rehbehn, founder and prin-
cipal analyst of CritComm Insights,
said operators are rapidly adopting
gigabit LTE to “heighten the com-
petitive advantage. It’s speed wars.
Then, the next step is to address
capacity issues.” He said he doesn’t
think subscriber-level adoption
“is particularly high…[but] that
will change over time as the user
 FEATURE REPORT

equipment seeps into the market. of 93.38 Mbps. The Cat 16 devices devices and 40% Cat 16 devices.
It comes down to customer experi- have significantly better spectral With this new baseline, average
ence. With more efficient capabili- and antenna efficiency, while, as downlink throughput on the Cat
ties handling demanding users that compared to the Cat 6 devices, net- 6 devices jumps to 72.45 Mbps and
have the devices that support giga- work resource usage that’s fairly the same metric hits 107.88 Mbps
bit LTE, operators get increased similar. In the next graphic, the for the Cat 16 devices. In the era
efficiency. And it frees up head for device mix is changed to 11% Cat 6 of increasing data consumption,
the other users that are out there.”
Rehbehn makes an important
point there: Even if a user doesn’t
have a high-end device capable of
supporting gigabit LTE, the very
presence of those devices on a net-
work means spectral and resource
usage efficiencies can be passed on
to other users. Qualcomm Technolo-
gies developed a network visualiza-
tion tool to demonstrate how Cat 16
devices pass on improved quality of
network experience to users with-
out gigabit LTE devices. The below
graphic shows a network with a
device mixture including Cat 4, Cat
6, Cat 9, Cat 12 and Cat 16 devices.
For the purposes of the visualiza-
tion, the emphasis is on Cat 6 and
Cat 16 devices with attendant met-
Source: Qualcomm Technologies

rics showing throughput, network

resource usage, spectral efficiency
and antenna efficiency. The device
mix below has 26% of total as Cat 6
devices and 7% Cat 16 devices.
The Cat 6 devices have an aver-
age downlink throughput of 52.8
Mbps and the Cat 16 devices have
an average downlink throughput How deep can virtualization go? Some think pretty far.

3
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network efficiency is key to busi-
ness success, according to Prayer-
na Raina and Dimitris Mavrakis of
ABI Research. In a piece published
by RCR Wireless News, Raina and
Mavrakis wrote that, “The increas-
ing mobile broadband data usage
in combination with the threat
of subscriber churn is driving op-
erators to offer unlimited data,
especially in mature telco mar-
kets. However, offering unlimited
bandwidth comes with its own
set of challenges. Trying to meet
higher data caps and unlimited
data is creating traffic conges-
tion on operator networks. While
today all major operators in the
U.S. offer unlimited data plans, in
other regions few operators offer
unlimited data, although many are
taking steps in this direction by
increasing the current data caps.
It is, however, gigabit LTE that
will enable operators to offer in-
novative data plans and services
with unlimited data or a substan-
tial increase in data cap while also
maximizing the efficiency and the
performance of their networks.”
FEATURE REPORT
Beyond the benefits to operators,
a November report produced by
Qualcomm Technologies and Sig-
nals Research Group highlighted
the benefits passed on to end users.
For the purposes of understanding
consumer benefit, SRG focused
primarily on download speeds and
video streaming. The comparison
is based on a Cat 12 smartphone
and the Cat 16 Samsung Galaxy S8.
The gigabit LTE device provides
a 15% faster download from the
Google Play store compared to the
Cat 12 device in excellent network
Source: Qualcomm Technologies
5
 FEATURE REPORT
conditions and a 23% faster down-
load time in poor network condi-
tions. For downloading files from
Google Drive, the Cat 16 device
performs 20% faster in excellent
network conditions and 27% faster
in poor network conditions. In the
Google Play store download sce-
nario, the Cat 16 device uses 34%
fewer network resources in ex-
cellent network conditions; in the
Google Drive download scenario,
the Samsung Galaxy S8 uses 30%
fewer network resources. The be-
low table lays out this comparison.
As we have established, carrier ag-
gregation is a fundamental enabler
of gigabit LTE, albeit one that relies
on the availability of spectrum.
While licensed spectrum is argu-
ably an operator’s biggest invest-
ment considering the billions spent
during government-led auctions,
the high barrier to entry presents a
challenge in terms of number of op-
erators able to deliver gigabit LTE
using licensed spectrum as well as
providing coverage across a net-
work footprint given the variabili-
ty in geographic spectral holdings.
This is where unlicensed spectrum
comes into play.
The role of LAA in delivering gigabit LTE
Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) is
another LTE Advanced Pro feature
6
contained in Release 13. This technol-
ogy allows aggregation of licensed
LTE spectrum and unlicensed spec-
trum in the 5 GHz band. The licensed
spectrum channel transmits control
and signaling data, while the unli-
censed channel or channels provide
added capacity. In an interview with
RCR Wireless News, Sherif Hanna,
staff manager of technical market-
ing, Qualcomm Technologies, said,
“The vast majority of operators
around the world simply don’t have
enough licensed spectrum to get to
the actual 1 Gbps speed. In order to
make it more viable for more opera-
tors around the world, LAA is going
to be the lynchpin.”
LAA was designed to ensure fair
co-existence with Wi-Fi networks
sharing the unlicensed 5 GHz band,
and includes listen-before-talk,
which makes it capable of global
deployment. In terms of achieving
gigabit speeds, LAA makes the ser-
vice available to operators limited to
20 megahertz of licensed spectrum.
Keith Mallison, founder of anal-
ysis and consulting firm WiseHar-
bor, broke down the attractive
business case presented by LAA.
“Adding carriers on existing cell
sites is almost always cheaper
than splitting cells or making het-
nets with addition of new sites.
But the former is only possible
in licensed frequencies when
additional spectrum is already
owned or can be bought. Addi-
tional free spectrum is, therefore
a very compelling opportunity. It
is particularly attractive for oper-
ators to implement LAA because
it is relatively cheap to deploy
and promises to reduce multi-RAT
headaches and the operational
costs involved in managing a Wi-
Fi hot spot network alongside LTE
and all a carrier’s other cellular
RATs. The incremental cost in de-
vice manufacture is small: Any
initial price premium for LAA
will be rapidly eroded. For carri-
ers, the carrot for deploying LAA
is lots of additional capacity at no
spectrum cost. The stick is that
other carriers will deploy LAA re-
gardless. In competition, the addi-
tion of lots of cheap new capacity
on the market is inevitable.”
Rehbehn agreed that LAA is “the
most cost effective way to add spec-
trum,” but there are downsides in
terms of potential impact to Wi-Fi
performance, increasing the overall
data load on unlicensed spectrum,
and the realities of a scaled deploy-
ment of small cells that support
LAA, particularly in the context of
in-building deployments.
“Whatever service provider that
has a network element...they’ll

be able to take advantage of the
added bandwidth from the un-
licensed band,” he said. “But this
now becomes a siting issue. How
do you get your network equip-
ment in there? This is not like a
macro system where there’s a
tower down the street just blast-
ing through the building. With
LAA is has to be a small cell. It’s
going to have to be in the facility
and that means the landlord has
to agree for it come in. The land-
lord is probably not going to allow
every service provider to slam up
access points in their building.
So how do these LAA devices get
into commercial structures where
they’ll have the density of sub-
scribers to make it worthwhile?”
Qualcomm Technologies Se-
nior Director of Marketing Peter
Carson, in November, highlighted
the importance of LAA in the con-
text of global expansion of gigabit
LTE. “Operators don’t have enough
licensed spectrum to get to giga-
bit,” Carson said. But, with LAA,
“Literally 90% of all operators in
the world can get to gigabit LTE
with that LAA configuration. That
is very different than the picture
without LAA. This is the great
equalizer that’s going to generate
massive adoption worldwide of
gigabit LTE. To get to gigabit, you
have many fewer [radio frequency]
combinations you need if you have
60 or 80 megahertz of unlicensed.
I think with the carrier adoption
worldwide, LAA is a key ingredient
in that.”
To better understand that issue,
we’ll take stock of how operators
are approaching the deployment of
gigabit LTE as well as LAA.
Operator momentum around gigabit LTE
As noted earlier, more than 40 op-
erators around the world are work-
ing to bring commercial gigabit
LTE services to subscribers. Follow-
ing on Telstra’s initial commercial
launch in Australia, commercial
networks have been activated in
Singapore, China and the United
States, while varying degrees of
testing are underway in many oth-
er countries. Let’s take stock of how
the major U.S. carriers--Verizon,
AT&T, T-Mobile US and Sprint--are
leveraging the technology set that
comprises gigabit LTE.
In August 2017, Verizon conduct-
ed a “commercial network deploy-
ment” using Ericsson’s LAA-com-
patible Radio 2205 and a test device
using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835
mobile platform and X16 modem.
That collaborative work yielded a
downlink throughput of 953 Mbps
and prompted the carrier to begin
FEATURE REPORT
deployment of LAA radios at small
cell sites around the country. On the
spectrum side, Verizon aggregated
three unlicensed 5 GHz channels
with one 20 megahertz channel of
AWS spectrum.
“You’re going to see these pop up
all across the country,” VP of Net-
work Support Mike Haberman said
at the time, adding that some sites
will receive an upgrade not only
to LAA but also to 4X4 MIMO. Fur-
ther building on the network ef-
ficiency and user benefits of 4X4
MIMO, Verizon and Ericsson have
been trialing massive MIMO, which
further multiplies the number of
antenna elements on either side of
a radio link.
In January, Nicola Palmer, Verizon
chief network engineer and head
of wireless networks, said, “Mas-
sive MIMO is a critical component
of our 4G LTE advancements and
will play an important role in 5G
technology that will result in sin-
gle digit latency and scalability in
the billions of connections.” Those
tests involved a mobile test device
using Qualcomm’s X20 LTE modem,
which is part of the Snapdragon
845 platform, announced in Decem-
ber. Commercial smartphones that
support massive MIMO and incor-
porate the 845 are expected in the
first half of 2018 with potential
7
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debuts at Mobile World Congress.
Based on a tally provided by Ver-
izon in November, the carrier has
fully deployed carrier aggregation
in near 2,000 markets and has 4X4
MIMO and 256 QAM available in
more than 560 markets. All three
technologies are providing gigabit
LTE to users with compatible devic-
es in 560 markets.
AT&T launched its gigabit LTE of-
fering, branded as 5G Evolution, in
Austin, Texas, in April 2017. Compa-
ny CEO Randall Stephenson, when
the deployment was announced,
said Austin-area users with com-
patible devices had “the potential
for 500 or 600 [Mbps].” Since that
initial launch, AT&T has made its
5G Evolution service available in
23 metro areas including Atlanta,
Boston, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco and Houston with plans
to grow that footprint to “hundreds
of additional metro areas.”
At Mobile World Congress Amer-
icas in September, AT&T worked
with Qualcomm and Ericsson to
demonstrate how 4X4 MIMO, 256
QAM, carrier aggregation and LAA
can deliver high-quality, 3D virtual
reality video, as well as a download
speed comparison between the
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and a Cat 12
LTE device that doesn’t support ag-
gregation of unlicensed spectrum.
Noting “successful live LAA
field trials,” AT&T Vice President,
Ran and Device Design, Gordon
Mansfield said, “This enhanced
connectivity allows us to increase
download speeds, expand network
capacity and improve spectral ef-
ficiency in our network. People
are consuming data at a rapidly in-
creasing rate, and LAA will allow
our consumers to do things like
stream their favorite content on
the go and experience virtual re-
ality at faster speeds.” Building on
those field trials and the demon-
stration, in November AT&T be-
gan commercial deployment of
LAA in select areas of downtown
Indianapolis, Indiana.
At a joint event hosted by T-Mobile
US and Qualcomm, the carrier said
in November that it has carrier ag-
gregation, 256 QAM and 4X4 MIMO
live in 430 markets, and at least one
of the three technologies underpin-
ning gigabit LTE present in an ad-
ditional 490 markets. The “Un-car-
rier” also released plans to use LAA
small cells to further boost network
capacity. T-Mobile US Chief Tech-
nology Officer Neville Ray said,
Gigabit class LTE technology is part
of the secret sauce behind our suc-
cess--and why others are struggling
under the weight of unlimited--and
we’re only continuing to advance
FEATURE REPORT
with LAA on the horizon.”
Mark McDiramid, T-Mobile US
vice president of network engineer-
ing, explained late last year that
the operator would likely reach an
installed base of 5,000 small cells by
the end of 2017, and has 25,000 addi-
tional small cells contracted, “most
of which will be done” in 2018, with
LAA-compatible small cells turned
up in the first quarter of 2018.
“These small cells are maybe a few
100 yards to maybe a quarter mile
[apart] at most,” McDiramid said.
“But when you take 40 [megahertz]
of licensed spectrum and 60 [mega-
hertz] of unlicensed spectrum...the
capability and the capacity that
you put in that small cell is quite
dramatic. That’s one of the ways
we’re going to deliver gigabit.”
In a March 2017 demonstration
at Smoothie King stadium in New
Orleans, Louisiana, Sprint claimed
a domestic first gigabit LTE de-
ployment on a commercial network
using the Snapdragon 835 and X16
modem. In December, Sprint Chief
Technology Officer John Saw said
three channel carrier aggregation
is already available in 100 mar-
kets; related to carrier aggregation,
Sprint relies fully on its 2.5 GHz li-
censed spectrum portfolio rather
than incorporating aggregation of
unlicensed spectrum.
9
 FEATURE REPORT
Massive MIMO was a major focus
on Sprint throughout 2017. The car-
rier worked with Samsung to test
the technology in Suwon, South
Korea, and Sprint said it has been
able to increase channel capaci-
ty by at least 300% and boost cell
edge performance by 200%. Com-
mercial roll outs will of massive
MIMO will come in 2018. In June
Saw said, “The performance that
we’re seeing is very encouraging:
peak speeds of more than 300 Mbps
just one 20 megahertz channel. To
get that sort of performance using
a more traditional 8 transmit, 8 re-
ceive base station that we have de-
ployed today, you need to do three
channel carrier aggregation. But
with massive MIMO simply on just
one channel, were able to reach
peak speeds of 300 Mbps and when
we do three carrier aggregation on
top of this massive MIMO antenna
we should be going past teh gigabit
per second capability.”
“The performance that we’re see-
ing is very encouraging: peak speeds
of more than 300 megabits per sec-
ond just using one 20 megahertz
channel,” said Sprint CTO John Saw.
“To get that sort of performance
using a more traditional 8 trans-
mit, 8 receive base station that we
have deployed today, you need to do
three channel carrier aggregation.
10
But with massive MIMO simply on
just one channel, we were able to
reach peak speeds of more than 300
megabits per second and when we
do three carrier aggregation on top
of this massive MIMO antenna we
should be going past the gigabit per
second capability.”
In an end-of-year blog post, Saw
said 2018 would bring “256 QAM
and 4X4 MIMO nationwide for
great spectral efficiency and faster
data speeds. These critical ingredi-
ents will join three-channel carrier
aggregation (using 60 megahertz of
2.5 GHz), already available today in
more than 100 top markets, to form
the Sprint receipt for gigabit class
LTE service.” Massive MIMO is posi-
tioned as “a key enabler for 5G ev-
erywhere and our 2018 deployment
will allow us to support both LTE
and 5G NR modes simultaneously.”
How network evolution impacts
service assurance
The rapid adoption of gigabit LTE
on the path to 5G is one of several
mega-trends shaping the way carri-
ers plan, deploy, monitor and man-
age networks. The telecom industry
is undergoing other major tran-
sitions including the move from
physical to hybrid to virtual net-
works built on network functions
virtualization and software-define
network solutions, the increasing
convergence of wireless and wire-
line networks, and densification of
both indoor and outdoor networks.
Given these concurrent evolutions,
the role of service assurance--using
network data points to make sure
subscribers receive the best pos-
sible quality of experience while
helping operators get the most out
of investments--is also evolving.
Kashif Hussain, director of mar-
keting for Viavi Solutions, said,
“As far as gigabit LTE is concerned,
everything has to work together.
From an RF perspective, the one
thing you really need to make sure
of is your RF signal integrity is
there.” With 4X4 MIMO, 256 QAM,
carrier aggregation and LAA, “Op-
erators have to make sure they’re
getting the most out of the invest-
ments they are making on these
enhanced features.” Reiterating his
earlier point, “To do that, RF signal
integrity has to be there.”
In the move toward software con-
trol of networks, NFV and SDN are
driving an evolution from physical
networks to hybrid networks and,
in the future, fully virtualized,
cloud native, automated networks.
“The key is service velocity,” Hus-
sain said. “Of course the cost of
maintaining a virtual network is
less than maintaining a physical

“As far as gigabit LTE is
concerned, everything has
to work together. From an RF
perspective, the one thing
you really need to make sure
of is your RF signal integrity
is there.”
Kashif Hussain, director of
marketing, Viavi Solutions
network, but you have to be able to
assure those networks in a similar
way. That cycle has already started.
With 5G, that will be the first phase
where you will see a lot of networks
going virtual.” This transition will
require a combination of physical
instruments and virtualized probe
and test agents.
Mentioning the massive invest-
ments service providers are mak-
ing in fiber optic infrastructure,
Hussain pointed out that fiber-deep
Here we see a spectrum analysis of licensed and unlicensed LTE spectrum.
networks are being leveraged for
everything from long-haul data
transport and backhaul to, in the
case of distributed antenna sys-
tems and small cell clusters built on
a centralized-radio access network
architecture, fronthaul. “Fiber ver-
ification is very important. In the
last few years, we’ve seen heavy
investment on the fiber side for 5G
because the pipe has to be bigger.
Going from 4G to LTE Advanced
Pro, you have to do similar kinds
FEATURE REPORT
Source: Viavi Solutions
of things--there has to be hygiene
of the network from an RF stand-
point, from a fiber standpoint, from
a cable standpoint--it all has to be
tested, validated and assured.”
From a product standpoint, Viavi
has brought to market the NITRO
(network integrated test, real-time
analytics and optimization) solu-
tion, which Hussain described
as enabling a service provider to
“take a journey from a physical net-
work to a virtual network. You can
11
 FEATURE REPORT
utilize the strength of your physical
instruments that you have, then
deploy virtual agents and combine
the results of those two and get a
more thoughtful outcome.” Going
forward, “We are building more and
more 5G components into it as the
technologies are standardized.”
When it comes to the evolution
of service assurance, “Automation
is the fundamental aspect of it,”
Hussain said. “We do not believe
customers will have the bandwidth
to manage their networks without
NITRO. The goal is to reduce down-
time, reduce truck rolls, and enable
centralized management from the
network operations center so it can
be easier and cheaper.”
UE and network test and
measurement
Passing on the benefits of gigabit
LTE to end users means new devices
have to be certified for use on car-
riers’ networks and new network
infrastructure, LAA small cells for
instance, have be deployed and op-
timized. For the test and measure-
ment industry, that means a new
set of requirements related to lab
testing of user equipment and new
complexities for field technicians
tasked with ensuring networks are
operating properly.
First, let’s look at the device-testing
12
side. “There’s so many different
combinations with carrier aggre-
gation,” Tony Opferman, business
development manager, mobile
wireless, Rohde & Schwarz USA,
said. “There is a significant amount
of testing that is required to cover
all the different combinations. We
have done a good job automating
those tests. That’s one of the hard
requirements,” Tier 1 mobile op-
erators are requiring of test and
measurement providers. “There has
been a big push in terms of automa-
tion of device testing in the labs.”
Opferman explained that the
need for automation of device test-
ing is two-fold. Operators want to
reduce costs associated with test
engineers and accelerate time-to-
market for new devices. “That’s
a trend we’re seeing among Tier
1 operators. The technologies are
getting more and more complex.
We’ve been seeing the number of
test cases mushrooming over the
past few years. That’s one of the
big issues we’ve constantly heard
from all the operators.”
To facilitate this accelerated
device testing process, Rohde &
Schwarz developed the R&S CM-
Wflexx system. ZTE used the prod-
uct to demonstrate the speeds of its
ZTE Gigabit Phone, which supports
carrier aggregation, 4X4 MIMO and
256 QAM. The Rohde & Schwarz
USA solution measures downlink
data speeds above 1 Gbps; it also
supports testing for other applica-
tions including Cat M1, narrowband
internet of things and LAA.
Beyond the UE, there’s a rapidly
increasing number of network in-
frastructure elements needed to
provide the gigabit LTE experience.
This includes fiber-, copper- and
CPRI-based connections for macro
sites, small cells and in-building
deployments including DAS and
C-RAN small cell clusters, and this
paradigm will only be further com-
plicated as 5G networks harnessing
millimeter waves come online.
“If you look back, a field techni-
cian may be tasked with testing 15
or 20 base stations,” Keith Cobler, in-
dustry marketing manager, mobile
wireless, Rohde & Schwarz USA,
said. “Densification with every gen-
eration of mobile phones has grown
as you move forward. From the car-
riers there’s absolutely an effort
to make the technicians more ef-
ficient in the field. We’re trying to
make sure our test equipment is in
lock step with the way technicians
will work in the future.”
Cobler continued: “Today you re-
ally still have two schools of tech-
nicians in the field. The fiber tech-
nicians are very different than the
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Sean Murphy, Program Manager

 FEATURE REPORT
The Rohde & Schwarz CMWflexx is used to test gigabit LTE functionality for user equipment.
RF technicians. A lot of operators
haven’t bridged that divide. That’s a
gap operators are trying to close. To
make technicians more effective in
the field, you have to have a tool set
that’s portable, flexible and capable
of doing a lot of different tests.”
Rohde & Schwarz uses its An-
droid-based QualiPoc tool to enable
field technicians to test voice and
data quality, troubleshoot network
problems and optimize RF environ-
ments. The smartphone-based tool
covers multiple protocol layers as
well as the IP stack and provides
real-time data to represent end-user
quality of service and quality of ex-
perience. QualiPoc probes feed QoS
and QoE data into the web-based
SmartMonitor to present a real-time
overview of network conditions.
14
Source: Rohde & Schwarz
“You have to have some way of
measuring the QoE at the point
it’s being used and it has to be cost
effective,” Cobler said. “Then you
have to aggregate all that differ-
ent information together to get a
measure of quality of experience
on a certain sector of your network.
Opferman added: “From our per-
spective, LTE is not going away. LTE
is going to be there for the next 10-
plus years. It’s going to be a support
mechanism for 5G. Gigabit LTE gets
us to start thinking about some of
the network changes that have to
take place to support these higher
data rates.”
Gigabit LTE and beyond
At the same time operators are
investing heavily in gigabit LTE,
they are also setting the stage for
the commercialization of services
based on the recently adopted
non-standalone 5G New Radio
specification, as well as the stand-
alone 5G NR specification, due out
of 3GPP mid-2018. The non-stand-
alone variant uses the LTE core
network and parts of the air inter-
face while the standalone variant
will use a new core architecture
and air interface.
But, as with any major network
deployment, in its early days 5G
will provide limited coverage likely
in key areas of major metropolitan
cities. So what’s the role of gigabit
LTE networks in supporting the
rollout of 5G?
“Gig LTE is very fundamental to
the rollout of 5G because of how
spotty the 5G service is going to
be,” Rehbehn said. “To have any
sort of consistency in the user ex-
perience, there’ll have to be a pret-
ty robust gigabit LTE surround,
which kind of raises the question
for an operator that decides to go
to market with a mobile version
of 5G, to what extent are they go-
ing to have to provide a broader
reach of gigabit LTE? Presumably
the initial 5G will be islands. So
just how far beyond that will they
have to have LTE at gigabit rates?
It’ll be an expanding circle of

The Rohde & Schwarz SmartMonitor solution draws in real-time network quality of service and quality of
experience data into a unified dashboard.
gigabit LTE coverage to ensure it’s
not a jolt when you go from 5G to
LTE as you’re going through their
network. It’s going to have to be
enough of a surround to give credi-
bility for the basic 5G story.”
Matt Branda, director of 5G tech-
nical marketing, Qualcomm Tech-
nologies, described gigabit LTE as
“the anchor of the 5G mobile ex-
perience.” Raina and Mavrakis of
ABI Research note that gigabit LTE
“forms a foundational support for
the launch of 5G. 5G networks de-
ployed in the non-standalone mode
(LTE network as the anchor) will
require interworking with the LTE
radio access network to maintain
service continuity. For a ubiquitous
high-speed service, gigabit
would seem very suitable to pro-
vide a consistent blanket of high-
speed connectivity, augmented by
ultra-fast 5G connectivity in areas
that need it.”
Gigabit LTE is boosting capacity
to meet demand today and setting
the stage for a smooth roll out of
5G that will enable users to have
a consistent network experience
as they move from 5G hot spots
onto gigabit LTE. But there’s a big
difference between 500 Mbps or 1
Gbps and 10 Gbps delivered with
latency less than 1 millisecond.
And a big part of that difference is
FEATURE REPORT
Source: Rohde & Schwarz
“Gig LTE is very fundamental
to the rollout of 5G , because
of how spotty the 5G service
is going to be. To have any
sort of consistency in the user
experience, there’ll have to
be a pretty robust gigabit LTE
surround.”
LTE
Ken Rehbehn, founder and principal
analyst, CritComm Insights
millimeter wave spectrum.
Right now operators are primar-
ily focused on tapping millimeter
wave spectrum to deliver fixed
wireless services like enhanced
broadband for businesses and mul-
tiple dwelling units like apartment
complexes. The major driver here is
economic--how does a service pro-
vider provide a fiber-like experi-
ence without the time and expense
of laying fiber-to-the-home or fi-
ber-to-the-premise? In Austin and
15
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Waco, Texas, for instance, AT&T
is using the 28 GHz band to tri-
al 5G-backed Wi-Fi to small- and
medium-sized business, as well as
residential users, in support of use
cases including enhanced broad-
band, VPN connections, 4K video
streaming, VoIP and delivery of
DirecTV. In 2017 Verizon tested
5G fixed wireless access in 11 U.S.
markets, which the company said
included “several hundred cell sites
that cover several thousand cus-
tomer locations.” In November last
year, Verizon announced it would
use that technology to deliver resi-
dential broadband services in three
to five markets during the second
half of this year beginning in Sac-
ramento, Calif. In terms of use cas-
es, Verizon specifically called out
This graph, explained below, shows the relative availability of spectrum from 1 GHz to 90 GHz.
enhanced broadband, mobile and
the internet of things, along with
applications including 3D video
and virtual reality. According to
the carrier, “The market opportu-
nity for initial 5G broadband ser-
vices [is] approximately 30 million
households nationwide.” But, while
the attention around millimeter
wave is currently on fixed wireless,
millimeter wave will go mobile. Dy-
namics around capacity demand
and spectrum limitations make it
an imperative.
Ian Gresham, technology fellow
at Anokiwave, described the para-
digm. “In parallel with the contin-
ued evolution and development of
LTE and the sub-6 GHz platforms,
there’s this parallel activity to har-
ness wider channel bandwidths at
FEATURE REPORT
higher frequencies. That’s driven
by the exponentially increasing
demand for data that we’re seeing
and obviously the increasingly
saturated spectrum availability
in the existing bands despite the
hugely impressive results that
we’ve already seen.”
Referencing the above graphic,
Gresham explained: “The horizon-
tal axis represents the frequency
spectrum from approximately 1
to 90 GHz on a relative scale. The
orange...bars on the middle and
right of the top figure show the
approximately 11 gigahertz of new
spectrum released by the FCC for
both licensed and unlicensed use.
Although the precise frequency
allocations vary across the globe,
there’s similar initiatives in Europe
Source: Ankiowave
17
 FEATURE REPORT
“Although millimeter wave
active antennas are a new
feature and requirement
for telecommunications
applications, at Anokiwave we
believe that the development
of these products for 5G
is really just a process of
industrialization, not one of
invention.”
Ian Gresham, technology fellow,
Anokiwave
and Asia as well. The picket fence
of blue lines on the left shows
the fragmented...spectrum that’s
available below 6 GHz. The avail-
able scale of the relative spectrum
is quite easy to see.” The red and
green blocks show frequency allo-
cations for the aerospace and de-
fense and satellite communications
industries; Anokiwave was worked
in A&D and satcom for more than
18
a decade, Gresham said, which has
resulted in millions of dollars in in-
vestments that have driven down
the cost of attendant electronics
and deployments.
Gresham continued: “Proximity,
and in many cases overlapping
of these spectral regions, make it
obvious that the same technical
problems, and therefore very sim-
ilar technological solutions, apply
for both requirements. What this
means is that we’ve experienced
the same design and manufac-
turing philosophy as well as the
base technologies that we’ve been
developing for aerospace and de-
fense and satcom can be leveraged
and used across the different mar-
ket segments especially for now 5G
telecommunications. That enables
a high degree of reuse and that’s
also enabled a platform-type ap-
proach to accelerate the develop-
ment of active antennas.”
Anokiwave is a fabless semicon-
ductor firm that provides inte-
grated silicon core IC solutions and
silicon front ends for millimeter
wave applications. The company
has developed products to serve
key millimeter wave frequencies
including the 26 GHz, 28 GHz and
39 GHz bands. Moving millimeter
wave technology from A&D and
satcom to telecommunications
brings a change in the radio archi-
tecture for active antenna hard-
ware for the physical layer of the
air interface, Gresham said, calling
it the “principal challenge” for the
use of millimeter wave in telecom-
munications. “Why are millimeter
wave active antennas critical for
5G?” Gresham asked. “The most
important consideration is the
high path loss at millimeter wave,
which is somewhere around 62 dB
per meter at 28 GHz for line-of-
sight propagation. That means the
development of a robust link seems
extremely challenging. The recipro-
cal benefit is the short wavelength,
which is about 5.6 millimeters at
28 GHz, means you can develop a
large effective aperture in a very
small area. That means you can
generate extremely high radiated
power through construction in the
far field. Conversely at the receiv-
er the radio sensitivity can also be
scaled by increasing aperture size.
Because the antennas are active,
you can change the direction of the
beam very dynamically to serve
multiple users, you can provide spa-
tial orthogonality through adaptive
beam forming or shaping and you
can rapidly change point and direc-
tion to adapt to changing propaga-
tion channels in dynamic environ-
ments. You can also form sub arrays

Qualcomm developed a prototype millimeter wave system, in a smartphone form factor, that supports frequency
bands above 24 GHz
of radiating elements which can design for millimeter wave that’s
be used to provide the MIMO func- meant to show smartphone OEMs
tionality...which is also applicable the path toward delivering mobile
for increasing data throughput and millimeter wave in a handset.
providing some link robustness.” Branda, Qualcomm’s director of
But there are problems to be solved, technical marketing for 5G, said, “I
Gresham said, “especially around think, from the get go, Qualcomm
the issues of user mobility. How do has been focused on mobilizing mil-
you implement this functionality limeter wave. The challenges from
in the [user equipment]?” maintaining the link with a mobile
Back to Qualcomm. In September device moving around but also form
last year the company released a pro- factor constraints. When you’re
totype millimeter wave system, serv- talking about fixed you’ve
ing frequency bands above 24 GHz, something that’s plugged in. With
in a smartphone form factor. The mobile millimeter wave you also
device also features an RF front-end have to overcome the challenges of
FEATURE REPORT
something that’s power-, cost- and
form factor-optimized. I think what
you’ll see with 5G...is that the tech-
nology enables both this fast beam
switching and steering to maintain
that mobile link and then advanced
antenna technologies that we’re in-
tegrating into the device allow the
device to connect to those beams
without driving up the cost and
Source: Qualcomm Technologies
power and size of these form fac-
tors to a point where it’s not mobile
anymore. We’ve seen very prom-
ising results in both being able to
maintain and sustain broadband
communications in both indoor and
outdoor mobile environments.”
Conclusion
Gigabit LTE highlights the evolu-
tionary aspect of Long Term Evo-
lution (LTE) networks, and will
serve as an anchor for early 5G de-
ployments, which will rapidly shift
from a fixed wireless use case to a
mobility use case. While there are
many challenges yet to be solved,
the telecommunications industry
as a whole is working in earnest to
solve those problems and, in turn,
solve for enterprise and consumer
bandwidth needs, solve for the on-
got going spectrum crunch, and create
innovative, new applications that
will have a foundational impact on
the way we all live and work.
19
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