Summary Bullets:
• At Mobile World Congress, radio access network vendors are likely to promote features that simplify 5G networks, ease their deployment, and optimize their energy consumption.
• Ironically, these features are necessary to tackle problems exacerbated by 5G itself.
Cartoon character Homer Simpson once called alcohol “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” These days vendors of 5G infrastructure are making similar-sounding claims, as 5G hype has given way to a more, ah, sober reckoning of its implications.
As the telecom industry gathers at this year’s Mobile World Congress, we’re sure to hear that “5G is here!” and “5G is real!” – just as we have in previous years. But as the real-world challenges of 5G deployments draw nearer for operators, RAN vendors will need to devote some messaging to assuaging operators’ fears. In fact, this has already begun, and it takes the form of RAN vendors emphasizing 5G benefits that are, in fact, more like remedies to problems posed by 5G itself.
Continue reading “MWC19: 5G Promises to Solve the Problems Caused by, Um, 5G”